The Religion of the Patriarchs

AUGUSTINE PAGOLU, The Religion of the Patriarchs (JSOTSup 277; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1998). Pp. 290. 50, $85.

With this monograph in the field of the history of Israelitic religion Pagolu attempts to recover the religious practices of the patriarchal period. After an introductory chapter that briefly surveys previous work on this topic, he concentrates on various aspects of religious worship: altars and sacrifice, prayer, sacred pillars, tithes, vows, pollution and purity. For each phenomenon he provides evidence for the particular practice from other ancient Near Eastern societies, while the primary source for patriarchal religion is the Bible itself. A concluding chapter summarizes the main conclusions of the foregoing chapters. The book offers an extensive bibliography, an index of ancient citations, and an index of modern authors.

Pagolu does a fine job directing his reader's attention to subtle distinctions in the Book of Genesis itself. For instance, he highlights the fact that the religious practices of Abraham are not identical with those of Jacob; the differences come to the forefront in his discussion of sacred pillars and sacred altars. In addition, he...