This is a book for school and undergraduate courses on Judaism, but those coming to it for the first time will also benefit from the clear presentation of the plurality of the biblical material and the way in which a distinction has to be made between what Israelites did and what the Bible claimes. An excellent introduction.

Journal for the Study of the Old Testament

Putting aside the history and civilization of the Jewish people, Hayes is here more concerned with the emergence and development of the religious traditions, texts, practices, and ideas of Judaism through late antiquity. She surveys the biblical sources and related extra-biblical evidence, examines the transformation of the Israelite heritage prior to the first century CE, and describes the rise of classical rabbinic Judaism and its establishment as the normative tradition of Judaism. A final chapter surveys Judaism's developments up to the modern period.

Reference & Research Book News