Between Yahwism and Judaism: Judean Cult and Culture during the Early Hellenistic Period (332–175 BCE)

by Yonatan Adler

Genres: History

90 pages, Hardcover

Published December 4, 2025

Reviews

[Wolf]

I decided to read this after watching Prof. Yonatan Adler discussing his book in depth on channel "Kedem" on Youtube. The book is excellent.

[John]

When did the Jewish people become monotheists? When did the Torah become the basis for Jewish culture and law? Adler argues that it wasn't until the Hasmoneans rebelled, sometime between c. 167-140 BCE, that these changes were underway. So, while there may have long been a monotheist/educated minority in Judah/Israel (but certainly not before the exile) that cultivated a textual tradition that eventually led to Deuteronomy/Torah, the Judaism portrayed in the NT was a relatively new thing--something that had been flourishing for not more that 125 years or so. This isn't the place to list all the scholarship that argues this. Still, this little book, and Adler's other one, "The Origins of Judaism," are great, readable summaries of what is going on in contemporary Judaism studies. But there are consequences, if Adler is right, for Judeo/Christian views of scripture, of God's history, and the origins of our shared story. I wish Evangelicals would read this and show that they are wrestling with the consequences of these findings for their own cherished origin stories. PS . . . Adler's books are uber-readable!

[Dan]

A sort of followup to The Origins of Judaism, in which Adler, an Israeli archaeologist, made a strong case that Judaism as a mass religion didn't really appear on the Judean scene until close to 200 BCE, even if the writings that went into the Hebrew Bible had been circulating before that within a small, elite group. "Between Yahwism and Judaism" draws on a great deal of evidence from the Judean diaspora (the best-known example being the letter to the authorities back home from the military colony in Elephantine, Egypt) to pursue the argument that until well into the Hellenistic era, Israelite religion wasn't exactly monotheistic and didn't restrict worship to the Jerusalem temple. Adler doesn't get into the question of why it all changed, but the Maccabees and Hasmoneans are the obvious suspects, being the Classical world's equivalent of the Taliban or at least of Saudi Arabia's Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice. It would certainly give the Chanukah story some extra interest, at any rate.