Book Reviews: Robert Karl Gnuse, NO OTHER GODS: EMERGENT MONOTHEISM IN ISRAEL. JSOT Supplement Series, 241; Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997. Pp. 392. Cloth, $78.00

Abstract

ideational and social implications of that emergent monotheism&dquo; (p. 7). As the author notes elsewhere (p. 19), this book is calculated to be, not an original systematic treatment, but rather a synthesized overview. For Gnuse the emergence of monotheism in ancient Israel was both a revolutionary and an evolutionary process. To begin, the author reviews the three traditional models of the settlement process; (1) gradual, peaceful infiltration (A. Alt, M. Noth, M. Weippert); (2) violent conquest (W. F. Albright, G. E. Wright); and (3) internal revolution (G. Mendenhall, N. Gottwald). He then observes the newer view of the process, which contains four elements. First, there is a peaceful withdrawal from Canaanite cities to Palestinian highlands during Iron Age I (1200-1050 BCE). Second, there is the factor of internal nomadism or the symbiosis hypothesis. As expressed by I. Finkelstein, the Israelites were &dquo;enclosed nomads&dquo; who lived in Palestine through the Late Bronze Age (1550-1200 BCE) in proximity to urban centers but without settling. Third, there is peaceful transition or transformation. Israel evolved as a distinctly natural highland experience of population growth. Fourth, there is peaceful amalgamation or synthesis. This element underlines the diversity of the people who would constitute Israel. Consequently Israel &dquo;did not arise in violent