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The Older Testament: The Survival of Themes from the Ancient Royal Cult in Sectarian Judaism and Early Christianity
The Older Testament is a radically new approach to many problems of both Old and New Testaments. It takes as a basis the theology of the book of Enoch, lost to western Christendom for many centuries, but here recognized as providing the most consistent set of clues to the nature of Israel's pre-exilic religion. Reformers and editors of the Second Temple period sought to remove from the biblical texts all traces of the older ways, which now survive only in the apparently bizarre themes and imagery of certain Pseudepigrapha. Margaret Barker traces some of the ways in which the Deuteronomic standpoint came to dominate future readings of the Hebrew Bible as well as scholarly conceptions of Israel's religious development. Her reconstruction of the pre-Deuteronomic religion throws a startling light on much of the imagery of the New Testament and shows how closely the earlier Christian expectations were based upon the ancient royal cult in Jerusalem. This book represents an important and original contribution to our understanding of Judaism and early Christianity.
328 pages, Paperback
Published July 5, 2005
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About the author
Margaret Barker
51 books68 followersThere is more than one author with this name
Margaret Barker is a British Methodist preacher and biblical scholar recognized for her pioneering contributions to the study of early Christianity. Educated in theology at the University of Cambridge, she devoted her career to exploring the roots of Christian thought through what she terms Temple Theology, an approach tracing many aspects of early Christian liturgy and doctrine back to the worship of Solomon’s Temple.
In 1998 she served as president of the Society for Old Testament Study, and in 2008 she was awarded the Lambeth Doctor of Divinity by the Archbishop of Canterbury in recognition of her scholarly achievements. Her influential works, including The Great High Priest (2003) and Temple Theology (2004), emphasize the enduring legacy of Temple worship, arguing that it shaped Christianity as deeply as Hellenistic and synagogue traditions.
Drawing on sources ranging from the Hebrew Bible and Septuagint to the Dead Sea Scrolls, Gnostic writings, and early Christian texts, Barker’s research highlights the mystical dimensions of ancient worship and their relevance for understanding early Christian belief. Her work has been both praised for originality and critiqued within mainstream scholarship, yet remains highly influential across diverse theological traditions.
Margaret Barker is a British Methodist preacher and biblical scholar recognized for her pioneering contributions to the study of early Christianity. Educated in theology at the University of Cambridge, she devoted her career to exploring the roots of Christian thought through what she terms Temple Theology, an approach tracing many aspects of early Christian liturgy and doctrine back to the worship of Solomon’s Temple.
In 1998 she served as president of the Society for Old Testament Study, and in 2008 she was awarded the Lambeth Doctor of Divinity by the Archbishop of Canterbury in recognition of her scholarly achievements. Her influential works, including The Great High Priest (2003) and Temple Theology (2004), emphasize the enduring legacy of Temple worship, arguing that it shaped Christianity as deeply as Hellenistic and synagogue traditions.
Drawing on sources ranging from the Hebrew Bible and Septuagint to the Dead Sea Scrolls, Gnostic writings, and early Christian texts, Barker’s research highlights the mystical dimensions of ancient worship and their relevance for understanding early Christian belief. Her work has been both praised for originality and critiqued within mainstream scholarship, yet remains highly influential across diverse theological traditions.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 23, 2008
This is, I believe, Margaret Barker's first book, and it's very dense (which is why it's taken me a long time to finish). She attempts here to reconstruct an earlier Israelite religion by comparing parts of the Old Testament that contradict each other to extra-biblical texts and early Hebrew versions of that scripture. Her premise is that sometime around King Josiah's reign a group of people known as the Deuteronomists reformed the ancient Israelite religion, and eventually their reforms led to what is now Judaism. Their reforms were not universal, and alternative views have survived, to some extent, even though they "lost" over time.
It's very interesting to see what she is able to tease out of what is still available, as she attempts to figure out what the people of Israel really believed, and how that fits into or disagrees with what is now in the Old Testament. Some of the alternative beliefs were still in force among people during New Testament times and may explain why there were those who belonged to what has been perceived to be a strictly monotheistic religion who were willing to accept the idea that God had a Son who was also a god.
I found it fascinating and enlightening, and I intend to read more of her work.
It's very interesting to see what she is able to tease out of what is still available, as she attempts to figure out what the people of Israel really believed, and how that fits into or disagrees with what is now in the Old Testament. Some of the alternative beliefs were still in force among people during New Testament times and may explain why there were those who belonged to what has been perceived to be a strictly monotheistic religion who were willing to accept the idea that God had a Son who was also a god.
I found it fascinating and enlightening, and I intend to read more of her work.
October 6, 2022
This is a book I might have to come back to later so that I can look up all the references and take more time with it. What I could understand was interesting. Unfortunately, because I can't read Hebrew or Greek, I missed a lot of the context.
July 22, 2025
Read this, and most of Barker's works, many years ago, and while my comments are primarily for this book, they more or less apply to all of her work. If anything, this is her best, after this it becomes more and more speculative and self serving.
Barker's method is useful for revealing symbolic and liturgical significance in the Christian tradition, but she's also incredibly selective with her interpretation of how the tradition developed. Essentially, her reasoning always goes something like this: "The historical Old Testament is polemical against the majority, so the majority, including the temple priests, were doing the opposite of what the Old Testament commands, and since Christ restored the "original religion", that means the opposite of the Old Testament is what the original Christians were getting at." She is also desperate to redirect the cult of Asherah so Christians can have a female deity, though that's not the emphasis of this particular book. She freely and haphazardly references gnostic texts to do so, though again, I should note, that in this book, that is scarce. Here she sticks mostly to the Book of Enoch.
Aside from an agenda to invert the Christian hierarchy, Barker's other (and more honorable) goal is to recover hidden details about the structure of the Levitical rites of the tabernacle and the temple. She has some success in this, though dare I repeat myself, mostly in her book "The Great High Priest", which is unfortunately prohibitively expensive to acquire. In this book, it is only touched on slightly. However, her errors and logical fallacies are so egregious that I wouldn't recommend reading her books for this. She's not the only academic to come to similar conclusions, you'd be better off reading Alan Segal.
Edit: It occurs to me that it is worth mentioning the context in which most laypeople will be reading this book. Margaret Barker most frequently gives talks at conventions associated with BYU, the University of the Latter Day Saints, conventionally known as Mormons. Educated Mormons have a lively comparative religion tradition at BYU originating largely with the late Hugh Nibley.
Without delving into the intellectual integrity of such traditions, I will remark that it has a self serving bent to it, and this is why Barker is a prominent figure here. Her work on temple mythology makes for easy projection. It's a vague enough reconstruction that the Latter Day Saints can easily project their own temple rituals onto it. Barker shares their proclivity for calling the reliability of the Old Testament into question, as most scholars do, so she essentially gives them an unfalsifiable framework to justify themselves with, historically.
These types, who are her primary audience, typically aren't actually educated in the field, so they have no frame of reference for when to take Barker seriously and when she's also being self serving. It's driven almost solely by apologetical interests.
More liberal leaning Eastern Orthodox Christians, who have a strong, but not amazingly documented ritual tradition that developed during the Byzantine period, use Barker for similar apologetical reasons, to claim that their liturgical heritage goes all the way back to ancient Israel. Personally, I believe they have a better case for this than the Latter Day Saints due to symbolic cognates beyond the scope of this review, but even so, for reasons outlined previously, I wouldn't use Barker as a justification. Her work is too prone to confirmation bias and other fallacious reasoning.
Barker's method is useful for revealing symbolic and liturgical significance in the Christian tradition, but she's also incredibly selective with her interpretation of how the tradition developed. Essentially, her reasoning always goes something like this: "The historical Old Testament is polemical against the majority, so the majority, including the temple priests, were doing the opposite of what the Old Testament commands, and since Christ restored the "original religion", that means the opposite of the Old Testament is what the original Christians were getting at." She is also desperate to redirect the cult of Asherah so Christians can have a female deity, though that's not the emphasis of this particular book. She freely and haphazardly references gnostic texts to do so, though again, I should note, that in this book, that is scarce. Here she sticks mostly to the Book of Enoch.
Aside from an agenda to invert the Christian hierarchy, Barker's other (and more honorable) goal is to recover hidden details about the structure of the Levitical rites of the tabernacle and the temple. She has some success in this, though dare I repeat myself, mostly in her book "The Great High Priest", which is unfortunately prohibitively expensive to acquire. In this book, it is only touched on slightly. However, her errors and logical fallacies are so egregious that I wouldn't recommend reading her books for this. She's not the only academic to come to similar conclusions, you'd be better off reading Alan Segal.
Edit: It occurs to me that it is worth mentioning the context in which most laypeople will be reading this book. Margaret Barker most frequently gives talks at conventions associated with BYU, the University of the Latter Day Saints, conventionally known as Mormons. Educated Mormons have a lively comparative religion tradition at BYU originating largely with the late Hugh Nibley.
Without delving into the intellectual integrity of such traditions, I will remark that it has a self serving bent to it, and this is why Barker is a prominent figure here. Her work on temple mythology makes for easy projection. It's a vague enough reconstruction that the Latter Day Saints can easily project their own temple rituals onto it. Barker shares their proclivity for calling the reliability of the Old Testament into question, as most scholars do, so she essentially gives them an unfalsifiable framework to justify themselves with, historically.
These types, who are her primary audience, typically aren't actually educated in the field, so they have no frame of reference for when to take Barker seriously and when she's also being self serving. It's driven almost solely by apologetical interests.
More liberal leaning Eastern Orthodox Christians, who have a strong, but not amazingly documented ritual tradition that developed during the Byzantine period, use Barker for similar apologetical reasons, to claim that their liturgical heritage goes all the way back to ancient Israel. Personally, I believe they have a better case for this than the Latter Day Saints due to symbolic cognates beyond the scope of this review, but even so, for reasons outlined previously, I wouldn't use Barker as a justification. Her work is too prone to confirmation bias and other fallacious reasoning.
August 4, 2019
So much to write. MB lays out a strong case for "The Older Testament," an older religion underneath the texts left to us after the Deuteronomist completely changed Israel's religious tradition and doctrine. If you haven't read LeGrand Baker's book "Who shall ascend to the hill of the Lord?" - I recommend reading LeGrand Baker first. If you like "Who shall ascend?" then this book might be one you will appreciate.
March 3, 2023
This book was eye opening in many ways. I'm looking forward to reading others.
March 2, 2024
Mind-bogglingly amazing book.
December 16, 2009
God, Barker is bright and has a much deeper understanding of this than I do, but it makes her incredibly difficult to read. I'm afraid my two-stars is not fair, as this books is written for scholars.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews