The Sacred Economy of Ancient Israel

by Roland Boer

The Sacred Economy of Ancient Israel offers a new reconstruction of the economic context of the Bible and of ancient Israel. It argues that the key to ancient economies is with those who worked on the land rather than in intermittent and relatively weak kingdoms and empires. Drawing on sophisticated economic theory (especially the Regulation School) and textual and archaeological resources, Roland Boer makes it clear that economic crisis was the norm and that economics is always socially determined. He examines three economic layers: the building blocks (five institutional forms), periods of relative stability (three regimes), and the overarching mode of production. Ultimately, the most resilient of all the regimes was subsistence survival, for which the regular collapse of kingdoms and empires was a blessing rather than a curse. Students will come away with a clear understanding of the dynamics of the economy of ancient Israel. Boer s volume should become a new benchmark for future studies.

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Genres: History, Biblical Studies

308 pages, Paperback

First published April 10, 2015

About the author

Roland Theodore Boer is a Marxist philosopher based in China. His research concerns the many dimensions of the construction of socialism, especially in China but also elsewhere.

Reviews

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read. Author presents a picture of ancient Israel's economy as one that is (Soviet) Marxist and is thus subsequently very critical of individuals who try to read a free-market capitalistic understanding into the biblical text and from the archaeological record of the southern Levant. The first chapter was very difficult to read as it was all about the philosophy of economic theory. This subject area is completely foreign to me and Boer didn't write for an audience like me. The remainder of the book was easier to read. He is extremely well researched and has extensive bibliography on both sides of an issue. Boer's Marxist reading of Israel's economy is easier done when the historical reliability of the OT text is doubted (e.g., he denies most of the OT as depicting anything historically accurate or trustworthy - ill. Solomon's wealth is all extreme exaggeration, or the Patriarchs were fictional idealized characters to create a rational for a "nation"). This doesn't mean that there aren't things of value in Boer's work. Israel's economic structure probably wasn't driven by trade and desire for profit; but, it probably wasn't Marxist either.