After Babylon: The Evolution of Israelite Religion Beside the Zoroastrian System
A standalone piece Two religions sit on either side of the Babylonian exile, and the resemblance between them is the kind that demands an explanation. On one side, the long-established Iranian system of Zarathustra: a supreme wise god, a cosmic battle of good against evil, a final judgment, resurrection, and a remade world. On the other, a religion that before the exile looks markedly different from itself and after it has acquired strikingly similar machinery.
What this resource contributes
A standalone piece Two religions sit on either side of the Babylonian exile, and the resemblance between them is the kind that demands an explanation. On one side, the long-established Iranian system of Zarathustra: a supreme wise god, a cosmic battle of good against evil, a final judgment, resurrection, and a remade world. On the other, a religion that before the exile looks markedly different from itself and after it has acquired strikingly similar machinery. This piece lays out both evolutions side by side, and then lays out — fairly — how that resemblance gets read, from the cautious version to the strong one. The honest rule throughout: resemblance plus sequence is evidence; motive is interpretation. Keep the two apart and the case is sturdy. Where Israelite religion started The pre-exilic religion of Israel was not the monotheism it later became.
Topics and source signals
Primary sources detected
Avesta
Scholars detected
Mark S. Smith · Thomas Römer