In the history of nineteenth-century religious thought, William
Robertson Smith occupies an ambiguous position. More than any other
writer, he stimulated the theories of religion later advanced by
Frazer, Durkheim, and Freud. Smith himself was not an original
scholar, but was rather "clever at presenting other men's theories"
within new and sometimes hostile contexts. Smith was an important
contributor to two of the most serious challenges to Christian
orthodoxy of the last century, the "Higher Criticism" of the Bible
and the comparative study of religion, and was also the victim of
the last successful heresy trial in Great Britain. Yet he was an
utterly devout Protestant, whose views on Biblical criticism (for
which he was damned) are now considered as true as his views on
totemism and sacrifice (for which he was praised) are now
considered false.
Despite Smith's enormous significance for the history of
religious ideas, he has been written about relatively little, and
most of what we know about his life and work comes from a source
almost a century old. Originally published in 1882, The Prophets of
Israel is a collection of eight lectures, including "Israel and
Jehovah;" "Jehovah and the Gods of the Nations," "Amos and the
House of Jehu," "Hosea and the Fall of Ephraim," "The Kingdom of
Judah and the Beginnings of Isaiah's Work," "The Earlier Prophesies
of Isaiah," "Isaiah and Micah in the Reign of Hezekiah," and "The
Deliverance from Assyria."
A new introduction by Robert Alun Jones discusses Smith's early
life, the heresy trial, Smith's early view of prophecy, and the
classic text itself. The book will be of interest to students and
teachers of religious studies, and general readers interested in
Robertson Smith.
General
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