The Great Angel: A Study of Israel's Second God

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Summary: Great Angel
Review: I found this book from a footnote of another book I was reading. Since then I've bought all her books. The Great Angel is perhaps her best written work and best argued. Her hypothesis is that Elohim refers to the Most High God and that Jehovah (Yahweh) was one of his sons. There were 70 Sons that ruled the 70 nations and Jehovah was the God of Israel. After Jerusalem fell in 600 BC, the Jews had problems reconciling their God of Israel as being superior to the other Gods while being held captive in Babylon. Over the centuries, one brand of Judaism had confusion between the Most High and Jehovah and eventually Jehovah was elevated to the position of the Most High in their minds and superior to all others. The Angel of Yahweh is seen as a second God that would eventually lead to threatening a form of monotheism that was growing more and more exclusively strict. Another brand of Judism (Enochic Judaism)in contrast tried to preserve the ancient beliefs of the Davidic Temple Cult. It was this brand from which Essenes and Christians sprang. By the second Century CE the other Jews would put a label on this heresy as the TWO POWERS in Heaven. Sound far fetched? Not after you read her documentation and reasoning. It's a very convincing argument especially when you read the works of Philo and others. I would have given this a higher rating but some arguments she assumes the audience understands without building them. ...

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Summary: Think Again
Review: This is wonderful book with lots of groundbreaking ideas that every Christian should read to understand the New Testament. Barker posits (based on extensive textual and historical evidence) that Israelite theology placed two powers in heaven, Elohim and his representative Jehovah (Yahweh). She shows that the first christians could accept christ as God because he was Jehovah, and Elohim was his father. While it may challenge some preconceived ideas, this book sheds lots of bright non-secular light on the Bible.