i88 7 ] KENAN S &quot; HISTOIRE D lSRAfiL &quot; 613 

 monotheism as the religions of Greece or of India. It was 

 in Israel alone, and solely through the work of the prophets, 

 that Semitic particularism in religion grew into a universal 

 monotheism, or even showed more tendency to grow in 

 that direction than can be observed among other races 

 under similar historical conditions. All this might be 

 illustrated in detail if space permitted, but here a single 

 example must suffice to show how boldly M. Renan bends 

 facts to suit his hypothesis. At p. 40 he maintains that 

 of all ancient peoples known to us the Semites were 

 certainly the least prone to gross practices of sorcery. A 

 very different impression is left by the Bible (e.g. Deut. 

 xviii.), by the monuments of Arabian antiquity, by what 

 we know of Harranian heathenism, and by the magical 

 superstitions that long lingered in Christian Syria, 1 or still 

 survive in all parts of the Semitic east. Or if monotheism 

 is an affair of race, by what right is Babylon excluded from 

 the induction, which all antiquity looked on as the chosen 

 home of sorcery and magic arts ? To divide Babylon 

 from the nomadic Semites is to change the problem from 

 one of race to one of environment. 



The hypothesis of a natural monotheism, even in the 

 attenuated form in which it appears in M. Renan s system, 

 is simply a relic of the unhistorical deism of last century, 

 the only form of liberal thought which appears to be 

 easily grafted on a strict Roman Catholic education. The 

 same influence appears in other parts of the volume, both 

 in small matters as when M. Renan inclines to explain 

 the miracles of the wilderness wanderings as pious frauds, 

 or when he sneers at David for his habit of appealing to 

 the oracle of Jehovah and in things of more moment, 

 particularly in his conception of the national element in 

 Jehovah-worship as a grievous falling away from the 

 simplicity of patriarchal faith. One is curious to know 

 how M. Renan will explain the work of the prophets on 

 the view that the national character of the religion of 



1 See especially Lagarde, Rel. iuris eccles. ant. pp. 230 sqq. 



