Review
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Title: The Cities That Built The Bible
Author: Robert R. Cargill
Publisher: HarperOne
Genre: Religion/Biblical Studies/History & Culture
Year: 2016
No. of Pages: 336
Binding: Hardcover
ISBN 13: 978-0-06-236674-0
Price: $29.99
Reviewed by Gary McCary for the Association for Mormon Letters
[Editor’s note: this is the first of two reviews of this book. The second review is forthcoming. My thanks to both reviewers for agreeing to take on this title. JN]
How’s this for an opening line: “You have Nicole Kidman to thank for this book.” Robert Cargill knows how to get one’s attention. Turns out that In 2004, Cargill was teaching a course at Pepperdine University titled “Introduction to the Old Testament.” Ms. Kidman, who at the time was in the midst of filming the movie “Bewitched,” wanted private lessons on the subject of the Old Testament. She decided to contact Mr. Cargill, asking him if he would be willing to come to her trailer on the lot of Culver Studios. He gladly accepted the privilege of being her private tutor, and for a few weeks, during breaks in between shooting, they would go to the trailer and do the course lessons. One day while reading the book of Genesis, she asked Cargill, “Where did the Bible come from?” His answer was long and laborious. But it was the germinating seed for a different kind of book about the Bible.
The Bible is, to coin a familiar phrase, many things. It is history (to a degree), metaphor, myth, legend, poetry, song, law, prophecy, and apocalyptic literature, among other things. But very few students of the Bible would include in that list the word CITIES. Cargill, in his recently published book “The Cities That Built The Bible,” makes a convincing argument that the Bible is also the cities it describes. Rather than looking at the councils, tribunals, and individuals who decided what would make up the Bible, rather than looking at matters such as composition, redaction, and canonization, Cargill examines the most important CITIES that contributed to the formation of the Bible.
This is no “Tale of Two Cities”—but rather a tale of fourteen cities: the Phoenician cities of Tyre, Sidon, and Byblos, Ugarit, Nineveh, Babylon, Megiddo, Athens, Alexandria, Jerusalem, Qumran, Bethlehem, Nazareth and Rome. Each city, in its own way, contributes mightily to the formation of the Bible. Take one example, the city of Ugarit. In 1928 a Syrian peasant named Mahmoud Mella az-Zir was plowing his field in the Mediterranean port town of Minet el-Beida. While he was plowing, he accidentally unearthed an ancient tomb. A French team of archaeologists was called in. Focusing on a nearby tell, they uncovered an entire city full of residences and monumental buildings, including a palace and two temples. They had discovered the ancient city of Ugarit. Within the buildings, the archaeologists discovered multiple caches of cuneiform texts that shed more light on the origins of Israelite religion than perhaps any other discovery in history.
Cargill devotes a minimum of 20 pages of research to each city he covers, and he shows in practical ways how each city helped make up the Bible as we have it today. Phoenician cities, for example, gave us paper, the alphabet, and the word “Bible” itself. These cities assisted with the construction of Solomon’s magnificent Temple in Jerusalem and are credited with helping Solomon become rich. But conversely, the prosperity of these Phoenician cities became the target of condemnation for many Hebrew prophets. Their destruction became a lingering memory that still existed in the days of Jesus of Nazareth. When Jesus was rebuffed by residents of towns and villages surrounding the Sea of Galilee, Jesus said that they would suffer more than Tyre and Sidon.
Cargill attempts to steer clear of sectarian or religious bias. He wants his book to be appreciated by theist and atheist alike. And he has something of a pastoral impulse throughout the book. He wants the Bible to be seen as a historical record of the struggles of people of faith. But even to people of NO faith, he asks questions periodically, such as: Why should I care about my fellow human beings? What damage is done by greed, Jealousy, hate, lust, and pride? How much of a difference can a cup of cold water really make, or a visit to a sick friend? Cargill sees in these ancient cities the working-out of answers to these and other probing questions. Modern cities such as London, Paris, San Francisco, and New York capture our attention and imagination today. But they are no more influential than were Jerusalem, Rome, and Athens in their glory days.
Mr. Cargill, assistant professor of classics and religious studies at the University of Iowa, has done a great service for the field of religious studies. It is a new approach–examining the Bible from the perspective of its cities. After reading it, you may want to take a trip to visit some of these ancient sites and cities yourself. Who knows–while there you might even bump into Nicole Kidman!