A Brilliant Deceit and Other Essays

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The second part of the book isolates socio-religious trajectories in ancient Israelite religion. The author's fundamental findings challenge the widespread notion that ancient Israel was a homogeneous culture united under the worship of the high god Yahweh Sabaoth. Instead, he argues that the Old Testament traditions are not the product of one people but two, originally and distinctly worshipping the high gods El and Yahweh.

Dr. Barr received his doctorate in religion from Vanderbilt University in 1986. His writings have been published in such scholarly journals s the Catholic Biblical Quarterly, Vetus Testamentum, Zeitschrift fr die alttestamentlische Wissenschaft, and the Journal for the Study of the Old Testament. He has contributed articles to the Mercer Dictionary of the Bible and his dissertation was published under the title, The Rhetoric of Political Persuasion: The Narrative Artistry and Political Intentions of 2 Kings 9-11. Dr. Barr?has taught at Vanderbilt University and at the Southern Methodist University. He recently received an editorial nomination for inclusion in the 56th edition of Who's Who in America.

Reviewer: A reader from USA
I found it impossible to take this book seriously. The reasoning is off the wall, lines of thought are often impossible to follow, and he basically just ends up in a big mess.

[Here the reviewer hovers over the contents of the book and is happy to provide us with unsubstantiated generalizations.]

I have seen Barre tout these ideas before, and he offers no backing for his outrageous ideas, he just says in effect, "That's the way it is because I say so."

[A reading of the book will show that this is simply not true. The book contains numerous arguments.]

His argumentative tone and personal attacks on anybody who disagrees with him have gotten him kicked off no less than 7 Internet email lists, by his own count, and this book continues that dubious tradition.

[My reviewer is simply slandering me. I have made no personal attacks. As for "argumentative tone"--lists are for debate. Further, I am wondering what is his source of information. In my view, I was censored from many email lists because they were run by Christians, not because of any impropriety on my part.]

The book is supposed to be a series of "essays," but several of these "essays" are one sentence long. That's an essay?

[This is certainly a petty criticism.]

The blurb calls him a Bible scholar, but this book has as much in common with scholarship as a duck has with a bicycle.

[I have a doctorate in Hebrew Bible from Vanderbilt University. I cannot help but wonder what credentials my reviewer has that would allow him to define biblical scholarship. His comment is unhelpful mud slinging.

Don't waste your time or your money on this one. I tend to believe that the reason it's self-published is because no truly scholarly publisher would touch it with an eleven-foot pole.

[The book is self-published because Christians, who wield considerable influence regarding the publication of books on the Bible, would reject it because it attacks the Christian religion. Indeed, I suspect that my hostile reviewer is a Christian and may even be dependent of the Christian religion to earn a living, not unlike the Christian people who censored me. Finally, it is hoped that next time a reviewer will not follow the example of this reviewer who did not find it necessary to discuss the contents of the book.]