ABSTRACT
The misunderstanding to which Amos is above all exposed today is the least obvious one; for the general inclination is to interpret him in the first instance as the representative of an existing order. The fact that this supposition has been put forward and so obstinately developed and defended is not outside the logic of the history of Old Testament studies. Today's sociological questioning complements the psychological one necessarily and legitimately by investigating the phenomenon in its supra-individual structure and function. Ever since Amos and Wellhausen it has been customary for theologians to rail at cultic religion In spite of the written prophets, it is certain that at least until the Exile the official religion of Israel was a national cultic religion. A prophetic epoch in Israelite religion never existed; there were only scattered prophetic spirits, who were in opposition.
