Although scholars have for centuries primarily been interested in using the study of ancient Israel to explain, illuminate, and clarify the biblical story, Megan Bishop Moore and Brad E. Kelle describe how scholars today seek more and more to tell the story of the past on its own terms, drawing from both biblical and extrabiblical sources to illuminate ancient Israel and its neighbors without privileging the biblical perspective. Biblical History and Israel s Past provides a comprehensive survey of how study of the Old Testament and the history of Israel has changed since the middle of the twentieth century. Moore and Kelle discuss significant trends in scholarship, trace the development of ideas since the 1970s, and summarize major scholars, viewpoints, issues, and developments.
Further, many of the most important names in late twentieth century biblical historiography appear as authors of various contributions: Hayes, Brettler, Van Seters, Miller, and de Vaux. In a work of more than 600 pages, Long finds room for thirty-two different writers. In addition to his concluding chapter, he also introduces each section and reprints an important essay of his own on history and literary technique.Every reader, including those already conversant with the subject, will gain much from reading this book. However, some will also recognize gaps or areas that they wished had been highlighted. Despite the word, 'Recent,' one wonders why no samples of the writings of Wellhausen, and especially of Alt, Noth, and Albright are included. Although most of the essays date from the 1990's, Hans Walter Wolff's contribution comes from a 1963 volume.
In this much-anticipated textbook, three respected biblical scholars have written a history of ancient Israel that takes the biblical text seriously as an historical document. While also considering nonbiblical sources and being attentive to what disciplines like archaeology, anthropology, and sociology suggest about the past, the authors do so within the context and paradigm of the Old Testament canon, which is held as the primary document for reconstructing Israel's history. In Part One, the authors set the volume in context and review past and current scholarly debate about learning Israel's history, negating arguments against using the Bible as the central source. In Part Two, they seek to retell the history itself with an eye to all the factors explored in Part One.
Since its first publication in 1970, A Survey of Israel's History has established itself as a popular and useful text in Bible colleges and seminaries. This revision by David O'Brien, which brings A Survey of Israel's History up to date, is certain to add to its value and continue its popularity. A chapter on the Intertestamental Period has been added. Numerous line-maps, charts, and diagrams help to clarity details. An extensive chronological chart provides an overall summary of names and dates. Authoritative, thoroughly biblical, factually sound, and movingly human -- A Survey of Israel's History will prove enormously helpful to the student of the Bible, and to anyone in search of a definitive history of the chosen people.
"In Prelude to Israel's Past, Lemche examines the nature and function of Old Testament historical narrative. Is the biblical narrative a reliable source of historical knowledge? Or does it have a literary and theological life of its own - proclaiming a truth that cannot be contested because it recounts "events" that happened once upon a time? Lemche explores these questions from two directions. First, he analyzes the biblical narratives from Abraham to Moses and demonstrates that these narratives are literature, not documents written by professional historians. Second, he compares the biblical portrait of the patriarchs with what we know about this period from other ancient sources. He urges that the Bible continues to guide and console a believing people not because it is a historically accurate record of past events but because its living stories recount a truth unfettered by time and culture."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
In 'Israel's History and the History of Israel' one of the world's foremost experts on antiquity addresses the birth of Israel and its historic reality. Many stories have been told of the founding of ancient Israel, all rely on the biblical story in its narrative scheme, despite its historic unreliability. Drawing on the literary and archaeological record, this book completely rewrites the history of Israel. The study traces the textual material to the times of its creation, reconstructs the evolution of political and religious ideologies, and firmly inserts the history of Israel into its ancient-oriental context.
Although scholars have for centuries primarily been interested in using the study of ancient Israel to explain, illuminate, and clarify the biblical story, Megan Bishop Moore and Brad E. Kelle describe how scholars today seek more and more to tell the story of the past on its own terms, drawing from both biblical and extrabiblical sources to illuminate ancient Israel and its neighbors without privileging the biblical perspective. Biblical History and Israel’s Past provides a comprehensive survey of how study of the Old Testament and the history of Israel has changed since the middle of the twentieth century. Moore and Kelle discuss significant trends in scholarship, trace the development of ideas since the 1970s, and summarize major scholars, viewpoints, issues, and developments.
In Ancient Israel Lester L. Grabbe sets out to summarize what we know through a survey of sources and how we know it by a discussion of methodology and by evaluating the evidence. The most basic question about the history of ancient Israel, how do we know what we know, leads to the fundamental questions of Grabbe's work: what are the sources for the history of Israel and how do we evaluate them? How do we make them 'speak' to us through the fog of centuries? Grabbe focuses on original sources, including inscriptions, papyri, and archaeology. He examines the problems involved in historical methodology and deals with the major issues surrounding the use of the biblical text when writing a history of this period. Ancient Israel provides an enlightening overview and critique of current scholarly debate. It can therefore serve as a 'handbook' or reference-point for those wanting a catalogue of original sources, scholarship, and secondary studies. Grabbe's clarity of style makes this book eminently accessible not only to students of biblical studies and ancient history but also to the interested lay reader. For this new edition the entire text has been reworked to take account of new archaeological discoveries and theories. There is a major expansion to include a comprehensive coverage of David and Solomon and more detailed information on specific kings of Israel throughout. Grabbe has also added material on the historicity of the Exodus, and provided a thorough update of the material on the later bronze age.
This volume is an inquiry into the complex relationship of the prophetic texts and Israelite history. Taken as a whole, the book provides a "round-table" discussion that examines the thesis that the study of prophetic literature (i.e., Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve) and the history of Israel are best undertaken in interaction with one another. This topic appropriately honors John Hayes's long-standing scholarly contributions in prophetic interpretation and historical research, as well as his interest in the possibilities of the intersection of these two areas. The volume also promises to contribute to the body of knowledge about prophets and Israel's past in general by affording twenty-four historians and prophetic scholars the opportunity to explore their areas of interest in fresh ways while in dialogue with a central thesis. All twenty-four contributors have engaged John's ideas about prophets and/or history as students, colleagues, or in their research and publications. Thus, the question of what impact the fields of prophetic research and Israelite history can and should have on one another unites the articles. The book's individual parts, however, are contributions of historians and prophetic scholars who enter the discussion from their own perspectives and examine the possibilities and problems of the intersection of these two topics. The articles from historians will focus on questions about the usefulness of prophetic texts for reconstructing Israel's history, and will also branch out and address topics such as the social location of the prophets and the benefits of other ancient texts, as well as archaeology, to understanding the prophets. Scholars coming from the prophetic "side" will offer different perspectives on prophetic identity, experience, and rhetoric, and their possible correlations with historical contexts. These articles will engage broad issues such as how history may form the "context of prophets' thought" (to quote contributor J. Gordon McConville), and will explore specific texts and issues drawn from Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Amos, Zechariah, along with Daniel and Deuteronomy.
