OUP: Williamson: Understanding the History of Ancient Israel


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You are here: Home > Academic, Professional, & General > Understanding the History of Ancient Israel

Understanding the History of Ancient Israel

Edited by H. G. M. Williamson

OUP/British Academy | Proceedings of the British Academy 143

452 pages | figures and tables | 234x156mm

978-0-19-726401-0 | Hardback | 25 October 2007

Price: £55.00

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Brings new and comparative perspectives to a familiar debate.

In recent years the study of the history of Ancient Israel has become very heated. On the one hand there are those who continue to use the Bible as a primary source, modified and illustrated by the findings of archaeology, and on the other there are some who believe that primacy should be given to archaeology and that the Biblical account is then seen to be for the most part completely unreliable in historical terms.

This volume makes a fresh contribution to this debate by inquiring into the appropriate methods for combining different sorts of evidence-archaeological, epigraphical, iconographical, as well as Biblical. It also seeks to learn from related historical disciplines such as classical antiquity and early Islamic history, where similar problems are faced. The volume features contribution from a strong team of internationally distinguished scholars, frequently in debate with each other, in order to ensure that there is a balance of opinion. Chapters focus on the ninth century BCE (the period of the Omri dynasty) as a test case, but the proposals are of far wider application. The result is a work which brings together in mutually respectful dialogue the representatives of positions which are otherwise in danger of talking across one another.

This volume will be essential reading for students and scholars of the Bible, as well as being of great interest to all for whom the Bible is a work of fundamental importance for religion and culture.

Readership: Scholars and students of the Bible.

Edited by H. G. M. Williamson, Regius Professor of Hebrew, University of Oxford and Student, Christ Church; Fellow of the British Academy

Contributors:
Rainer Albertz, Professor Für Altes Testament, University of Münster
Graeme Auld, Professor of Hebrew Bible, University of Edinburgh
Hans M. Barstad, Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament, University of Edinburgh
Marc Zvi Brettler, Dora Golding Professor of Biblical Studies, Brandeis University
Philip R. Davies, Emeritus Professor of Biblical Studies, University of Sheffield
Mark J. Geller, Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies, University College London
Lester L. Grabbe, Professor of Hebrew Bible and Early Judaism, University of Hull
Bernard S. Jackson, Alliance Family Professor of Modern Jewish Studies, University of Manchester
Amélie Kuhrt, Professor of Ancient Near Eastern History, University College London
André Lemaire, Directeur d'études, École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris
Amihai Mazar, Professor of Archaeology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Nadav Na'aman, Professor of Jewish History, University of Tel Aviv
Chase F. Robinson, Lecturer in Islamic History, University of Oxford
J. W. Rogerson, Emeritus Professor of Biblical Studies, University of Sheffield
Christoph Uehlinger, Professor of the History of Religions, University of Zurich
David Ussishkin, Emeritus Professor of Archaeology, University of Tel Aviv
Keith W. Whitelam, Professor of Biblical Studies, University of Sheffield
T.P. Wiseman, Emeritus Professor of Classics and Ancient History, University of Exeter
K. Lawson Younger, Professor of Old Testament, Semitic Languages and Ancient Near Eastern History, Trinity International University

"[a] well-produced volume" - International Review of Biblical Studies

"For all its brevity, this elegantly written paper is a basic-and convincing-contribution to understanding 1/2 Kings." - International Review of Biblical Studies

"This volume is a 'must read' for all who are interested in current debates concerning the history of Israel, especially ninth century, and the editor is to be congratulated on putting together such an excellent volume." - J. Day, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament

H.G.M. Williamson: Introduction
J.W. Rogerson: Setting the Scene: A Brief Outline of Histories of Israel
Keith W. Whitelam: Setting the Scene: A Response to John Rogerson
Hans M. Barstad: The History of Ancient Israel: What Directions Should We Take?
Philip R. Davies: Biblical Israel in the Ninth Century?
Lester L. Grabbe: Some Recent Issues in the Study of the History of Israel
T.P. Wiseman: Classical History: A Sketch, with Three Artefacts
Chase F. Robinson: Early Islamic History: Parallels and Problems
Amélie Kuhrt: Ancient Near Eastern History: The Case of Cyrus the Great of Persia
David Ussishkin: Archaeology of the Biblical Period: On Some Questions of Methodology and Chronology of the Iron Age
Amihai Mazar: The Spade and the Text: The Interaction between Archaeology and Israelite History Relating to the 10th-9th centuries BCE
Christoph Uehlinger: Neither Eyewitnesses, nor Windows to the Past, but Valuable Testimony in its own Right
M.J. Geller: Akkadian Sources of the Ninth Century
K. Lawson Younger, Jr.: Neo-Assyrian and Israelite History in the Ninth Century: The Role of Shalmaneser III
André Lemaire: West Semitic Inscriptions and 9th Century BCE Ancient Israel
Marc Zvi Brettler: Method in the Application of Biblical Source Material to Historical Writing (With Particular Reference to the Ninth Century BCE)
Graeme Auld: Reading Kings on the Divided Monarchy: What Sort of Narrative?
Rainer Albertz: Social History of Ancient Israel
Bernard S. Jackson: Law in the 9th Century: Jehoshaphat's 'Judicial Reform'
Nadav Na'aman: The Northern Kingdom in the Late Tenth-Ninth Centuries BCE