Can a 'History of Israel' Be Written?Lester L. Grabbe This Symposium asks whether a 'history of Israel' can be written, and if it can, how? Can the Hebrew Bible be used as a source for such history? The question of writing the 'history of ancient Israel' has become fiercely debated in recent years. It is a debate that seems to generate more heat than light because of quite different concepts of historical methodology. The European Seminar on Methodology in Israel's History was founded specifically to address this problem. Members of the Seminar hold a variety of views but all agree that there is a problem to be tackled. The first meeting of the Seminar, held in Dublin in 1996, was devoted to some broad questions: (1) Can a 'history of ancient Israel' (or Palestine, Syria, the Levant, etc.) be written? (2) If so, how? What place does the Hebrew Bible have as a source in writing this history? This first volume contains the main papers that were prepared to set the stage for the discussion, along with an introduction to the Seminar, its aims and its membership. The editor also provides a concluding chapter summarizing and reflecting on the debate. |
Contents
Abbreviations 79 | 7 |
THOMPSON | 9 |
BARSTAD | 37 |
BOB BECKING | 65 |
ROBERT P CARROLL | 84 |
PHILIP R DAVIES | 104 |
NIELS PETER LEMCHE | 123 |
HERBERT NIEHR | 156 |
Defining History and Ethnicity in the South Levant | 166 |
GRABBE | 188 |
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Common terms and phrases
Ahlström Albright Alt's Ammonite ancient Israel Ancient Palestine Annales school archaeological Assyrian Avigad Baalis Babylonian Balaam biblical history biblical narratives biblical studies biblical text book of Jeremiah bulla Canaanites central hills century Chronicles context critical culture debate Deuteronomistic History Dever discussion Early Israel ethnic European evidence example exilic fact fiction Finkelstein Gedaliah genre Geschichte Hebrew Bible historiography history of ancient history of Israel history of Palestine history writing ideology inscription interpretation Invention Iron Age Ishmael Israelite Jeremiah Jerusalem JSOTSup Judaean Judah Kings Literary literature London N.P. Lemche nation Old Testament Old Testament text Omri P.R. Davies Palestinian Palestinian history past period possible postmodernist probably problem Provan question recent reconstruction refer reliable seal Search of Ancient Sheffield Sheffield Academic Press simply sources story Syria T.L. Thompson Tell Temple term Theology tion tradition truth University Press Whitelam write a history written