In search of pre-exilic Israel : Proceedings of the Oxford Old Testament Seminar / edited by John Day.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Day, John, 1948-

Series:

Journal for the study of the Old Testament. Supplement series ; 406.

Journal for the study of the Old Testament. Supplement series ; 406

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jews--History--1200 B.C.-953 B.C--Congresses.

Jews.

Jews--History--953 B.C.-586 B.C--Congresses.

History.

Genre:

Conference papers and proceedings.

Physical Description:

xv, 432 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

London : T & T Clark International, 2004.

Summary:

In recent years certain 'revisionist' scholars have claimed that little can be known about pre-exilic Israel because the Old Testament was compiled only after the exile. It has even been claimed that the Old Testament is a Hellenistic book. This book argues that this is an extreme and untenable position, and that though the Old Testament was indeed edited in the exilic and post-exilic periods, many of the underlying sources go back to pre-exilic Israel and, when critically analysed, can shed much light on that period. This volume surveys not only historiography but also various aspects of what can be known of pre-exilic prophecy, law, wisdom and psalmody. The light shed by archaeology and ancient Near Eastern texts is also evaluated. This important work is the product of an impressive international team of seventeen noted scholars. All the contributions, previously unpublished, arise from papers delivered to the Oxford Old Testament seminar.

Contents:

Current 'revisionism' and the literature of the Old Testament / Ernest Nicholson

Was there an exodus? / Graham Davies

Back to basics: a holistic approach to the problem of the emergence of Ancient Israel / Anthony J. Frendo

Histories and non-histories of Ancient Israel: the question of the united monarchy / William G. Dever

Dating the 'succession narrative' / John Barton

The date of the Yahwist / J. A. Emerton

Was there a social crisis in the Eighth Century? / Walter Houston

In search of post-exilic Israel: Samaria after the fall of the Northern Kingdom / Gary N. Knoppers

In search of the pre-exilic Isaiah / H. G. M. Williamson

Jeremiah before the exile? / David J. Reimer

How many pre-exilic Psalms are there? / John Day

How much wisdom literature has its roots in the pre-exilic period? / Katherine J. Dell

Is the Covenant Code an exilic composition? A response to John Van Seters / Bernard M. Levinson

Yahweh's Asherah, inclusive monotheism and the question of dating / B. A. Mastin

Mesopotamian sources and pre-exilic Israel / W. G. Lambert

Hebrew and West Semitic inscriptions and pre-exilic Israel / André Lemaire

Hebrew poetic structure as a basis for dating / Terry Fenton.

Notes:

"This volume consists of seventeen essays which were originally delivered as papers to the Oxford Old Testament seminar between January 2001 and June 2003, and which have subsequently been revised and often expanded."--Preface.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

ISBN:

0567081966

0567082067

OCLC:

57023578