The Jewish people's historical claims to a small area of land bordering the eastern Mediterranean are not only the foundation for the modern state of Israel, they are also at the very heart of Judeo-Christian belief. Yet in The Mythic Past, Thomas Thompson argues that such claims are grounded in literary myth, not history. Among the author's startling conclusions are these: . There never was a "united monarch" of Israel in biblical times . We can no longer talk about a time of the Patriarchs . The entire notion of "Israel" and its history is a literary fiction. The Mythic Past provides...
The Jewish people's historical claims to a small area of land bordering the eastern Mediterranean are not only the foundation for the modern state of ...
An international team of historians, archaeologists and biblical scholars discuss new perspectives on the archaeology, history and biblical traditions of ancient Jerusalem and examine their ethical, literary, historical and theological relationships. Essays range from a discussion of the Hellenization of Jerusalem in the time of Herod to an examination of its identity and myth on the Internet, while Thomas L. Thompson's informed Introduction queries whether a true history of ancient Jerusalem and Palestine can in fact ever be written.
Contributors include: Thomas L. Thompson, Michael...
An international team of historians, archaeologists and biblical scholars discuss new perspectives on the archaeology, history and biblical traditions...
Archaeology seems to have become an active partner in the attempt to prove the historical truth of the Bible. Biblical archaeologists have gone to the field in search of Noah's ark or the walls of Jericho, as if the finding of these artifacts would make the events of scripture somehow more true or real.
Thomas Thompson is one of the most vocal contemporary critics of biblical archaeology. His simple but powerful thesis is that archaeology cannot be used in the service of the Bible. Focusing on the patriarchal narratives-the stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob-he demonstrates that...
Archaeology seems to have become an active partner in the attempt to prove the historical truth of the Bible. Biblical archaeologists have gone to the...
Through a review of historical scholarship of the past century, and an analysis of data drawn from archaeological excavations and surveys and from written and historical records from the late second and early first millennium, the author reconstructs the historical basis of Israel's origins within the contexts of geography, anthropology, and sociology. Thompson argues that none of the traditional models for the origin of biblical Israel in terms of conquest, peaceful settlement, or revolution are viable. The indigenous nature of the Israelite people has roots that lead back to the late...
Through a review of historical scholarship of the past century, and an analysis of data drawn from archaeological excavations and surveys and from wri...
Papers from the International Scandinavian Conference on the Dead Sea Scrolls and Qumran, sponsored by the University of Copenhagen and held in 1995. In addition to the contributions of Florentino Garc'a Mart'nez, Emanuel Tov and Ben Zion Wacholder, this collection offers a wide range of recent Scandinavian scholarship on the Dead Sea Scrolls. Central issues dealt with include the dating of the scrolls, the theological relationships between the Scrolls and the Old Testament, questions relating to text and tradition formation, and the social relations between Qumran and contemporary Jewish...
Papers from the International Scandinavian Conference on the Dead Sea Scrolls and Qumran, sponsored by the University of Copenhagen and held in 199...
Did the Bible only take its definitive form after Alexander conquered the Near East, after the Hellenisation of the Samaritans and Jews, and after the founding of the great library of Alexandria? The Bible and Hellenism takes up one of the most pressing and controversial questions of Bible Studies today: the influence of classical literature on the writing and formation of the Bible.
Bringing together a wide range of international scholars, The Bible and Hellenism explores the striking parallels between biblical and earlier Greek literature and examines the...
Did the Bible only take its definitive form after Alexander conquered the Near East, after the Hellenisation of the Samaritans and Jews, and after ...
In der Reihe Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (BZAW) erscheinen Arbeiten zu samtlichen Gebieten der alttestamentlichen Wissenschaft. Im Zentrum steht die Hebraische Bibel, ihr Vor- und Nachleben im antiken Judentum sowie ihre vielfache Verzweigung in die benachbarten Kulturen der altorientalischen und hellenistisch-romischen Welt.
In der Reihe Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (BZAW) erscheinen Arbeiten zu samtlichen Gebieten der alttest...
In History, Archaeology and the Bible Forty Years after "Historicity," Hjelm and Thompson argue that a 'crisis' broke in the 1970s, when several new studies of biblical history and archaeology were published, questioning the historical-critical method of biblical scholarship. The crisis formed the discourse of the Copenhagen school's challenge of standing positions, which-together with new achievements in archaeological research-demand that the regional history of ancient Israel, Judaea and Palestine be reconsidered in all its detail. This volumeexamines the major changes...
In History, Archaeology and the Bible Forty Years after "Historicity," Hjelm and Thompson argue that a 'crisis' broke in the 1970s, when sev...
Biblical Interpretation beyond Historicity evaluates the new perspectives that have emerged since the crisis over historicity in the 1970s and 80s in the field of biblical scholarship. Several new studies in the field, as well as the 'deconstructive' side of literary criticism that emerged from writers such as Derrida and Wittgenstein, among others, lead biblical scholars today to view the texts of the Bible more as literary narratives than as sources for a history of Israel. Increased interest in archaeological and anthropological studies in writing the history of Palestine and the...
Biblical Interpretation beyond Historicity evaluates the new perspectives that have emerged since the crisis over historicity in the 1970s and 80s ...
