Susan Niditch - The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Ancient Israel

I had begun to think that there were already too many handbooks, dictionaries, and encyclopedias of the biblical world on the market for yet another one. But reading through this new volume, superbly planned and organized by Susan Niditch, showed me how wrong I was. There is frankly nothing quite like it. In an exceptionally comprehensive way, it explores what ancient Israel was all about: the varied aspects of its culture and society, the multiple historical contexts in which it existed, and the range of perspectives, literary, archaeological, religious, social scientific, from which modern interpreters must understand it. The volume, thus, is not only a survey of the facts and features of Israel's history and culture, as is typical of many handbooks. Even more, it is a searching inquiry into how we know what we know or think we know: what are the major issues of interpretation and how to evaluate them. Editor Niditch has not been afraid to encourage differing points of view on these issues and the evidence for them from her contributors, which her cross-referencing throughout helps the reader to appreciate. And the contributors a well-respected international group from junior to senior scholars have not been afraid to be provocative in what they have to say. Unquestionably, this volume will become a cornerstone for all future work on the study of ancient Israel.

Peter Machinist, Harvard University

The Wiley Blackwell Companions to Religion series presents a collection of the most recent scholarship and knowledge about world religions. Each volume draws together newly-commissioned essays by distinguished authors in the field, and is presented in a style which is accessible to undergraduate students, as well as scholars and the interested general reader. These volumes approach the subject in a creative and forward-thinking style, providing a forum in which leading scholars in the field can make their views and research available to a wider audience.

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The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Ancient Israel

Edited by Susan Niditch

Edited by

Susan Niditch

This edition first published 2016
2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

The Wiley Blackwell companion to ancient Israel / edited by Susan Niditch.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-470-65677-8 (cloth)
1. JewsHistoryTo 70 A.D. 2. JudaismHistoryPost-exilic period, 586 B.C.-210 A.D. 3. JewsPalestineCivilization. 4. PalestineSocial life and customsTo 70 A.D. 5. PalestineHistoryTo 70 A.D. 6. BibleCriticism, interpretation, etc. I. Niditch, Susan, editor.
DS121.W65 2016
933dc23

2015017683

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Cover image: Kavram / Getty Images

Elizabeth Bloch-Smith is an archaeologist who has unearthed the lived cultures of the ancient Levant, including ancient Israel. Her publications include