History Debated: The historical Reliability of Chronicles in Pre-Critical and Critical Research (Suomen Eksegeettisen Seuran julkaisuja) - Softcover

Peltonen, Kai

9789519217192: History Debated: The historical Reliability of Chronicles in Pre-Critical and Critical Research (Suomen Eksegeettisen Seuran julkaisuja)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 9519217193 ISBN 13: 9789519217192

Publisher: The Finnish Exegetical Society, 1996

Should one regard the book of Chronicles as factual history, as intentional falsification, or as something between these extremes? The question of historical reliability has dominated the Chronicles research from the beginning of the 1800s virtually to the present day. Chronicles' trustworthiness has been defended by an appeal to a variety of factors extending from theological and dogmatic considerations to an alleged corroboration of its information by archaeology. There has been no shortage of reasons for a rejection of its value as a historical source, either; the arguments against the historicity of Chronicles have ranged from 'traditional' historical observations concerning the book's late date and its author's historical biases to ones based on a religio-historical view which has more or less predetermined the results of Chronicles research.

After an introductory survey of the pre-critical Chronicles study, this two-volume dissertation analyzes the debate about the historical reliability of Chronicles from the initial stages of historical-critical research up to the most modern scientific discussion with the purpose of bringing to light the trends and positions which have been influential in directing and redirecting this debate. It shows that while there still are important open issues, the Chronicles scholarship is now, for the first time in the history of research, largely characterized by a scholarly consensus as to how this book should be assessed as a historical source.

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