Thirteen scholars explore possible points of connection between the Bible and its ancient Near Eastern context, illuminating the methadologies, contributions, and limitations of both biblical studies and Assyriology. Contents include: "Assyriology and Biblical Studies: A Century of Tension" --Mark W. Chavalas "The Quest for Sargon, Pul, and Tiglath-Pileser in the Nineteenth Century"--Steven W. Holloway "Sumer, the Bible, and Comparative Method: Historiography and Temple Building"--Richard E. Avergeck "Syria and Northern Mesopotamia to the End of the Third MIllennium B.C.E."--Mark W. Chavalas "Syro-Mesopotamia:The Old Babylonian Period"--Ronald A. Veenker "Syria to the Early Second Millennium"---Victor H. Matthews "Apprehending Kidnapers by Correspondence at Provincial Arrapha"--David C. Deuel "The Bible and Alalakh"--Richard S. Hess "Emar: On the Road from Harran to Hebron"--Daniel E. Fleming "Voices from the Dust: The Tablets from Ugarit and the Bible"--Wayne T. Pitard "The Rise of the Aramean States"--William Schniedewind "Recent Study on Sargon II, King of Assyria: Implications for Biblical Studies"--K. Lawson Younger Jr. "What Has Nebuchadnezzar to Do with David? On the Neo-Babylonian Period and Early Israel"--Bill T. Arnold "The Eastern Jewish Diaspora under the Babylonians"--Edwin Yamauchi
Mark W. Chavalas (Ph.D., UCLA) is professor of history at the University of Wisconsin, Lacrosse. He has edited five volumes on ancient Near Eastern history and is the coauthor of the IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament.
K. Lawson Younger Jr. (Ph.D., University of Sheffield) is professor of Old Testament at the divinity school of Trinity International University. He is the author of Ancient Conquest Accounts and coeditor of the three-volume reference work The Context of Scripture.