What Did the Biblical Writers Know and When Did They Know It?: What Archaeology Can Tell Us about the Reality of Ancient Israel - Hardcover

Dever, William G.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0802847943 ISBN 13: 9780802847942

Publisher: Eerdmans Pub Co, 2001

Synopsis

In this book noted Syro-Palestinian archaeologist William G. Dever attacks the minimalist position head-on, showing how modern archaeology brilliantly illuminates both life in ancient Palestine and the sacred scriptures as we have them today. Assembling a wealth of archaeological evidence, Dever builds the clearest, most, complete case yet for the existence of a real Israel during the Iron Age of ancient Palestine (1200-600 B.C.).

About this title

From the Back Cover:

For centuries the Hebrew Bible has been the fountainhead of the Judeo-Christian tradition. Today, however, the entire biblical tradition, including its historical veracity, is being challenged. Leading this assault is a group of scholars described as the "minimalist" or "revisionist" school of biblical studies, which charges that the Hebrew Bible is largely pious fiction, that its writers and editors invented "ancient Israel" as a piece of late Jewish propaganda in the Hellenistic era.

In this fascinating book noted Syro-Palestinian archaeologist William G. Dever attacks the minimalist position head-on, showing how modern archaeology brilliantly illuminates both life in ancient Palestine and the sacred scriptures as we have them today. Assembling a wealth of archaeological evidence, Dever builds the clearest, most complete yet of the "real Israel that existed during the Iron Age of ancient Palestine (1200-600 B.C.).

Dever's exceptional reconstruction of this key period points up the minimalists' abuse of archaeology and reveals the weakness of their revisionist histories. Dever shows that ancient Israel, far from being an "invention, " is a reality to be "discovered. Equally important, his recovery of a reliable core history of ancient Israel provides a firm foundation from which to appreciate the aesthetic value and lofty moral aspirations of the Hebrew Bible.

About the Author:

William G. Dever is professor emeritus of Near Easternarchaeology and anthropology at the University of Arizonain Tucson. He has served as director of the Nelson GlueckSchool of Biblical Archaeology in Jerusalem, as director ofthe W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research inJerusalem, and as a visiting professor at universitiesaround the world. He has spent thirty years conductingarchaeological excavations in the Near East, resulting in alarge body of award-winning fieldwork.

About this edition

• Publisher: Eerdmans Pub Co
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0802847943
• ISBN 13: 9780802847942
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 326