The Stones Cry Out: What Archaeology Reveals About the Truth of the Bible Review

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(More customer reviews)Price's book is a wonderful basic level survey of archeology as it relates to the Bible. A fascinating read that you wont want to stop reading, this book is well worth the cost.

This book is also a builder of faith for the one who believes the authenticity of the bible and a good source of verifiable facts that skeptics should consider. There are a lot of references to the Bible in order to make sense of the archeology.

The book is written in a simple style, with ordered, digestable sections. The author conveys a good sense of the excitement of the discoveries that have been made over the years. Just as importantly, he explains the difficulties and tediousness of the field.

Topics include the Ark, King David, the dead sea scrolls, the temple, the exodus .. basically all of the major topics in the scripture are addressed here. There are also a lot of pictures/photographs that were helpful. The end of the book also contains a series of useful charts and tables that were very helpful; chronologies of Israel, outlines of archeological eras, lists of museums, you name it.

I also found that the author did not oversell the facts. That is, he used the evidence wisely and did not try to go beyond the facts to prove his theories. When he speculates it is clearly mentioned. He is academically honest.


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Ancient Israel's Faith and History: An Introduction to the Bible in Context Review

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(More customer reviews)George E. Mendenhall has been described by eminent students of the Bible as one of the most creative American scholars of the ancient Near East in the twentieth century. Yet his fundamental work is largely unknown outside the guild of professional historians, philologists, and archaeologists. Now a comprehensive account of his reconstruction of the history of ancient Israel is available in a beautifully edited, attractively produced form. It can be understood and appreciated even by those who haven't mastered the technical tools of the professional scholar.
His pre-eminent interest, studied over a period of some six decades, has been the origins of ancient Israel. In Mendenhall's view, it is in Israel's origins that we find the essential clues to the interpretation of all subsequent Israelite history-including the appearance of Jesus of Nazareth and the early Christian Church some 1200 years after the time of Moses. A brief review such as this cannot hope to do justice to the enormous wealth of material in this superb book. I will attempt only a sketchy summary of each chapter.
Introduction
First he posits several illuminating general principles for understanding the phenomenon of religion, which are applied throughout the following chapters to Israel's particular historical phases.
Abraham to Moses
Then Mendenhall surveys the later part of the Bronze Age (2500-1200 B.C.) in the Eastern Mediterranean, covering the rise and fall of empires. He also characterizes (the main thrust of the chapter) the emergence, from at least 2000 B.C. onward, of numerous groups of "Apiru"--people who altogether disavowed political loyalties. He cites linguistic reasons for associating "Apiru" with "transgressor" or "outlaw." Apiru groups, lacking any legal protection, survived via banditry, mercenary militarism, or by converting agricultural assets to movable livestock and escaping to uninhabited regions inaccessible to political authorities. The less fortunate among them were prey to enslavement as state laborers--as were thousands of Apiru in Egypt.
Moses and the Exodus
Moses' leadership of the "exodus" of a few hundred Apiru from Egypt is tied in Biblical tradition (correctly, in Mendenhall's view) to two revolutionary religious innovations: monotheism in which the defining characteristic of God ("Yahweh") is ethical concern; and the use of a new form for the mediation of this Yahwism--the Covenant, derived by analogy from the forms and functions of international suzerainty treaties in use already for a millennium.
The Twelve-Tribe Federation
Mendenhall continues his historical reconstruction to the formation in two stages of the Twelve-Tribe federation of ancient Israel, created and sustained by the Mosaic Covenant, which put into practice the seemingly exotic notion of a state-less society.
David and the Transition to Monarchy
The federation functioned for about two centuries; pressure by Philistines accelerated the decline in morale and prompted desires for the institution of a political state capable of dealing more effectively with them. Samuel himself foresaw this move as the repudiation of Yahweh and the Covenant. Mendenhall illuminates the ingenious strategy then employed by David and the pagan bureaucrats inherited from the defeated Jerusalem to construct a synthesis of Yahwism and paganism, for which he adopts the term "Yahwisticism".
The Legacy of King Solomon
With King Solomon the "re-paganization of Israel" reached new heights. Mendenhall relates how Solomon's building program--involving the imposition of the corvée labor from which the Apiru slaves had escaped with Moses!--provided a new Phoenician Temple for the theologians and a swell Hittite palace for the king. "Yahweh," once the repudiator of coercion, had become merely the new "Baal," the Bronze Age hypostasis of state legitimacy and power. Mendenhall limns the intricate, unscrupulous struggles among Solomon's successors, and correlates the poetic oracles of Hosea and Amos to the ongoing upheavals of state, bringing into relief their invocation of the old covenantal elements.
Josiah Reforms the Imperial Religion
Mendenhall next turns to the fate of the kingdom of Judah and the biblical literature catalyzed by its history. He presents the historical preparation for Josiah and the latter's reforms. He also offers insights into the perverse consequences of the failure of Sennacherib's siege of Jerusalem during Hezekiah's reign (the unwarranted confidence that Yahweh's highest priority was the protection of Jerusalem and its Temple).
Destruction and Exile: The Creative Reform of Yahwism
The destruction of Jerusalem predicted by Jeremiah (and Ezekiel) was a catastrophe for Israel-as-Davidic-Dynasty and produced enormous suffering for countless hapless individuals. Meditations on it by some of the greatest religious geniuses of history are enshrined in various Biblical writings, especially Jeremiah and Ezekiel; Job (the book is worth having for this section alone); and "Second Isaiah." But the universalizing re-expression of Israel's covenant faith by these writers was just one response to the Exile. With the return of the exiles to Palestine under the Persian Cyrus, Ezra and Nehemiah wrote another new chapter in the evolution of Yahwism.
Jesus and the New Testament Reformation
Reading the New Testament in the light of the Old Testament makes it clear that Jesus' message hearkens back to the Covenant faith and the inspired re-expressions and adaptations of it by the great prophets. In a word, it was a creative reformation movement within the tradition of Israel's faith. Mendenhall throws a flood of light on "the Kingdom of God," "Messiah," "Law," and on "covenant" itself as it reappears in the Christian Eucharist.
Summary
This magnificent book by one of the towering figures in Biblical scholarship throws an arresting new light on the universal significance of the ancient ethical-religious vision of Moses and pre-monarchic Israel. It shows how, despite the ever-changing vicissitudes of Israel's history, this vision reappears, creatively readapted, in the prophetic legacy, in the Exile, in Jesus and the early Church. It is well worth having just for the fascinating word-studies to be found throughout the text. No one who takes its insights seriously can look at either the Bible or the surviving religious institutions in the same way. I believe it should be read and deeply pondered by all who are committed to the life of faith.

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The author's magisterial survey leaves no scholarly stone unturned and no discipline disregarded. Findings from anthropology, archaeology, linguistics, historical analysis and social theory are all combined to paint a complete picture of Ancient Israel - a picture that is detailed and nuanced, yet presented in an accessible style. While careful not to move beyond the comprehensive evidence he has assimilated, the author does not shy from providing an account of the theological dimensions of both of Israel's history and the beginnings of the Christian faith.

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The Creation of History in Ancient Israel Review

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(More customer reviews)This book examines the process of the creation of history in the Hebrew Bible. Brettler sets out to "show what various biblical authors were `trying to do' when they wrote" their respective works.
The author begins with a strong survey of the history of historical criticism, followed by a presentation of what he believes to be the "four central factors responsible for the production of ancient Israelite biblical texts:" the use of typologies, the interpretation of earlier texts, literary shaping, and ideological influence. During an introductory discussion of `history,' `ideology,' and `literature,' Brettler suggests that what has classically been understood as `history' should actually be called `historiography' or `history writing,' while history should be understood simply as, "a narrative that presents a past." Along the same lines, `ideology' is best considered "a specific set of beliefs," which Brettler differentiates from `propaganda,' which is the method used to disseminate those beliefs. Finally, the author discards the word `literature' as an accurate description of the biblical text, arguing that "literary works are determined by the community, not by their authors." Therefore since the author did not consider his work to be literature, but rather a history, we too should refrain from calling the narrative `literature.' Brettler does concede that there are various rhetorical or literary devices and genres employed within the biblical text, but since the author employed these devices with the intention of writing a narrative history, we too should refrain from referring to the results of his literary endeavors as `literature.' This is a fine hair to split and will certainly be criticized by future respondents.
Brettler then presents his evidence in a series of six chapters that increase in degree of redaction-critical difficulty. This section is cleverly bracketed by a discussion of Chronicles (chapter 2) on the front end, in which we have the extant sources (Samuel and Kings) used by the Chronicler in his redaction, and concluding with "Text in a Tel" (chapter six), a detailed discussion of redaction-criticism that uses the multi-layered redactions of 2 Kings 17 as the literary ground in need of excavation.
Brettler's indebtedness to his teacher, Michael Fishbane, is evident the moment Brettler begins his intrabiblical exegesis of the text (chapters 2-7). This is a strength of the book, in that the author highlights many textual examples essential to any survey of redaction-criticism methodology, and in seeking an explanation of each highlighted redaction, the author tells the story of the creation of the history of Israel.
Brettler's best work is with his treatment of Chronicles. He states, "The Chronicler...provides an incontrovertible example of the flexibility of the past in the hands of one biblical historian." But Brettler ultimately leaves open for debate the question of whether the Chronicler felt he was correcting earlier scribal errors or whether he was the historian "of a totalitarian regime, attempting to control the ideology of the population." This is an important question to say the least, for its answer determines whether the Hebrew Bible was composed as multiple redactions of early oral and written themes and histories, or was composed late in history solely from the ideological imagination of the Deuteronomistic Historians.
The author then proceeds with his analysis, suggesting that the repeated promotion of Judah over the firstborn Reuben in the Genesis narrative illustrates the biblical author's use of typologies within the text. In Deuteronomy, Brettler offers a classic treatment in which he substantially demonstrates a revision of history on the behalf of the Deuteronomist. The author's treatment of the Ehud-Eglon story as satire was a surprisingly compelling argument. Here, Brettler suggests that the purpose of this genre is to increase the life span of the story's moral by using mocking, sexual, and scatological references towards Israel's Moabite enemies. Finally, Brettler discusses ideology, using the book of Samuel as a vehicle that promotes David and offers an apology for the royal ideology of the Davidic line.
Brettler ends his book with a healthy discussion of whether it is possible to reconstruct actual history. Following R. G. Collingwood, Brettler offers an analogy to the American legal system which discusses the two tests that are used in determining the validity of an argument: the unanimity rule of criminal courts that requires something be "beyond a reasonable doubt," and the less stringent majority rule of a civil court that only requires a "preponderance of evidence." Holding up Lionel Grossman's view as a model, Brettler concludes that "history cannot be objective in the sense of `ontologically founded,' but can be `something like rationally justifiable or defensible, not arbitrary, and open to criticism.'" Inasmuch, one can never be certain that one has recreated the actual past, because the past, especially a narrative one, is never fully recoverable. The responsible scholar should accept this reality and "decide which of the alternative reconstructions of the Israelite past best fits the evidence." Brettler concludes, "Biblical historical texts reflect a combination of genuine interest in the past, strong ideological beliefs and refined rhetorical devices."
With the exception of the persistent denotation of possessive plurals with a double apostrophe (or is it a quotation mark?), a practice never before encountered by the present reviewer, Brettler's work is well written, well argued, and is a great addition to the library of the biblical scholar or historian interested in the narrative history of Israel.

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The Creation of History in Ancient Israel demonstrates how the historian can start to piece together the history of ancient Israel using the Hebrew Bible as a source.

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The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel (Biblical Resource Series) Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is not an introduction to ancient Israel's religion or history, or to the Hebrew Bible. It shouldn't be your first book on the topic. (For your first book, try something by Friedman. In this book Smith will not review or attempt to prove source theory, Israel's Canaanite origins, and so on.) But it is about the evolution of Yahweh through his encounters with Canaanite deities on his way to becoming the "One God" of post-exhilic Judaism.
Smith's thesis is that the development of monolatry (which preceeded monotheism) in Israel began with a process of convergence and differentiation. "Covergence," he writes, "involved the coalescence of various deities and/or some of their features into the figure of Yahweh" (7). And differentiation was the process of Israel rejecting its Caananite heritage, creating a separate identity (8).
So, he writes, "The issue is not one of identifying the earliest instances of monolatry; rather, the old question of explaining monotheism becomes a new issue of accounting for the phenomenon of convergence, a stage in Israelite religion older than the appearance of monolatry" (197).
The deity Yahweh apparently came to Israel from Edom or another southern location (Smith discusses this in another book, "The Origins of Biblical Monotheism"). He was incorporated into Israel's pantheon, which was Canaanite: it featured the deities El, Baal, Anat and Asherah prominently. Smith has a lot of experience with the Ugaritic texts, which record Canaanite religion similar to what Israel must have inherited, so he has the ability to find ways that Yahweh has taken over the features of Canaanite gods. (Unfortunately, no one knows what Yahweh was like before he came to Israel.)
Smith naturally begins with Yahweh's convergence with El, which must have been complete by the time of the earliest texts: "there is no distinct cult attested for El except in his identity as Yahweh (35)." Then Smith examines the similarites between Ugaritic El and Biblical Yahweh, such as descriptions (aged patriarchal god with a heavenly court and a kindly disposition to humanity, and so on), epithets (Berit, Shaddai, Elyon), and iconography (bearded, enthroned).
Next Smith turns to Baal. There was a transition at some point from Baal being worshipped alongside Yahweh without controversy, to a struggle between their cults, to the final emergence of Yahweh's cult alone. This transition included Yahweh's taking over Baal's imagery as storm god (which may not have been part of his Edomite character), bull, warrior and fertilizing deity. Smith analyzes material in Judges and the historical texts, concluding that the conflict must have arisen (or at least intensified) because of Ahab's and Jezebel's attempt to elevate a foreign god, Baal Shamem of the Phoenicians (distinct from Baal of Canaanite/Israelite heritage). Smith covers the ways that Yahweh's cult adopted Baal's epithets, iconography, descriptions and mythology in the process of replacing him. However, Smith admits that all the evidence indicates that Baal remained a popular deity to the end of the southern kingdom.
In this chapter, Smith also looks at Yahweh's acquiring of Anat's martial imagery.
Next, he turns to Asherah, where his analysis is probably most controversial. Smith acknowledges that most scholars believe some goddess, probably Asherah, was worshipped during the period of the monarchy; but he believes she may have been forgotten already by the period of the judges. Her symbolism was obviously incorporated into Yahweh's cult (and later purged from it). Smith focuses on textual analysis, not on the ubiquitous figurines that most scholars believe demonstrate popular Asherah worship. He points to various forms of plausible uncertainty--"Yet scholars have long suspected that these figurines represent Astarte, and given the maternal imagery for her in Phoenician, this is as plausile an identification as that with Asherah. Moreover, these figurines may not represent any deity (111)."
A few scholars agree with Smith, but most continue to believe that Asherah was worshipped during that period. Moving on, Smith examines the ways that Yahweh's cult absorbed Asherah's. He analyzes gender language for Yahweh and comparison in this respect to other near eastern deities. He looks at the decline of anthropomorphic imagery in general for Yahweh. Finally, he also considers the figure of Wisdom as a continuation of many of Asherah's features in a way acceptable to monolatrous Yahwism.
Smith next briefly looks at solar imagery applied to Yahweh, concluding that on the whole it was an inovation of the monarchy of Judah, under the influence of Egypt's New Kingdom. He also looks at the rejection of this imagery by some Biblical authors.
A final chapter looks at transitions in some prominent Israelite cultic practices: the high places, practices associated with the dead, and the Molech sacrifice.
All in all: a fine coverage of the covergence of Canaanite deities and Yahweh. The presentation of evidence in some places could be more well-structured, but that is only my opinion. Here is a good book on Israelite religion, suitable for undergraduate students with a little experience, or armchair scholars. (For serious scholars, of course, it is essential.)
In addition to this book, Smith himself recommends Zevit's "The Religions of Ancient Israel." If you are considering this book or Smith's "The Origins of Biblical Monotheism," I recommend this one first.

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The Bible Myth: The African Origins of the Jewish People Review

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(More customer reviews)Gary Greenberg's research and analysis of biblical history is interesting but not new. Much of what was presented has already be speculated by the english scholar Gerald Massey who wrote extensively on the orgins of Jewish ancient history and the relationship of that history to the ancient Kemet people during the late 1800's. Gerald Maasey's work was banned in much of the United States. He wrote the following books: Book of the Beginnings Vol 1 and 2 Egypt: Ancient Light of the World Vol 1 and 2 Historical Jesus and the Mythical Christ These books have ben republished by A&B Books (Brooklyn) and Black Classic Press (Baltimore). Gary Greenberg does probe deeper into the theory by making comparisions between the Old Testament and what is know of the various Egyptian Dynasties. Much deserve propers are given attributed to the ancient pharoah Ankhaten, the first true contributor to monotheism. He and his followers gave the world the 42 Negative Affirmations of Ma'at which were precusors to what is known today as the 10 Commandments. Unless you have a thorough background in Ancient Egyptian history and religion, his dissertation could be very difficult to follow. As a prerequisite to reading the Bible Myth, I strongly urge the novice to read Anthony Browder's Nile Valley Contribution of Civilization. Using modern text book and teaching techniques, Browder provides an excellent foundation to allow you to decipher much of what Greenberg is presenting. Other scholars who has done an enormous amount of research in the these areas are: Josef Ben-Jochanan African Origins of Western Religions Civilization or Barbarism We, the Black Jews Chiek Ante Diop Precolonial Black Africa African Origins of Western Civilzation

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The SBL Handbook of Style: For Ancient Near Eastern, Biblical, and Early Christian Studies Review

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(More customer reviews)This easy-to-use, inexpensive volume is a must-own for all who write in the fields of biblical and ancient near eastern studies. College and seminary students, graduate students, teachers, and researchers will find this book a fine substitute for Turabian and/or the CMOS for all but the most obscure situations. The discipline-specific nature of the work also allows greater depth of coverage without making it overlong. Get it today, or be behind the standard tomorrow.

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The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts Review

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(More customer reviews)In "The Bible Unearthed," Israel Finkelstein and Neil Silberman display a rare talent among scholars--the ability to make specialized research accessible to a general audience. In this book the authors reveal how recent archaeological research forces us to reconsider the historical account woven into the Hebrew Bible. Among the conclusions they draw are:
1) The tales of patriarchs such as Abraham are largely legends composed long after the time in which they supposedly took place. This is seen in anachronisms such as the use of camels, not domesticated in the Near East until nearly 1000 years after Abraham's time, in many of the stories.
2) There is good reason to believe that the Exodus never happened. Had migrants to the number of even a small fraction of the 600,000 claimed in the Bible truly sojourned in the Sinai Peninsula for 40 years, archaeological evidence of their passage would be abundant. In fact, there are no traces of any signifant group living in the Sinai at the supposed time of the Exodus.
3) The Israelite "conquest" of Canaan, such as there was, was far from the military invasion of the books of Joshua and Judges. Many of the cities described as being conquered and destroyed did not even exist at the time, while those that did were small, unfortified villages, with no walls to be brought down, by blowing trumpets or otherwise.
4) While there is evidence that a historical David existed, and founded some sort of ruling dynasty known by his name, there is good reason to believe that he did not rule over the powerful united monarchy described in II Samuel. One reason for doubt: Jerusalem, portrayed as the great capital of a prosperous nation, was during the time of David little more than a village.
5) Neither Israel nor Judah emerged as organized kingdoms until significantly after the supposed period of the united monarchy. Israel does not appear as a recognizable kingdom until the time of the Omrides of the 9th century BCE, while Judah does not appear as such until the late 8th century BCE, at the time of kings Ahaz and Hezekiah.
Along with their revision of the biblical account of history, Finkelstein and Silberman attempt to explain the origins of the Hebrew Bible, suggesting that the composition of much of the Bible can be tied to the religious agenda of King Josiah of Judah during the late 7th century BCE. While the origins of the Bible will never be known with certainty--there simply isn't enough evidence--Finkelstein and Silberman definitely provide a plausible interpretation.
The authors, as I noted above, do a superb job of making their work understandable to non-specialists; since even college history majors often don't study the ancient Near East, they take care to include sufficient background information for the reader to understand the context of their account. Anyone with an interest in the subject will find "The Bible Unearthed" to be fascinating reading. And anyone who thinks the Bible is an accurate history book should definitely read it.

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A Brief History of Ancient Israel Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a short, concise and readable introduction to the history of Jews, from Genesis to Alexander. I want to emphasize that the organization directly considers Israelite history in relation to the content of the Bible. However, Matthews also makes extensive use of recent archaeology data and scholarly papers. This is meant to be an 'up-to-date' history, and in this aspect it succeeds. Reading is aided by several tables to simplify information. I dare say this is the perfect textbook for an impatient student.

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This is a brief history of ancient Israel.

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History of Ancient Israel Review

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(More customer reviews)J. Maxwell Miller and John H. Hayes' A History of Ancient Israel and Judah provides a solid introduction to the methods and problems of studying the development of the kingdoms that came to be known as Israel and Judah. The book deals with events from the time of Israel's origins (the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages) to the work of Ezra and Nehemiah (the fifth and fourth centuries BCE). On the whole, A History is more cautious with the biblical texts than other histories of ancient Israel, such as John Bright's A History of Israel. Miller and Hayes spend less time offering guesses about the more speculative aspects of Israel's history, such as the patriarchs and exodus, and concentrate their efforts on the later period (tenth to fifth centuries BCE) for which conclusions are more certain. From its beginning, this study is very much set within the geographical, political, economic, and religious context of the ancient Near East and Egypt as a whole. Perhaps the most attractive feature of this work is the inclusion of both photographs and fairly complete translations of extra-biblical documents pertinent to various stages of Israel's history. A History is divided into chronological segments, and the authors proceed by summarizing the biblical texts germane to the time period, critically examining these accounts along with extra-biblical and archaeological evidence, and then drawing conclusions. If the book has a major weakness, it is the absence of either footnotes or endnotes, but the authors provide a sizable topical bibliography at the conclusion of the book, and overall, A History of Ancient Israel and Judah is sound, readable scholarship.

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Discusses the history of Israel during Old Testament times and examines economic and political factors.

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Biblical Peoples and Ethnicity: An Archaeological Study of Egyptians, Canaanites, Philistines,... (Archaeology and Biblical Studies (Brill Academic Publishers), No. 9.) Review

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(More customer reviews)Killebrew's book attempts to sift archaeological, historical and biblical data to discover what distincitves can be known about some of the ancient people groups of the Levant, specifically the Egyptians, Canaanites, Israelites, and Philistines.
Egyptian presence in Canaan is seen as an imperial link rather than aggressive domination (total control). The author disagrees with the view that Canaanites were attempting to emulate Egyptian styles and sees cultural artifacts as evidence of Egyptian enclaves, some especially set up as administrative districts for regulation and the collection of taxes. The Philistine occupation of the Levant is understood by the author as one of intentional colonization rather than a group of invaders or migrating conquerors and much of the author's writing moves in support of that view. For the Canaanites, mostly data from composite archaeological findings is presented, including temples, burials, housing, & especially pottery. Defining the Canaanites is a struggle and so they are identified primarily by date and region. Little is said about the Transjordanian Edomites, Moabites and Ammonites in the book.
Killebrew's acceptance of the current position that Israel emerged from native Canaanites makes her identification of Israel a bit speculative. Israel is seen as a mixed people group derived from the native Canaanite population under the influence of Egyptian politics. Briefly discussed are some of the ethnic identifiers for Israel that have been suggested previously, for example, the four room house or the collared rim storage jar. The author is sensitive to the biblical story but rejects much of the biblical record as having any historical value.
The book is a bit more orientated toward ethnic interchange or cultural migration than an examination of ethnic identity. It is well documented and Killebrew supports her views with ample reference to archaeological data, especially pottery, and there is little emphasis on linguistic material. Her discussions of pottery will be perceived as a bit tedious to some but they provide helpful material in support of her points and reduce perceptions of speculation. The emphasis on pottery is an expression of the author's expertise in that area but also a reminder of how little physical evidence for a discussion of ethnicity really exists.
The book is a helpful summary of archaeological data, especially pottery, and a helpful presentation of the many issues involved in seeking the ethnicity of ancient peoples. Her presuppositions about the origins of Israel and the biblical narrative shape her conclusions about Israel.

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