McKenna, and William B. Nelson Jr.".

This book is a solid exposition of the relationship between the ancient near eastern world and ancient Israel. Contrary to popular conceptions that biblical literature was a response to the post-exilic condition, Kitchen demonstrates that in the light of the explosion of knowledge on the ancient near east it has become impossible to maintain critical and minimalist positions on the history and development of Israel and its religion. If one does decide to hold such a view, Kitchen explains that doing so makes Israel the only ancient nation incapable of transmitting its history and having elaborate religious rituals, which we now know were common characteristics of ancient civilizations from even before the time of Moses. Kitchen further explains that the modern minimalist views were born out of 19th century German critical theory, at a time when such knowledge of the ancient world simply did not exist. As a result, such scholars had to perform their research in a historical vacuum, and thus reconstructed the history of ancient Israel which has turned out, in the light of later research, to totally contradict the rest of the entire ancient near east. The momentum of this 19th century research, Kitchen explains, has carried on into the 20th (and 21st) centuries, coloring the views of many modern archaeologists and Old Testament scholars. This book is very important in the light of recent literature on the subject.

169 papers from the Toledo Congress of the European Association for Jewish Studies, offering a broad, realistic perspective on the advances, achievements and anxieties of Judaic Studies, from the Bible to our days, on the eve of the new millennium.

Few topics are as broad or as daunting as the God of Israel, that deity of the world's three monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, who has been worshiped over millennia. In the Hebrew Bible, God is characterized variously as militant, beneficent, inscrutable, loving, and judicious. Who is this divinity that has been represented as masculine and feminine, mythic and real, transcendent and intimate? The Origin and Character of God is Theodore J. Lewis's monumental study of the vast subject that is the God of Israel. In it, he explores questions of historical origin, how God was characterized in literature, and how he was represented in archaeology and iconography. He also brings us into the lived reality of religious experience. Using the window of divinity to peer into the varieties of religious experience in ancient Israel, Lewis explores the royal use of religion for power, prestige, and control; the intimacy of family and household religion; priestly prerogatives and cultic status; prophetic challenges to injustice; and the pondering of theodicy by poetic sages. A volume that is encyclopedic in scope but accessible in tone and was honored with all three of the major awards in the field in three seperate disciplines (American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR) 2020 Frank Moore Cross Award, 2021 American Academy of Religion Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion, 2021 Biblical Archaeology Society Biennial Publication Award for the Best Book Relating to the Hebrew Bible), The Origin and Character of God is an essential addition to the growing scholarship of one of humanity's most enduring concepts.

Gain a thorough understanding of the competing views on the historicity, chronology, and theological implications of the exodus. The biblical account of the Israelite exodus from Egypt is one of the most enduring narratives ever told and is a foundational event for several world religions. It resonates across cultures with its timeless themes of redemption and deliverance. It is also the only explanation the Bible gives for Israel's origin. Despite its unique legacy, many scholars regard the exodus as fictitious or a cultural memory that may not be a historical event. Even among those who believe the exodus happened, there is no consensus regarding its date. Five Views on the Exodus brings together experts in the fields of biblical studies, Egyptology, and archaeology to discuss and debate the most vexing questions about the exodus. Each offers their own view and constructive responses to other leading views: Early Date: The Exodus Took Place in the Fifteenth Century BC (Scott Stripling) Late Date: A Historical Exodus in the Thirteenth Century BC (James K. Hoffmeier) A Hyksos Levite Led Exodus in the Time of Ramesses II (Peter Feinman) Alternative Late Date: The Exodus Took Place in the Twelfth Century BC (Gary A. Rendsburg) The Exodus as Cultural Memory: A Transformation of Historical Events (Ronald Hendel) The Counterpoints series presents a comparison and critique of scholarly views on topics important to Christians that are both fair-minded and respectful of the biblical text. Each volume is a one-stop reference that allows readers to evaluate the different positions on a specific issue and form their own, educated opinion.

The book is a re-examination of the Old Testament and historic figures contained therein, plus a glimpse into the life of Jesus. The author finds fault with the chronologies of both archbishops Usher and Edwin Thiele, while showing a more accurate one for the Hebrew histories to have occurred using various disciplines. (Such as archeology, Assyriology, astronomy, Biblical studies, church history, Egyptology, Historic Geology, and Paleography.)

Is the Bible true? Was the Garden of Eden a real place that can be found on a map? Was there a Flood? Did a Hebrew man rise to great power in Egypt? Were the Israelites slaves in Egypt? Did they escape from bondage and were they saved from the pursuing Egyptians? Did the prophets correctly predict many of the major events in Israelite history? Were Elijah and Elisha agents in a great assassination plot? Did Amos become famous because of an accurate forecast? In thinking about the questions of biblical factuality, some embrace a rigid skepticism and are quick to dismiss the accuracy of the biblical narratives without weighing the evidence. They are content to read the Bible for its metaphorical and literary truths, forgetting that the Bible is based on the history of an ancient people. Fundamentalists, on the other hand, have the strong desire to find hard proof that the biblical facts are facts, only to be disappointed and frustrated. But is it reasonable to expect such proof? Archaeology and comparative texts must be examined for what they realistically can be asked to provide. In a series of readable essays written in an engaging manner and a positive mode, author Benjamin Edidin Scolnic evaluates the biblical texts in the light of all the information we possess at this time. Scolnic asks the reader to join the ongoing dialogue between faith and history by carefully reviewing the textual and material evidence with an open mind. He does not so much seek to prove or disprove the Bible, but rather attempts to find middle ground through the exploration of its historical dimension.

Joint winner of the 2011 Biblical Archaeology Society Publication Award in the category "Best Scholarly Book on Archaeology" The archaeology of the Holy Land is undergoing major change. 'Historical Biblical Archaeology and the Future' describes the paradigm shift brought about by objective science-based dating methods, geographic information systems, anthropological models, and digital technology tools. The book serves as a model for how researchers can investigate the relationship between ancient texts (both sacred and profane) and the archaeological record. Influential archaeologists and biblical scholars examine a range of texts, materials and cultures: the Vedas and India; the Homeric legends and Greek Classical Archaeology; the Sagas and Icelandic archaeology; Islamic Archaeology; and the Umayyad, Abbasid, and Ayyubid periods. The groundbreaking essays offer a foundation for future research in biblical archaeology, ancient Jewish history and biblical studies.

A groundbreaking history of the ethics of war in the ancient Near East Origins of the Just War reveals the incredible richness and complexity of ethical thought about war in the three millennia preceding the Greco-Roman period, establishing the extent to which ancient just war thought prefigured much of what we now consider to be the building blocks of the Western just war tradition. In this incisive and elegantly written book, Rory Cox traces the earliest ideas concerning the complex relationship between war, ethics and justice. Excavating the ethical thought of three ancient Near Eastern cultures—Egyptian, Hittite and Israelite—he demonstrates that the history of the just war is considerably more ancient and geographically diffuse than previously assumed. Cox shows how the emergence of just war thought was grounded in a desire to rationalise, sacralise and ultimately to legitimise the violence of war. Rather than restraining or condemning warfare, the earliest ethical thought about war reflected an urge to justify state violence. Cox terms this presumption in favour of war ius pro bello—the “right for war”—characterizing it as a meeting point of both abstract and pragmatic concerns. Drawing on a diverse range of ancient sources, Origins of the Just War argues that the same imperative still underlies many of the assumptions of contemporary just war thought and highlights the risks of applying moral absolutism to the fraught ethical arena of war.