Who Were the Early Israelites, and where Did They Come From?Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2003 - 268 pagine This book addresses one of the most timely and urgent topics in archaeology and biblical studies -- the origins of early Israel. For centuries the Western tradition has traced its beginnings back to ancient Israel, but recently some historians and archaeologists have questioned the reality of Israel as it is described in biblical literature. In "Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come From?" William Dever explores the continuing controversies regarding the true nature of ancient Israel and presents the archaeological evidence for assessing the accuracy of the well-known Bible stories. Confronting the range of current scholarly interpretations seriously and dispassionately, Dever rejects both the revisionists who characterize biblical literature as pious propaganda and the conservatives who are afraid to even question its factuality. Attempting to break through this impasse, Dever draws on thirty years of archaeological fieldwork in the Near East, amassing a wide range of hard evidence for his own compelling view of the development of Israelite history. In his search for the actual circumstances of Israel's emergence in Canaan, Dever reevaluates the Exodus-Conquest traditions in the books of Exodus, Numbers, Joshua, Judges, and 1 & 2 Samuel in the light of well-documented archaeological evidence from the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age. Among this important evidence are some 300 small agricultural villages recently discovered in the heartland of what would later become the biblical nation of Israel. According to Dever, the authentic ancestors of the Israelite peoples were most likely Canaanites -- together with some pastoral nomads and small groups of Semiticslaves escaping from Egypt -- who, through the long cultural and socioeconomic struggles recounted in the book of Judges, managed to forge a new agrarian, communitarian, and monotheistic society. Written in an engaging, accessible style and featuring fifty photographs that help bring the archaeological record to life, this book provides an authoritative statement on the origins of ancient Israel and promises to reinvigorate discussion about the historicity of the biblical tradition. |
Sommario
The Current Crisis in Understanding the Origins of Early Israel | 1 |
The Exodus History or Myth? | 7 |
The Conquest of Transjordan | 23 |
The Conquest of the Land West of the Jordan Theories and Facts | 37 |
Facts on the Ground The Excavated Evidence for the Archaeological Rediscovery of the Real Israel | 75 |
More Facts on the Ground Recent Archaeological Surveys | 91 |
A Summary of the Material Culture of the Iron I Assemblage | 101 |
Previous Attempts at a Synthesis of Textual and Artifactual Data on Early Israel | 129 |
Yet Another Attempt at Synthesis Early Israel as a Frontier Agrarian Reform Movement | 167 |
Who Were the Early Israelites? Ethnicity and the Archaeological Record | 191 |
Salvaging the Biblical Tradition History or Myth? | 223 |
Some Basic Sources Usually in Chronological Order | 242 |
258 | |
261 | |
267 | |
Toward Another Synthesis on the Origins and Nature of Early Israel | 153 |
Altre edizioni - Visualizza tutto
Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come From? William G. Dever Anteprima limitata - 2006 |
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