The Origin of the History of Israel: Herodotus' Histories as Blueprint for the First Books of the Bible

by Jan-Wim Wesselius, Andrew Mein (Editor), Claudia V. Camp (Editor)

Overview

This book demonstrates that Primary History, the historical work contained in the first nine books of the Hebrew Bible (Genesis-2 Kings), was written as one unitary work, in deliberate emulation of the Greek-language Histories of Herodotus of Halicarnassus (completed c. 440 BCE); the diversity of its books and sections is largely a literary device. The work was most likely written in the period 440-420 BCE, in the period of reform usually associated with the name of Nehemiah. Though this thesis does not directly affect questions of historicity, understanding the literary nature of primary history promises to open new vistas for research into the history of Israel, the Hebrew Bible in general and the history of the Hebrew language.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781841272672
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	06/18/2002
Series:	The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies , #345
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Andrew Mein is Lecturer in Old Testament at the University of Durham, UK.

Claudia V. Camp is Professor of Religion at Texas Christian University, USA and was on the steering committee of the Seminar. She is currently co-general editor of the LHBOTS series, as well as the author or editor of 4 books and numerous articles.