The Hebrew Bible

Published by New York University Press 2007

The Hebrew Bible

New Insights and Scholarship

Edited by: Frederick E. Greenspahn

Volume 4 in the series Jewish Studies in the Twenty-First Century

https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9780814733080.001.0001

Overview
Contents

About this book

In April of 2001, the headline in the Los Angeles Times read, “Doubting the Story of the Exodus.” It covered a sermon that had been delivered by the rabbi of a prominent local congregation over the holiday of Passover. In it, he said, “The truth is that virtually every modern archeologist who has investigated the story of the exodus, with very few exceptions, agrees that the way the Bible describes the exodus is not the way it happened, if it happened at all.” This seeming challenge to the biblical story captivated the local public. Yet as the rabbi himself acknowledged, his sermon contained nothing new. The theories that he described had been common knowledge among biblical scholars for over thirty years, though few people outside of the profession know their relevance.
New understandings concerning the Bible have not filtered down beyond specialists in university settings. There is a need to communicate this research to a wider public of students and educated readers outside of the academy. This volume seeks to meet this need, with accessible and engaging chapters describing how archeology, theology, ancient studies, literary studies, feminist studies, and other disciplines now understand the Bible.

Author information

GreenspahnFrederick E.:

Frederick
E. Greenspahn is Gimelstob Eminent Scholar of
Judaic Studies at Florida Atlantic University.
He is the editor of The Hebrew
Bible, Women in Judaism, Jewish Mysticism and Kabbalah, and Contemporary Israel, as well as
author/editor of numerous other titles, including When Brothers Dwell Together.

Reviews

This collection admirably bridges the gap between biblical scholarship and lay readership, allowing laypeople to engage in the ‘conversations’ that have been ongoing for decades in academic circles and to ‘reach their own conclusions.

S. David Sperling,author of The Original Torah:
This superb collection written by scholars for non-specialists should be required reading for anyone who wants to understand the most important issues in the contemporary study of the Bible.

John J. Collins,Yale University:
An excellent supplementary textbook for survey courses on the Hebrew Bible or on biblical scholarship.

The goal of the present book is to try to introduce lay Jewish audiences to some of the results of modern biblical research.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Abbreviations Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Part I The Bible and History
1 Israel Without the Bible Gary A. Rendsburg Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2 Bible, Archaeology, and the Social Sciences: The Next Generation Elizabeth Bloch-Smith Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	24
Part II New Approaches to the Bible
3 Literary Approaches to Biblical Literature: General Observations and a Case Study of Genesis 34 Adele Berlin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	43
4 Feminist Approaches to the Hebrew Bible Esther Fuchs Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	76
Part III Ancient Practice
5 The Laws of Biblical Israel Raymond Westbrook Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	97
6 The Study of Ritual in the Hebrew Bible David P. Wright Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	120
Part IV Judaism and the Bible
7 By the Letter?/Word for Word? Scripture in the Jewish Tradition Leonard Greenspoon Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	139
8 From Judaism to Biblical Religion and Back Again Ziony Zevit Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	164
9 Jewish Biblical Theology Marvin A. Sweeney Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	191
Epilogue: Let a Hundred Flowers Bloom: Some Reflections on Reading and Studying the Hebrew Bible Peter Machinist Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	209
About the Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	219
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	221
Index of Biblical Passages Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	227

Language: English
Publisher: New York University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Keywords: Accessible; engaging; chapters; describing; archeology; theology; ancient; studies; literary; feminist; other; disciplines; understand; Bible

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Published: December 1, 2007
ISBN: 9780814733080

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New Insights and Scholarship