"In Prelude to Israel's Past, Lemche examines the nature and function of Old Testament historical narrative. Is the biblical narrative a reliable source of historical knowledge? Or does it have a literary and theological life of its own - proclaiming a truth that cannot be contested because it recounts "events" that happened once upon a time? Lemche explores these questions from two directions. First, he analyzes the biblical narratives from Abraham to Moses and demonstrates that these narratives are literature, not documents written by professional historians. Second, he compares the biblical portrait of the patriarchs with what we know about this period from other ancient sources. He urges that the Bible continues to guide and console a believing people not because it is a historically accurate record of past events but because its living stories recount a truth unfettered by time and culture."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

In recent times Biblical archaeology has been heavily criticised by some camp who maintain that it has little to offer Near Eastern archaeology. However, some scholars carry on the fight to change people's views and this collection of essays continues the trend towards reassessing and reemphasising the link between the Bible and archaeology.

The debate over history, history-writing, and the scientific study of history is reaching an apex in the late twentieth century and shows no signs of abating in the near future. The literature on the topic is prodigious. The time is thus ripe for an anthology of essays of the sort that Professor Long has collected, essays that trace the history of the issues that have fed into the debate. The classic and contemporary essays presented here provide an overview and introduction to the topic, bringing together the most essential of these in a handy compilation. The book is organized in six sections: (1) The State of Old Testament Historiography (2) Ancient Near Eastern Historiography (3) Ancient Israelite Historiography (4) Method in the Study of Ancient Israelite Historiography (5) The Historical Impulse in the Old Testament (6) The Future of Israel’s Past Long’s goal is to provide a context for Israelite history-writing within the milieu of the ancient Near East, expose the methodologies and assumptions of various approaches and perspectives on historiography, and provide access to essays that examine the contribution of the Hebrew Scriptures themselves to the origins of history-writing. The final essay, by Long, points the way to future research and topics that will move the discussion forward into the next millennium. Professor V. Philips Long teaches Old Testament at Covenant Theological Seminary, St. Louis.

A collection of essays that offers a narrative of the intellectual, commercial, spiritual, philosophical, scientific, and aesthetic real-world creative engagement among Jews, Muslims, and some Christians in daily life in Spain and around the Mediterranean.

First published in 1959, this book by eminent professor of Middle Eastern studies, Alan R. Taylor, traces the Zionist endeavors to establish a Jewish state in Palestine from the founding of the Zionist movement in 1897 to the creation of Israel, with special emphasis on the diplomatic methodology involved. It ‎deals specifically with the Zionist formulation of particular goals, and the implementation of policies designed to achieve these goals.