Biblical Studies and the Failure of History

Niels Peter Lemche is Professor in the Faculty of Theology, University of Copenhagen.

• Introduction1 - The ‘Hebrew slave’: comments on the slave law, Exodus 21:2-11 2 - The manumission of slaves – the fallow year – the Sabbatical Year – the Jubilee Year3 - Andurārum and Mišarum: comments on the problem of social edicts and their application in the ancient Near East4 - The Greek ‘amphictyony’: could it be a prototype for Israelite society in the Period of the Judges?5 - The chronology in the story of the Flood6 - ‘Hebrew’ as a national name for Israel7 - Rachel and Leah: on the survival of outdated paradigms in the study of the origin of Israel8 - The Old Testament: a Hellenistic book?9 - Power and social organization: some misunderstandings and some proposals, or is it all a question of patrons and clients?10 - Is it still possible to write a history of ancient Israel?11 - Is it still possible to speak about an ‘Israelite religion’? From the perspective of a historian12 - Kings and clients: on loyalty between the ruler and the ruled in ancient ‘Israel’13 - Justice in western Asia in antiquity, or why no laws were needed!14 - From patronage society to patronage society15 - Are we Europeans really good readers of biblical texts and interpreters of biblical history?16 - History writing in the ancient Near East and Greece17 - Good and bad in history: the Greek connection18 - On the problems of reconstructing pre-Hellenistic Israelite (Palestinian) history19 - How does one date an expression of mental history? The Old Testament and Hellenism20 - Chronology and archives: when does the history of Israel and Judah begin?21 - ‘Because they have cast away the law of the Lord of Hosts’, or ‘We and the rest of the world’: the authors who ‘wrote’ the Old TestamentIndex