Enquire of the Former Age

Lester L. Grabbe is Professor of Hebrew Bible and Early Judaism at the University of Hull. He is founder and convenor of the European Seminar in Historical Methodology. A recent book is Ancient Israel: What Do We Know and How Do We Know it?

• I. INTRODUCTION; LESTER L. GRABBE, Introduction; II. RESEARCH PAPERS; EHUD BEN ZVI, General Observations on Ancient Israelite Histories in their Ancient Contexts; PHILIP R. DAVIES, The Origin of Biblical Israel; E. AXEL KNAUF, Against Historiography--in Defence of History; CHRISTINE MITCHELL, Why the Hebrew Bible Might Be All Greek to Me: On the Use of the Xenophontic Corpus in Discussions of Biblical Literature; LUKASZ NIESIOLOWSKI-SPANO, (Pseudo-)Eupolemus and Shechem: Methodology Enabling the Use of Hellenistic Jewish Historians' Work in Biblical Studies; III. BOOK REVIEWS AND RESPONSES; REVIEW OF: William G. Dever, What Did the Biblical Writers Know and When Did They Know It? (2001) and Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come from? (2003); RAINER ALBERTZ, Review of William G. Dever; WILLIAM G. DEVER, A Response to Rainer Albertz; REVIEW OF: Lester L. Grabbe, A History of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period 1: Yehud: A History of the Persian Province of Judah (2004); EHUD BEN ZVI, 'From My Corner of the Field': A Preliminary Response to L. L. Grabbe, A History of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period:Volume 1. Yehud: A History of the Persian Province of Judah; LESTER L. GRABBE, Damn, I Thought They'd Never Notice: Response to Ehud Ben Zvi; REVIEW OF: Jens Bruun Kofoed, Text and History: Historiography and the Study of the Biblical Text (2005); NIELS PETER LEMCHE, Evading the Facts: Notes on Jens Bruun Kofoed: Text and History: Historiography and the Study of the Biblical Text (2005); JENS BRUUN KOFOED, Factualising the Evasion; REVIEW OF: Mario Liverani, Oltre la Bibbia: Storia antica di Israele (2003) / Israel's History and the History of Israel (2005); JOSEPH BLENKINSOPP, A Different Kind of Minimalism: Mario Liverani's Oltre la Bibbia; PHILIP R. DAVIES, Way Beyond the Bible--but Far Enough?; MARIO LIVERANI, Response; REVIEW OF: Steven L. McKenzie, King David: A Biography (2000), and Baruch Halpern, David's Secret Demons: Messiah, Murderer, Traitor, King (2001). BOB BECKING, David at the Threshold of History; BARUCH HALPERN, David and the Historical Imagination: A Counterpoint in Evocation; REVIEW OF: Iain Provan, V. Philips Long, and Tremper Longman III, A Biblical History of Israel (2003); LESTER L. GRABBE, The Big Max: Review of A Biblical History of Israel by Iain Provan, V. Philips Long, and Tremper Longman III IAIN PROVAN, V. PHILIPS LONG, and TREMPER LONGMAN III, 'Who Is the Prophet Talking about, Himself or Someone Else?' (Acts 8.34): A Response to Lester Grabbe's Review of A Biblical History of Israel; REVIEW OF: J. Alberto Soggin, Storia d'Israele / A History of Israel (1984-2002); LESTER L. GRABBE, Alberto Soggin's Storia d'Israele: Exemplifying Twenty Years of Debate and Changing Trends in Thinking; IV. CONCLUSIONS; LESTER L. GRABBE, Reflections on the Discussion.

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