The Social History of Ancient Israel: An Introduction by Dr. Jim West

The Social History of Ancient Israel: An Introduction
July 1, 2008 — Jim

Bob Todd of Fortress Press sent along a review copy of this new volume and it certainly is quite engaging. Even fascinating. The author is Professor of Old Testament at Marburg, and he isn’t, by any stretch of the imagination, without ability. As I review it, I’ll post here at the appropriate chapter segment and update the time stamp accordingly.
1- The Social History Method
In the first chapter of the book K. sets out his methodology. His opening sentence is programmatic: ‘The Social History of Ancient Israel is treated in these pages as a discipline of historical study. At the same time, it is an essentially theological discipline, because the Hebrew Bible, as the fundamental theological document of Judaism and Christianity, tells the story of God…’ (p. 1). Before diving into the deep waters he has just suggested he will navigate, he carries on in the remainder of the chapter with a review of Fernand Braudel’s theories, a description of social history, and a very important overview of the history of scholarship, which concludes with something of a mini-bibliography of the most recent works in the field relevant for his present purpose. He makes mention, among others, of Oswald Loretz (who borrowed from Hans Bobek the concept of ’sharecropping’ to describe ‘… the social relationships in the background of the prophets’ social critique…’)(p.11); Niels Peter Lemche, who is credited with ‘a first, important impulse’ in terms of research of Israelite social history; Rainer Albertz, Erhard Gerstenberger, Paula McNutt, Norman Gottwald, and J.David Pleins (p.12).

Fortress has made available this first chapter in pdf should you wish to take a look at it for yourself.

Part One: Methods for Studying the Social History of Israel
2- Environment as Living Space
3- Material Remains
4- The Texts of the Hebrew Bible
5- In Search of Analogies
Part Two: The Epochs of Israel’s Social History
6- Israel’s Origins as Kinship-Based Society
7- Israel and Judah: From Early Statehood to Full Development
8- The Formation of an Ancient Class Society
9- Exiles and their Consequences
10- Provincial Society Under Persia
11- The Jewish Ethnos in the Hellenistic Age
12- Conclusion
Posted in books.
One Response to “The Social History of Ancient Israel: An Introduction”