An Introduction to the History of Israel and Judah'Brisk, easy to read and never dull'; 'with a certain freshness and freedom about it, lacking in more rigid presentations'; 'no serious student will want to be without it'; 'there is always room for a good new study, and this is one of the best'. Alberto Soggin's Introduction to the Histoy of Israel and Judah has always been regarded as one of the vey best works on a subject which abounds with probkems, and this third edition, completely reset, and updated, including bibliographies, to the end of the 1990s, keeps it a leader in its field. Sterring a middle course between those who argue that a history of Israel can no longer be written because the sources that we have prove inadequate, and what now seems to be the exteme conservativism of the old classic, John Bright's History of Israel, this book presents all the problems and where they cannot be resolved, provides the evidence and leaves the reader with the current situation. Professor Soggin sums up his basic presuppositions in his new Preface. 'It is recognized that the texts of the Bible are not historical texts in the moderrn sense of the word, but testimonies of faith. Their interest for history consists solely in the fact that the authors see the hand of God in this history. That such a criterion cannot be used today for writing a history of Israel and Judah (or of any other people) should be obvios.' J. Albetro Soggin is Emeritus Professor of Hebrew Language and Literature in the University of Rome and honorary Professor at the Waldension Theological Seminary. |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
accepted according already ancient appears Assyrian attempt authors beginning Bible biblical Bibliography called Canaan century city-state clearly completely connected conquest coord David death difficult Donner Egypt Egyptian elements empire especially evidence exile existence Ezra fact figure Finally followed give given groups hand happened Hebrew identified important indicated interesting Israel Israel and Judah Israelite Jerusalem Jewish Josephus Judah Judaism Judges kind kingdom Kings land later least London material means mentioned Moreover Moses narrative North Noth original perhaps period Persian person Philistines political population possible present present-day Priest probably problem prophets proposal reasons refer region reign relations religion remained revolt Rome scholars seems settlement situation Solomon sources speak taken tell temple term territory Testament texts theory took tradition tribes various