Patronage in Ancient Palestine and in the Hebrew Bible: A Reader
By Emanuel Pfoh
Published: May 2022
£80.00
Patron—client relationships have been documented and studied by anthropologists and sociologists since the 1950s. They are known in rural settings and urban locations alike, and virtually in every region of the world. But it was only in the last decades of the twentieth century that this analytical model was slowly incorporated into the socio-political interpretation of biblical texts and other ancient Near Eastern sources. The patronage model proves to be a useful interpretative tool, casting new light on many aspects of the history of Israel and of other socio-political communities in the southern Levant. Moreover, the concept of patron—client relationships clarifies many of the implicit socio-politics found in the narratives and motifs of several biblical books.
This remarkable and comprehensive new reader collects over 20 studies by renowned scholars dealing with different aspects and situations of patronage: in the context of Southwest Asia (the 'Middle East') during the second millennium bce, in relation to the history of ancient Palestine during the first millennium bce, and as well with references to patron—client ties in texts of the Hebrew Bible. While these selected papers do not presume to offer an exhaustive treatment of periods, historical cases and themes in ancient Palestine and in Hebrew Bible literature, they variously illustrate the many possibilities of the concept of patronage to elucidate them.
Patronage in Ancient Palestine and in the Hebrew Bible: A Reader
By Emanuel Pfoh
£80.00
Patron—client relationships have been documented and studied by anthropologists and sociologists since the 1950s. They are known in rural settings and urban locations alike, and virtually in every region of the world. But it was only in the last decades of the twentieth century that this analytical model was slowly incorporated into the socio-political interpretation of biblical texts and other ancient Near Eastern sources. The patronage model proves to be a useful interpretative tool, casting new light on many aspects of the history of Israel and of other socio-political communities in the southern Levant. Moreover, the concept of patron—client relationships clarifies many of the implicit socio-politics found in the narratives and motifs of several biblical books.
This remarkable and comprehensive new reader collects over 20 studies by renowned scholars dealing with different aspects and situations of patronage: in the context of Southwest Asia (the 'Middle East') during the second millennium bce, in relation to the history of ancient Palestine during the first millennium bce, and as well with references to patron—client ties in texts of the Hebrew Bible. While these selected papers do not presume to offer an exhaustive treatment of periods, historical cases and themes in ancient Palestine and in Hebrew Bible literature, they variously illustrate the many possibilities of the concept of patronage to elucidate them.
The Politics of Israel’s Past: The Bible, Archaeology and Nation-Building
Published: July 2013
£60.00
It is not uncommon that historical images —presented as simply given, self-evident and even indisputable —are employed in political readings of the past and used as a legitimizing tool. For that reason, the authors of this volume, biblical scholars, archaeologists, anthropologists and historians, undertake a deconstruction of modern biblical discourses on the Bible's production and the history of ancient Israel, enabling the exploration of critical approaches to ancient Palestine's past, to the history of the peoples of the region, to the history of the biblical text(s) and, last but not least, to the modern political uses of biblical narratives as legitimizing land ownership and nationalisms.
Among the topics treated are the appearance of Judaism and its connection to the production of biblical literature, the politics of archaeological practice in Israel, the role of archaeology in the production of nationalist narratives of the past, the relationship between genetic studies and Jewish nationalism, and the prospects for writing critical histories of ancient Palestine beyond biblical images and religious and political aspirations.
Each article illustrates the close relationship between the Bible, archaeology and processes of nation-building in the State of Israel. The Politics of Israel's Past concerns itself both with the ways in which contemporary politics affects the knowledge of the past and with the processes by which constructions of an ancient past legitimate modern political situations.
The Politics of Israel’s Past: The Bible, Archaeology and Nation-Building
£60.00
It is not uncommon that historical images —presented as simply given, self-evident and even indisputable —are employed in political readings of the past and used as a legitimizing tool. For that reason, the authors of this volume, biblical scholars, archaeologists, anthropologists and historians, undertake a deconstruction of modern biblical discourses on the Bible's production and the history of ancient Israel, enabling the exploration of critical approaches to ancient Palestine's past, to the history of the peoples of the region, to the history of the biblical text(s) and, last but not least, to the modern political uses of biblical narratives as legitimizing land ownership and nationalisms.
Among the topics treated are the appearance of Judaism and its connection to the production of biblical literature, the politics of archaeological practice in Israel, the role of archaeology in the production of nationalist narratives of the past, the relationship between genetic studies and Jewish nationalism, and the prospects for writing critical histories of ancient Palestine beyond biblical images and religious and political aspirations.
Each article illustrates the close relationship between the Bible, archaeology and processes of nation-building in the State of Israel. The Politics of Israel's Past concerns itself both with the ways in which contemporary politics affects the knowledge of the past and with the processes by which constructions of an ancient past legitimate modern political situations.
Remembered for Good: A Jewish Benefaction System in Ancient Palestine
By Susan Sorek
Published: Oct 2010
£60.00
This is the first monograph devoted to the system of community benefaction practised by Jews in Palestine from the second century BCE to the sixth century CE. Principal is the evidence from synagogue inscriptions erected to patrons and donors from the second century CE onwards. All these inscriptions are reviewed, together with a re-examination of how they are to be translated.
Sorek is especially interested in the motivation for benefactions, and concludes that the Jewish system attested in the inscriptions is specific to the Jewish community. It was not merely a copy of the well-known Graeco-Roman system of euergetism, in which rich citizens contributed from their wealth to public expenses. But neither was the Jewish system properly an expression of charity, as has often been thought. Sorek argues that the benefaction system is best understood as an expression of hesed , the meaning of which she explores in detail.
Remembered for Good: A Jewish Benefaction System in Ancient Palestine
By Susan Sorek
£60.00
This is the first monograph devoted to the system of community benefaction practised by Jews in Palestine from the second century BCE to the sixth century CE. Principal is the evidence from synagogue inscriptions erected to patrons and donors from the second century CE onwards. All these inscriptions are reviewed, together with a re-examination of how they are to be translated.
Sorek is especially interested in the motivation for benefactions, and concludes that the Jewish system attested in the inscriptions is specific to the Jewish community. It was not merely a copy of the well-known Graeco-Roman system of euergetism, in which rich citizens contributed from their wealth to public expenses. But neither was the Jewish system properly an expression of charity, as has often been thought. Sorek argues that the benefaction system is best understood as an expression of hesed , the meaning of which she explores in detail.
The Emergence of Early Israel in Historical Perspective
Published: Feb 2010
£20.00
This highly original study takes a panoramic view of history in order to set the emergence of Israel in the broadest possible perspective. It begins with a study of the nature of history writing and the increasing problems involved in utilizing the biblical text for historical reconstruction. The authors suggest an alternative approach which assigns priority to interpreting archaeological data within a broad interdisciplinary framework. The book provides a broad overview of settlement patterns and social relations throughout Palestinian history from the middle of the third millennium BCE to the present day in order to illustrate how the emergence of Israel in the early Iron Age fits into the march of time.
Archaeological evidence for the appearance of dispersed settlements in the highlands and steppes of Palestine at the beginning of the early Iron Age followed by the rapid centralization of this area suggests that Israel emerged within Palestine in response to the decline in east Mediterranean trade at the end of the Late Bronze Age. The development of an Israelite monarchy is seen as being inextricably linked to the factors involved in Israel's emergence-as distinct from much previous research which has presented the monarchy as alien to the origins of Israel.
This volume is a reprint of the 1987 edition with a new preface by Robert B. Coote and Keith W. Whitelam setting the work in the context of recent debates on the history of ancient Israel.
The Emergence of Early Israel in Historical Perspective
£20.00
This highly original study takes a panoramic view of history in order to set the emergence of Israel in the broadest possible perspective. It begins with a study of the nature of history writing and the increasing problems involved in utilizing the biblical text for historical reconstruction. The authors suggest an alternative approach which assigns priority to interpreting archaeological data within a broad interdisciplinary framework. The book provides a broad overview of settlement patterns and social relations throughout Palestinian history from the middle of the third millennium BCE to the present day in order to illustrate how the emergence of Israel in the early Iron Age fits into the march of time.
Archaeological evidence for the appearance of dispersed settlements in the highlands and steppes of Palestine at the beginning of the early Iron Age followed by the rapid centralization of this area suggests that Israel emerged within Palestine in response to the decline in east Mediterranean trade at the end of the Late Bronze Age. The development of an Israelite monarchy is seen as being inextricably linked to the factors involved in Israel's emergence-as distinct from much previous research which has presented the monarchy as alien to the origins of Israel.
This volume is a reprint of the 1987 edition with a new preface by Robert B. Coote and Keith W. Whitelam setting the work in the context of recent debates on the history of ancient Israel.
To Break Every Yoke: Essays in Honor of Marvin L. Chaney
Published: Oct 2007
£50.00
Marvin L. Chaney (San Francisco Theological Seminary and the Graduate Theological Union, 1969 to 2006) enjoys international recognition for his seminal role in defining and developing a social-historical approach to the Hebrew Scriptures.
Among the 20 papers in this Festschrift, Phyllis Bird writes on Israelite women's religious activity outside the household, Robert Coote on the dating of J, William Dever on archaeology and the social world of Isaiah, Patricia Dutcher-Walls on queen mothers and royal politics in late-monarchic Judah, John H. Elliott on the semantics of envy, jealousy, and zeal in the Bible, Frank Frick on sexual imagery in Hosea 1 —3, Norman Gottwald on the interplay of religion and ethnicity in biblical Israel, Ron Hendel on the anthropology of food in the priestly Torah, David Hopkins on agricultural labor in ancient Palestine, Richard Horsley on the political roots of early Judean apocalyptic texts, Carol Meyers on Iron II Judean pillar figurines, Richard Rohrbaugh on Zacchaeus as defender of Jesus' honor, Katharine Sakenfeld on postcolonial perspectives on Rahab, Ruth, and Jael, Luise Schottroff on the notions of world rule and serving God in traditions about Jesus, Keith Whitelam on mapping ancient Israel, Antoinette Wire on the God of Jesus in Mark, and Gale Yee on recovering marginalized groups in ancient Israel.
To Break Every Yoke: Essays in Honor of Marvin L. Chaney
£50.00
Marvin L. Chaney (San Francisco Theological Seminary and the Graduate Theological Union, 1969 to 2006) enjoys international recognition for his seminal role in defining and developing a social-historical approach to the Hebrew Scriptures.
Among the 20 papers in this Festschrift, Phyllis Bird writes on Israelite women's religious activity outside the household, Robert Coote on the dating of J, William Dever on archaeology and the social world of Isaiah, Patricia Dutcher-Walls on queen mothers and royal politics in late-monarchic Judah, John H. Elliott on the semantics of envy, jealousy, and zeal in the Bible, Frank Frick on sexual imagery in Hosea 1 —3, Norman Gottwald on the interplay of religion and ethnicity in biblical Israel, Ron Hendel on the anthropology of food in the priestly Torah, David Hopkins on agricultural labor in ancient Palestine, Richard Horsley on the political roots of early Judean apocalyptic texts, Carol Meyers on Iron II Judean pillar figurines, Richard Rohrbaugh on Zacchaeus as defender of Jesus' honor, Katharine Sakenfeld on postcolonial perspectives on Rahab, Ruth, and Jael, Luise Schottroff on the notions of world rule and serving God in traditions about Jesus, Keith Whitelam on mapping ancient Israel, Antoinette Wire on the God of Jesus in Mark, and Gale Yee on recovering marginalized groups in ancient Israel.