DrJim

No one wanting to get into the min/max debate should be without P.R. Davies, In search of Anceint Israel. The new edition is, I believe paper back, and so probably reasonably affordable. This was one of the seminal works in the minimalist camp, and is really interesting reading.

Also consider,
Philip R. Davies, Scribes and Schools, The Canonization of the Hebrew Scriptures. Westminster John Knox, 1998,
Niels Peter Lemche. The Israelites in History and Tradition, Westminster John Knox, 1998

Niels Peter Lemche, Prelude to Israel's Past. Background and Beginnings of Israelite History and Identity, Hendrickson, 1998.

Thomas L. Thompson. Early History of the Israleite People: From the Written and Archaeological Sources, Brill, 1992 (being from Brill, it is probably rediculously expensive).

Lester, L. Grabbe (editor), Did Moses Speak Attic? Jewish Historiography and Scripture in the Hellenistic Period, Sheffield Academic Press, 2001. This is a collection of papers addressing the minimalist debate from various sides. Some of it may be beyond the level of the uninitiated: some of the best biblical scholars are arguing among themselves here. the book is also really expensive, SAP used to give private scholars a 50% discount on hardcover books when there was no paper-back edition. I do not know if they still do now that they were bought by Continuum International of New York. IF they do, you would have to order direct from Continuum, and clear it with them. I think they do online orders.

E. Theodore Mullen, Jr. Ethnic Myths and Pentateuchal Foundations. A New Approach to the Formation of the Pentateuch. Society of Biblical Literature, Scholars Press, 1997. Paperback.

A serious introduction:
S. L. McKenzie and M. P. Graham, The Hebrew Bible Today, An Introduction to Critical Issues. Westminster John Knox, 1998 (are all W.J.K. books published in 1998? I've listed 3 already, or maybe I made a mistake on the dates!) This is a good start to the critical study of the Hebrew Bible / Old Testament by some of the leading scholars. It presupposes some basic familiarity with the Bible already. No nice pictures, just fine discussions on academic issues. paperback.


Ancient Israelite History / Religion:
Ziony Zevit, The Religions of Ancient Israel A Sythesis of Parallactic Approaches, Continuum, 2001. THE new standard: this is NOT a rationalization of the bilbical naratives but is one of the most sophisticated approaches to the subject ever done (notice the plural, RELIGIONS). Very thorough, 800 pages, very very expensive. Read it over a year or so in a library, unless you are rich.
Less intimidating studies of the anceint Israelite religion but still written by highly reputable scholars are the recent books by

Victor H. Matthews, A Brief History of Ancient Israel Westminster John Knox, 2002.

Susan Niditch has one on Israel's religion, but I don't have any info on it to hand. I remember a professor friend thought it was good.

Mark S. Smith, The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel's Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. I haven't seen this one either, but it is on my 'to buy soon' list.

Hope these help.

Celsus

Hello DrJim,

... and welcome to the forum. Are you a minimalist yourself? I've been meaning to get Lemche and Thomson for a while now, but alas, Singapore is not the best place to find their works. Would you be willing to recommend the two single best books to read? (I am somewhat familiar with OT scholarship, though only really just getting into it, as a hobby.) I look forward to your perspectives in future debates (if only we can get more OT discussions going--paging Apikorus, Apikorus come in...)

Joel

Apikorus

Hi Celsus. I contributed something earlier this morning on a thread in which DrJim had posted. It's very nice to see another Hebrew Bible aficionado here, especially a professional.

DrJim recommended Zevit's tome, and I enthusiastically concur. I'm only a third through it right now, but it really does set a new standard for the field. I'd add to his list Blenkinsopp's introductory book, The Pentateuch. Blenkinsopp gives a very fair shake to minimalist scholars like John van Seters (who has argued for a postexilic Yahwist).

DrJim

Hello Celsus
Am I a minimalist?

I'm sort of tottering between being 'above it all' and a foaming-at-the-mouth minimalist in which 'minimalism' and 'maximalism' is best understood as the 'likelihood of error'! I think the minis have the methodologically superior starting point, but when I concentrate on that and the percieved errors of their rivals, I have a bad tendency to throw the baby out with the bath water, which can also be said of Davies and Thompson in some regards. I've learned a heck of a lot from people with whom I sharply disagree, and some of the horrid things Dever, Davies, Provan, Thompson etc. have said about each other in print and in confernce presentations is disturbing.

Yet to me, the old certainties of 'historical-criticism', which had as its fundamental premise that there was a kernel in each biblical text that originally dated from the time it purported to describe, is completely without justification. THis is what Davies' 'In Search of..' is all about, and that would be my first choices for you.

As for a second pick, I do not know. There is no beginners or intermediate minimalist introduction to the Hebrew Bible that I am aware of. I might write one one decade (but not this one). A lot of the current discussion is either nasty articles in Biblical Archaeology Review, or rather more technical discussions in the specialist journals. I think the McKenzie and Graham volume would be a good balanced approach: it is used in some University's as a text, and should be easy to order. You might want to read it first, then consult Davies. Then try Devers 'What did they know.' then look for some of the reveiws and responses to Devers available online. That should keep you busy for a while!

Celsus

Thank you very much DrJim. Perhaps a Philosophy of Archaeology needs to be worked out? (I'm half serious)

As for Apikorus, damn this paging thing really works! (And get with the program, I've already bought and finished Blenkinsopp based on your recommendation. )

Joel

Secular Pinoy

Thanks for the recommendations, DrJim. I will try to look for them. I hope some of your entries would attain the status of "official canon" in the IIDB (IOW, Peter Kirby's Recommended Reading List).

Apikorus

One aspect of Hebrew Bible studies which is generally unappreciated by novices - particularly those who spend their time arguing with the biblically credulous - is the degree to which the minimalist school has shifted the center of the debate. 15 years ago, a scholar like William Dever was battling conservative forces on his right. In his book "Recent Archaeological Discoveries and Biblical Research" he often twits the conservative Albrightean scholars for their lack of objectivity. Jump to 2002, when Dever is busily at work slaying (he thinks) the dragon of biblical minimalism which has emerged on his left.

Fundamentalists often assert things like "the Documentary Hypothesis is in shambles" in an attempt to stake out a position. I'd say that classic HB source criticism a la Wellhausen has taken a beating but has only bent and not broken. No serious scholars doubt that there are multiple sources to the Pentateuch, and in some cases their identification is compelling, if ultimately conjectural. (For a rare case of later archaeological discoveries largely confirming the methods of source criticism, see J. Tigay on evolution of the Gilgamesh epic, especially on the 19th century work of Morris Jastrow.)

What the fundamentalists don't realize is how true their words ring if one only reverses their intended meaning: the Documentary Hypothesis is more in a shambles from the work of minimalist scholars, who tend to push the composition of the HB forward to the Persian and even Hellenistic era. Noone is writing articles in the society journals arguing whether Moses wrote the Pentateuch.