The Oxford History of the Biblical World - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195087070 ISBN 13: 9780195087079

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1999

Synopsis

Here, in one impressively illustrated volume, leading scholars offer compelling glimpses into the biblical world, the world in which prophets, poets, sages, and historians created one of our most important texts--the Bible.
For more than a century, archeologists have been unearthing the tombs, temples, texts, and artifacts of the ancient Near East and the Mediterranean world. Using new approaches, contemporary scholars have begun to synthesize this material with the biblical traditions. The Oxford History of the Biblical World incorporates the best of this scholarship, and in chronologically ordered chapters presents the reader with a readable and integrated study of the history, art, architecture, languages, literatures, and religion of biblical Israel and early Judaism and Christianity in their larger cultural contexts. The authors also examine such issues as the roles of women, the tensions between urban and rural settings, royal and kinship social structures, and official and popular religions of the region. Readers will find that 200 photographs, line drawings, and maps as well as an insert containing 25 color photographs vividly illustrate the history discussed.
Understanding the biblical world is a vital part of understanding the Bible. Broad, authoritative, and visually engaging, The Oxford History of the Biblical World will illuminate for any reader the ancient world from which the Bible emerged.

About this title

About the Author:

Michael D. Coogan received a Ph.D. in Near Eastern languages and literatures from Harvard University. He has excavated in Israel, Jordan, Cyprus, and Egypt. The coeditor ofThe Oxford Companion to the Bible and author of many other books and publications, he is currently director of publications for the Harvard Semitic Museum and professor of religious studies at Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts.

From Library Journal:

Coogan (religious studies, Stonehill Coll.) has assembled a dozen scholars with impressive credentials in ancient Near Eastern studies to assist him in creating this work of immense scope. These contributors bring varied perspectives to their work as they draw from new primary and secondary sources based on recent archaeological excavations (often their own) and on translations of texts such as the Dead Sea Scrolls. Organized chronologically, the essays explore the many cultures of ancient Canaan, Israel, Judea, and Palestine from 10,000 B.C.E. to the rise of Islam in the seventh century C.E. Illustrations, maps, charts, chronologies, and bibliographies enhance the uniformly well-written essays. But the strengths of the work are its currency and breadth of coverage and perspective. Appropriate for all libraries with collections in religion or Near Eastern studies, and of particular interest to students of biblical history and archaeology. [For another book edited by Coogan, see The Illustrated Guide to World Religions, reviewed on p. 72.?Ed.]?Linda V. Carlisle, Southern Illinois Univ., Edwardsvill.
-?Linda V. Carlisle, Southern Illinois Univ., Edwardsville
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0195087070
• ISBN 13: 9780195087079
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 672
• Editor: Coogan Michael D.