How Old Is the Hebrew Bible?: A Linguistic, Textual, and Historical Study

✍ Scribed by Ronald Hendel; Jan Joosten

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Year: 2018
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 239
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

From two expert scholars comes a comprehensive study of the dating of the Hebrew Bible

The age of the Hebrew Bible is a topic that has sparked controversy and debate in recent years. The scarcity of clear evidence allows for the possibility of many views, though these are often clouded by theological and political biases. This impressive, broad-ranging book synthesizes recent linguistic, textual, and historical research to clarify the history of biblical literature, from its oldest texts and literary layers to its youngest. In clear, concise language, the authors provide a comprehensive overview that cuts across scholarly specialties to create a new standard for the historical study of the Bible. This much-needed work paves the path forward to dating the Hebrew Bible and understanding crucial aspects of its historical and contemporary significance.

✦ Table of Contents

Contents
Preface Or, Why Did We Write This Book?
Abbreviations
1. All Things Change: Language and Method
2. Kinds and Causes of Linguistic Change
3. How to Handle Linguistic Variation
4. Textual History and Linguistic History
5. Inscriptions and Preexilic Hebrew Literature
6. Transitional Biblical Hebrew
7. Pseudoclassicism: Late Biblical Hebrew and Qumran Hebrew
8. Consilience and Cultural History: The Ages of Biblical Literature
Appendix 1. Historical Linguistics and the Books of the Hebrew Bible: A Bibliographical Survey
Appendix 2. A Critique of the Revisionist Model
Notes
Bibliography
Index of Scripture and Other Ancient Sources
Index of Authors
Index of Subjects
Index of Words and Expressions