Description
Book SynopsisIn The Formation of the Hebrew Bible David Carr rethinks both the methods and historical orientation points for research into the growth of the Hebrew Bible into its present form. Building on his prior work, Writing on the Tablet of the Heart (Oxford, 2005), he explores both the possibilities and limits of reconstruction of pre-stages of the Bible. The method he advocates is a ''''methodologically modest'''' investigation of those pre-stages, utilizing criteria and models derived from his survey of documented examples of textual revision in the Ancient Near East. The result is a new picture of the formation of the Hebrew Bible, with insights on the initial emergence of Hebrew literary textuality, the development of the first Hexateuch, and the final formation of the Hebrew Bible. Where some have advocated dating the bulk of the Hebrew Bible in a single period, whether relatively early (Neo-Assyrian) or late (Persian or Hellenistic), Carr uncovers specific evidence that the Hebrew Bible
Trade ReviewCarrs bold attempt to challenge one of the most practiced methodologies in biblical studies is very welcome. It functions as a starting point for discussions about refining a methodology that has been criticized almost throughout its history. * Juha Pakkala, Marginalia, *
Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Oral-Written Model and the Formation of the Hebrew Bible ; Part One: Methodological Prologue: Textual Transmission in the Ancient World and How to Reconstruct It ; Chapter One: Memory Variants and Evidence of Oral-Written Transmission of Israelite Literature ; Chapter Two: Documented Cases of Transmission History, Part 1: Two Cases ; Chapter Three: Documented Cases of Transmission History, Part 2: Broader Trends ; Chapter Four: From Documented Growth to Method in Reconstruction of Growth ; Part Two: Excavating the History of the Formation of the Hebrew Bible ; Chapter Five: The Hasmonean Period: Finalization of Scripture in an Increasingly Greek World ; Chapter Six: The Hellenistic Period up to the Hasmonean Monarchy: Priestly and Diaspora Textuality ; Chapter Seven: The Persian Period: Textuality of Persian-Sponsored Returnees ; Chapter Eight: The Babylonian Period: Trauma, Exile and the Transition to Post-Monarchal Textuality ; Chapter Nine: Bible for Exiles: The Reshaping of Stories about Israel's Earliest History ; Chapter Ten: Textuality Under Empire: Reflexes of Neo-Assyrian Domination ; Chapter Eleven: From the Neo-Assyrian to Hasmonean Periods: Preliminary Conclusions and Outlook ; Part Three: The Shape of Literary Textuality in the Early Pre-Exilic Period ; Chapter Twelve: Early States in the Highlands of Judah-Israel and Evidence for Literary Textuality in Them ; Chapter Thirteen: Royal Psalms: Locating Judah and Israel's Early Pro-Royal Literature ; Chapter Fourteen: Proverbs and Israel's Early Oral-Written Curriculum ; Chapter Fifteen: Other Supposedly Solomonic Books: Song of Songs and Qohelet ; Chapter Sixteen: Other Biblical Texts Potentially from the Early Monarchal Period ; Chapter Seventeen: Toward a New Picture of Early Monarchal Texts in the Hebrew Bible ; Afterword ; Select Bibliography ; Select Index of Primary Text Citations ; Index of Subjects
