Search results for ""Author Hans M. Barstad""

In this collection of essays, Hans M. Barstad deals thoroughly with the recent history debate, and demonstrates its relevancy for the study of ancient Israelite history and historiography. He takes an independent stand in the heated maximalist/minimalist debate on the historicity of the Hebrew Bible. Vital to his understanding is the necessity to realize the narrative nature of the ancient Hebrew and of the Near Eastern sources. Equally important is his claim that stories, too, may convey positivistic historical "facts". The other major topic he deals with in the book is the actual history of ancient Judah in the Neo-Babylonian and Persian periods. Here, the author makes extensive use of extant ancient Near Eastern sources, both textual and archaeological, and he puts much weight on economic aspects. He shows that the key to understanding the role of Judah in the 1st millennium lays in the proper evaluation of Judah and its neighbouring city states within their respective imperial contexts. A proper understanding of the history of Judah during the 6th century BCE, consequently, can only be obtained when Judah is studied as a part of the much wider Neo-Babylonian imperial policy.

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This volume of collected essays focuses on the relationship between the different texts within Isaiah 40-66. It reinvestigates and challenges the traditional division between chapters 40-55 and 56-66 and explores new ways of reading the last 27 chapters of the book of Isaiah. Each article examines Isaiah 40-55 and/or Isaiah 56-66 and highlights continuity and discontinuity within this material.Some contributions belong to the tradition of historical-critical research. They examine existing models of textual development of Isa 40-66 and offer new suggestions. They also explore the interplay between the historical development of the text and its thematic continuity and discontinuity. Is the consistent use of a theme a sign of single authorship? Alternatively, are changes in the way a given issue is treated a sign of multiple authorship? Other contributions explore the final form of Isaiah 40-66 and suggest reading strategies that do justice to the message of the extant text. Yet other articles make case studies of specific elements of Isaiah 40-66. What is the significance of these texts for the theological development of the ancient Israelite religion? Further, how do they interact with and transform other texts in the Hebrew Bible?

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