Historical and Biblical Israel

The History, Tradition, and Archives of Israel and Judah

Reinhard G. Kratz
Translated by Paul Michael Kurtz

Provides a comprehensive portrait of the history of Israel and Judah in preexilic and postexilic times, from ca. 1200 BCE-135 CE
Describes the formation and history of the biblical literature
Considers those places or "archives" in which non-biblical as well as biblical texts were preserved, copied, edited, annotated, updated, and translated

Historical and Biblical Israel

The History, Tradition, and Archives of Israel and Judah

Reinhard G. Kratz
Translated by Paul Michael Kurtz

Description

At the center of this book lies a fundamental yet unanswered question: under which historical and sociological conditions and in what manner the Hebrew Bible became an authoritative tradition, that is, holy scripture and the canon of Judaism as well as Christianity. Reinhard G. Kratz answers this very question by distinguishing between historical and biblical Israel. This foundational and, for the arrangement of the book, crucial distinction affirms that the Israel of biblical tradition, i.e. the sacred history (historia sacra) of the Hebrew Bible, cannot simply be equated with the history of Israel and Judah. Thus, Kratz provides a synthesis of both the Israelite and Judahite history and the genesis and development of biblical tradition in two separate chapters, though each area depends directly and inevitably upon the other. These two distinct perspectives on Israel are then confronted and correlated in a third chapter, which constitutes an area intimately connected with the former but generally overlooked apart from specialized inquiries: those places and "archives" that either yielded Jewish documents and manuscripts (Elephantine, Al-Yahudu, Qumran) or are associated conspicuously with the tradition of the Hebrew Bible (Mount Gerizim, Jerusalem, Alexandria). Here, the various epigraphic and literary evidence for the history of Israel and Judah comes to the fore. Such evidence sometimes represents Israel's history; at other times it reflects its traditions; at still others it reflects both simultaneously. The different sources point to different types of Judean or Jewish identity in Persian and Hellenistic times.

Historical and Biblical Israel

The History, Tradition, and Archives of Israel and Judah

Reinhard G. Kratz
Translated by Paul Michael Kurtz

Introduction
Part A. The History of Israel and Judah
I. The Premises
1. The Beginning and End
2. The Sources
3. The Setting
4. The Origins of Israel
II. The Two Kingdoms
1. Transition to the Monarchy
2. Saul, David, and Solomon
3. The Kingdom of Israel
4. The Kingdom of Judah
III. The Two Provinces
1. Samaria, Judah, and the Diaspora
2. The Hasmonean Kingdom
3. The Herodian Kingdom
IV. An Outline of Religious History
1. The Religion of Israel and Judah
2. The Biblical Tradition
3. The Jewish Religion
Part B. The Biblical Tradition
I. The Premises
1. Scribal Culture and Biblical Tradition
2. Scribes and Scribal Schools
3. Writing and Writing Media
4. Pre-Biblical Written Sources
II. Transformation into Biblical Tradition
1. From Weal to Woe: The Prophetic Tradition
2. From People of State to People of God: The Narrative Tradition
3. From Justice to Law: The Legislative Tradition
4. From Divine Kingship to Kingdom of God: The Psalmic Tradition
5. From Sages to Pious: The Sapiential Tradition
III. The Books of the Hebrew Bible
1. The Law (Torah)
2. The Prophets (Nevi'im)
3. The Writings (Ketuvim)
4. Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha
IV. A Sketch of Literary History
1. Historical and Biblical Israel
2. The Era of the Two Kingdoms
3. The End of Israel
4. The End of Judah
5. The Era of the Two Provinces
6. A View of the Para-Biblical Tradition
Part C. Jewish Archives
I. The Locations of Literature
II. Between Elephantine and Qumran
1. Elephantine
Excursus: Al-Yahudu in Babylonia
2. Qumran
3. Gerizim
4. Jerusalem
5. Alexandria
III. Israel and Judaism
1. Non-Biblical and Biblical Judaism
2. History and Tradition
List of Kings and High Priests
Glossary
Bibliography
Index

Historical and Biblical Israel

The History, Tradition, and Archives of Israel and Judah

Reinhard G. Kratz
Translated by Paul Michael Kurtz

Author Information

Reinhard G. Kratz, Professor of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, University of Göttingen

Translated by Paul Michael Kurtz, Research Associate, Institute of Hebrew Bible, University of Göttingen

Reinhard G. Kratz is Professor of Hebrew Bible/ Old Testament at the University of Göttingen.; Paul Michael Kurtz is Research Associate at the Institute of Hebrew Bible, University of Göttingen.

Historical and Biblical Israel

The History, Tradition, and Archives of Israel and Judah

Reinhard G. Kratz
Translated by Paul Michael Kurtz

Reviews and Awards

"[T]he volume presents a complex, but well-documented and argued historical-critical view of how biblical Judaism, a movement that initially was one sect among many theologically and politically diverse 'non-biblical' Jewish groups, somehow came to dominance." - Jeffrey P. Hudon, Reading Religion