The Oxford Illustrated History of the Holy Land

Description

The story of the Holy Land, encompassing the three millennia that saw the birth of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Each chapter is written by a leading scholar and is highly illustrated with paintings, photographs, and ancient texts.

• The history of the Holy Land, from the origins of Israel through to fall of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I.
• Traces the 3,000 years which saw the rise of three of the world's major religions — Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
• Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how the religious institutions still prevalent today have evolved over the centuries, and the historical background to the modern politics of the Middle East.
• A stimulating, thematic approach to topics usually overlooked in historical surveys — pilgrimage, the concept of holy space, and the nature of scripture.
• Each chapter is written by a leading scholar, under the expert guidance of H.G.M. Williamson and Robert G. Hoyland.
• Highly illustrated with paintings, photographs, and ancient texts, this is a fascinating documentation of a region central to the cultural and intellectual history of the world.

About the Author(s)

Edited by Robert G. Hoyland, Professor of the late Antique and early Islamic History of the Middle East, Institute for Study of the Ancient World, NYU, and H. G. M. Williamson, Emeritus Regius Professor of Hebrew, University of Oxford

H. G. M. Williamson was until recently Regius Professor of Hebrew at Oxford University. His expertise in the texts of the Old Testament is complemented by his active participation in the archaeology of the Biblical period in the Holy Land.

Robert G. Hoyland is Professor of Late Antique and Early Islamic Middle Eastern History at New York University's Institute for the Study of the Ancient World. His books include Arabia and the Arabs (Routledge, 2001) and In God's Path (OUP, 2015). He has embarked upon the excavation of the city of Partavi/Barda'a in modern Azerbaijan.

Table of Contents

Introduction
1:The Birth of Israel, Avraham Faust
2:Iron Age: Tribes to Monarchy, Lester L. Grabbe
3:Israel and Judah: c. 931-587 BCE, André Lemaire
4:Babylonian Exile and Restoration: 587-325 BCE, H. G. M. Williamson
5:The Hellenistic and Roman Era, John J. Collins
6:A Christian Holy Land: 284-638 CE, Konstantin Klein
7:The Coming of Islam, Milka Levy-Rubin
8:The Holy Land in the Crusader and Ayyubid periods: 1099 - 1250, Carole Hillenbrand
9:The Holy Land from the Mamluk Sultanate to the Ottoman Empire: 1260-1799, Nimrod Luz
10:From Napoleon to Allenby: the Holy Land and the wider Middle East, Robert Fisk
11:Pilgrimage, Robert G. Hoyland and Peter Walker
12:Sacred Spaces and Holy Places, Richard S. Hess and Denys Pringle
13:Scripture and the Holy Land, Adam Silverstein
Further Reading
Index

Reviews

"For those interested in the Bible, history or spiritual pilgrimage, this is a captivating guide and will be a great asset to anyone who has travelled, or will travel, to the Holy Land." - Mark W. Scarlata, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament

"The Oxford Illustrated History of the Holy Land is full of ... remarkable details. Thirteen fact-packed chapters, each by an expert in his or her field, take us on a tour from the earliest recorded history onwards. It is a remarkable, readable, and useful achievement, one that will illuminate a thousand sermons and provide much to think about for anyone interested in the subject." - William Whyte, Church Times

"Three great world faiths have invested so many hopes and passions in one relatively small part of the eastern Mediterranean seaboard and its hinterland, that there are risks even in calling it by a single name. This collective study of the "God-trodden land" is a richly informative, reliable, and sane guide to its troubled history: one valuable contribution to crafting it a more peaceful present and future." - Diarmaid MacCulloch, Professor of the History of the Church, University of Oxford