The Chronicler in His Age


Book Description




The Chronicler in His Age


Book Description

In The Chronicler in His Age, the content of the book of Chronicles characterizes a range of information and concentrates on the nature and composition of Judah and Jerusalem. Ackroyd also notes that the Chronicler had a deep concern for those who were exiled and the theology that also was a part of their lives. By being designated as “the Chronicler,” the theory of the author being in a central point is given, but according to Ackroyd, that idea must be made accurate so that we can have a larger view of the interpretation that is a part of that period of time.




An Ancient Israelite Historian


Book Description

“Kalimi, one of the esteemed specialists of the Chronicler’s work... has provided us an intriguing historical and theological study about the Chronicler’s work that will surely provoke further discussion.” — Stefan Beyerle, In: Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic and Roman Period 37 (2006). “Among Biblical scholars of Jewish background, Kalimi shows an outstanding ability to see and draw relationships between original passages and sources as well as ancient and modern commentaries.... Kalimi accomplished what he promised in the title of the book: to demonstrate that the Chronicler is “an ancient Israelite historian.'" - Chen Yiyi, In: Journal of Ancient Civilizations 24 (2009). “The book is another important contribution to the study of Chronicles by an eminent expert on that field, and as such is indispensable on every scholar’s desk, not only in the field of Chronicles but also for everyone with an interest in biblical historiography in general.” – M. Marciak, In: The Polish Journal of Biblical Research 8 (2009). “Professor Kalimi is to be congratulated for these two works, which are perhaps the finest analysis of Chronicles in the recent decades. Tons of ink has been spent on discussions that have gone above basic questions that the author has analyzed point by point, and no doubt studies in the future have come in the work of Kalimi a base and inescapable benchmark for discussions.” – J.M. Tebes, In: Antiguo Oriente 8 (2010).




The Chronicler's Genealogies


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King Manasseh and Child Sacrifice


Book Description

The Hebrew Bible portrays King Manasseh and child sacrifice as the most reprehensible person and the most objectionable practice within the story of 'Israel'. This monograph suggests that historically, neither were as deviant as the Hebrew Bible appears to insist. Through careful historical reconstruction, it is argued that Manasseh was one of Judah's most successful monarchs, and child sacrifice played a central role in ancient Judahite religious practice. The biblical writers, motivated by ideological concerns, have thus deliberately distorted the truth about Manasseh and child sacrifice.




The Shape of the Writings


Book Description

Are the Writings a miscellaneous collection of books, as is so often asserted, or do they have a purposeful design or arrangement? Over the past 35 years, there has been a significant amount of scholarly interest in the shape of the Law, Former Prophets, Twelve Minor Prophets and the Psalms, while examinations of the shape of the Writings were almost nonexistent until very recently. The 11 essays in this volume explore this often-neglected issue from a variety of critical perspectives—reader-centered approaches, canonical, structural-canonical, and redactional—made more robust by the mix of German- and English-language scholarship on this question, including 4 articles translated from German into English. Essays range from the historical development of the collection, to analysis of the collection’s different arrangements, to the relationship of books and subcollections within the Writings, to the reception of the collection in Jewish and Christian sources. Every book in the Writings is discussed, with particular attention given to Job, Ruth, and 1 and 2 Chronicles. The volume closes with 3 critical responses from John Barton, Tamara Cohn Eskenazi, and Christopher Seitz.




Hezekiah and the Dialogue of Memory


Book Description

Hezekiah is a critical figure in the Hebrew Bible, which credits him with major political, social, and religious reforms in Judah’s history and the weathering of a major crisis in the invasion of the Assyrians under their emperor, Sennacherib. Examining the different accounts of Hezekiah’s reign in 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles, and Isaiah, Song-Mi Suzie Park describes a “Hezekiah complex” that developed over a long time, in which the figure of Hezekiah served as a symbol for the vicissitudes of Judah’s history. The king could be understood as a positive reformer of the “pagan” ways of the country, or as a sinner, at least partly responsible for the threats and disasters that befell Judah, from Sennacherib’s invasion through the Babylonian exile more than a century later. By showing how the stories about Hezekiah developed over time through a process of response and counterresponse, forming at the end a dialogue of memory, Park elucidates the ways in which biblical stories in general function as loci of continual dialogue, dispute, and discussion.




Tradition and Transformation in the Book of Chronicles


Book Description

This monograph contributes to a better understanding of the Book of Chronicles. The past forty years have seen a complete transformation in the study of the Book of Chronicles. The former domination of Chronicles by parallel texts in the Books of Samuel and Kings made way for studying the historical, sociological, literary, theological, and ideological aspects of Chronicles in their own right. This book/document is now increasingly recognized as being of major interest to the Second Temple Period. Reading the book of Chronicles, it appears that the Chronicler is constantly transforming Israel's tradition(s) into a new theological and ideological system. In this study, attention is, therefore, paid both to specific texts, such as 1 Chronicles 17; 21; 2 Chronicles 20; 26, and to particular central themes, such as the special function of Jerusalem, and the peculiar way of how the Chronicler presents prophets, war narratives, and genealogies.




The Chronicler's History


Book Description

Martin Noth's study of the Chronicler's History may not be so widely known as his celebrated Deuteronomistic History (published by JSOT Press in English translation in 1981). However, as Williamson argues in his introduction, written specially to accompany this translation, it was a most significant contribution to the study of Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah, and a translation of it has been long overdue. In view of the recent revival of interest in this body of literature, it is important that English-speaking readers should have first-hand access to one of the seminal studies in this field.