Memories of Ancient Israel

Recent years have seen an explosion of writing on the history of Israel, prompted largely by definitive archaeological surveys and attempts to write a genuine archaeological history of ancient Israel and Judah. The scholarly world has also witnessed an intense confrontation between so-called minimalists and maximalists over the correct approach to the historicity of the Bible. Memories of Ancient Israel looks at the issues at stake in biblical history--the ideologies involved, the changing role of archaeology, and the influence of cultural contexts both ancient and modern. Philip Davies suggests a different way of defining the problem of 'reliability' and 'historicity' by employing the theory of cultural memory. In doing so, he provides a better explanation of how ancient societies constructed their past but also a penetrating insight into the ideological underpinnings of today's scholarly debates.

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