Recommended Reading

[neilmarr]

Hope you chaps won't mind a new kid on the block opening a thread in this section of the forums.

As I mentioned in an introductory post, my reading on archaeology has been pretty superficial over the years -- magazine articles, articles on the web or archaeology-dedicated chapters included in books where the main focus was elsewhere; so I'm keen to play catch-up so that I might be able to contribute something here.

So far, I've ordered *The Bible Unearthed* (a fair startng point, I'm told) and I'll spend the weekend reading in the forum here and following what links there are in the hope of discovering more literature that can be understood by the layman.

I wondered, though, if perhaps those of you with some study under your belts might kick off a reading list by, from time to time, suggesting books on the subject at hand (in my case for a raw beginner, but maybe there's also value in swapping reading recommendations for those with more experience) in a fixed thread on the boards.

Eighteen months or so ago when I joined another forum, I found book recommendations from those more clued up on, for instance, ancient middle eastern history invaluable. Special thanks to Seeker for several good suggestions, by the way.

Best wishes. Neil

[Minimalist]

The Quest for Historical Israel is a more recent follow up and follows a set of lectures that Finkelstein and Amihai Mazar gave at Oxford.

Finkelstein's David and Solomon is also quite revealing.

William G. Dever has three books out since 2000 and they become progressively more minimalistic. They're all good but Did God Have A Wife is the real eye-opener.

[Ishtar]

Hi Neil

I find linguistic Frank Moore Crosse's work very good and recommend two of his books:

1. Cananaite Myth and Hebrew Epic: Essays in the history of the religion of Israel.

2. From Epic to Canon: Hstory and Literature in Ancient Israel.

Also, a very useful book is The Bible With Sources Revealed by Richard Elliott Friedman, which shows who wrote which bits of the Pentateuch.

Min says there is some new work coming out that may overtake this - but if its from those punks in Copenhagan, I will be highly sceptical!

[Minimalist]

N. P. Lemche also has a new book coming out. I've pre-ordered that one.

[neilmarr]

Many thanks, chaps. I'm keeping a list, as I'm sure others will. There's certainly the material out there from what you say. Really looking forward to getting into it and other books that might be recommended in the future. You folks are tremendously generous with help for a newcomer. Much appreciated. Cheers. Neil

PS: Wonder if anyone else of my laughably advanced age found the Internet like a breath of fresh air when it came to reading up on non-partisan biblical matters. For decades, I'd scour bookshops and draw a blank year by year. Now, the problem is actually trying to keep up with the huge volume of valuable material on offer. If only this resource had been open to me in my teens and twenties ... N

[Ishtar]

The Internet's changing the world, Neil, faster too than we could have ever imagined.

As I'm sure you know, back in the dark ages, those who owned the information owned the power. But now, everyone owns the information - and if they don't like, they change it!

[spluris]

I realize this is an old thread but as a new member I have been scanning some of the various threads and felt the need to reply to this one. I'm going to guess that since 1998 I've learned more about many topic of interest than I did in the previous 30 years. Two things come to mind however. Verify,verify,verify. Much of what I see I know to be incorrect. In depth information in many instances must still be found the old fashion way by reading books even though that too is changing. Regardless, the web is the greatest card catalog ever.