Niels Peter Lemche Livres

Focusing on the evolution of the historical-critical method, this comprehensive overview by Niels Peter Lemche examines its rise, influence, and eventual decline in Old Testament studies. He analyzes the authorship of Old Testament texts and argues that the perceived "collapse of history" does not hinder critical examination. Additionally, Lemche explores the theological implications of this shift and surveys twentieth-century developments in Old Testament and biblical theology. An appendix provides a historical account of Palestine, independent of Old Testament narratives.

When this provocative text was first published, Lemche presented a new model of how we should understand Israelite society, its history and its religion. Lemche argues first that 'Israel' was the result of a social development among the Canaanite population of Palestine in the second half of the second millennium BCE. This implies that Israelite religion was originally 'Canaanite' and that what we think of as typically 'Jewish' religion did not arise until c. 500 BCE. Lemche's radical reassessment of Israelite history is based on the conviction that the Old Testament contains hardly any historical sources older than the seventh century BCE. The early history of Israel must therefore be reconstructed from archaeological results and non-biblical evidence, not from the Old Testament. In this new edition Lemche provides an extensive new introduction and bibliography, considering how the field has developed since the work first appeared.

Exploring the concepts of cultural memory and the redaction of Psalms, this work highlights the significance of prophetic literature in shaping Christian theology. It offers fresh perspectives on how these elements intertwine to influence religious thought and practice. The book delves into the historical and theological implications of these texts, providing a deeper understanding of their role within the broader context of faith and tradition.

This study addresses the development of 'Minimalism' from its roots in the historical-critical paradigm and outlines an alternative theory which exposes and explains the intention behind the fallacy of using a story found in the Old Testament to simply invent the biblical concept of Israel.

Die Erzvatererzahlungen der Genesis wie auch die Auszugs- und Wustenerzahlungen in Exodus bis Numeri sind keine historischen Berichte, sondern Ergebnisse erzahlerischer Gestaltung, die kaum vor Mitte des 1. Jahrtausends v.Chr. anzusetzen sind. Auf der Basis von schriftlichen Quellen und des archaologischen Befunds wird die Profangeschichte Syriens und Palastinas im 2. Jahrtausend v.Chr. rekonstruiert. Mehrfach wurden die Klein- und Stadtstaaten im Zentrum des syrisch-palastinischen Raums von Stammesgesellschaften der Peripherie (u.a. Ammoniter, Moabiter, Israeliten) abgelost. Besonderes Interesse gilt dem geistigen und religiosen Leben, wie es sich in der Literatur der Bronzezeit spiegelt. Abschliessend wird gefragt, was es bedeutet, das Alte Testament nicht als ein Buch der Geschichte, sondern als ein Buch von Geschichten - Erzahlungen - zu betrachten.