The Oxford History of the Biblical World

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Like last summer when I read through THE OXFORD HISTORY OF ISLAM, this time I read through THE OXFORD HISTORY OF THE BIBLICAL WORLD. While I wasn't familiar with most of the material in the former, I was at least nominally familiar with a lot of the material presented in this volume. And as a consequence, I was able to absorb (and finish) it a lot quicker. It consists of 12 scholarly essays on the different historical periods from prehistory up to a few hundred years after the Roman Empire split. The earlier chapters were a little less interesting to me, insofar as they had to rely a lot more heavily on the archaeological record (read: a lot of pottery), but the reconstruction of pre-Israelite history was still eye-opening. I wasn't really looking to confirm any biases regarding the Bible's historicity, but it was helpful to see where it diverged and (quite surprisingly, at points) where they coincide. Though this may not occur to the average Bible reader, the people who wrote/compiled the Bible weren't primarily interested in historical accuracy as seen through modern eyes and methods, instead writing with a more theological purpose. Even with that in mind, you still learn a lot about where Judaism and Christianity came from and how they adapted and set themselves apart from the multiplicity of religious traditions surrounding them. In between, there was a lot of war, moving populations, and exchanging of ideas. The Biblical literalist will probably find a lot of what they read here hard to swallow, but I have a feeling that most open-minded people would (and should) give it a shot. There certainly is a lot to digest here, but it's definitely worth your time.

Great book. Print is a bit small.

Fast and book was in great shape

A must-have for every biblical student's library. I have spent HOURS just perusing this volume that covers thousands of related subjects. My #3 fave reference book behind Strongs & Brown Driver Briggs