This insightful work examines the variety of ways that collective memory, oral tradition, history, and history writing intersect. Integral to all this are the ways in which ancient Israel was shaped by the monarchy, the Babylonian exile, and the dispersions of Judeans and the ways in which Israel conceptualized and interacted with the divine-Yahweh as well as other deities.
Mark S. Smith is Helena Professor of Old Testament Literature and Exegesis at Princeton Theological Seminary and Skirball Professor Emeritus of Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at New York University. He is the author of over 120 articles, 17 books, and 5 co-authored books: most recently, Where the Gods Are: Spatial Dimensions of Anthropomorphism in the Biblical World (2016) and The Genesis of Good and Evil: The Fall(out) and Original Sin in the Bible (2019).
Acknowledgments Abbreviations Time Lines: Periods, Events, and Writings Maps Introduction The Biblical Backdrop to the Story Introduction: The Bible and the Task of History The Mythic Period of Moses The Period of the Judges (ca. 1200-1000?) The Period of the Monarchy (ca. 1000-586) The "Exile" (ca. 586-538) The Persian Period (ca. 540-333) Challenges to Israel during the Biblical Period Premonarchic Challenges The Challenges of the United Monarchy: Saul, David, Solomon The Challenges of the Divided Monarchy Responses to the Fall of Judah and Jerusalem (586) Persian Period Challenges Textual Creations as Responses to Postexilic Life Concluding Remarks and Reflections Biblical Monotheism and the Structures of Divinity Introduction Structures of Divinity: Deities versus Divine Monsters The Divine Council and the Divine Family: From Polytheistic Ugaritic through Polytheistic Israel to Monotheistic Israel Monotheism: From Crises to New Religious Vision The Formation of Israel's Concepts of God: Collective Memory and Amnesia in the Bible Introduction Collective Memory and Amnesia Re-membering Divinity at Mount Sinai "Methods of Monotheism" and Collective Memory Cultural Memory and Amnesia of Divinity through the Lens of Divine Oneness Postscript: Biblical Memory between Theology and History Biblical Narrative and Systematic Theology Revelation, Tradition, and the Idolatry of History The Paradox of Revelation: Eternal yet Temporal Revelation and the Limits of the Biblical Canon Biblical Supersessionism World Theology Sources and Bibliogrpahy Index
