2007/10/25 by Lester L. Grabbe · 3 citations
Arts and Humanities · #Archaeology #Archaeology and Historical Studies #Biblical Studies and Interpretation #Classics #Computer science #History #History of Israel #Judaism #Law #Minimalism (technical communication) #Monarchy #Mormonism, Religion, and History #Political science #Politics
paper · doi:10.5871/bacad/9780197264010.003.0005
openalex publication_date 2007/10/25 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
A lot of people write on the history of ancient Israel, from biblical scholars to archaeologists and social scientists. However, most such writers are not historians and often do not understand what a proper historical investigation should look like. This has been the bane of the history of Israel: that most of those who write on history are ultimately not interested in history as such. This chapter examines some issues relating to scholarly debate that are not always understood because they relate to approaches and attitudes, yet which are often more important in the direction taken by debate than the actual issues of data and specific scholarly method. These issues include minimalism vs. maximalism, whether the United Monarchy ever existed, ad hominem arguments by conservative evangelicals, and the forgery of antiquities.