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This volume by the late Bernd J. Diebner presents an anthology of studies previously published only in German from 1971 to 2020 on a wide range of topics in biblical studies.
The 18 essays in this collection offer profound insight into the works of German scholarship which have strongly influenced biblical studies and related research in the 20th century. Being an important, but lesser recognized 'member' of the Copenhagen school, Diebner voiced serious criticism of contemporary biblical scholarship which is discussed in the first seven chapters. The remaining chapters offer challenging new perspectives on well-known themes, narratives, and compositions related to history, ideology, and archaeology, on the one hand, and text and canon, on the other, as alternatives to traditional historical-critical approaches.
Now published in English for the first time, this volume makes these essays available to Anglophone students and scholars of biblical and ancient Near Eastern studies.
About the author
Bernd J. Diebner (died 2023) was Hon.-Prof. of the Ruprecht-Karls University, Heidelberg, Germany; and a theologian (pastor, biblical studies, and church history), archaeologist (early Byzantine Studies), and orientalist (Coptic Studies). As founder and editor of DBAT, he has since 1972 authored and promoted an ongoing discussion and criticism of methods and ideology in the fields of ancient history, biblical interpretation, and theology. He is the author of Heilsgeschichte und Schriftprinzip (1989), Zephanjas Apokalypsen (2003), and Seit wann gibt es "jenes Israel" (2011), and co-editor of Vom Iteru-Mass bis zu Miriam bei March Chagal (2020).
Ingrid Hjelm is Associate Professor Emerita, University of Copenhagen, Denmark; former Director of the Palestine History and Heritage Project (2014-17); and general editor of CIS since 2011. She is the author of The Samaritans and Early Judaism (2000) and Jerusalem's Rise to Sovereignty (2004); co-author of The Ever Elusive Past (2019); and co-editor of Myths of Exile (2015), Changing Perspectives 6 and 7 (2016), and A New Critical Approach to the History of Palestine (2019).
Thomas L. Thompson is Professor Emeritus, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, 1993-2009; Research Fellow for the Tübinger Atlas des vorderen Orients, 1969-1976; and founder and general editor of CIS, 1996-2016. He has produced more than 20 books as author, co-author, and co-editor, six of which have been translated into Arabic. He is the author of The Historicity of the Patriarchal Narratives (1974), The Settlement of Palestine in the Bronze Age (1979), The Early History of the Israelite People (1992), The Bible in History (1999), The Messiah Myth (2005), and Biblical Narrative and Palestine's History (2013).
