Strengthening Biblical Historicity vis-à-vis Minimalism, 1992–2008, Part 1: Introducing a Bibliographic Essay in Five Parts

Abstract

This is the first in a series of five articles that cover one aspect of a debate in biblical and ancient Near Eastern studies. In question is the historical reliability of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament). Historical/biblical minimalism, the side in the debate that finds the Hebrew Bible almost completely unreliable as a source for history, has already received substantial bibliographic treatment. Therefore, this series attempts to provide balance by covering the literature in support of historical reliability. These articles focus not on modern histories of ancient Israel, but rather, on publications related to the historicity of the nonmiraculous assertions and references in the biblical text. Because of the nature of the debate, the series treats works in English from 1992 through 2008 on the historicity of the biblical content regarding the periods preceding the return from exile (itself disputed) soon after 539 BCE. The other planned articles are Part 2, the literature of critique, methodology, and perspective; Part 3, the literature on the Hebrew Bible in general that supports historicity; Part 4, the literature that supports historicity within particular periods, and Part 5, the literature on internal evidences in the Hebrew Bible.