David the king, when studied against the backdrop of existing material cultural remains from the ancient Middle East, scarcely seems to have been there. Excavations in Jerusalem have turned up nothing concrete about his existence. The literature concerning him is fraught with problems and generally takes on a legendary-mythological character. Even the meaning of his name is unclear. If he is mentioned at all by his contemporary monarchs against whom he would have fought it is only obliquely or only intimated by omissions or partial spellings in context. This volume attempts to advance scholarship addressing these concerns.
SKU (ISBN): 978-1-61143-405-7
Publication Status: In Print
Publication Date: Aug 20,2012
Interior Color: Black
Trim Size: 6 x 9
Page Count: 269
Language: English
ISBN: 978-1-61143-405-7
The study of the 'King David Phenomenon' is far from over. When pressed, the careful scholar must admit to how very little we actually know about this statecrafter and venerator of the god YHWH. At present, archaeologists, epigraphers, literary historians, historians of religion, and military historians are engaged in interpretive battles in an attempt to provide a much clearer outline of this person and his life and times than ever heretofore. Professors Caspi and Greene have assembled a number of scholars who focus on studies concerning King David and during their Annual ISBL Seminar have had these scholars share their most recent scholarship. What is contained within the present anthology are the honed and furbished essays invited from the best works presented during the seminar. These in turn have been edited by the editors and sequenced in such a way that the combined information contained in the essays tell a most recent and chronological or thematic story of the David saga. Scholarship has thus been advanced greatly by the efforts of those who contributed to this volume. To those essays, the editors added a Prolegomenon which framed the entire work, as well as contributed learned essays of their own. Thus, all of the major lines of scholarly inquiry, biblical, historical, archaeological, have been given voice in a work that approaches King David from viewpoints expressed in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Cover: King David, Stained Glass, Strasbourg Cathedral, North Transept.