Peter Machinist

A Historical Theology of the Hebrew Bible

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Konrad Schmid’s new book is a veritable library on the study of the Hebrew Bible. Seemingly everything about this Bible and the history of its study is addressed concisely, provocatively, and with ample reference to the primary sources and the scholarship, especially that of the Germanic world, on them. Schmid is particularly alert to the many problems of construing a theology of the Hebrew Bible posed by the text itself and its often tortured history of interpretation. In the end, he makes a powerful case for a biblical theology that is historically grounded and sensitive—a theology that risks the delicate balancing act of concern for the plurality of views in the Hebrew Bible and what subsequent interpreters have made of it and for the overarching themes that can also be discerned.”

Hezekiah and the Dialogue of Memory

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Park's work is first and foremost a historiographical study, concerned to connect the accounts of Hezekiah's reign with real-life situations in the history of Judah. It makes a serious contribution to understanding not only the figure of Hezekiah but biblical historiography as a whole.”

Israel and Babylon

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Hermann Gunkel was one of the 'greats' of modern Biblical scholarship . . . Written in the context of the famous 'Babel-Bible' debate of the beginning of the twentieth century, this book, in a lively, even passionate way, raises some important questions about how to compare cultures and assess their relationships to each other--questions that have not lost their value more than a century later. We must be grateful, therefore, to K.C. Hanson for bringing Gunkel's book back into print in a revised translation with helpful introduction, notes, and up-dated bibliography.”

King and Messiah as Son of God

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Adela and John Collins add yet another book to their long list of significant contributions to biblical studies. King and Messiah as Son of God stands out as a comprehensive, systematic, and authoritative study of the much discussed and controversial issue of their title. They succeed admirably in demonstrating that kingship, messiahship, and divinity form a complex relationship whose understanding underwent an organic development, yet with a range of variations, from early monarchic Israel and its ancient Near Eastern roots through the Christianity of the New Testament era. In laying out this picture, the Collinses offer an exemplary set of close readings of the ancient sources and the welter of modern scholarship on them. Everywhere evident is their capacity for incisive, balanced judgments regarding difficult texts and problems and their ear for subtle nuances that might easily have escaped other interpreters.”

The Future of Biblical Archaeology

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“This is a volume to be greeted warmly. It ranges widely over the issues posed by the intersection of biblical studies, archaeology, and ancient Near Eastern history, illuminating them with sharply focused case analyses and thoughtful reflections on methodology and the course of past scholarly discussion. The book is not shy about its overall attitude, pressing for a cautious, even at points conservative, approach that values what the Hebrew Bible has to say historically. Yet it is also acutely mindful of the many difficulties involved in historical assessment and reconstruction. In sum, The Future of Biblical Archaeology is a serious, substantial collection of essays that should find a prominent place in the ongoing debates over the Bible and its historical contexts.”

The Memoirs of God

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“This new book by Mark Smith is not simply a study of the history and religion of ancient Israel nor of the literature of the Hebrew Bible, but of the complicated interface between them — of how the Bible chose to remember the history and religion of the Israel that gave it birth. As Smith compellingly argues, the formation of memory is indeed the central characteristic of the Biblical text, and in a wide-ranging provocative discussion, he allows us to see the multiple ways in which the Biblical authors struggled to make sense of their past and to define its ongoing significance for them.”

The Scepter and the Star

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Since its first publication in 1995, The Scepter and the Star has become arguably the standard guide to the messianic views of Qumran and, more broadly, Second Temple Judaism. That position will be ensured and enhanced by the present new edition, with its extensively revised and updated notes and bibliography and its new or revised discussions of key issues and sources. Collins has a remarkable talent for incisive and balanced analysis — an ability to see the many sides of an argument and to read the ancient sources in fresh and penetrating ways. A most welcome book indeed!”