Bernd U., Schipper – författare

The history of biblical Israel, as it is told in the Hebrew Bible, differs substantially from the history of ancient Israel as it can be reconstructed using ancient Near Eastern texts and archaeological evidence. In A Concise History of Ancient Israel, Bernd U. Schipper uses this evidence to present a critical revision of the history of Israel and Judah from the late second millennium BCE to the beginning of the Roman period. Considering archaeological material as well as biblical and extrabiblical texts, Schipper argues that the history of “Israel” in the preexilic period took place mostly in the hinterland of the Levant and should be understood in the context of the Neo-Assyrian expansion. He demonstrates that events in the exilic and postexilic periods also played out differently than they are recounted in the biblical books of Ezra and Nehemiah. In contrast to previous scholarship, which focused heavily on Israel’s origins and the monarchic period, Schipper’s history gives equal attention to the Persian and early Hellenistic periods, providing confirmation that a wide variety of forms of YHWH religion existed in the Persian period and persisted into the Hellenistic age.Original and innovative, this brief history provides a new outline of the historical development of ancient Israel that will appeal to students, scholars, and lay readers who desire a concise overview.

Adolf Erman gilt als Gründungsvater der deutschen Ägyptologie. Seine Werke zu Sprache, Religions- und Literaturgeschichte des Alten Ägypten sind Meilensteine der Forschung; sie markieren den Wandel des Faches Ägyptologie von einer romantisierenden Beschäftigung mit dem Alten Ägypten zu einer modernen und kritischen Altertumswissenschaft. Erman stand aber zugleich in regem Austausch mit anderen bedeutenden Wissenschaftlern seiner Zeit (Max Planck, Theodor Mommsen, Eduard Meyer, Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff) und war eingebunden in den spannungsreichen Diskurs von Wissenschaft, Politik und Gesellschaft im Übergang vom 19. Jahrhundert bis zu den den 30er Jahren des 20. Jahrhunderts. Der vorliegende Band thematisiert Ermans Leistung und seine Bedeutung für die Geistes- und Wissenschaftsgeschichte des späten 19. und frühen 20. Jahrhunderts.

The series Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (BZAW) covers all areas of research into the Old Testament, focusing on the Hebrew Bible, its early and later forms in Ancient Judaism, as well as its branching into many neighboring cultures of the Ancient Near East and the Greco-Roman world. BZAW welcomes submissions that make an original and significant contribution to the field; demonstrate sophisticated　engagement with the relevant secondary literature; and are written in readable, logical, and engaging prose.