Rainer Albertz - Böcker

No comprehensive history of Israelite religion has been published for some time now, so this new, encyclopaedic work meets a considerable need. The two volumes cover the history of the religion of Israel and Judah from the earliest recognizable beginnings to the Hellenistic period and constantly take into account not only the other religions of the ancient Near East but also Israelite social history. The history of Israel's religion is described as an interplay between historical demands, religious experiences and theological reactions, as the ongoing struggle between different groups over the appropriate religious response to God and the social practice that needs to go with it.

This book, the first of two volumes, offers a comprehensive history of Israelite religion. It is a part of the Old Testament Library series.The Old Testament Library provides fresh and authoritative treatments of important aspects of Old Testament study through commentaries and general surveys. The contributors are scholars of international standing

This book, the second of two volumes, offers a comprehensive history of Israelite religion. It is a part of the Old Testament Library series.The Old Testament Library provides fresh and authoritative treatments of important aspects of Old Testament study through commentaries and general surveys. The contributors are scholars of international standing.

During the past decade, the period from the 7th century B.C.E. and later has been a major focus because it is thought to be the era when much of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament was formed. As a result, there has also been much interest in the historical developments of that time and specifically in the status of Judah and its neighbors. Three conferences dealing roughly with a century each were organized, and the first conference was held in Tel Aviv in 2001; the proceedings of that conference were published as Judah and the Judeans in the Neo-Babylonian Period. The second volume was published in early 2006, a report on the conference held in Heidelberg in July 2003: Judah and the Judeans in the Persian Period.Judah and the Judeans in the Fourth Century B.C.E. is the publication of the proceedings of the third conference, which was held in Muenster, Germany, in August 2005; the essays in it focus on the century during which the Persian Empire fell to Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic kingdoms came to the fore.Participants whose contributions are published here are: R. Achenbach, R. Albertz, B. Becking, E. Ben Zvi, J. Blenkinsopp, E. Eshel, H. Eshel, L. L. Grabbe, A. Kloner, G. N. Knoppers, I. Kottsieper, A. Lemaire, O. Lipschits, Y. Magen, K. Schmid, I. Stern., O. Tal, D. Vanderhooft, J. Wiesehöfer, J. L. Wright, and J. W. Wright.

Besides two hitherto unpublished papers, this collection contains 15 of Rainer Albertz' papers from the period 1978 - 2000. They reflect the author's concern to understand biblical developments against the background of the religious and socio-historical developments and currents in Israel and the Ancient Orient. The volume includes, for example, reflections on the development of the tradition of prehistory, of the commandment to honour one's parents, of the issue of monotheism, or of the significance of personal piety. The collection is completed with socio-historical studies on the social background to the Book of Job or the moving forces behind the Deuteronomistic History, together with approaches to the editorial history of the Books of Jeremiah and Deuteroisaiah.

The formation of the Book of the Twelve is one of the most vigorously debated subjects in Old Testament studies today. This volume assembles twenty-four essays by the world’s leading experts, providing an overview of the present state of scholarship in the field. The book’s contributors focus on questions of method, history, as well as redactional and textual history.

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.

Der vorliegende Band umfasst einundzwanzig Studien zur Komposition und Redaktion des Pentateuch/Hexateuch, die der Münsteraner Alttestamentler Rainer Albertz im Umkreis seiner Arbeit am Exoduskommentar in den letzten zehn Jahren verfasst hat. Acht fremdsprachlich veröffentlichte Beiträge erscheinen hier erstmals in einer überarbeiteten deutschen Fassung; fünf weitere werden hier erstmals veröffentlicht. Aus der forschungsgeschichtlich- und problemorientierten Zusammenschau zeichnet sich ein kompositions- und redaktionsgeschichtliches Modell für die Entstehung des Pentateuch ab, das an die Stelle der klassischen Drei-Quellen-Theorie treten könnte. Am Ende wird eine Übersicht über die vorgenommenen Textzuweisungen zu den erkennbaren überlieferungsgeschichtlichen und redaktionellen Entwicklungsstufen des Pentateuch geboten, welche die Leistungsfähigkeit des vorgelegten Modells leichter abschätzbar macht.

Reflektiert die Josephsgeschichte (Gen 37-50) im Rahmen der familiär konzipierten Ursprungsgeschichte Israels über das Bedrohungs- und Leistungspotential politischer Herrschaft oder über die Gefahren und Chancen eines Lebens in der Diaspora? Angesichts dieser Streitfrage unterzieht Rainer Albertz die Josephsgeschichte einer konsequenten kompositions- und redaktionsgeschichtlichen Untersuchung, ausgehend von ihrer ursprünglichen Gestalt und ihrer erweiterten Fassung, über ihre Verbindung mit der Jakobs- und Vätergeschichte, bis hin zu ihrer Einbindung in die großen heilsgeschichtlichen Zusammenhänge des Pentateuchs. Die Ergebnisse, die er dabei gewinnt, sind geeignet, Thematik und Datierung präziser und methodisch abgesicherter zu bestimmen, als dies bisher möglich war. Zugleich eröffnen sie neue Einblicke in die Entstehungsgeschichte des Pentateuchs.