A Social History Of Hebrew

Considering classical Hebrew from the standpoint of a writing system as opposed to vernacular speech, Schniedewind demonstrates how the Israelites' long history of migration, war exile, and other momentous events is reflected in Hebrew's linguistic evolution.

The rise of printing had major effects on culture and society in the early modern period, and the presence of this new technology—and the relatively rapid embrace of it among early modern Jews—certainly had an effect on many aspects of Jewish culture. One major change that print seems to have brought to the Jewish communities of Christian Europe, particularly in Italy, was greater interaction between Jews and Christians in the production and dissemination of books. Starting in the early sixteenth century, the locus of production for Jewish books in many places in Italy was in Christian-owned print shops, with Jews and Christians collaborating on the editorial and technical processes of book production. As this Jewish-Christian collaboration often took place under conditions of control by Christians (for example, the involvement of Christian typesetters and printers, expurgation and censorship of Hebrew texts, and state control of Hebrew printing), its study opens up an important set of questions about the role that Christians played in shaping Jewish culture. Presenting new research by an international group of scholars, this book represents a step toward a fuller understanding of Jewish book history. Individual essays focus on a range of issues related to the production and dissemination of Hebrew books as well as their audiences. Topics include the activities of scribes and printers, the creation of new types of literature and the transformation of canonical works in the era of print, the external and internal censorship of Hebrew books, and the reading interests of Jews. An introduction summarizes the state of scholarship in the field and offers an overview of the transition from manuscript to print in this period.

This book is a comprehensive description of Hebrew from its Semitic origins and the earliest settlement of the Israelite tribes in Canaan to the present day.

"The Oxford Handbook of the Historical Books of the Hebrew Bible offers 36 essays on the so-called "Historical Books": Joshua, Judges, 1-2 Samuel, 1-2 Kings, Ezra-Nehemiah, and 1-2 Chronicles. The essays are organized around four nodes: contexts, content, approaches, and reception. Each essay takes up two questions: (1) what does the topic/area/issue have to do with the Historical Books?" and (2) how does this topic/area/issue help readers better interpret the Historical Books?" The essays engage traditional theories and newer updates to the same, and also engage the textual traditions themselves which are what give rise to compositional analyses. Many essays model approaches that move in entirely different ways altogether, however, whether those are by attending to synchronic, literary, theoretical, or reception aspects of the texts at hand. The contributions range from text-critical issues to ancient historiography, state formation and development, ancient Near Eastern contexts, society and economy, political theory, violence studies, orality, feminism, postcolonialism, and trauma theory-among others. Taken together, these essays well represent the variety of options available when it comes to gathering, assessing, and interpreting these particular biblical books"--

Excerpt from History of the Hebrews: Their Political, Social and Religious Development and Their Contribution to World Betterment This volume seeks to make clear the important place of the Hebrew people in the history of nations and to justify the se lection of their history, as set forth in the Old Testament, as an introduction to the larger subject. It seems deplorable that so many thoughtful people of today, old and young alike, take little or no interest in the Bible or in the fascinating history which it records. The reason is largely, to be found in the fact that they failed in their formative years to become acquainted with the Bible in its true values, its attractiveness and its practical power. There seems to be a place for a compact, comprehensive outline of Biblical history and literature, simple enough in its expression and execution to hold the attention of the growing mind, and yet complete enough to meet the reasonable needs of any mind. Hebrew history and literature is a theme of great importance to the one who would really know his Bible. It can be mastered rapidly. Too much time is given, as a rule, to details of relatively slight consequence to the exclusion of those which have far reaching importance. This volume aims to indicate a proper balance of attention. It also seeks to enable the student to get rapidly to the heart of the subject and to View it frorri all essential standpoints, that of universal history, that of the development of the Hebrews, and that of permanent and personal values. The supreme defect of the religious thinking of the average man or woman of today is its narrowness. Every religiously-minded person needs to be familiar with the whole Bible and with the Bible as a whole. This knowledge need not be reserved for ministers or scholars. It mav be the possession of any thoughtful student of religion. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.