Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/96389
Title: [Book review] The quest for the historical Israel : reconstructing Israel’s early history by George W. Ramsey
Authors: Frendo, Anthony J.
Keywords: Books -- Reviews
Bible. Old Testament -- Criticism, interpretation, etc. -- History -- 20th century
Jews -- History -- To 1200 B.C. -- Historiography
Bible. Old Testament -- Antiquities
Bible. Old Testament -- Evidences, authority, etc.
Excavations (Archaeology) -- Israel
Issue Date: 1984
Publisher: The Heythrop Journal
Citation: Frendo, A. J. (1984). [Book review] The quest for the historical Israel : reconstructing Israel’s early history by George W. Ramsey. The Heythrop Journal, 25, 383-384.
Abstract: Professor Ramsey divides the six chapters of his book into three parts, the first and last of which each contain one chapter. The first part contains a clear and terse presentation of the general canons guiding historical research. As one reads it through, one detects the clarity of a well-stocked and perceptive mind. The author makes comments on the type and on the extent of evidence that is collected by the researcher in history; we are reminded that only a ‘small fragment of the total remains of the past’ is available to him; textual evidence and archaeological material are two clues available to the O.T. historian. Having collected the evidence, the historian’s next task is to sift it. In this process, textual criticism, genre analysis and literary criticism have to be adopted. Careful evaluation of the witnesses is a must: ‘The first requirement of a good historian is a healthy streak of scepticism.’ It is stressed that the historian is making ‘reasoned inferences’ when presenting his critique and hypothesis.
URI: https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/96389
Appears in Collections:Scholarly Works - FacArtCA

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