Awards

• Nominated for Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion 2008
• Nominated for Distinguished Book Award - Sociology of Religion 2009
• Nominated for PROSE Awards 2007
• Nominated for Sally Hacker Prize 2009
• Short-listed for Independent Publisher Book Awards: Religion Silver Award 2008
• Shortlisted for Independent Publisher Book Awards: Religion Silver Award 2008.

Overview

We think of the Hebrew Bible as the Book--and yet it was produced by a largely nonliterate culture in which writing, editing, copying, interpretation, and public reading were the work of a professional elite. The scribes of ancient Israel are indeed the main figures behind the Hebrew Bible, and in this book Karel van der Toorn tells their story for the first time. His book considers the Bible in very specific historical terms, as the output of the scribal workshop of the Second Temple active in the period 500-200 BCE. Drawing comparisons with the scribal practices of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, van der Toorn clearly details the methods, the assumptions, and the material means of production that gave rise to biblical texts; then he brings his observations to bear on two important texts, Deuteronomy and Jeremiah. Traditionally seen as the copycats of antiquity, the scribes emerge here as the literate elite who held the key to the production as well as the transmission of texts. Van der Toorn's account of scribal culture opens a new perspective on the origins of the Hebrew Bible, revealing how the individual books of the Bible and the authors associated with them were products of the social and intellectual world of the scribes. By taking us inside that world, this book yields a new and arresting appreciation of the Hebrew Scriptures.

Full Product Details

9780674032545

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Reviews

This scrupulous study by the Dutch scholar Karel van der Toorn of how the Hebrew Bible was written and then evolved over time is in most respects finely instructive. Some of what Toorn has to say involves concepts long familiar to Biblical scholars, though even in this regard he provides many fresh insights. Nearly all the book's argument, moreover, offers a strong corrective to misconceptions about the Bible...Karel van der Toorn is the perfect--and bracing--antithesis to Harold Bloom...Scribal Culture and the Making of the Hebrew Bible is a salutary book based on the most formidable scholarly knowledge and analysis. It will compel readers to rethink their conceptions of literary production in ancient Israel, and it is a valuable reminder that in many respects those responsible for the biblical corpus were quite far from being early Iron Age equivalents of Flaubert or Henry James. -- Robert Alter London Review of Books 20070719 Building upon the growing recognition that the Hebrew Bible came into being as the Near East moved from an oral to a written culture...Van der Toorn...examines the central role ancient scribes played in shaping the biblical text. The author brings to bear his vast knowledge of scribal practices throughout the ancient Near East, and thereby shows how the Bible's growth is illuminated when seen against this background. While at times speculative (e.g., his contention that Deuteronomy passed through four editions, which he neatly delineates), the author's research calls into question those who blithely dismiss source and redaction criticism; it also challenges the conclusions of historical minimalists who date the vast bulk of the Hebrew Bible to late in the Persian or early in the Hellenistic era. Furthermore, the portrait Van der Toorn draws of scribal training deals a devastating blow to critics who argue that J may have been a woman. Van der Toorn demonstrates that the scribes who produced the Hebrew Bible were part of a wider scribal culture and that those who ignore this fact end up misunderstanding the biblical text and its history. -- J.S. Kaminsky Choice 20070901 Van der Toorn covers considerable ground in this volume. He surveys literacy and authorship in the ancient world, the culture and vocation of scribes, production of the Moses and prophetic traditions, and the issues of revelation and canon...This volume is extremely valuable. Scribal Culture is a must-read for anyone interested in the issues of the formation, transmission, and standardization of the Hebrew Bible. -- Charles Halton Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 20071201

Offers a strong corrective to misconceptions about the Bible... Karel van der Toorn is the perfect - and bracing - antithesis to Harold Bloom... Scribal Culture and the Making of the Hebrew Bible is a salutary book based on the most formidable scholarly knowledge and analysis. It will compel readers to rethink their conceptions of literary production in ancient Israel, and it is a valuable reminder that in many respects those responsible for the biblical corpus were quite far from being early Iron Age equivalents of Flaubert or Henry James. - Robert Alter, London Review of Books Future debates on this topic will need to take van der Toorn's contributions into account or risk being perceived to be out of touch with the reality of ancient literary practice. - Robert R. Wilson, Yale University

Author Information

Karel van der Toorn is President of the University of Amsterdam.

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