Overview

The first Schweich Lectures were given by Professor S. R. Driver of Oxford University in 1908 and the British Academy celebrated the centenary of the lectures with a single lecture given by Professor Davies in 2008. This book is an amplified version of that lecture, with each of its three chapters developing a theme relevant to the occasion. The Lectures, on aspects of the study of antiquity in its relationship to the Bible, were established by a gift from Constance Schweich (later Mrs Goetze) in memory of her late father, Leopold Schweich. The first chapter brings together biographical information (including some previously unpublished documents) about the Schweichs, who were an originally German Jewish family with close connections to the distinguished chemist and industrialist Ludwig Mond. The donation was the first major benefaction received by the British Academy, which had been founded in 1901 but initially had no Government funding, and the second chapter uses archival and published sources to reconstruct the circumstances and the history of the lectureship. An Appendix lists the names of all the lecturers, their subjects and details of the publication of their lectures. The final chapter, 'Archaeology and the Bible - A Broken Link?', examines broader questions about 'biblical archaeology' which arose in the later twentieth century, in the light of developments in archaeological theory and biblical scholarship, and considers whether there is still a future for collaboration between the two disciplines. The volume provides a glimpse into Jewish philanthropy in England in the Edwardian era and a critical assessment of the changing relationship between archaeology and biblical studies down to the present day.

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9780197264874

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Reviews

The lectures have made an important contribution to biblical scholarship and related fields, and will continue to do so. It is good to have this informative account of their origin, history and future prospects. J.W. Rogerson, Ecclesiastical History. Vol. 64.2

<br> Davies succeeds in throwing the proper party, so to speak, for a lecture series that typifies British academic tradition at its finest...for what the Schweich Lectures were and for what the Fund was intended, Davies wrote very well, precisely what should have been written. --Religion<p><br>

Author Information

Graham Davies is Professor of Old Testament Studies and Fellow of Fitzwilliam College, University of Cambridge

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