Just how much history does the Bible contain? Not much, according to a productive group of scholars, who have earned the title of "minimalists" or even "nihilists" by some because of their skeptical views on the historicity of ancient Israel as recorded in the Bible. These academics, as one of them says, contend that, "theology must liberate itself from history." For the minimalists, the Hebrew Bible is a product of the Persian-Hellenistic period and is merely a literary or social construct not containing a reliable historical record. William Dever, a professor of Near Eastern archaeology and anthropology at the University of Arizona, sounds the alarm, however. "There is a crisis in the current study of the history of ancient Israel," he contends, and this crisis, "should be of concern not only to theologians and clerics, but also to intelligent lay folk, and indeed to all who cherish the Western cultural tradition, which in large part derives from values enshrined in the Bible."
This new book is nothing less than a full frontal assault on the camp of the minimalists and their allies. Chapter 1 of this book serves as an introduction to the major trends of the new literary criticism of the Bible. Chapter 2 provides a survey of the writers in this new school of revisionists. These first 52 pages alone are worth the price of the book. Chapter 3 takes a sharp turn to the subject of archaeology and its relationship to the extant texts, particularly the Bible. Professor Dever is especially concerned to revitalize the dialogue between archaeology and biblical studies in history writing. Chapters 4 and 5 survey the material remains that provide evidence for a consideration of much of what is recorded in Judges, 1-2 Samuel, and 1-2 Kings concerning the religion and state of Israel and the United Monarchy. Chapter 6 follows with a synthesis of the foregoing material, while returning to another spirited engagement with the minimalist school. By the time the reader approaches the end of the book, the author provides an answer to the provocative title of his book: "What did the biblical writers know, and when did they know it?" Simply stated, They knew a lot; and they knew it early, based on older and genuinely historical accounts, both oral and written.
The book has many more strengths than can be mentioned in this brief review. First, it is written in a clear and engaging style; second, specialist jargon is explained for the uninitiated; third, the book includes a positive survey of the archaeology, art, and architecture in ancient Israel which confronts the modern assumption that the ancients were devoid of aesthetic sensibilities; and fourth, the book is written by an expert in the archaeology of the ancient Near East.
Some aspects of the book will probably appear wanting to the readers of Modern Reformation. For example, Dever seeks to recover the history of ancient Israel through two sources, texts and artifacts. Much of the book is concerned with the methods currently used in writing a history of ancient Israel. He may often, however, prove too confident in the primacy of archeological data over the biblical text in the process of interpretation, where indeed both text and artifacts must be subjected to correct interpretation. As an extension of the previous point, we may question whether Dever's proposal for a "secular humanist" approach toward the end of the book will provide the power necessary to outlive the revisionist theories of the minimalists.
All of this aside, Dever is courageous and successful in severely spanking the new revisionists, those minimalists such as professors Davies, Thompson, Lemche, Whitelam, and others whose theories seem very distant from the sources themselves: either the text or the artifacts. For that reason, among others, this book is commended to the reader.
