Writing the History of Israel

No biblical historian is included in the standard dictionaries of historians. Banks study examines the boundaries as well as the links that exists between history writing in biblical studies and the practice of history in university departments of history. She argues that while the influence of the profession of writing history is apparent, there are countervailing forces as well. The presupposition that the Bible is a book of history conditions the outcome of historical research in biblical studies. Banks argues that Julius Wellhausens history of Israel set in motion the general tendency toward ever greater congruence between historiography in biblical studies and in academic departments of history; that the initial tension caused by Wellhausens work produced a reaction which effectively stalled the movement toward accommodation between secular, academic history and biblical studies; and that a new generation of scholars applying the methods used by secular historians has revived and continued the tendency to promote the practice of secular, academic historiography in biblical studies. Banks applies her method to Wellhausen, Martin Noth, John Bright, and Thomas Thompson.

."..the book is a valuable guidebook to historiography, both general and relating to ancient Israel, since the nineteenth century. It also brings to the fore questions that should be debated more openly, such as whether historians of ancient Israel are like other historians, and whether they can be or should be." -Megan Bishop Moore, Hebrew Studies, November 2008, "As she traces the course of this field of study, Banks does not avoid the challenging questions that arrive from an investigation...Though the book is a heavy read, it treats several important issues." -The Bible in Review--Sanford Lakoff, "This book explores the influences of the discipline of history on the work of history writing in biblical studies since the late nineteenth century until the opening years of the twenty-first...Any volume that increases our understanding of the development of the modern discipline of Hebrew Bible/ Old Testament Studies in relation to the academic trends of its time(s) is welcome, and this particular volume does fall into the category, with its many interesting observations on the history of historiography in general and the connections between this history and well-known historians of Israel like Wellhausen, Noth and Bright." -Iain Provan, Journal of Hebrew Scriptures, Vol. 7, 2007--Sanford Lakoff

Diane Banks is an independent scholar who lives in Nashville, Tennessee.