Böcker av Jacob L. Wright

Demonstrating how the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible represents the first, and one of the most elaborate, projects of 'peoplehood,' Wright tells the dramatic story of the Bible's origins in relation to 1) a longstanding political division between North and South (Israel and Judah) and 2) the traumatic experience of defeat.

This monograph presents a fresh and detailed treatment of the problems posed by the Nehemiah-Memoir. Starting from the pre-critical interpretations of Ezra-Neh, the study demonstrates that the use of the first-person does not suffice as a criterion for distinguishing between the verba Neemiae and the additions of later authors. The earliest edition of the Memoir isconfined to a building report, which was expanded as early generations of readers developed the implications of Nehemiah's accomplishments for the consolidation and centralization of Judah. The expansions occasioned in turn the composition of the history of the "e;Restoration"e; in Ezra-Neh.