Three decades of dialogue, discussion, and debate within the interrelated disciplines of Syro-Palestinian archaeology, ancient Israelite history, and Hebrew Bible over the question of the relevance of the biblical account for reconstructing early Israel’s history have created the need for a thorough articulation of the issues and their prospective resolutions. This book brings together for the first time and under one cover, an emergent centrist paradigm as articulated by two leading figures in the fields of early Israelite archaeology and history. Although Israel Finkelstein and Amihai Mazar advocate distinct views of early Israel’s history, they nevertheless share the position that the material cultural data, the biblical traditions, and the ancient Near Eastern written sources are all significantly relevant to the historical quest for Iron Age Israel. Both syntheses are characterized by a balanced approach to the question of the relevance of the biblical account for reconstructing early Israel’s history. The results of their research are featured in parallel syntheses of the historical reconstruction of early Israel which in turn, facilitate an accessible comparison and contrast of their respective interpretations. These essays are based on invited lectures delivered by Professors Mazar and Finkelstein in October of 2005 at the Sixth Biennial Colloquium sponsored by and held at the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism in Detroit, Michigan.

The Quest for the Historical Israel: Debating Archaeology and the History of Early Israel. Archaeology and Biblical Studies 17. Atlanta: The Society of Biblical Literature Press, 2007. Co-authors, Israel Finkelstein and Amihai Mazar; volume editor and contributor, Brian Schmidt. ISBN 97815898320770.