CONTENTS

List of ilustrations ix
List of contributors xii
Preface
John Barton xix
List of abbreviations xx

Introduction 1
John Barton

Volume I
PART I: THE BIBLE
I The Old Testament/Hebrew Bible 5
Rex Mason
2 The Apocrypha 15
Adele Reinhartz
3 The New Testament 28
Christopher Tuckett

PART II: GENRES
4 Near Eastern myths and legends 41
Stephanie Dalley
5 Historiography in the Old Testament 65
A. D. H. Mayes
6 Prophecy 88
Graeme Auld
7 Wisdom 107
Katharine Dell
8 Apocalypticism 129
Christopher Rowland
9 The Jewish novel 149
Lawrence M. Wills
10 The Gospels 162
John Muddiman
11 Letters in the New Testament and in the Greco-Roman world 188
Harry Gamble

PART III: DOCUMENTS
12 Text and versions: the Old Testament 207
Carmel McCarthy
13 Text and versions: the New Testament 229
David Parker
14 The Dead Sea Scrolls 250
GeorgeJ. Broobe
15 Hebrow inscriptions 270
Graham Davies
16 The Cairo Genizah 287
Stefan C. Reif
17 The gnostic gospels 305
Alastair H. B. Logan
18 Early Jewish biblical interpretation 323
Alison Salvesen
19 Early Christian biblical interpretation 333
Mark Edwards

PART IV: HISTORY

20 Biblical archaeology 345
Felicity J. Cobbing
21 Palestine during the Bronze Age 3
J. Maxwell Miller
22 Palestine during the Iron Age 391
Keith W. Whitelam
23 The age of the exile 416
Joseih Blenkinsopp
24 Israel under Persia and Greece 440
Lester L. Grabte
25 Judaea under Roman rule, 63 BCE - I35 CE 458
Sarah Pearce
26 Israel's neighbours 492
Bustenay Oded
45 Death and afterlife 357
John J. Collins
46 Purity 378
Gordon Wenham