Benjamin Sommer, review of How Old is the Hebrew Bible? (original) (raw)

Journal of Religion 100 (2020): 511-13.

AI-generated Abstract

In the review of "How Old is the Hebrew Bible?" by Ron Hendel and Jan Joosten, the text explores the evolution of the dating of biblical Hebrew through formal linguistic analysis and the assessment of historical evidence. The authors build upon the work of Avi Hurvitz and others by refuting critiques against their diachronic methods while presenting a nuanced framework to distinguish between Classical Biblical Hebrew, Transitional Biblical Hebrew, and Late Biblical Hebrew. By integrating linguistic studies with external corroborative evidence, they establish a convincing methodology for dating biblical texts, thus enabling a more reliable understanding of their historical context.