Includes bibliographical references and index.

This is a classroom-tested introduction to academic study of the ancient world that produced the Bible. It offers a general and yet flexible programme of study that enables a range of approaches to be understood and applied.

Canaan and Israel : an overview -- What is 'history?' -- What was 'history' in the perception of the ancients? -- Prior to the late Bronze Age -- The late Bronze Age -- The Iron Age I -- The tenth century BCE -- The Iron Age II -- The religions of Canaan : a short tour -- After the Iron Age II.

Canaan and Israel : an overview. What's in a name? ; Where was ancient Canaan? ; Chronology of ancient Palestine ; A word about the Bible -- What is 'history?' Differing conceptions of 'history' ; What is a genre? ; Three genres of history ; Tools for the study of the ancient past -- What was 'history' in the perception of the ancients? The practice of ancient historia ; The rhetoric of authority in ancient historia ; The 'truth' in ancient historia ; Is the Bible an example of ancient historia? ; A test case : establishing the dates of the exodus and conquest -- Prior to the late Bronze Age. In the beginning-- ; Palestine in the Mesolithic Era (18000-8000 BCE) ; The Neolithic Era (8000-4500 BCE) ; The Chalcolithic Era (4500-3500 BCE) ; Syria-Palestine's neighbors during the early and middle Bronze Ages (3500-2000 and 2000-1550 BCE) ; Syria Palestine during the early and middle Bronze Ages (3500-2000 and 2000-1550 BCE) -- The late Bronze Age. Setting the scene : three competing powers ; The wars of empire (sixteenth-thirteenth centuries BCE) ; Daily life in the late Bronze Age (1550-1200 BCE) ; 'Israel' on the Merneptah Stela ; Mesopotamia in the late Bronze Age (1550-1200 BCE) ; Henotheism, monotheism and polytheism : varieties of royal theology in the ancient world -- The Iron Age I. What is an ancient ethnic group and how is it to be found? ; Seeking the Philistines in Canaan's material culture ; Seeking the Israelites in Canaan's material culture ; The highlands of Palestine during the Iron Age I ; Life in the Iron Age I highland villages -- The tenth century BCE. The case for a united monarchy ; The case against a united monarchy -- The Iron Age II. The political economy of Palestine in the Iron Age II ; Patron-client relationships in Iron Age I and Iron Age II ; Mesopotamia in the Iron Age II ; The monarchy of Israel in the Iron Age II ; The monarchy of Judah in the Iron Age II ; The modern theories concerning King Josiah of Judah -- The religions of Canaan : a short tour. What is a myth? What is mythology? ; The gods of ancient Canaan ; The rise of Yahweh as Israel's high God ; Religion at three levels of society ; What was prophecy -- After the Iron Age II. Babylonian period (586-539 BCE) ; Cyrus the great, Messiah of Yahweh ; The Persian empire (539-331 BCE) ; The history of Yehud (Persian-era Judah) ; The varieties of Judaisms during the Persian era ; The Hellenistic era (332-63 BCE) ; The Roman period (from 63 BCE) ; The emergence of the Bible.