Judaism in Persia's Shadow: A Social and Historical Approach

by Jon L. Berquist

"This lively account of the influence of Persian history on the Hebrew Scriptures, and the people whose faith they express, places the emphasis exactly where it belongs. . . . this {is a} clear introduction . . . to the period, the time when a surprising amount of the Bible was written, but also to the issues of method that any serious study of the Bible must address."--Robert B. Coote, San Francisco Theological Seminary

Genres: History

Paperback

First published November 30, 1995

Reviews

[Joey Hyatt]

Rather boring for such a pivotal and exciting time of biblical thought and Jewish history.

[Michael]

A socio-economic history of Yehud as a Persian colony. Tons of fascinating socio-economic analysis and some pretty crappy Biblical interpretation. Cyrus as Deutero-Isaiah's suffering servant? Seriously? I almost put it down after that but I'm glad I didn't. That outrageously bad reading is kind of symptomatic of the problem of this book: it's so in focused on its thesis that it contorts the entire history of the Bible to fit in with the Persian colonial context. Worth a read but worth reading other sources to cool off afterward.

[Erik]

Concise and insightful summary of the Persian period.