Bob Todd of Fortress Press sent along a review copy of this new volume and it certainly is quite engaging. Even fascinating. The author is Professor of Old Testament at Marburg, and he isn’t, by any stretch of the imagination, without ability. The entire review is now complete and can be accessed at the links below.
Chapters 1-8 (pdf).
Chapters 9-12 (pdf).
Interesting indeed. I am always interested in the social structures of the audience/author. Love Kenneth Bailey’s work in this regard too.
By: Drew on June 30, 2008
at 2:10 pm
I have ordered it but now speculate whether it is really worth the money. Sounds quite conventional, old German stuff with a sociological twist. E.g. class society: There was no class society. There was a patronage system, patrons and clients, but clients did not form a class.
I will have more to say when I have the book.
By: Niels Peter Lemche on July 2, 2008
at 2:55 pm
I have read the book but in German (2006). Although Kessler’s use of sociology/anthropology is great (he cites Clastres!!! Who reads nowadays this great late French anthropologist beyond French and Latin American scholars?), he has a pretty conservative perspective regarding social structures: as NP says, the idea of class is misleading. Yet, I guess the book is the best in current German scholarship on social history of Israel.
By: Emanuel Pfoh on July 7, 2008
at 9:02 am