The Companion to Ancient Israel offers an innovative overview of ancient Israelite culture and history, richly informed by a variety of approaches and fields. Distinguished scholars provide original contributions that explore the tradition in all its complexity, multiplicity and diversity. A methodologically sophisticated overview of ancient Israelite culture that provides insights into  political and social history, culture, and methodology - Explores what we can say about the cultures and history of the people of Israel and Judah, but also investigates how we know what we know - Presents fresh insights, richly informed by a variety of approaches and fields - Delves into ‘religion as lived,’ an approach that asks about the everyday lives of ordinary people and the material cultures that they construct and experience - Each essay is an original contribution to the subject "I would, however, recommend this book to university libraries catering for courses in ancient history, historical theology, archaeology or Middle Eastern studies, as a balanced and scholarly guide to the current state of knowledge." ― Martin Guha, Reference Reviews, Volume 30, Number 7, 2016 This is a tremendous collection of essays that will serve as an updated handbook for students and scholars alike who wish to gain entry into a particular aspect or period of ancient Israelite history. Cindy Chapman, Oberlin College I had begun to think that there were already too many handbooks, dictionaries, and encyclopedias of the biblical world on the market for yet another one. But reading through this new volume, superbly planned and organized by Susan Niditch, showed me how wrong I was. There is frankly nothing quite like it. In an exceptionally comprehensive way, it explores what ancient Israel was all about: the varied aspects of its culture and society, the multiple historical contexts in which it existed, and the range of perspectives, literary, archaeological, religious, social scientific, from which modern interpreters must understand it. The volume, thus, is not only a survey of the facts and features of Israel's history and culture, as is typical of many handbooks. Even more, it is a searching inquiry into how we know what we know or think we know: what are the major issues of interpretation and how to evaluate them. Editor Niditch has not been afraid to encourage differing points of view on these issues and the evidence for them from her contributors, which her cross-referencing throughout helps the reader to appreciate. And the contributors - a well-respected international group from junior to senior scholars - have not been afraid to be provocative in what they have to say. Unquestionably, this volume will become a cornerstone for all future work on the study of ancient Israel. Peter Machinist, Harvard University “This is a tremendous collection of essays that will serve as an updated handbook for students and scholars alike who wish to gain entry into a particular aspect or period of ancient Israelite history.” Cindy Chapman, Oberlin College “There is frankly nothing quite like it. Niditch has not been afraid to encourage differing points of view, and the contributors have not been afraid to be provocative in what they have to say. Unquestionably, this volume will become a cornerstone for all future work on the study of ancient Israel.” Peter Machinist, Harvard University The Companion to Ancient Israel offers an unparalleled exploration of the political, social, and cultural world of ancient Israel. Methodologically sophisticated, it provides an overview of ancient Israelite culture, richly informed by a variety of approaches and fields. These include the history of religion with its interests in worldviews, symbol systems, paradigms, and the benefits of comparative, cross-cultural study; the study of “religion as lived,” an approach that examines the everyday lives of ordinary people and the material cultures that they construct and experience; and cultural studies with its interdisciplinary emphases and methodological questions about the academic assumptions that scholars make. The Companion has been divided into three parts, throughout which a distinguished and international group of scholars have delivered a series of fresh contributions: the first part deals in innovative ways with the methodological assumptions and techniques that allow for the study of ancient Israel; the second provides an overview of social and political history, and the third part focuses on critical aspects of culture. The essays not only explore what we can say about the cultures and history of the people of Israel and Judah but also asks how we know what we know, in a style that makes it of real interest to scholars but also fully accessible to non-experts. Susan Niditch is Samuel Green Professor of Religion at Amherst College. Her research and teaching interests include the study of ancient Israelite literature from the interdisc