The exciting field of biblical archaeology has revolutionized our understanding of the Bible - and no one has done more to popularise this vast store of knowledge than Israel Finkelstein and Neil Silberman; who revealed what we now know about when and why the Bible was first written in "The Bible Unearthed". Now; with "David and Solomon"; they do nothing less than help us to understand the sacred kings and founding fathers of western civilization. David and his son Solomon are famous in the Bible for their warrior prowess; legendary loves; wisdom; poetry; conquests; and ambitious building programmes. Yet thanks to archaeology's astonishing finds; we now know that most of these stories are myths. Finkelstein and Silberman show us that the historical David was a bandit leader in a tiny back-water called Jerusalem; and how - through wars; conquests and epic tragedies like the exile of the Jews in the centuries before Christ and the later Roman conquest - David and his successor were reshaped into mighty kings and even messiahs; symbols of hope to Jews and Christians alike in times of strife and despair and models for the great kings of Europe. A landmark work of research and lucid scholarship by two brilliant luminaries; "David and Solomon" recasts the very genesis of western history in a whole new light.
#1261726 in Books Rowman Littlefield Publishers 2009-01-16 2009-01-16Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 10.01 x 1.32 x 7.10l; 2.15 #File Name: 0742559246572 pages
Review
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful. indisensable resourceBy Craig Chalquist; PhD; author of TERRAPSYCHOLOGY and DEEP CALIFORNIAProfessor Karen J. Warren brings together and sets into conversation fifteen pairs of Western philosophers; including Augustine and Hildegard; Abelard and Heloise; Descartes and Princess Elisabeth; Hobbes and Macaulay; Leibniz and Conway; Rousseau and Wollstonecraft; and Sartre and Beauvoir. Excerpts from key texts by these philosophers allow the reader to compare insights between women and men who philosophize. Reading this book made me more aware of how thoroughly we must revise the Western canon; I look on my shelves at the Sixty Great Books collection and feel amazed at how few women show up there.In some cases--Dewey and Addams for example--men and women enriched each other's thought. In others; the women supply exactly what's missing from a man's philosophy. Reading the questions posed by Princess Elisabeth to Descartes; questions he was unable to answer; stirs amazement that she anticipated so many criticisms we now take for granted. Today many of us see Descartes' thought as dualistic; disembodied; and disconnected from the world; but she saw it first; and told him so.Indispensable collection for the serious philosopher.8 of 11 people found the following review helpful. Thought provoking and informativeBy Mark Carlson-GhostThe book juxtaposed better known male philosophers; with often less well known women thinkers. I found the women often showed more emotional groundedness in their philosophical stances. The men sometimes came off as ivory tower types who didn't live their own perspective in the nitty gritty of their own lives. But this is no mere "feminist reconstruction" of the past. I found the editor and the writers of individual chapters to be honest and fair in what they wrote. This is exactly what I was looking for to help flesh out the early lectures in a History of Psychology course I was teaching. Very interesting.0 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy Babyawesome; not just old white guys
