Index of Books Reviewed

Abstract

Author Title Reviewer Page Anderson, R.T. & Giles, T. The Samaritan Pentateuch: An Introduction to Its Origin, History, and Significance for Biblical Studies Emanuel Tov 506 Atherstone, A. Archbishop Justin Welby: The Road to Canterbury Robert Jeffery 506 Crowe, B. D. The Obedient Son: Deuteronomy and Christology in the Gospel of Matthew Craig A. Evans 507 Crump, D. Encountering Jesus, Encountering Scripture: Reading the Bible Critically in Faith Bradley M. Penner 508 Gillingham, S. Jewish and Christian Approaches to the Psalms: Conflict and Convergence Katharine J. Dell 508 Harrington, J.F. The Faithful Executioner Iain R. Torrance 509 Humphrey, E. M. Scripture and Tradition: What the Bible Really Says Michael J. Kruger 510 Killebrew, A. E. & Lehmann, G. (eds) The Philistines and Other “Sea Peoples” in Text and Archaeology Ken Dark 519 Le Boulluec, A. Alexandrie antique et chrétienne: Clément et Origène Jane Heath 510 Loader, W. The New Testament on Sexuality: Attitudes towards Sexuality in Judaism and Christianity in the Hellenistic Greco-Roman Era Joseph Verheyden 491 Malcolm, M. R. The World of 1 Corinthians: An Exegetical Source Book of Literary and Visual Backgrounds Roy E. Ciampa 511 McKelvey, R. J. Pioneer and Priest: Jesus Christ in the Epistle to the Hebrews Nicholas J. Moore 512 Oliver, I. W. Torah Praxis after 70 CE Paul Foster 512 Origen Homilies on Luke, trans. Joseph T. Lienhard, S. J.
Homilies on Judges, trans. Elizabeth Ann Dively Lauro Jane Heath 513 Pattison, G. God and Being: An Enquiry Jason Wardley 514 Pattison, G. Kierkegaard and the Quest for Unambiguous Life: Between Romanticism and Modernism. Selected Essays Simon D. Podmore 515 Payne, A. Iron Age Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscriptions Stephanie Dalley 515 Schröter, J. From Jesus to New Testament: Early Christian Theology and the Origin of the New Testament Canon Paul Foster 516 Via, D. O. The Hardened Heart & Tragic Finitude Andrew Bowyer 517 Walzer, M. In God’s Shadow: Politics in the Hebrew Bible Philip Davies 482 Webb, S. H. Jesus Christ, Eternal God: Heavenly Flesh and the Metaphysics of Matter David Grumett 503 Whipp, M. Pastoral Theology: SCM Studyguide Marion Chatterley 490

Contextualising the Philistines

Ann E. Killebrew & Gunnar Lehmann (eds), The Philistines and Other “Sea Peoples” in Text and Archaeology (Atlanta, GA: SBL, 2013. $88.95. pp. ix + 751. ISBN: 978-1-58983-129-2).

This book tries to escape from a simplistic understanding of Philistines and other ‘Sea Peoples’ (enigmatic ethno-political groups during the thirteenth- and twelfth- centuries BC), by placing them in the context of the networks of complex multi-directional interactions widely seen by archaeologists as characteristic of this period.

As giving even the briefest summary of each of the 24 chapters would render the present review unduly long, it may be helpful here to concentrate on what this book tells us about the Philistines, who may be of greater interest to readers than the other so-called ‘Sea Peoples’. However, even so, one should note the useful appendix by Adams and Chen on references to the ‘Sea Peoples’ in general in primary textual sources.

The chapter most directly addressing Biblical Studies is Singer’s fascinating restatement of the case for the historicity of the description and dating of the Philistines in the Bible. In a separate chapter, Barako reaches a similar conclusion regarding the date of the Philistines’ first appearance in the period known as Iron Age I, when, as Killebrew and Lehmann put it (p. 17) ‘groups associated with the Sea Peoples were among the “winners” to emerge from the ruins of the Late Bronze Age’.

Much of the remainder of the book is given over to material culture that could be associated with the Philistines, especially focussing on the class of pottery known as ‘Mycenaean IIIC’ or ‘LHIIIC’. Dothan and Ben-Shlomo argue that this originated in the twelfth century BC; several contributions emphasise its wider Aegean linkages. In methodological terms, three chapters stand out: Sherratt’s comments on the relationship between archaeology and texts, Killebrew’s exploration of the technological aspects of Mycenaean IIIC, and Laemmel’s use of long-term processes of socio-economic and cultural change to explain the continuity visible at Tell el-Far’ah, concluding that the site was part of a cultural world that included material related to the Philistines rather than a ‘Philistine site’.

In sum, the papers in this volume provide both an important study of the Philistines and their relationship with the other ‘Sea Peoples’, and a worthy tribute to Moshe Dothan.

KEN DARK

University of Reading