Abstract
This is primarily a study in ‘social memory’ (also referred to as ‘cultural memory’ or ‘collective memory’), which can be defined as the way in which ‘group members recall people and events of the past … providing a sense of common identity’ (p. xi). Specifically, twenty-two figures from the Bible (including such non-Israelite figures as Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus) are investigated as to how they were recalled in the late Persian and early Hellenistic periods. For those new to the field, Edelman gives an introduction to the subject of social memory. N. P. Lemche also provides an overview of the subject and the final essay by D. H. Aaron discusses the contributions of D. Sperber and M. Bloch.
Social memory is usually studied by looking at how contemporary groups think about their collective past. Therefore, one of the immediate questions with an exercise like this is whether the social memory of a group in the distant past can be determined with any degree of confidence. Lemche expresses his view that we simply cannot know what the Jews of the Persian or Hellenistic periods thought about past figures. Edelman notes that some of the essays take a more conventional approach, but this is understandable since they are trying to determine how the text was read in the past by means of reconstructing its editing. The authors of such studies would no doubt disagree with Edelman’s comment that source and redactional criticism are ‘not really applicable’ to the study of social memory.
Yet most contributors seem to think that they can comment on the social memory of Jews of the late Persian and early Hellenistic period. Even Lemche, in spite of his scepticism, in the end makes quite an interesting analysis of how Solomon might have been remembered at that time. Lemche observes that most of the memory of Solomon is not cultural memory but ‘applied memory’. However, it seems to me that applied memory in the sense that Lemche uses it is a type of cultural memory: it may not be folk memory but it serves the same function in creating and sustaining group identity.
This collection can be recommended as a good way for those new to social memory to see how the theory works, while those who already know something about the subject can learn from the variety of approaches and modes of analysis.