Charles Halton notes that the newly published paperback version of the widely cited ANET makes accessible a resource that has retained its value:
“In this fast-paced world, scholarship—even in old and dusty fields like ancient Near Eastern studies—has a relatively short life span. Each year new texts are unearthed, new interpretations are offered, and existing theories are debunked. However, a handful of resources remain valuable after several generations of scholars have long since retired. Included among these are the anthologies of texts and pictures introducing the ancient cultures of the area extending from modern Iran to Egypt edited by James Pritchard from 1950-1969. He assembled two paperback volumes intended to orient readers to the cultural and religious contexts in which the Hebrew Bible was written. Now, Princeton University Press has reissued this material in one integrated volume that reorders the texts in a more user-friendly fashion than the original volumes.”
Read the whole thing.
This is one of those resources that students of the Bible should purchase and work through, chipping away selection by selection until we’ve read the whole.
Is this at all abridged, Jim?
It depends on what you mean – often the selection included from the ancient source is either fragmentary or the editor/translator chose to include only part of the text, but as far as I can tell everything that was in the hardcover ANET is in this paperback version.
The big three vol Context of Scripture has a slightly different selection of ancient texts, and there too the editor/translator chose which portions of the text to include.
Great to hear from you!
Jim
Thanks the recommendation Dr. Hamilton. I remember having my eye on this book during my MDiv studies. I just place an order and will be looking forward to reading it!
I’m not familiar with this book. Thanks for sharing!!!