Juda und Samaria

Benedikt Hensel presents in this volume new insights on the emergence of the Old Testament and Judaism. Starting with the Mt. Gerizim Yahwists, who were later identified as »Samaritans«, the author investigates their relationship to their Judean counterparts in the post-exile period (600-100 BCE) by using all the currently available Samarian archaeological, iconographic, numismatic and epigraphical sources. He also simultaneously evaluates the literary testimonies of the Old Testament and later Jewish traditions, esp. Ezra-Nehemiah, the books of the Chronicles and 2 Kings 17. The religious-sociological and -political developments hereby demonstrated lead to the conclusion that there were two Yawhistic communities in Judah and Samaria existing side-by-side and in communication with one another in post-exile Palestine.
This work was awarded the main prize of the Armin Schmitt Stiftung für biblische Textforschung 2018.