Aims

The course objective is to understand a general work on the history of Israel in the biblical period and to be able to use the 'Encyclopédie archéologique' mentioned below successfully.
For students in religious sciences, the secondary objective of the course is to prepare for their trip to the Holy Land

Main themes

The course involves in-depth study of a period of biblical history with all the corresponding archaeological data.

Content and teaching methods

This academical year, we will discuss the history of the origins of Israel in dialogue with I. Finkelstein and N.A. Silberman, The Bible Unearthed, Free Press, New York, 2001.
What do we know about the patriarchal and premonarchical periods ? Were the Proto-Israelites originally from Canaan ? Or did Israel come from elsewhere? Did one group come from Egypt (Moses and the Exodus) ? And a other group from North Syria (Jacob) assuggested in Hosea, chapter 12 ?
What do we know about the beginnings of the monarchy (Saul and David) ?
In the following academical year (2006-2007), we will look especially at the delicate problem of the origins of monotheism.

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Textbook:
The New Encyclopaedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land, under the direction of E. Stern, A. Levinson-Gilboa and J. Aviram, The Israel Exploration Society, 4 vol., Jerusalem, 199(3)

Other credits in programs