The Making of Israel

In The Making of Israel C.L. Crouch presents the southern Levant during the seventh century BCE as a major period for the formation of Israelite ethnic identity, challenging scholarship which dates biblical texts with identity concerns to the exilic and post-exilic periods as well as scholarship which limits pre-exilic identity concerns to Josianic nationalism. The argument analyses the archaeological material from the southern Levant during Iron Age II, then draws on anthropological research to argue for an ethnic response to the economic, political and cultural change of this period. The volume concludes with an investigation into identity issues in Deuteronomy, highlighting centralisation and exclusive Yahwism as part of the deuteronomic formulation of Israelite ethnic identity.

C.L. Crouch, D.Phil. (2009), is Lecturer in Hebrew Bible at the University of Nottingham and author of War and Ethics in the Ancient Near East (2009) as well as articles on Genesis, Deuteronomy and the prophetic books.

"This book [...] is deeply instructive and amazingly engaging. It should not be overlooked by anyone wishing to understand either the book of Deuteronomy or the History of Israel."
Jim West, Quartz Hill School of Theology, Philippines Baptist Theological Seminary

"I can thoroughly recommend the book and hope that we might see more such careful studies from her."
Lester L. Grabbe, University of Hull