Early Historical Books (Joshua–Kings)

  Sponsors: David Firth and Ralph Hawkins

The “Early Historical Books (Joshua-Kings)” Research Group is focused on the Old Testament historical books that are set in the pre-exilic period, including the so-called deuteronomistic history as well as the book of Ruth. Emphasis is placed on historical-cultural and literary-theological approaches to interpretation. We are currently in the middle of a three-year program on the theology of the land in these books, and we are looking at this theme under the headings of ‘Land Gained’, ‘Land Retained’ and ‘Land Lost.’ Our hope is to demonstrate that each of these categories can be found across this corpus, and thus to broaden the awareness of the land theme. For 2025, we have an open call for papers on the third heading, ‘Land Lost.’ E-mail proposals with title and abstract to David Firth ([email protected]) and Ralph Hawkins ([email protected]) by February 28th, 2025.

Friday, November 21

3:30 - 5:30 PM

Location: TBA

Presentations

David G. Firth, Trinity College Bristol / University of the Free State, Presiding

The Telos of History Writing and the Role of the Deuteronomistic Historians in Recounting Lost Land
Drew S. Holland

Gouged Out Eyes and Lost Land: Samson, Zedekiah, and Exile
Grant Gates, Claremont School of Theology

King Saul's Steady Loss of the Land in 1 Samuel 8–31
Matthew Bach, Jessup University

Away from the Land, Away from His Face: The Role of the Land’s Loss in Portraying YHWH as Suzerain in 1 Kings 8–9 and 2 Kings 17
Victoria K. Tatko, Trinity College Bristol

Land Gained, Land Lost: The Moabite War in the Deuteronomistic Paradigm (2 Kings 3:1–27)
Ralph Hawkins, Averett University

Discussion