Grabbe_Lester-Ezra-Nehemiah torrent

In this provocative study Lester L.Grabbe dispenses with the trend
in Biblical scholarship towards new literary study and
postmodernist criticism to advocate a ‘close reading’ of the text
itself. The main focus of this book, discussed in Part I, gives a
close reading of the final form of the text; the Hebrew Ezra, the
Hebrew Nehemiah, 1 Esdras and other Ezra and Nehemiah
traditions. Lester L.Grabbe also discusses intertextuality and
questions of historicity raised by a close reading of the texts.
This book presents a unique approach to Ezra-Nehemiah in the
combination of literary and historical approaches. Lester L.Grabbe
challenges commonly held assumptions about Joshua and
Zerubbabel, the initial resettlement of land after the exile, the
figure of Ezra and the activities of Nehemiah. Controversially, the
challenge comes, nor from radical theory, but from paying careful
attention to the text of the Bible itself.
Lester L.Grabbe is Professor of Hebrew Bible and Early Judaism
at the University of Hull.