Birth of the Bible. Old and new hypotheses (II)

This year's lecture follows on from last year's and takes stock of what we know and hypothesize about the birth and formation of the Hebrew Bible. Following a brief review of the essential elements seen the previous year, the first part of the lecture established the various literary and cultural influences of the geographical and political context of the Ancient Near East on biblical literature (Egypt, Levant, Mesopotamia, Persia, Greece). The second part of the lecture was to address a number of methodological and hermeneutical issues, as well as the development of prophetic and wisdom literature. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the latter will be covered in the 2020-2021 lecture.