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Early on I decided to make the NT my main focus of study, but for those who are into the OT, this volume is indispensable. The trio begins with a logical demolition of the minimalist historians, those whose eye for tendentiousness is so jaded and fogged over that they think if a Biblical authors says someone says "boo," the person in history (if he even existed) never actually said "boo" but was used as a tool to express the author's hatred of people who said "boo". The minimalists, they show, are playing buffet games with the text, and have no consistent methodology; they also have an inbred bias for non-Biblical texts that say what they want to hear (or that they make say what they want to hear). The book also goes over general ideas of historical knowledge (including the use and significance of textual and archaeological evidence) and as such provides an excellent introduction to the subject.
The bulk of the book, however, is a chronological survey of evidence related to the OT, and is useful as a reference manual rather than as something to sit down and read through. The tone is even without being stultifying. We recommend it as a reference work that can be used by the average person.
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