War, Society, and Memory in Ancient Israel

FAIN: FA-55435-10

Jacob L. Wright
Emory University (Atlanta, GA 30322-1018)

My book (Oxford UP, 2011) sets forth a new approach to the study of "War and Society" by examining the history of Israel in the 1st Mill. BCE (9-4th cent.). The choice of ancient Israel is appropriate due to the influence it, with ancient Greece, has exerted on Western thinking on war. Constructively synthesizing new archeological, iconographic and textual data, I show that war must be appreciated as a presence pervading all spheres of Israelite society and as the context in which its most important institutions, practices and ideas emerged. On the basis of these findings, I move beyond current approaches that treat war primarily as an external catalyst of change acting upon society. Rather than presenting loose descriptions of "impact," my work discusses and models how future interdisciplinary scholarship on "War and Society" can better discern the various ways in which war also works as an immanent force, and makes itself felt both before and long after actual military conflict.