Josiah: From Improbable Stories to Inventive Historiography - Paperback

by Lowell K. Handy (Author)

This book considers the various ways in which the last major king of Judah has been presented in biblical texts and the subsequent cultures that have made use of the biblical narratives. It is posited that there is no reliable material that can be dated to the time of Josiah and that the literary constructions of Josiah's reign in Kings, Chronicles, and First Esdras already provided the inventive memory of a no longer recoverable monarch's life. Aspects of these narratives are considered, as well as the history of Josiah in historiographical renditions of world history and presentations of his story in narrative artistic productions.

Author Biography

Lowell K. Handy, now retired, taught for 15 years at Loyola University Chicago and was employed at the American Theological Library Association Religion Index Project for 28 years. He has been an active member of the Chicago Society of Biblical Research, Society of Biblical Literature, and American Schools of Oriental Research. In addition to journal articles and reference entries, Dr. Handy has published several books, including: Among the Host of Heaven: The Syro-Palestinian Pantheon as Bureaucracy; Entertaining Faith: Reading Short Stories in the Bible; Jonah's World: Social Science and the Reading of Prophetic Story; and edited volumes: The Age of Solomon: Scholarship at the Turn of the Millennium; Psalm 29 through Time and Tradition.