The relationship between JHWH-worshippers in Juda and Samaria in post-exilic times (6th-2nd century BCE) - in the view of archaeological, epigraphical, iconographical and biblical sources

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Benedikt Hensel
• Subject Area: Protestant Theology
• Term: from 2012 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 218423430

Recent archaeological evidences show that the image of the origins of the Samaritans has to be revised in a fundamental way. Latest researches tend to describe the province of Samaria in a continuous development since the Assyrian conquest and emphasize the cultural and religious continuity in Samaria in the transition period from Iron Age to the Persian times. Since the 5th century B.C. the sanctuary on Mt. Gerizim was the Samarian centre for the JHWH-worshippers from the north. These results of archaeological research are the starting point for this study aiming at a deeper investigation and understanding of the religious history, history of theology and history of literature of Biblical literature through the Persian to the Hasmonean period. In latest researches the interactions and the contacts between the JHWH-worshippers in both provinces are highly underestimated if not totally neglected. My thesis a) questions the paradigm of strong rivalries and religious competitions between both groups in Samaria and Juda in post-exilic times, and b) elaborates, that the influence of the cultural and religious centre Samaria on the shaping of Jewish literature cannot be overestimated. Aim of this study is the description of the relationship between both groups of JHWH-worshippers in the different provinces in the post-exilic times.The renewal proposal is directly linked to this topic and extends it to problem areas. The renewal is necessary for the following reasons: 1.) Increased expenditure for processing the archaeological data: due to the fact the important studies are not published yet, and due to the limited accessibility of archaeological data from the Samarian region for political reasons, a more increased and time-consuming effort of research was necessary (e.g. a research visit in Israel, Oct. 2015). Furthermore my thesis of a paradigm shift in the description of the Samarian-Judean relationship requires a complete re-evaluation of the archaeological data. This workload could not have been expected by the initial application.2.) Expansion of the textual basis: While processing the crucial text of Ezra-Nehemiah and 2 Kings 17 it became necessary to extend the text basis and therefore include the Chronicles as the (next to Ezr/Neh) most considerable and for the Samarian polemic most relevant source of this time period. This part of the project aims on a detail-exegesis of several decisive texts from the Chronicles and its overall text-pragmatism. 3.) Deconstruction of Josephus: The required paradigm shift means a fundamental critique of Josephus historical view as narrated in his Antiquities, although his narration of history has been rehabilitated more and more in recent scholarship. To ensure an appropriate distinction between history and fiction it is necessary to thoroughly evaluate the current and heterogeneous field of Josephus-research and to do specific critiques and detail-exegesis on specific texts from the Josephian opus.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants