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M. PATRICK GRAHAM, KENNETH G. HOGLUND, and STEVEN L. McKENZIE (eds.), The Chronicler as Historian (JSOTSup 238; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997). Pp. 336. 40, $60.
The fourteen essays in this collection are dedicated to the memory of Raymond B. Dillard ( 1944-93), who focused his attention on the Books of Chronicles for almost two decades. The collection of essays began in a session of the Chronicles-EzraNehemiah Section at the Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature in 1994, which Dillard helped to plan. Members of the section devoted their attention to the topic, "Was the Chronicler a Historian?" Ray Dillard struggled with questions of biblical authority and historicity because of his own self-identification as a Protestant evangelical scholar trying to take seriously the witness and authority of Chronicles. These investigations represent the tensions and ferment regularly faced by the man they honor, as they demonstrate new boundaries for the notion of historicity.
Part 1, "Framing an Approach," contains the following essays: Kenneth G. Hoglund, "The Chronicler as Historian: A Comparativist Perspective" (pp. 19-29), Anson E Rainey, "The Chronicler and His Sources-Historical and Geographical" (pp. 3072), Isaac Kalimi, "Was the Chronicler a Historian?" (pp. 73-89).
Part 2, "Elements of the Narrative," consists of essays whose authors examine a special theme or genre of the material in Chronicles, and assess the contribution to a historical reconstruction....