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As the only historical source available for the period of the Jewish return from the Babylonian exile and its aftermath, the books of Ezra and Nehemiah are crucial for those who would study not only the political, but also the religious and social history of the Old Testament. In this valuable addition to the Guides series, Williamson seeks to steer a clear path for the student, showing how an understanding of the way the books were put together from their constituent sources can elucidate both the historical problems of the period and the theological outlook of the writer.
Moffat aims to provide further insight into the mixed marriage narrative by exposing the social and cultural factors on which it is based. He also identifies historical traces in the narrative that can contribute to a historical reconstruction of the post-exilic era. The socio-cultural analysis highlights previously unobserved aspects of the narrative as it understands that the narrative reflects a context in which identity formation issues were prominent in Persian Yehud. Moffat argues that the rituals of mourning and penitential prayer are important acts that shaped the mixed marriage controversy. The label 'foreign women' is identified as a symbol which carried considerable freight and connected the mixed marriages with wider social discourse on identity. Further, the Exodus traditions are shown to be significant for the conceptual foundations underlying the narrative and the society that produced it. The analysis also gives reason to understand Ezra as the pivotal character in narrative plot. This not only affects how the narrative is understood but has implications for historical reconstruction that utilises this narrative.
This is the first study of the modern history, experience, and ethno-religious identity of the Dönme, the descendants of seventeenth-century Jewish converts to Islam, in Ottoman and Greek Salonica and in Turkish Istanbul.