Prof. Scott B. NoegelChair, Dept. of Near Eastern Languages and CivilizationUniversity of Washington

Book note:Asali, K.J., ed. Jerusalem in History. Brooklyn, NY: Olive Branch Press, 1999.

First Published in:Religious Studies Review 24 (1999), 434.

Jewish 11IoughtRUSALEM IN HISTORY. Edited by K. J.

Asali. North Hampton. MA: interlink. 1998. pp.295. $16.95. ISBN 0-940793-44-X.

Surveys the history of Jerusalem from 30001>,'1:III 1()87 cr. Gi\cn Jerusalem's prominencein the major Westem religions and the increase UIrecent publications on Jerusalem. the need for auniversal history of the city is clear. Neverthe-less. synthesizing five thousand years of historyand centuries of scholarship into 295 pages bynecessity demands that some aspects of Jerusa7lem's history be left out. Thus. not every essayincludes the relevant archaeological data andothers are sociohistorical in scope. As a scholarof the ancient Near East, I must comment criti.cally on G. Mendenhall's "Jerusalem from1000-63 BCE." In it one fmds that Jebusitescribes introduced the "Phoenician alphabet Iethe Yahwist administration," as well as assump-tions, like the low level of literacy in ancient Is-rael, all of which cannot be substantiated. Never-theless. this does not detract from the other es.says, nor from the book's overall utility. in-tended for nonscholars, the essays collectivel)demonstrate a long and continuous political anareligious interest in the city and underscore thegaps in our knowledge concerning certain peri.ods in Jerusalem's history. Recommended as ~supplemental textbook for introductoryco~on Jerusalem.

Scott B. NoegelUniversiry of WashingtonSeallk. WA98195 RSR