This cross-disciplinary volume makes the case for the Levant, including the use of the term, as a unit of analysis for the study of cultural production and change over the long-term in the Eastern Mediterranean. It offers a new perspective on the history of this region that overcomes Orientalist approaches and introduces a global history perspective. It posits a way forward for studying the agency of the local as a key to understanding the long-term history of cultural production over the long-term in the region. Finally, it tells the story of the crystallization within the region of a type of sub-imperial power, illustrated by the canonical discourses popularly associated with the religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Terje Stordalen is professor of Hebrew Bible / Old Testament Studies at the University of Oslo, Norway. Oystein S. LaBianca is a professor of anthropology at Andrews University in Michigan

Oystein S. LaBianca

Terje Stordalen