{"product_id":"the-invention-of-hebrew","title":"The Invention of Hebrew","description":"\u003ci\u003eThe Invention of Hebrew\u003c\/i\u003e is the first book to approach the Bible in light of recent epigraphic discoveries on the extreme antiquity of the alphabet and its use as a deliberate and meaningful choice. Hebrew was more than just a way of transmitting information; it was a vehicle of political symbolism and self-representation. \u003cp\u003eSeth L. Sanders connects the Bible's distinctive linguistic form--writing down a local spoken language--to a cultural desire to speak directly to people, summoning them to join a new community that the text itself helped call into being. Addressing the people of Israel through a vernacular literature, Hebrew texts reimagined their audience as a public. By comparing Biblical documents with related ancient texts in Hebrew, Ugaritic, and Babylonian, this book shows Hebrew's distinctiveness as a self-conscious political language. Illuminating the enduring stakes of Biblical writing, Sanders demonstrates how Hebrew assumed and promoted a source of power previously unknown in written literature: \"the people\" as the protagonist of religion and politics.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Seth L. Sanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53615234384252,"sku":"9780252032844","price":95.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0251\/4980\/0541\/files\/9780252032844.jpg?v=1726046268","url":"https:\/\/combined-academic.myshopify.com\/products\/the-invention-of-hebrew","provider":"Combined Academic Publishers - Mare Nostrum Group","version":"1.0","type":"link"}