The City in the Second Testament

Abstract

While interest in the ancient city has been strong in recent Second Testament scholarship, such work has not always been informed by a social-scientific understanding that allows us to distinguish the pre-industrial cities of the the past from the modem ones we now inhabit. This BTB Reader's Guide is thus intended to give the student of Second Testament who is a non-specialist in urban studies a review of the basic literature needed for understanding the pre-industrial city in the Second Testament. After a description of the use of the term city by ancient writers and comment about anachronistic perceptions prevalent today, two types of literature are surveyed: (1) historical literature on the rise of the ancient city and (2) social-science literature on the nature of the pre-industrial city and urban system.