Levantine Entanglements

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.

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.

Preface A New Format for Writing the History of the Levant: Introduction to the Volume Terje Stordalen and Oystein S. LaBianca Part I: Levantine Localities and Long-Term Change 1. The Region of the Levant and the Importance of the Local Perspective Terje Stordalen and Oystein S. LaBianca 2. Cultural Production in the Iron Age Southern Levant Terje Stordalen 3. Lenses on Accumulative Cultural Production in the Southern Levant: Toward a Middle Range Interpretive Methodology Oystein S. LaBianca 4. Local Power and Social Discourse: Villages in Early Globalizations of the Southern Levant Terje Stordalen Part II: The Levant through Time: Case Studies Panel A: Places and Ideologies Introduction to Panel A Oystein S. LaBianca 5. Drivers of Accumulative Cultural Production in the Southern Levant: The View from Tall Hisban, Jordan Oystein S. LaBianca and Jeffrey Hudon, Andrews University 6. Heshbon in the Biblical Record: A History of Remembering Terje Stordalen 7. Place-Making in the Jordanian Madaba Plains: The Contested Space of Tall Hesban and its Village Surroundings Frode F. Jacobsen, Bergen University College 8. Local Dynamics of Globalization in the Roman Near East: The Case of Palmyra Eivind Heldaas Seland, University of Bergen Panel B: Scriptures--Ideology, Practices, and Community Introduction to Panel B Terje Stordalen 9. Early Forms of Judaism as a Mixture of Strategies of Cultural Heterogeneity and the Re-embedding of Local Culture in Archaic Globalization Diana V. Edelman, University of Oslo 10. Dynamics of Power and the Re-Inventing of "Israel" in Persian Empire Judah Kare Berge, NLA University College 11. The Production of Authority in Levantine Scriptural Ecologies: An Example of Accumulative Cultural Production Terje Stordalen Panel C: Pilgrimage--Localities and Global Discourse Introduction to Panel C Terje Stordalen 12. The Production of the Constantinian Holy Land Oyvind Norderval, University of Oslo 13. The Agency of Women in Curating the Christian Holy Land Jill E. Marshall, Emory University 14. Local Cult, Transforming Miracles, and Global Discourses: Saint George in Lydda Christine Amadou, University of Oslo 15. The Infrastructure of Shared Sacred Sites in Hatay, Turkey: Interreligious Dynamics of Saint Veneration in the Northern Levant Jens Kreinath, Wichita State University Panel D. Polycentrism--Local Communities and Trans-local Formations Introduction to Panel D Oystein LaBianca and Terje Stordalen 16. Itinerancy in Manichaean Networks of the Levant and Egypt Hakon F. Teigen, Independent Scholar 17. Reconstructing Homeland at a Time of Globalizing Change: Peasant Migration in Late Medieval Syria Bethany J. Walker, University of Bonn 18. Honor, Shame, and Hospitality: The Distribution of Power in the Premodern Levant Eveline J. van der Steen, Independent Scholar Concluding Reflections On a Way Forward for Understanding the Levant Terje Stordalen and Oystein S. LaBianca

• Edited by Oystein S. LaBianca
• Edited by Terje Stordalen