The Hunt for Ancient Israel - Essays in Honour of Diana V. Edelman - Cynthia Shafer-Elliott
Where a Shattered Visage Lies? Warrants for Authority in Persian Yehud
The Hunt for Ancient Israel - Essays in Honour of Diana V. Edelman - Cynthia Shafer-Elliott
Jason M. Silverman [+]
Jason M. Silverman earned a PhD from Trinity College Dublin. His research includes
communication and social history in the Persian Empire and the Bible in Film. He authored
“Pseudepigraphy, Anonymity, and Auteur Theory,” Religion and the Arts 15.4 (2011): 520–555.
Description
Much has been written on the development of “authoritative texts” in Persian Yehud, but there remains little consensus on what authority itself means or the relevant social structures in which it operated. This essay sketches a framework for analyzing authority and emphasizes the impact of the social structure of Yehud on authority with reference to the memory of Davidic kingship and the presence of Persian kingship. Since the evidence for social structure is currently inconclusive, the essay will outline several potential scenarios and explore how authority may have functioned in each instance.