Andrew Tobolowsky
Biographic Data
| ID | 1109394 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Andrew Tobolowsky |
| GIVEN NAMES | Andrew |
| FAMILY NAME | Tobolowsky |
| SIGNATURE | TOBOLOWSKY A |
| AFFILIATIONS | William & Mary |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8107-6741 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 9 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 4 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 9 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2016 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Towards a “repertoire interaction” model of ethnicity: “Becoming ‘Israel’” and available cultural repertoires
This article addresses lingering “groupist” challenges in the characterization of ethnic constructions through the lens of an unusual ethnogenetic phenomenon, the presence of multiple different claimants to an “Israelite” identity in many different places all around the world. It suggests that as this phenomenon has a somewhat obvious explanation – the corresponding popularity of biblical traditions themselves all around the world – it can help u…
Elizabeth Fenton, Old Canaan in the New World: Native Americans and the Lost Tribes of Israel
Old Canaan in the New World: Native Americans and the Lost Tribes of Israel. 2020. By Elizabeth Fenton. New York: NYU Press. 272pp. $35 (hardcover), $25 (paperback)
Redescribing, But Really, Finally Moving on From Israelite Origins
Burton Mack’s 1996 article “On Redescribing Christian Origins” was a classic of the discipline. In my view, one of its most enduring contributions is its recognition that the centrality of the New Testament’s view of Christian Origins survives despite a growing recognition that, technically, it ought to be sidelined – that it is protected by a “ring of fire.” Further, he argued that the perseverance of this centrality was a major factor inhibitin…
The Problem of Reubenite Primacy: New Paradigms, New Answers
This article proposes a new solution to an old problem: Why is the tribe of Reuben first in so many descriptions of the tribes? This question, which was routinely debated in the middle of the twentieth century, has not often been explored in recent years even as the assumptions on which earlier solutions were based have fundamentally changed. Here, I lay out the dimensions of a necessary paradigm shift in dealing with details of this sort very ge…
The Primary History as Museum Exhibit: Rethinking the Recovery of the Hebrew Bible’s Artifacts
The “Primary History” is the scholarly term for the biblical narrative spanning Genesis through Kings, created largely through the combination of pre-existing texts and traditions. This narrative has played a central role in scholarly reconstructions of the history of Israelite and Judahite traditions more generally because it is often possible to recover these pre-biblical traditions apparently intact. However, the recovery of pre-biblical tradi…
"The Hebrew Bible as Mythic "Vocabulary: Towards a New Comparative Mythology
In this article, I argue that the history of the study of myth in the Hebrew Bible has been, and continues to be, shaped in negative ways by an essentially Romantic Nationalist understanding of the relationship between a people and their traditions. I then argue that more appropriate ways of modeling the construction of the Bible's myths, combined with new investigations into the historical development of biblical traditions themselves, reveals a…
The sons of Jacob and the sons of Herakles: The History of the Tribal System and the Organization of Biblical Identity
In this study, Andrew Tobolowsky offers a new approach to biblical descriptions of the tribes of Israel as the »sons of Jacob«. He reveals how shifting assumptions about early Israelite history and the absence of references to Jacob in most accounts of the tribes make it unlikely that this understanding was part of early tribal discourse. Instead, drawing on extensive similarities between the role Jacob's children plays in the biblical narrative …
The Sons of Jacob and the Sons of Herakles: The History of the Tribal System and the Organization of Biblical Identity
Die Söhne Jakobs und die Söhne des Herakles. Die Geschichte des Stammessystems und der Organisation biblischer Identität
Where Doom is Spoken: Threshing Floors as Places of Decision and Communication in Biblical Literature
The fact that an unusual number of supernatural events occur at threshing floors in biblical literature has long been a subject of scholarly interest but seldom of comprehensive inquiry. This has recently changed with a publication arguing that the complex of threshing floor phenomena is explained by biblical conceptions of the relationship between YHWH and the site. In this article I will argue instead that it is the nature of the floor itself a…
The Primary History as Museum Exhibit: Rethinking the Recovery of the Hebrew Bible’s Artifacts
The “Primary History” is the scholarly term for the biblical narrative spanning Genesis through Kings, created largely through the combination of pre-existing texts and traditions. This narrative has played a central role in scholarly reconstructions of the history of Israelite and Judahite traditions more generally because it is often possible to recover these pre-biblical traditions apparently intact. However, the recovery of pre-biblical tradi…
"The Hebrew Bible as Mythic "Vocabulary: Towards a New Comparative Mythology
In this article, I argue that the history of the study of myth in the Hebrew Bible has been, and continues to be, shaped in negative ways by an essentially Romantic Nationalist understanding of the relationship between a people and their traditions. I then argue that more appropriate ways of modeling the construction of the Bible's myths, combined with new investigations into the historical development of biblical traditions themselves, reveals a…
Where Doom is Spoken: Threshing Floors as Places of Decision and Communication in Biblical Literature
The fact that an unusual number of supernatural events occur at threshing floors in biblical literature has long been a subject of scholarly interest but seldom of comprehensive inquiry. This has recently changed with a publication arguing that the complex of threshing floor phenomena is explained by biblical conceptions of the relationship between YHWH and the site. In this article I will argue instead that it is the nature of the floor itself a…
The sons of Jacob and the sons of Herakles: The History of the Tribal System and the Organization of Biblical Identity
In this study, Andrew Tobolowsky offers a new approach to biblical descriptions of the tribes of Israel as the »sons of Jacob«. He reveals how shifting assumptions about early Israelite history and the absence of references to Jacob in most accounts of the tribes make it unlikely that this understanding was part of early tribal discourse. Instead, drawing on extensive similarities between the role Jacob's children plays in the biblical narrative …
The Sons of Jacob and the Sons of Herakles: The History of the Tribal System and the Organization of Biblical Identity
Die Söhne Jakobs und die Söhne des Herakles. Die Geschichte des Stammessystems und der Organisation biblischer Identität
The Problem of Reubenite Primacy: New Paradigms, New Answers
This article proposes a new solution to an old problem: Why is the tribe of Reuben first in so many descriptions of the tribes? This question, which was routinely debated in the middle of the twentieth century, has not often been explored in recent years even as the assumptions on which earlier solutions were based have fundamentally changed. Here, I lay out the dimensions of a necessary paradigm shift in dealing with details of this sort very ge…
The Primary History as Museum Exhibit: Rethinking the Recovery of the Hebrew Bible’s Artifacts
The “Primary History” is the scholarly term for the biblical narrative spanning Genesis through Kings, created largely through the combination of pre-existing texts and traditions. This narrative has played a central role in scholarly reconstructions of the history of Israelite and Judahite traditions more generally because it is often possible to recover these pre-biblical traditions apparently intact. However, the recovery of pre-biblical tradi…
"The Hebrew Bible as Mythic "Vocabulary: Towards a New Comparative Mythology
In this article, I argue that the history of the study of myth in the Hebrew Bible has been, and continues to be, shaped in negative ways by an essentially Romantic Nationalist understanding of the relationship between a people and their traditions. I then argue that more appropriate ways of modeling the construction of the Bible's myths, combined with new investigations into the historical development of biblical traditions themselves, reveals a…
Elizabeth Fenton, Old Canaan in the New World: Native Americans and the Lost Tribes of Israel
Old Canaan in the New World: Native Americans and the Lost Tribes of Israel. 2020. By Elizabeth Fenton. New York: NYU Press. 272pp. $35 (hardcover), $25 (paperback)
Redescribing, But Really, Finally Moving on From Israelite Origins
Burton Mack’s 1996 article “On Redescribing Christian Origins” was a classic of the discipline. In my view, one of its most enduring contributions is its recognition that the centrality of the New Testament’s view of Christian Origins survives despite a growing recognition that, technically, it ought to be sidelined – that it is protected by a “ring of fire.” Further, he argued that the perseverance of this centrality was a major factor inhibitin…
Towards a “repertoire interaction” model of ethnicity: “Becoming ‘Israel’” and available cultural repertoires
This article addresses lingering “groupist” challenges in the characterization of ethnic constructions through the lens of an unusual ethnogenetic phenomenon, the presence of multiple different claimants to an “Israelite” identity in many different places all around the world. It suggests that as this phenomenon has a somewhat obvious explanation – the corresponding popularity of biblical traditions themselves all around the world – it can help u…
Art (6 works) · Biblical studies (6 works) · Biblical Studies and Interpretation (6 works) · History (6 works) · Hebrew Bible (5 works) · Philosophy (5 works) · Epistemology (4 works) · Literature (4 works) · Genealogy (3 works) · Philosophy (3 works)