The Origin of the Samaritans

All that most people know about the Samaritans is that there was at least one good one. Old Testament scholar Kartveit (Old Testament, School of Mission and Theology, Stavanger, Norway) begins his impressive monograph on the origin of the Samaritans by noting that scholars have not known much more. Evidence of the Samaritans comes from the Bible and the first century Jewish/Roman historian, Josephus. The latter is notoriously unreliable, cited mainly because he is the only source. Kartveit sifts through Qumran texts, inscriptions on remnants of temple walls and late Arabic authors to consider the theories. From these he concludes that the Samaritans may have been Jews not taken into Babylonian captivity. They lived in Northern Israel and, over centuries, differences in ritual and interpretation caused a rift between the two groups that was exacerbated by the building of a Samaritan temple on Mt. Gezerim in the fourth century b.c.e. Kartveit's analysis of the records made by the Jews of Jerusalem is erudite, showing his deep knowledge of the subject and, of course, the nuances of Biblical Hebrew. While Greek and Hebrew terms are not translated, Kartveit makes them clear in the context so that, although the book is intended for scholars, it is written clearly enough for any educated reader. Annotation c2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Magnar Kartveit, Teol. Dr. (1987), Uppsala University, Sweden, is Professor of Old Testament at the School of Mission and Theology, Stavanger, Norway. His publications include Motive und Schichten der Landtheologie in I Chronik 1-9 (Almquist & Wiksell, 1989).