Engaged with previous scholarship and bringing to bear new material and literary evidence, this book offers a new understanding of the history, identity, and relationship of early Samaritans and Jews.

This book evaluates the methods often used for finding the origin of the Samaritans, assesses well known and new material, and suggests that the decisive event was the construction of the temple on Mount Gerizim in the first part of the fourth century b.c.e.

Papers in this volume were presented at the seventh international conference of the Société d’Études Samaritaines held at the Reformed Theological Academy of Pápa, Hungary in July 17–25, 2008. The discussed Samaritan topics permeate different areas of biblical studies: The question of the Samaritan Pentateuch has a serious impact on the textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible. The pre-Samaritan text-type among the Dead Sea Scrolls, as well as the dating and isolation of Samaritan features of the Samaritan Pentateuch provide fresh and important data for gaining a better understanding of the composition of the Torah/Pentateuch. New reconstructions of the early history of the Samaritans have a great effect on the history of the Jewish people in the Persian and Hellenistic period. As a distinct group in the centuries around the turn of the Common Era in Palestine, Samaritans played an important role in the social and religious formation of early Judaism and early Christianity. Living for centuries under Islamic rule, Samaritans provide a good example of linguistic, cultural and religious developments experienced by ethnic and religious group in Islamic contexts.

The Keepers describes the remarkable history and survival of the Samaritans and the unique oppression and grace that have shaped their culture and religion. It is a history whose antagonists have included Jews, Christians, and Muslims, and it has contributed to arguments between Roman Catholics and Protestants over the text of the Bible. The threads of the story disappear at times into Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, but ultimately succeed in affirming the unique Samaritan identity. Popularly associated with phrases like "The Lost Ten Tribes of Israel" and "The Good Samaritan," many are surprised to learn that the Samaritans have a rich history and culture that includes a contemporary chapter. This history is illuminated by stories in the Hebrew Bible and documents from Persian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic sources.

"An emerging field of study that explores the Hispanic minority in the United States, Latino Studies is enriched by an interdisciplinary perspective. Historians, sociologists, anthropologists, political scientists, demographers, linguists, as well as religion, ethnicity, and culture scholars, among others, bring a varied, multifaceted approach to the understanding of a people whose roots are all over the Americas and whose permanent home is north of the Rio Grande. Oxford Bibliographies in Latino Studies offers an authoritative, trustworthy, and up-to-date intellectual map to this ever-changing discipline."--Editorial page.