From the origins and exodus to the restoration and new hope, Kingdom of Priests offers a comprehensive introduction to the history of Old Testament Israel. Merrill explores the history of ancient Israel not only from Old Testament texts but also from the literary and archeological sources of the ancient Near East. After selling more than 30,000 copies, the book has now been updated and revised. The second edition addresses and interacts with current debates in the history of ancient Israel, offering an up-to-date articulation of a conservative evangelical position on historical matters. The text is accented with nearly twenty maps and charts.

Franz Delitzsch's lectures in 1902 and 1903 set off the Babel-Bible controversy, which rocked Europe and North America. In this searing critique of Delitzsch, Gunkel provides his own analysis of the relationship between ancient Israel and Babylon. In this edition, Gunkel's original work is newly translated, with a new Foreword, notes, bibliographies, and indexes.

"John Cooley uncovered the truth about the west's creation of the extreme forces that attacked the US on 9/11. As an authority on the Middle East, he has been right so often he has few equals. In An Alliance Against Babylon: the US, Israel and Iraq, he breaks the silence on the pivotal role Israel has played in the west's imperial adventure in Iraq: indeed, how the tail in Tel Aviv has so often wagged the dog in Washington. This book is typically Cooley: much needed and brilliant." John Pilger*BR**BR*'A major contribution... John Cooley's face-to-face exchanges with so many of the key personalities who have shaped [the Arab world] give his observations a depth and a vitality that will captivate many people. ... Only someone who has been 'embedded' in the region for almost half a century could catch the nuances of the underlying tragedy that has contributed to the threat we refer to in simplistic terms as 'terrorism'.' Ray Close, former CIA Station Chief in Saudi Arabia*BR**BR*'The Iraq war is unintelligible without the history John Cooley's brave new book provides. The ancient Jewish communities of the Middle East were sacrificed during the 20th century to the selfish games of nationalist politicians and spy/entrepreneurs. British, Americans and Israelis had better read Cooley carefully if they hope to save the Christians and Kurds of Iraq from the deadly consequences of the current intervention.' Brady Kiesling, former US Diplomat in various Arab capitals who resigned in protest against George W. Bush's middle east policy*BR**BR*The ruins of ancient Babylon still stand in Iraq. They are a reminder that today's conflict is only one of many that have engulfed the country, and the wider Middle East, over the centuries.*BR**BR*John Cooley, a former correspondent for ABC News and the Christian Science Monitor, argues that America's new invasion and occupation of Iraq marks a turning point in the West's relationship with the Arab world, and alters the balance of power within the Middle East. *BR**BR*He argues that the crucial factor in this new development is the relationship between Israel and the United States. Examining today's problems from this unique perspective, Cooley covers a broad sweep of history, from biblical Babylonian times until now. He shows how US and Israeli interests in the Middle East were contradictory at first. He explains how and why the US-Israel alliance gradually evolved.*BR**BR*Drawing from unpublished sources, as well as from John Cooley's personal encounters with principal players such as David ben-Gurion, the Shah of Iran, Anwar al-Sadat, King Hussein of Jordan and Saddam Hussein himself, this book gives a uniquely valuable perspective on the complex history of Iraq and why it continues to be at the heart of world affairs.*BR**BR*Praise for John Cooley's previous book, Unholy Wars:*BR**BR*'The definitive account.' Guardian*BR**BR*'[A] masterpiece of reportorial thoroughness, painstaking research, and serious reflection.'Edward W. Said*BR**BR*'Cooley's first-hand familiarity with both the Middle East and Central Asia is nearly unrivaled.' Los Angeles Times Book Review

In Judeans in Babylonia, Tero Alstola presents a comprehensive investigation of deportees in the sixth and fifth centuries BCE. By using cuneiform documents as his sources, he offers the first book-length social historical study of the Babylonian Exile, commonly regarded as a pivotal period in the development of Judaism. The results are considered in the light of the wider Babylonian society and contrasted against a comparison group of Neirabian deportees. Studying texts from the cities and countryside and tracking developments over time, Alstola shows that there was notable diversity in the Judeans’ socio-economic status and integration into Babylonian society.

Although Iraqi Jews saw themselves as Iraqi patriots, their community—which had existed in Iraq for more than 2,500 years—was displaced following the establishment of the state of Israel. New Babylonians chronicles the lives of these Jews, their urban Arab culture, and their hopes for a democratic nation-state. It studies their ideas about Judaism, Islam, secularism, modernity, and reform, focusing on Iraqi Jews who internalized narratives of Arab and Iraqi nationalisms and on those who turned to communism in the 1940s. As the book reveals, the ultimate displacement of this community was not the result of a perpetual persecution on the part of their Iraqi compatriots, but rather the outcome of misguided state policies during the late 1940s and early 1950s. Sadly, from a dominant mood of coexistence, friendship, and partnership, the impossibility of Arab-Jewish coexistence became the prevailing narrative in the region—and the dominant narrative we have come to know today.