The Keepers: An Introduction to the History and Culture of the Samaritans. This item is unavailable.The Keepers: An Introduction to the History and Culture of the Samaritans

"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.

""The Keepers" is both a significant scholarly contribution to the subject and an important introduction, serving even the needs of a general readership with its clear style, elegant production, and incorporation of source material. The text is handled carefully and intelligently, and this book includes very useful information on subjects that are not easy to find, such as the transmission of the Samaritan Pentateuch to Europe, Samaritan inscriptions, and the importance of the Samaritans in New Testament studies." --Alan Crown, University of Sydney, Australia"With their book "The Keepers, " Anderson and Giles have enriched the literature on the Samaritans with an admirable contribution. Many in our culture are familiar with the New Testament story of the Good Samaritan, but few know that there are still Samaritans living in Israel and Palestine, who have an unbroken history from antiquity to our days. Even though the last few decades have seen a flowering of Samaritan studies, many publications are addressed to scholars of biblical studies and religion. What Anderson and Giles have done is to write a concise and highly readable introduction--complete with maps, photographs, and a bibliography--that will appeal to a wider readership. But for all the elegance and liveliness with which the two authors present the subject, they have not sacrificed accuracy and care in dealing with disputed or unsolved issues."The inspiration--at least in part--to write this book, derives for Anderson and Giles from their work on the large collection of Samaritan manuscripts and artifacts in the Chamberlain-Warren Collection at Michigan State University. Their description of the origins of thiscollection in Chapter One is a fascinating story that draws the reader further and further into the book. After briefly introducing the Samaritans, the authors outline the various views on the thorny issue of the origin of this offshoot of Judaism. They rightly emphasize that the Samaritans as a distinct religion did not arise as a result of the Assyrian conquest in the eight century B.C.E., nor was there a specific point in time that could be identified as the beginning of a 'schism' between Judaism and Samaritanism. The other subjects treated by the book are Samaritan history according to the successive periods (from antiquity to today), the Samaritan Pentateuch, and Samaritan religion. The last chapter, Chapter Ten, closes the circle by returning to the Chamberlain-Warren Collection and giving a description of its contents."--Reinhard Pummer, Department of Classics and Religion, University of Ottawa