{"product_id":"9780252032844","title":"The Invention of Hebrew","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Invention of Hebrew is the first book to approach the Bible in light of recent findings on the use of the Hebrew alphabet as a deliberate and meaningful choice. Seth L. Sanders connects the Bible's distinctive linguistic form--writing down a local spoken language--to a cultural desire to speak directly to people, summoning them to join a new community that the text itself helped call into being. Addressing the people of Israel through a vernacular literature, Hebrew texts gained the ability to address their audience as a public. By comparing Biblical documents with related ancient texts in Hebrew, Ugaritic, and Babylonian, this book details distinct ways in which Hebrew was a powerfully self-conscious political language. Revealing the enduring political stakes of Biblical writing, The Invention of Hebrew demonstrates how Hebrew assumed and promoted a source of power previously unknown in written literature: ''the people'' as the protagonist of religion and politics.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS PRESS","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51185399103762,"sku":"9780252032844","price":206.74,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0508\/3093\/4173\/files\/9780252032844.jpg?v=1774735607","url":"https:\/\/bargainbooks.com.au\/products\/9780252032844","provider":"Bargain Books Australia","version":"1.0","type":"link"}