The Bible: What Really Happened?

Did kings Saul, David, and Solomon exist—who authored the Pentateuch—and did the events described in the Old Testament happen in reality? By unraveling the most difficult riddles of biblical studies, Russian scholar Andrey Desnitsky asks: is it legitimate to consider the Sacred Scripture as a historical source? Can we reconstruct the biblical past using the scientific method, and to what extent are any reconstructions determined by subjective expectations? The author correlates the problems of archaeological evidence and written sources, traces the connection between myth and history, the origins of Ancient Israel, and the development of its statehood. This is an engaging, well-qualified scientific work that allows readers to look anew at the plot of one of the most important books in human history.