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A review by leswag97
Growing Up in Ancient Israel: Children in Material Culture and Biblical Texts by Kristine Henriksen Garroway
4.0
In this book, Garroway uses biblical texts, archaeological and iconographic evidence from the ancient Near East, and ethnographic findings to paint a plausible picture of what life would have been like for children in ancient Israel. Topics covered include pregnancy, birth, rituals surrounding birth and infancy, enculturation of children, playtime, and much more.
I had a few gripes with this book. First of all, due to a lack of evidence from the area of ancient Israel and/or from the biblical text, Garroway is forced to frequently make statements like “even though we have no evidence for this in ancient Israel, we can assume that such and such thing was also practiced there.” While conclusions like these are legitimate—and in some cases, they are probably correct—I think Garroway makes too many of these types of statements in the book. Garroway’s work is also heavily informed by ethnographic research done among 19th- and 20th-century Palestinian and Iranian populations, which I believe can be helpful, but only if it is used carefully and sparingly. Lastly, there were a number of typos/writing mistakes that sometimes distracted from Garroway’s work.
That being said, though, I learned so much from this book, and I loved reading it as a brand new dad. The similarities between the ancient world and today are fascinating, and the differences are quite interesting as well. Garroway’s child-centered approach to the Hebrew Bible and to material culture is much needed in an area of study that focuses almost exclusively on the lives of adults.
I had a few gripes with this book. First of all, due to a lack of evidence from the area of ancient Israel and/or from the biblical text, Garroway is forced to frequently make statements like “even though we have no evidence for this in ancient Israel, we can assume that such and such thing was also practiced there.” While conclusions like these are legitimate—and in some cases, they are probably correct—I think Garroway makes too many of these types of statements in the book. Garroway’s work is also heavily informed by ethnographic research done among 19th- and 20th-century Palestinian and Iranian populations, which I believe can be helpful, but only if it is used carefully and sparingly. Lastly, there were a number of typos/writing mistakes that sometimes distracted from Garroway’s work.
That being said, though, I learned so much from this book, and I loved reading it as a brand new dad. The similarities between the ancient world and today are fascinating, and the differences are quite interesting as well. Garroway’s child-centered approach to the Hebrew Bible and to material culture is much needed in an area of study that focuses almost exclusively on the lives of adults.