Was there a writing culture in the heartland of Israel during the Iron Age I?

"The prevailing paradigm in recent decades, namely that Israel did not have a writing culture capable of producing literary texts until the 8th century BCE, has been called into question in recent years for various reasons. Among other things, several alphabetic inscriptions from the 12th-10th centuries BCE have been found in the southern Levant over the past 20 years, and there is a growing understanding that there was no interruption in the writing culture in the Levant after the Late Bronze Age. However, the inscriptions are mainly found in the Shephelah and other peripheral areas of Israel, rather than in the heartland. This paper will examine the probability or possibility that a writing culture existed in places such as Shechem or Shiloh, which, according to both Archeology and the Bible, played a central role in the pre-state period of Israel."

Prof. Dr. Benjamin Kilchör is Professor of Old Testament and Prorector at STH Basel — Staatsunabhängige Theologische Hochschule Basel, Switzerland. His academic work centres on the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament, with particular attention to the Pentateuch, Deuteronomy, biblical law, Ezekiel, temple traditions, priesthood and Levites, and the historical and literary interpretation of biblical texts.

From 2003 to 2005, he studied German Language and Literature and Ancient History at the University of Zurich. From 2005 to 2010, he studied Theology at STH Basel, the University of Basel, and the Evangelische Theologische Faculteit Leuven in Belgium. He received his doctorate in Theology from the Evangelische Theologische Faculteit Leuven in 2014.

He served as Assistant Professor of Old Testament at STH Basel from 2015 to 2020. Since 2020, he has held the position of Professor of Old Testament at STH Basel. He currently also serves as Prorector of the institution.

His publications include studies of the relationship between Deuteronomy and the legal collections of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers; methodological questions in Pentateuchal research; and the interpretation of the second temple vision in Ezekiel 40–48. His research brings together close textual analysis, biblical law, historical inquiry, and the study of literary relationships within the Hebrew Bible.