Economics and Urdeuteronomium: A response to Kåre Berge, Diana Edelman, Philippe Guillaume, and Benedetta Rossi
Sandra Lynn Richter- Religious studies
Although grateful that Berge, Edelman, Guillaume, and Rossi have engaged my essay, ‘The Question of Provenance and the Economics of Deuteronomy’, their critique, which speaks against my conclusions, fails to account for essential archaeological, ethnographic, and linguistic data illuminating the economic profile of the Book of Deuteronomy. The most significant lacuna is their failure to address the economic realities of the Persian period. That data, and more, is summarized here. The present essay moves past literary and historiographic presuppositions regarding the provenance of Urdeuteronomium in order to engage the economic and numismatic realia that is recoverable from Israel’s world and offer an important avenue forward in deuteronomic researcḥ