Insights on Ancient Intelligence and Historical Perspectives

Episode: In this episode of Biblical World, Kyle interviews Paul Evans about his new book, Sennacherib and the War of 1812: Disputed Victory in the Assyrian Campaign of 701 BCE in Light of Military History (T&T Clark, 2023). They delve into military history and consider how the goals and ideologies of individual combatants/nations lead to alternate narratives of how events unfolded and what those events meant. The ideas of what is "true" and "accurate" in historical reporting is given greater nuance by comparing Sennacherib's third campaign with the War of 1812.

Guest: Dr. Paul Evans is Associate Professor of Old Testament at McMaster Divinity College. Currently, Paul is writing a two-volume commentary on 1-2 Chronicles for The New International Commentary on the Old Testament NICOT series published by Eerdmans. Paul previously wrote a commentary on 1 & 2 Samuel published in the Story of God series by Zondervan. Paul’s earlier work includes a monograph entitled The Invasion of Sennacherib in the Book of Kings: A Source-Critical and Rhetorical Study of 2 Kings 18-19, which was awarded the 2010 R.B.Y. Scott Award by the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies recognizing an outstanding book in the areas of Hebrew Bible and/or the Ancient Near East. Paul’s most recent monograph, and the subject of this podcast episode, is entitled Sennacherib and the War of 1812: Historical Reconstructions of the Assyrian Campaign of 701 BCE in Light of Military History (Bloomsbury, 2023). In addition Paul has many research articles in print, with most focused on the historical books of the Old Testament. (from the McMaster Divinity website)

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