This volume has a systematic approach to the Persian, Ptolemaic, Seleucid and Hasmonean period, correlating social contexts with the biblical and post-biblical literature that each period generated. The list of contributors includes many of the pioneers of the field of Second Temple sociology, such as Kenneth Hoglund, John Wright, Lester Grabbe, Richard Horsley, James Pasto, Robert Doran and the editors. The book, which also includes an introductory essay on the methods and outcomes of this kind of exercise, acts as an introduction to the agenda of interpreting biblical texts as social products.