Examines the David theme in the collective mind of ancient Israel and the early church In this follow-up study to Judaism, The First Phase, Joseph Blenkinsopp traces the development of traditions about David in the collective memory of the people of Israel and the first Christians, from the extinction of the Davidic dynasty in the sixth century B.C.E. to the early common era. David Remembered is neither a biography of David nor an exegetical study of the biblical narrative about David. Rather, it focuses on the memory of David as a powerful factor in the formation of social identity, in political activity (especially in reaction to imperial rule), and in projections of the future viewed as the restoration of a never-forgotten past.

Joseph Blenkinsopp is the John A. O'Brien Professor Emeritus of Biblical Studies in the Department of Theology at the University of Notre Dame, where he has lived and worked since 1970. He is the author of dozens of books, the most recent of which include Essays on the Book of Isaiah (2019), The Beauty of Holiness: Re-Reading Isaiah in the Light of the Psalms (2018), and Essays on Pre-Hellenistic Judaism (2017).