How can we best understand the different ways in which ethical issues are addressed in the Hebrew Bible? And how might that understanding usefully inform ethical decision making in our own day? These are the two key questions explored by John Barton in Part One of this study, in which he looks at how the Bible’s narratives, as well as its collections of laws, oracles and wisdom writings, all contribute to our understanding of the whole. In Part Two, he focuses on the moral vision of the Prophets–especially Amos, Isaiah and Daniel–providing the reader with the fruits of his research in this area over the last few decades. The result is a book that enables students of the Bible, Ethics, and other theological disciplines to firmly grasp the main issues at stake in current scholarly debate about the ethical legacy of the Old Testament.
Faith and Mission (Vol. 22, No. 3, Summer 2005) “Despite Barton’s attempt to interact with various segments of Old Testament scholarship, he appears completely unaware of any contributions by evangelical scholars….[this book] has only a limited value for illuminating and guiding evangelicals in Old Testament ethics.” –John Tarwater
