Step into the world of the Hebrew Bible and discover how the contexts of the people who lived in it illuminate and deepen our understanding of the Scriptures.
In Ancient Israel and Judah, Beth Tanner takes readers on a compelling journey through the historical and cultural landscapes of ancient Israel and Judah, bringing the Hebrew Bible to life in an approachable manner yet to be achieved.
An essential guide for anyone new to biblical study, this book bridges the divide between traditional reli...
Drawing from Greco-Roman history, Second-Temple Jewish studies, archaeology, the social world of the New Testament, parable studies, and the burgeoning literature on Galilee, The People of the Parables describes life in first-century Galilee as it was experienced by the characters in Jesus' parables.R. Alan Culpepper assesses both primary literature and recent research on Galilee--including important archaeological discoveries--and fashions a new and insightful social history of Galilee, the peo...
The Hebrew Bible displays a complicated attitude toward cities. Much of the story tells of a rural, agrarian society, yet those stories were written by people living in urban environments. Moreover, cities frequently appear in a negative light; the Hebrew slaves in the book of Exodus were forced to build cities, and the book of Samuel’s critique of monarchy assumes an urban setting that supports that monarchy. At the same, time Ezra-Nehemiah makes restoration of Jerusalem and its wall a holy pri...
"Biblical history, enriched by many religious and cultural traditions, flows into and is intertwined with our nation's epic, both for better and for worse. To ignore that history is to cut ourselves off from our roots and to deny the ancestral experiences that forged our individual and collective identity."—from the prologueThis substantial work explores the interplay of religion and politics throughout the history of the United States. Paul D. Hanson traces American history back to ...
This study considers the historical, cultural, and literary significance of some of the most important Ancient Near East (ANE) texts that illuminate the Hebrew Bible. Christopher B. Hays provides primary texts from the Ancient Near East with a comparison to literature of the Hebrew Bible to demonstrate how Israel's Scriptures not only draw from these ancient contexts but also reshape them in a unique way.Hays offers a brief introduction to comparative studies, then lays out exampl...
Those who study the Bible are becoming increasingly attentive to the significance of economics when examining ancient texts and the cultures that produced them. This book looks at the socioeconomic landscape of Second Temple Judea, from the end of the Babylonian exile to the destruction of the temple by the Romans (532 BCE to 70 CE). Adams carefully examines key themes, paying special attention to family life, the status of women, and children, while engaging relevant textual and a...
The texts from ancient Ugarit are among the most important modern discoveries for understanding the Bible. For more than thirty years, Stories from Ancient Canaan has been recognized as a highly authoritative and readable presentation of the principal Canaanite myths and epics discovered at Ugarit. This fully revised edition takes into account advances in the reading, understanding, and interpretation of these stories since 1978. It also includes two additional texts, expanded intro...
In this provocative work, world-renowned scholar Craig A. Evans presents the most important archaeological discoveries that shed light on the world of Jesus of Nazareth. Evans takes on many sensational claims that have been proposed in recent books and peddled in the media, and uses actual archaeological findings to uncover the truth about several key pieces of Jesus' world. For example, what was the village of Nazareth actually like in the time of Jesus? Did synagogues really ex...
Susan Niditch's commentary on the book of Judges pays careful attention to the literary and narrative techniques of the text and yields fresh readings of the book's difficult passages: stories of violence, ethnic conflict, and gender issues. Niditch aptly and richly conveys the theological impact and enduring significance of these stories.The Old Testament Library provides fresh and authoritative treatments of important aspects of Old Testament study through commentaries and general ...
Raymond Westbrook and Bruce Wells examine Old Testament legal materials that illustrate how ancient Israelites settled their grievances. This textbook is unique in exploring these legal materials as they relate to the issues of everyday life--family, property, contracts, and crimes--and providing readers with a broad understanding of their ancient legal and social foundations.
We know that the early Christian church had a variety of scriptures and other source material that informed their faith and shaped their thinking. We also know that after a few centuries the church decided to keep the twenty-seven books of our present New Testament and to treat them as canonical in faith and practice. But the other books did not simply disappear. In fact, many of them remain valuable for understanding the diversity of the early Christian church and the astounding cl...
All of the Gospels and the whole of Christian tradition depict Jesus as a miraculous healer who can cure blindness, leprosy, hemorrhages, and a host of other maladies. But how did Jesus actually heal? In this fascinating book, Donald Capps argues that Jesus was keenly attuned to the psychological causes of illness and through his ministry brought healing to body and soul alike. Capps argues that one of Jesus' purposes was to heal people from mental illnesses, which people in the anc...
Joshua to Chronicles surveys the rich literature of the Old Testament books Joshua, Judges, Ruth, I and II Samuel, I and II Kings, and I and II Chronicles. Campbell argues that while these books may appear historical, they are more theological--better understood as Israel's efforts to interpret their people's experience. The book is helpfully structured with overview and review sections.
This highly engaging and readable book is a study of Joseph Caiaphas, a Jewish high priest of the first century and one of the men who sent Jesus to his death. Caiaphas is a valuable resource for scholars of ancient history and students of the Gospel of Acts.
Neither a traditional study of specific books or sections of the Bible, nor a doctrinal study that concentrates on such issues as revelation and authority, This Book We Call the Bible helps lay people focus on the use of Scripture. By dealing with the Bible as a written work and its impact on our hearts, this study provides an increased sense of what the Bible actually is and how we can derive more benefit from reading and studying the Scriptures. Great for individuals and for small...
Narrator, characters, action, hero, quest, plot, time and space, entrances and exits--these are the essential components of all narrative literature. This authoritative and engaging introduction to the literary features of biblical narrative and poetry will help the reader grasp the full significance of these components, allowing them to enter more perceptively into the narrative worlds created by the great writers of the Bible.
By building on his view of Jesus first developed in Parables as Subversive Speech, William Herzog II argues that Jesus is intensely interested in the social, political, and economic well-being of humanity. He examines the conflict stories, exorcisms/healings, and the passion narrative to develop his thesis and, in the final chapter, he interprets the resurrection in light of this viewpoint.
In response to recent books that claim to reveal "the real Jesus," Burton Throckmorton Jr. discusses the significance of Jesus Christ. He offers an understanding of the identity of Jesus as portrayed in the Gospels and constructs an account of recent trends in New Testament studies.
In a clear and concise way, John Barton describes the development of the Bible. He explains how the Bible came to be written and collected into the authoritative Scriptures of the Christian Church. Barton untangles the web of history and lets the reader appreciate the journey from spoken word to written word.
Richard D. Nelson addresses the textual problems critical to a full understanding of Joshua and offers historical, literary, and theological insights in this balanced commentary.The Old Testament Library provides fresh and authoritative treatments of important aspects of Old Testament study through commentaries and general surveys. The contributors are scholars of international standing.
Kirsten Nielsen's comments on the book of Ruth paint a rich and subtle portrait of its characters, carefully tracing the many connections between this story and other biblical passages, such as the stories of Judah and Tamar. This volume is a powerful addition to this critically acclaimed Old Testament Library series.The Old Testament Library provides fresh and authoritative treatments of important aspects of Old Testament study through commentaries and general surveys. The contribu...
The book of Esther has been preserved in ancient texts that diverge greatly from each other; as a result, Jews and Protestants usually read a version which is shorter than that of most Catholic or Orthodox Bibles. Jon Levenson capably guides readers through both versions, demonstrating their coherence and their differences.The Old Testament Library provides fresh and authoritative treatments of important aspects of Old Testament study through commentaries and general surveys. The c...
Dissatisfied with what he regarded as evasive answers given by theologians and scholars about the nature of the resurrection of Jesus, Gerd Ludemann subjected the New Testament traditions to a thorough investigation. In particular, Ludemann was concerned with the story of the empty tomb and the subsequent appearance stories first related by Peter. Ludemann reaches surprising and somewhat radical conclusions. This book, written for nonspecialists, presents Ludemann's provocative conc...
In this original interpretation of the book of Esther, Kenneth Craig offers to interpreters a new way of reading this story. According to Craig, Esther has been undervalued and misunderstood because its true genre, the literary carnivalesque, has not been considered.The Literary Currents in Biblical Interpretation series explores current trends within the discipline of biblical interpretation by dealing with the literary qualities of the Bible: the play of its language, the coherenc...
This volume, a part of the Old Testament Library series, explores the books of I and II Chronicles.The Old Testament Library provides fresh and authoritative treatments of important aspects of Old Testament study through commentaries and general surveys. The contributors are scholars of international standing.
