Download or read book Making Sense of the Hebrew Bible written by Robert A. Butterfield and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2016-12-06 with total page 121 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Understanding the Hebrew Bible has never been easy. Even great scholars have had to be content with understanding only bits and pieces of it. The main reason was the lack of hard evidence about Israel's history. Without such evidence, one could only guess about why and when a text was written, and if one couldn't really explain even one text, how could one explain the whole collection? Thanks to recent archaeology, however, it is now possible to paint a factually reliable history of Israel and make strong connections between texts and actual events. These connections, in turn, permit one to see structure where previously none was visible. This book is an attempt to offer a concise and, I hope, understandable response to questions that students and parishioners have been asking me for years, such as: Does the Hebrew Bible have a structure? What imagery and motifs form that structure? What is the dominant theology of that structure? Are there competing theologies? How do the most important texts relate to Israel's history? Is Israel's real history different from biblical accounts? Does the Hebrew Bible's structure continue into the New Testament, and if it does, so what?
Download or read book Making Sense of the Hebrew Bible written by Robert A. Butterfield and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2016-12-06 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Understanding the Hebrew Bible has never been easy. Even great scholars have had to be content with understanding only bits and pieces of it. The main reason was the lack of hard evidence about Israel's history. Without such evidence, one could only guess about why and when a text was written, and if one couldn't really explain even one text, how could one explain the whole collection? Thanks to recent archaeology, however, it is now possible to paint a factually reliable history of Israel and make strong connections between texts and actual events. These connections, in turn, permit one to see structure where previously none was visible. This book is an attempt to offer a concise and, I hope, understandable response to questions that students and parishioners have been asking me for years, such as: Does the Hebrew Bible have a structure? What imagery and motifs form that structure? What is the dominant theology of that structure? Are there competing theologies? How do the most important texts relate to Israel's history? Is Israel's real history different from biblical accounts? Does the Hebrew Bible's structure continue into the New Testament, and if it does, so what?
Download or read book Making Sense of the Bible Leader Guide written by Adam Hamilton and published by Abingdon Press. This book was released on 2014-09-15 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this six week video study, Adam Hamilton explores the key points in his new book, Making Sense of the Bible. With the help of this Leader Guide, groups learn from Hamilton as his video presentations lead groups through the book, focusing on the most important questions we ask about the Bible, its origins and meaning.
Download or read book Making Sense of the Divine Name in the Book of Exodus written by Austin Surls and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2017-05-01 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The obvious riddles and difficulties in Exod 3:13–15 and Exod 6:2–8 have attracted an overwhelming amount of attention and comment. These texts make important theological statements about the divine name YHWH and the contours of the divine character. From the enigmatic statements in Exod 3:13–15, most scholars reconstruct the original form of the name as “Yahweh,” which is thought to describe YHWH’s creative power or self-existence. Similarly, Exod 6:3 has become a classic proof-text for the Documentary Hypothesis and an indication of different aspects of God’s character as shown in history. Despite their seeming importance for “defining” the divine name, these texts are ancillary to and preparatory for the true revelation of the divine name in the book of Exodus. This book attempts to move beyond atomistic readings of individual texts and etymological studies of the divine name toward a holistic reading of the book of Exodus. Surls centers his argument around in-depth analyses of Exod 3:13–15, 6:2–8 and Exod 33:12–23 and 34:5–8. Consequently, the definitive proclamation of YHWH’s character is not given at the burning bush but in response to Moses’ later intercession (Exod 33:12–23). YHWH proclaimed his name in a formulaic manner that Israel could appropriate (Exod 34:6–7), and the Hebrew Bible quotes or alludes to this text in many genres. This demonstrates the centrality of Exod 34:6–7 to Old Testament Theology. The character of God cannot be discerned from an etymological analysis of the word yhwh but from a close study of YHWH’s deliberate ascriptions made progressively in the book of Exodus.
Download or read book Making Sense of the Bible written by Marshall D. Johnson and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. This book was released on 2002-03-13 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Focusing on the eight major literary forms in the Bible--wisdom literature, liturgical materials, quasi-historical material, prophetic writings, collections of laws and precepts, apocalyptic literature, letters, and Gospels--Johnson describes each form's central features to give readers a sense of what to expect from each and how to approach it.
Download or read book The Philosophy of Hebrew Scripture written by Yoram Hazony and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2012-07-30 with total page 393 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a new framework for reading the Bible as a work of reason.
Download or read book Patterns of Sin in the Hebrew Bible written by Joseph Lam and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sin, often defined as a violation of divine will, remains a crucial idea in contemporary moral and religious discourse. However, the apparent familiarity of the concept obscures its origins within the history of Western religious thought. Joseph Lam examines a watershed moment in the development of sin as an idea-namely, within the language and culture of ancient Israel-by examining the primary metaphors used for sin in the Hebrew Bible. Drawing from contemporary theoretical insights coming out of linguistics and philosophy of language, this book identifies four patterns of metaphor that pervade the biblical texts: sin as burden, sin as an account, sin as path or direction, and sin as stain or impurity. In exploring the permutations of these metaphors and their development within the biblical corpus, Patterns of Sin in the Hebrew Bible offers a compelling account of how a religious and theological concept emerges out of the everyday thought-world of ancient Israel, while breaking new ground in its approach to metaphor in ancient texts. Far from being a timeless, stable concept, sin becomes intelligible only when situated in the matrix of ancient Israelite culture. In other words, sin is not as simple as it might seem.
Download or read book Bible Babel written by Kristin Swenson and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2010-02-02 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Kristin Swenson offers a confident, well-paced, well-informed, and accessible guide to Bible basics and biblical literacy.” — Walter Brueggemann, author of An Unsettling God: The Heart of the Hebrew Bible Bible Babel, from author and religious studies professor Kristin Swenson, is a lively, humorous, and very readable introduction to the Bible—what’s in it, where it comes from, and how it is used in our culture today. If you’ve ever wondered about the origin of the Christian fish symbol; the history of the Good Book; how the Bible weighs in on contemporary political issues; or even the biblical source of pop-culture references in WALL-E or Battlestar Galatica, then this is the book for you. Readers of A. J. Jacobs’s Year of Living Biblically and David Plotz’s Good Book will enjoy Bible Babel, a perfect primer for anyone interested in the Bible—secular and believing alike.
Download or read book Making Sense of the Old Testament written by Ronald V. Evans and published by FriesenPress. This book was released on 2018-08-15 with total page 169 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Have you read the Old Testament—all thirty-nine books from Genesis to Malachi? If you have, you know the challenge. The language is archaic with unfamiliar names and places. It is not an easy book to read. To make sense of these texts, I have focused on the narrative of the Jewish people from Adam and Eve to Daniel in the lion’s den. I have summarized these documents chronologically in their context of Near Eastern History. As you read my commentaries, you will find the narrative to be much more than ancient history. It is an amazing story of resilience and survival that sheds light on the subsequent persecution of the Jews from Roman times to the present. I invite you to critique what I have researched as you draw your own conclusions. I have added supplementary information at the end of the book which I think you will find relevant and interesting. These addenda include the geological clocks which measure the age of the earth, DNA evidence of Homo sapiens migrating out of Africa, an analysis of the story of Noah and the ark, three moral codes older than the Ten Commandments, and biblical, archaeological discoveries.
Download or read book Scribal Culture and the Making of the Hebrew Bible written by Karel van der Toorn and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2009-04-15 with total page 414 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We think of the Hebrew Bible as the Book--and yet it was produced by a largely nonliterate culture in which writing, editing, copying, interpretation, and public reading were the work of a professional elite. The scribes of ancient Israel are indeed the main figures behind the Hebrew Bible, and in this book Karel van der Toorn tells their story for the first time. His book considers the Bible in very specific historical terms, as the output of the scribal workshop of the Second Temple active in the period 500-200 BCE. Drawing comparisons with the scribal practices of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, van der Toorn clearly details the methods, the assumptions, and the material means of production that gave rise to biblical texts; then he brings his observations to bear on two important texts, Deuteronomy and Jeremiah. Traditionally seen as the copycats of antiquity, the scribes emerge here as the literate elite who held the key to the production as well as the transmission of texts. Van der Toorn's account of scribal culture opens a new perspective on the origins of the Hebrew Bible, revealing how the individual books of the Bible and the authors associated with them were products of the social and intellectual world of the scribes. By taking us inside that world, this book yields a new and arresting appreciation of the Hebrew Scriptures.
Download or read book How Old Is the Hebrew Bible written by Ronald Hendel and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2018-11-20 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From two expert scholars comes a comprehensive study of the dating of the Hebrew Bible The age of the Hebrew Bible is a topic that has sparked controversy and debate in recent years. The scarcity of clear evidence allows for the possibility of many views, though these are often clouded by theological and political biases. This impressive, broad‑ranging book synthesizes recent linguistic, textual, and historical research to clarify the history of biblical literature, from its oldest texts and literary layers to its youngest. In clear, concise language, the authors provide a comprehensive overview that cuts across scholarly specialties to create a new standard for the historical study of the Bible. This much‑needed work paves the path forward to dating the Hebrew Bible and understanding crucial aspects of its historical and contemporary significance.
Download or read book An Everlasting Light written by Martha K. Dane and published by . This book was released on 2018-09 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Making the Hebrew Scriptures More Understandable
Download or read book In God s Shadow written by Michael Walzer and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2012-06-05 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this eagerly awaited book, political theorist Michael Walzer reports his findings after decades of reading and thinking about the politics of the Hebrew Bible. Attentive to nuance while engagingly straightforward, Walzer examines the commentary of the ancient biblical writers and discusses the implications for such urgent modern topics as the nature of political society, hierarchy and justice, the use of political power, the justification for and rules of warfare, and the responsibilities of clerical figures, monarchs, and their subjects./divDIV DIVBecause there are many biblical writers, and because they represent different political views, pluralism is a central feature of biblical politics, Walzer observes. Yet pluralism is never explicitly defended in the Bible—indeed it couldn't be defended since God's word is one. There is, however, an anti-political teaching which recurs in biblical texts: if you have faith in God, you have no need for particular political institutions or prudent political leaders or deliberative assemblies or loyal citizens. And, Walzer finds a strong moral teaching common to the Bible's authors. He identifies God's decree for ethics and investigates its implications for just policymaking in our own times./div
Download or read book The Hebrew Bible for Beginners written by Dr. Joel N. Lohr and published by Abingdon Press. This book was released on 2015-09-15 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jews call the Hebrew Scriptures the “Tanakh” and Christians call them the “Old Testament.” It doesn't take long to see that Jews and Christians view the same set of books differently and interpret these scriptures in unique and at times conflicting ways. The Hebrew Bible for Beginners introduces students to the tremendous influence the Hebrew Bible has had on western society for over two millennia and explores the complexities of reading ancient religious literature today. The book also addresses how certain modern critical approaches may initially be alarming, indeed even shocking, to those who have not been exposed to them, but it tackles the conversation in a respectful fashion. Avoiding jargon and convoluted prose, this highly accessible volume provides textboxes, charts, a timeline, a glossary, and regularly includes artistic renderings of biblical scenes to keep lay and beginning readers engaged.
Download or read book Why Lewis written by Jeff Voth and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2021-08-13 with total page 77 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It has been said that next to the biblical writers, the most quoted person in American pulpits, churches, and educational institutions, hands down, is C. S. Lewis. He has become such a part of the speaking and thinking rhythm of those of us in the West, that without him, well . . . who would we quote? Peter Kreeft sums it up quite nicely: "[Lewis] is read with enormous affection and loyalty by a wide and diversified audience today. . . . In fact, more of his books are sold today than those of any other Christian writer in history" (Kreeft, Lewis and the Two Roads to God, The Washington Times, in The World & I, February 1987, 354). Why Lewis? is a primer, designed especially to stimulate thinking about Lewis and offer at least seven reasons why he has made such an indelible impact upon so many. Quotes, references, anecdotes, and footnotes are provided in easily accessible fashion to assist the budding Lewis scholar into elements of deeper study, while at the same time offering the most seasoned aficionado some fresh perspectives as well.
Download or read book The Biblical Canon written by Lee Martin McDonald and published by Baker Books. This book was released on 2006-11-01 with total page 598 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the thoroughly updated and expanded third edition of the successful The Formation of the Christian Biblical Canon. It represents a fresh attempt to understand some of the many perplexing questions related to the origins and canonicity of the Bible.
Download or read book Friendship in the Hebrew Bible written by Saul M. Olyan and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2017-01-10 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first comprehensive study of friendship in the Hebrew Bible Friendship, though a topic of considerable humanistic and cross disciplinary interest in contemporary scholarship, has been largely ignored by scholars of the Hebrew Bible, possibly because of its complexity and elusiveness. Filling a significant gap in our knowledge and understanding of biblical texts, Saul M. Olyan provides this original, accessible analysis of a key form of social relationship. In this thorough and compelling assessment, Olyan analyzes a wide range of texts, including prose narratives, prophetic materials, psalms, pre-Hellenistic wisdom collections, and the Hellenistic-era wisdom book Ben Sira. This in-depth, contextually sensitive, and theoretically engaged study explores how the expectations of friends and family members overlap and differ, examining, among other things, characteristics that make the friend a distinct social actor; failed friendship; and friendships in narratives such as those of Ruth and Naomi, and Jonathan and David. Olyan presents a comprehensive look at what constitutes friendship in the Hebrew Bible.
