Full Description
This volume is interested in what the Old Testament and beyond (Dead Sea Scrolls and Targum) has to say about ethical behaviour through its characters, through its varying portrayals of God and humanity in mutual dialogue and through its authors. It covers a wide range of genres of Old Testament material such as law, prophecy and wisdom. It takes key themes such as friendship and the holy war tradition and it considers key texts. It considers authorial intention in the portrayal of ethical stances. It also links up with wider ethical issues such as the environment and human engagement with the 'dark side' of God.
It is a multi-authored volume, but the unifying theme was made clear at the start and contributors have worked to that remit. This has resulted in a wide-ranging and fascinating insight into a neglected area, but one that is starting to receive increased attention in the biblical area.
Contents
Abbreviations
List of Contributors
List of Previous Works
Preface
Introduction: Katharine J. Dell
PART 1: Old Testament Texts and Genres
The Ethics of Eden: Truth-Telling in Genesis 2-3: Robert P. Gordon
Desire for ethics or the ethics of desire: Diana Lipton
Psalm 101 and the ethics of kingship: Andrew Mein
The ethics of warfare and the holy war tradition: Janet Tollington
Prophecy, Ethics and the Divine Anger: Ronald E. Clements
Justice for Whom? Social and Environmental Ethics and the Hebrew Prophets: Hilary Marlow
The 'dark side' of God in the Old Testament: John Barton
The ethics of friendship in wisdom literature: Graham I. Davies
What makes the Strange woman of Proverbs 1-9 strange?: Daniel J. Estes
Does God behave unethically in the book of Job?: Katharine J. Dell
Snakes and Ladders: Weighing and ordering biblical law: Philip Jenson
PART 2: Post-biblical Perspectives
Family Values in the Second Temple Period: Charlotte Hempel
Ethical issues in the authorial intentions of the Targumists: †Carol Dray
Death and Justice: Shifting Paradigms in the Hebrew Bible and Early Judaism: Ed Noort
