Full Description
Stuart Lasine examines all aspects of the human situation and condition in Yahweh's cosmos as depicted in the Hebrew Bible. As his starting point Lasine uses the phrase "the human condition", which has been used to describe features of existence with which every person must cope, in ways which vary according to their culture, their situation within that culture, and their personality. In particular the most consistent factor that is basic to the human condition is mortality and, in the biblical context, the sometimes difficult relationship between the creator God and humankind. An examination of this forms the basis of Lasine's study, which draws analytical tools from several disciplines, including literary theory, psychology and philosophy.
In the first part of the book Lasine examines a number of relevant biblical texts which display different aspects of the human condition. Part two engages in a detailed case study of one human life-situation, that of the prophet Jonah. Finally, Lasine draws together his conclusions about life and death in Yahweh's cosmos, both for characters within the world of the scriptural text and for present-day readers of the Hebrew Bible.
Contents
List of Illustrations
Preface
Abbreviations
Part I: Perspectives on the Human Condition in the Hebrew Bible
Chapter 1: Introduction: Characterizing the Human Condition
Chapter 2: Pessimism and the Human Condition in the Hebrew Bible
Chapter 3: At Sea in Yahweh's World: Navigating the Human Condition in the Hebrew Bible
Chapter 4: Reading about Death in Biblical Narrative
Part II: Jonah and the Human Condition in Yahweh's World
Chapter 5: Jonah as a Literary Character
Chapter 6: The Plot of Jonah, Childhood Crises, and the Perils of Adulthood
Chapter 7: Conclusion: Living and Dying in the Hebrew Bible
Bibliography
Index/indexes
