Description
Major innovations have occurred in the study of biblical law in recent decades. The legal material of the Pentateuch has received new interest with detailed studies of specific biblical passages. The comparison of biblical practice to ancient Near Eastern customs has received a new impetus with the concentration on texts from actual ancient legal transactions.The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Law provides a state of the art analysis of the major questions, principles, and texts pertinent to biblical law. The thirty-three chapters, written by an international team of experts, deal with the concepts, significant texts, institutions, and procedures of biblical law; the intersection of law with religion, socio-economic circumstances, and politics; and the reinterpretation of biblical law in the emerging Jewish and Christian communities. The volume is intended to introduce non-specialists to the field as well as to stimulate new thinking among scholars working in biblical law.
Table of Contents
IntroductionLegal Institutions and Fundamental ConceptsCovenantSocial JusticeOffences Against Human Beings in Public and Private LawLitigation: Trial Procedure, Jurisdiction, Evidence, TestimonyWomen, Children, Slaves, and ForeignersRitual Law: Sacrifice and Holy DaysRitual Law: Priests, Purity, and the Sanctuary"An Eye for an Eye and Capital PunishmentLegal Texts of the BibleThe DecalogueThe Book of the CovenantThe Priestly LawThe Holiness LegislationThe Deuteronomic ReformLaw and NarrativesDetermining the Date of the Legal Texts of the Hebrew BibleLaw in the Canon of the Hebrew BibleThe Role of Law in the Formation of the Pentateuch and the CanonThe Law and the ProphetsLaw and the Wisdom TraditionThe Legacy of the Ancient Near East Context of Biblical LawLaw Collections and Legal Forms and InstitutionsAncient Near Eastern Treaties and Biblical LawThe Pre-Exilic Monarchy and the LawLaw in the Persian PeriodThe Late Second Temple Period and Beyond -- Reflections on Biblical Law Within Emerging Jewish Communities Law in the Late Second Temple Period in the Dead Sea Scrolls, and in Intertestamental and Diaspora SourcesJudaism and Christianity: Diverging Paths in the Centuries after the Destruction of the Second TempleThe Bible and the Sources of Rabbinic LawThe Law and the Gospels, with Attention to the Relationship Between the Decalogue and the Sermon on the Mount/PlainEthics and Moral Duties in Jewish LawPaul and the CovenantRabbinic LawRitual Law in Rabbinic JudaismWomen, Children, and Slaves in Jewish LawWomen, Children, Slaves, and the Law in the New Testament PeriodSocial Justice in Early ChristianitySocial Justice in Rabbinic Judaism
