The Meaning of the Bible电子书

Cover

Title Page

Dedication

Contents

List of Maps

Ancient Israel

Ancient Southwest Asia and Egypt

Topography of the Southern Levant

List of Abbreviations

Introduction

Part 1

Chapter 1 - The History of Ancient Israel

Reconstructing History

Historical Synopsis

The Ancestors

The Exodus

Settlement of the Land

The Founding of the Monarchy

From the Divided Kingdom to the Fall of Jerusalem

Exile and Return

The Persian and Hellenistic Periods

The Historical Time Frame

Chapter 2 - The Literary Heritage of Ancient Israel

Tanakh or Old Testament or Hebrew Bible?

Every Translator, a Traitor

Literary Conventions

Characterization

Different Stories, Different Authors

Canonization

Chapter 3 - Land and Settlement

Israel’s Environs

Topography

Climate and Water Resources

Settlement of the Land

A Land of Milk and Honey

Part 2

Chapter 4 - Law and Justice

The Written and the Unwritten

Ancient Southwest Asia

Rhetorical Forms

Administering Justice

Chapter 5 - The Divine

Four Stumbling Blocks to Talking About the Biblical God

The Names of God

Religious Competition and Co-optation

The Divine Feminine

Father God, Children of God, Angels

Polytheism, Henotheism, and Monotheism

Seeing the Portraits Again

Chapter 6 - The Cultus

The “Domestic Cult”

Tabernacles and Temples

Priests

Purity

Dietary Concerns

Sacrifice

Child Sacrifice

Chapter 7 - Chaos and Creation

Creation Today

Cosmic Architecture

Hands-on Artisanship

Disorder and Estrangement

From Cain and Abel to Noah and Babel

Other Biblical Creations

Chapter 8 - Continuation and Completion

Abraham’s Search for a Home

From Slavery to Liberation

New Exodus: From Prophecy to Apocalyptic

Part 3

Chapter 9 - Self and Other

Hebrews

Circumcision

Endogamy

The Tribes of Israel

The Samaritans

Judeans and Jews

From Affiliation to Conversion

Resident Aliens and Foreigners

Chosen People

Chapter 10 - Sexuality

Revisiting Eden

Sexual Seduction, Response, and Potency

Legislating Sexuality

Marriage, Divorce, and Adultery

Abortion

Sexual Abuse

Innuendo

Chapter 11 - Politics and the Economy

The Nation-State

The Cities

The Empire and the Colony

The Household

The Clan

The Tribe

Chapter 12 - Diaspora

Initial Scattering and Return

The Ten Lost Tribes

The Babylonian Diaspora

Postexilic Diaspora Communities

Esther

Daniel

Tobit

Part 4

Chapter 13 - Critique and Reform

Historians as Critics

Moses, Flawed but Unassailable

As His Father David Did

Prophets as Critics

Politics

Economy

Religion

Chapter 14 - Wisdom and Theodicy

Who Is Wise?

Sages and Their Literature

Sirach and the Wisdom of Solomon

Woman Wisdom

Job and Theodicy

Qohelet (Ecclesiastes) and Realism

Conclusion

Bibliography

Index

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Credits

Copyright

About the Publisher