In this lively and fresh introduction to the scriptures of ancient Israel (what Christians call the Old Testament and Jews call the Tanakh), two preeminent biblical scholars, Douglas A. Knight and Amy-Jill Levine, combine their passion and expertise to examine not just what the Bible says but what it means. Through their eyes we see anew the Bible’s literary brilliance, moral profundity, historical settings, and implications for our faiths and our future. Passed down for generations, compiled between 500 and 100 BCE, and finalized around the time of Jesus, the various accounts in the Hebrew Bible took shape under a variety of cultures. Drawing on their extensive biblical scholarship, Knight and Levine explore this diverse history and equip us with the critical tools necessary to understand what the ancient texts originally meant. With long experience in teaching candidates for the ministry as well as undergraduate and graduate students, they also explore the possible meanings the texts hold today for churches, synagogues, and anyone interested in the Bible’s legacy. Knight and Levine begin with the broader biblical story—its historical context, literary artistry, and geographical setting. They then turn to the major biblical themes with which modern readers continue to wrestle: law and justice, human evil and God’s response, belief and practice, chaos and creation, war and peace, gender and sexuality, politics and economics, practical wisdom and apocalyptic vision. For each topic, they provide both general overviews and specific analyses of select biblical passages, explaining how and why their approaches reveal new insights and offering various strategies for informed interpretation. Throughout, Knight and Levine inspire us to ask new questions and develop a deeper understanding of one of the greatest collections of literature known to humankind—as illuminating today as it was two thousand years ago.

The Meaning of the Bible: What the Jewish Scriptures and Christian Old Testament Can Teach Us

History

Levine, Amy-Jill

Knight, Douglas A.

World

HarperOne

In The Meaning of the Bible: What the Jewish Scriptures and Christian Old Testament Can Teach Us, preeminent biblical scholars Douglas A. Knight and Amy-Jill Levine deliver a broad and engaging introduction to the Old Testament—also known as the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible—offering a wealth of compelling historical background and context for the sacred literature that is at the heart of Judaism and Christianity. John Shelby Spong, author of Re-Claiming the Bible for a Non-Religious World writes, "Levine and Knight have combined to write a book on the Bible that is as academically brilliant as it is marvelously entertaining. By placing our scriptures into their original Jewish context they have opened up startling and profound new insights. This is a terrific book."

From leading Old Testament scholar Douglas A. Knight comes the latest volume in the Library of Ancient Israel series. Using socio-anthropological theory and archaeological evidence, Knight argues that while the laws in the Hebrew Bible tend to reflect the interests of those in power, the majority of ancient Israelites--located in villages--developed their own unwritten customary laws to regulate behavior and resolve legal conflicts in their own communities. This book includes numerous examples from village, city, and cult.
Volumes in the Library of Ancient Israel draw on multiple disciplines--such as archaeology, anthropology, sociology, linguistics, and literary criticism--to illuminate the everyday realities and social subtleties these ancient cultures experienced. This series employs sophisticated methods resulting in original contributions that depict the reality of the people behind the Hebrew Bible and interprets these insights for a wide variety of readers.

Law, Power, and Justice in Ancient Israel (Library of Ancient Israel)

Ancient Civilizations

Westminster/John Knox Press

Fascinating compilation of modern interpreters of this vital text.

The Hebrew Bible and Its Modern Interpreters

Fortress Press

Scholars Pr

Justice and the holy: Essays in honor of Walter Harrelson (Homage series)

Justice and the Holy: Essays in Honor of Walter Harrelson (Homage Series)

Religion & Spirituality

UNKNO

In the latest edition of this classic work, Knight presents a thorough history and analysis of the exegetical method known in Hebrew Bible studies as tradition history or traditio-historical criticism, the capstone of the historical-critical methods. Beginning in the seventeenth - nineteenth centuries with early notions that some form of oral tradition may have preceded the writing of biblical literature, scholars from the start of the twentieth century forward became increasingly intrigued with the idea that the creative period for much of the material lay in the long and intricate process of tradition growth rather than in the actual writing stage. The unfolding of scholarship in this field took distinctive forms in various contexts, especially in Scandinavian research, which is here assessed in light of many untranslated studies. This third edition, largely reproducing the original publication from 1973, is augmented by an epilogue arguing that several methods and issues developed in the period since the 1970s have now problematized past traditio-historical work in unavoidable yet also stimulating ways.

Rediscovering the Traditions of Israel, Third Edition (Studies in Biblical Literature)

Middle East

Society of Biblical Literature

In the latest edition of this classic work, Knight presents a thorough history and analysis of the exegetical method known in Hebrew Bible studies as tradition history or traditio-historical criticism, the capstone of the historical-critical methods. Beginning in the seventeenth-nineteenth centuries with early notions that some form of oral tradition may have preceded the writing of biblical literature, scholars from the start of the twentieth century forward became increasingly intrigued with the idea that the creative period for much of the material lay in the long and intricate process of tradition growth rather than in the actual writing stage. The unfolding of scholarship in this field took distinctive forms in various contexts, especially in Scandinavian research, which is here assessed in light of many untranslated studies. This third edition, largely reproducing the original publication from 1973, is augmented by an epilogue arguing that several methods and issues developed in the period since the 1970s have now problematized past traditio-historical work in unavoidable yet also stimulating ways. Paperback edition is available from the Society of Biblical Literature (www.sbl-site.org).

Rediscovering the Traditions of Israel (Society of Biblical Literature Studies in Biblical Literatur)

Christian Books & Bibles

Brill Academic Publishers

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