ABSTRACT

The Biblical World is a comprehensive guide to the contents, historical settings, and social context of the Bible. This new edition is updated with several new chapters as well as a new section on biblical interpretation. 

Contributions from leading scholars in the field present wide-ranging views not just of biblical materials and their literary and linguistic context, but also of the social institutions, history and archaeology, and religious concepts. New chapters cover topics such as the priesthood and festivals, creation and covenant, ethics, and family life, while a new section on biblical interpretation discusses Jewish and Christian bible translation and key thematic emphases, and modern reader-response and cultural approaches. 

This revised edition of The Biblical World offers an up-to-date and thorough survey of the Bible and its world, and will continue to be an invaluable resource for students and scholars of the Hebrew Bible and New Testament and their history and interpretation, as well as anyone working on the societies, religions, and political and cultural institutions that created and influenced these texts.

chapter |2 pages

Introduction

part I|82 pages

The Bible

chapter Chapter One|14 pages

The Old Testament/ Hebrew Bible

chapter Chapter Two|12 pages

The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha

chapter Chapter Three|16 pages

The Dead Sea Scrolls

chapter Chapter Four|16 pages

The New Testament

chapter Chapter Five|22 pages

Early Christian Apocrypha

part II|167 pages

The Canon

chapter Chapter Six|28 pages

Law

chapter Chapter Seven|22 pages

Historiography

chapter Chapter Eight|14 pages

Prophecy

chapter Chapter Nine|21 pages

Wisdom

chapter Chapter Ten|17 pages

Apocalypticism

chapter Chapter 11|17 pages

The Jewish and Hellenistic novel

chapter Chapter Twelve|27 pages

The Gospels and Acts

part III|154 pages

Documents

chapter Chapter Fourteen|24 pages

Cuneiform myths and epics in the Ancient Near East

chapter Chapter Fifteen|21 pages

The Hebrew and Aramaic languages

chapter Chapter Sixteen|14 pages

The Greek language

chapter Chapter Seventeen|18 pages

Text and versions

The Old Testament

chapter Chapter Eighteen|20 pages

Text and versions

The New Testament

chapter Chapter Ninteen|16 pages

Hebrew inscriptions

chapter Chapter Twenty|17 pages

The Cairo Genizah

chapter Chapter TWENTY-ONE|9 pages

Greek and Roman inscriptions

Jewish inscriptions

chapter Chapter Twenty-Two|13 pages

Christian inscriptions in a (post-)biblical world

part IV|185 pages

History

chapter Chapter Twenty-Three|20 pages

Biblical archaeology

chapter Chapter Twenty-Four|23 pages

Palestine during the Bronze Age

chapter Chapter Twenty-Five|28 pages

Palestine during the Iron Age

chapter Chapter Twenty-Six|18 pages

Israel's ancestors

The patriarchs and matriarchs

chapter Chapter Twenty-Seven|21 pages

Israel at the time of the united monarchy

David and Solomon

chapter Chapter Twenty-Nine|16 pages

Israel under Persia and Greece

chapter Chapter Thirty|22 pages

Judaea under Roman rule

63 Bce–135 Ce

chapter Chapter Thirty-One|16 pages

Israel's neighbours

part V|293 pages

Institutions

chapter Chapter Thirty-Two|16 pages

Religion in Israel

Pre-exile and in exile

chapter Chapter Thirty-Three|18 pages

Warfare

chapter Chapter Thirty-Four|17 pages

Priesthood and festivals

chapter Chapter Thirty-FIVE|19 pages

The Arts

Representational (architecture, artefacts), performative (music, drama), literary (poetry, psalmody)

chapter Chapter Thirty-Six|16 pages

Family and everyday life

chapter Chapter Thirty-SEVEN|24 pages

Judaism at the turn of the era

chapter Chapter Thirty-Eight|21 pages

The first churches

Social life

chapter Chapter Thirty-Nine|17 pages

The first churches

Religious practices

chapter Chapter Forty|18 pages

Creation and covenant

chapter Chapter Forty-one|21 pages

Salvation in Jewish thought

chapter Chapter Forty-two|15 pages

Salvation in Christian thought

chapter Chapter Forty-tHREE|16 pages

Ethics

chapter Chapter Forty-four|21 pages

New Testament christology

Interpretations of the identity and role of Jesus

chapter Chapter Forty-fIVE|21 pages

Interpretations of the identity and role of Paul

chapter Chapter Forty-SIX|16 pages

Death and afterlife

chapter Chapter Forty-seven|15 pages

Purity and sacrifice

part VI|116 pages

Biblical interpretation past and present

chapter Chapter Forty-Eight|17 pages

Jewish Bible translations

chapter Chapter Forty-Nine|12 pages

Jewish Bible interpretation

chapter Chapter Fifty|15 pages

Christian Bible translation

chapter Chapter Fifty-ONE|11 pages

Early Christian biblical interpretation

chapter Chapter Fifty-TWO|25 pages

Modern biblical interpretation

chapter Chapter Fifty-Four|16 pages

The Bible in contemporary culture and society