Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0061121754, Hardcover)
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.
(retrieved from Amazon Sun, 20 Nov 2011 12:00:48 -0500)
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Wikipedia in English
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You may have read Law, Power, and Justice in Ancient Israel by Knight a year ago. I reviewed Levine’s book, The Misunderstood Jew, last year: see http://www.dubiousdisciple.com/2011/09/book-review-the-misunderstood-jew.html These are two very knowledgeable and interesting scholars, who have now collaborated on a new project.
The focus is on the Old Testament (the Jewish scriptures), and the Jewish flavor is evident. Be forewarned: it’s a liberal treatment, perhaps unappreciated by conservative Christians. Be aware also that it doesn’t provide the meaning of the Bible, as if any one such meaning can be discerned from so diverse a collection of writings and opinionated Bible authors. But if the world of the Bible fascinates you—from its political atmosphere, to its social and cultural aspects, to the battle for authority between the northern and southern kingdoms, to the hope and hopelessness of dispersion and captivity—this book won’t disappoint. An incredibly rich history awaits, as you journey into the power struggles between kings and prophets and Deuteronomists, and the religious atmosphere pervading it all. Bible times were certainly not an era of separation between church and state.
In four parts, Knight and Levine discuss the development of the Bible from many different angles, including:
1. Ancient Israel and the settlement of Palestine.
2. Law and Justice in Israel and the Diaspora
3. Respect and understanding of the Divine, including the temple cult.
4. Emerging politics, economy, sexuality, and what it means to be a “chosen people.”
5. Wisdom literature, including the theodicy of Job
Sounds dry, doesn’t it? Not even a little. Knight and Levine may not deliver on their promise to explain the meaning of the Bible, but they certainly bring the Bible alive … and yet reach a melancholy conclusion: the Bible is not a book of answers, but of questions. (