A Contemporary Introduction to the Bible - Colleen M. Conway

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Chronicles226Matthew301–21, 306Mark279–99, 282–3Luke323–42, 326John343–60, 346–7Acts323–42, 326Romans269–73, 2701 Corinthians266–9, 267Galatians262–5, 263Ephesians274–5Colossians274–5Hebrews373–6, 3741 Peter376–8, 3771, 2 Timothy and Titus2751, 2, 3 John360–61Revelation364–72, 365

      What Is a More on Method Box?

      These boxes give a brief introduction to methods used to interpret the Hebrew Bible. They detail the sorts of questions that each method attempts to answer, give an example of how the method has been applied, and include a reference to an article or book with more information about the method under discussion.

      Textual Criticism

      Tradition History and Transmission History

      African American Biblical Interpretation

      Afrocentric and Womanist Interpretation

      Source and Redaction Criticism

      Feminist Criticism and History of Interpretation/Reception

      The Joseph Story and Literary Approaches

      Postcolonial Criticism

      Trauma Studies and the Bible

      Insights from History of Religions

      Ecological Biblical Criticism

      Form Criticism and Genre

      African American Biblical Interpretation and the New Testament

      Gender Criticism and Masculinity Studies

      Cultural Criticism of the Bible

      What Is in Special Topics Boxes?

      These boxes offer extra information relevant to the broader discussion. Some pull together relevant dates for a period, while others show parallels between texts, or summarize information on a theme or question that relates to the topic at hand. This information is not optional or superfluous. Instead, these boxes highlight topics that are worth focused attention.

      Contents of the Hebrew Bible/Tanakh/Old Testament

      The Origins of Chapters and Verses11

      AD, BC, BCE, and CE

      Visualizing (the Possible Ancestors of) Ancient Israelites

      The Name “Israel”

      Archaeology and Problems of History Surrounding David, Solomon, and the Beginning of the Israelite Monarchy

      Labels (e.g. “Psalm of David”): What They (Don’t) Tell Us

      A View from the Assyrian Imperial Court: The Annals of Sennacherib

      Hosea and the “Book of the Twelve Prophets”

      Isaiah 6 and the “Call Narrative”

      Overview: The Covenant Code and Deuteronomy

      The Books of the Former and Latter Prophets

      The Conquest and Ancient Holy War

      Forced Labor for Exiles Under Nebuchadnezzar

      The Divine Council

      Traditions That Moses Wrote the Pentateuch

      The Story of Jacob at Bethel as an Example of the Addition of Promise to an Older Story

      More Information: The Gap Between Ancestors and Moses

      J (the “Yahwistic source”), E (the “Elohistic source”), and the Documentary Hypothesis

      Alternative Perspectives on Foreigners

      The Emergence of “Judaism”

      The Book of Judith (as an Example of a Hasmonean Text)

      The Dead Sea Scrolls

      The Infancy Gospel of Thomas: The Boy Jesus and His Superpowers

      More on the Historical Jesus Search

      Eschatology Versus Apocalypticism

      The Structure of Paul’s Letters

      Paul and Slavery

      The Question of Circumcision

      Changing Perspectives on Paul

      Markan Priority

      An Exorcism of Rome?

      More on Messianic Secret

      Jesus the “Son of Man”

      Intercalation or the Markan “Sandwich”

      A Glimpse of Life Under Roman Occupation

      More About the Q Document

      Gender and Matthew’s Genealogy (Matt 1:1–17)

      Who Were the Pharisees?

      Possessions and the Poor: A Lukan Puzzle

      The Priene Calendar Inscription

      Was There a Johannine Community?

      Tacitus’s Account of Nero’s Persecution of Christians in Rome

      This book introduces students to the books of the Bible as shaped in the crucible of the history of Israel and the early church. A prominent theme throughout is the way the books of the Bible reflect quite different sorts of interaction with empires that dominated the ancient Near East and Mediterranean. At first some students and professors may find this approach unusual, since we do not begin with Genesis and do not proceed through biblical books in order. The group of texts introduced early on in this textbook is quite different from the Bible they now know. So why have we chosen this approach? There are many advantages. On the basis of our experience with using this approach we have seen that the picture of the Bible’s development comes into focus as the narrative of its formation unfolds. By the end, students should find meaning in aspects of the Bible that they once overlooked, even as they also understand that much of the power of the Bible has been its capability to transcend the original contexts in which it was written. Moreover, through discussion of the history of Jewish and Christian interpretation of focus texts toward the end of many chapters, students will gain a taste of how faith communities have used the Bible in creative, inspired, and sometimes death-dealing ways to guide and make sense of their lives. Given the already large scope of this Introduction, we have focused on texts included in the Old and New Testaments, with a particular emphasis – in the case of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament – on books included in the scriptures of Judaism and various forms of Christianity. This meant that we could not give sustained attention to apocryphal/deutero-canonical books of the Old Testament, or to the range of non-canonical early Christian works that did not end up being included in the Christian Bible.

      The date framework given in this textbook follows that of Anson Rainey and Steven Notley’s The Sacred Bridge: Carta’s Atlas of the Biblical World (Jerusalem: Carta, 2005). In many cases specific dates are uncertain, but Rainey and Notley provide a recent, solid framework to start from on an introductory level. Unless otherwise indicated,

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