David M. Gunn

This bible commentary traces the reception of Judges through the ages, not only by scholars and theologians, but also by preachers, teachers, politicians, poets, essayists and artists. A bible commentary focusing on The Book of Judges, best known for the tale of Samson and Delilah, but full of many other rich and colourful stories. Treats the text story by story, making it accessible to non-specialists, Considers the stories of women in Judges, including Deborah, Jael, who slew Sisera, and Jephthah’s daughter, sacrificed by her father. Traces the reception of Judges through the ages, not only by scholars and theologians, but also by preachers, teachers, politicians, poets, essayists and artists. Illustrates how ideology and the social location of readers have shaped the way the book has been read. Discloses a long history of debate over the roles of women and the use of force, as well as Christian prejudice against Jews and ‘Orientals’. Offers a window onto the use of the Bible in the Western world.

Judges Through the Centuries

Danna Nolan Fewell

Reading Scripture anew, the authors contend, is each time an exercise of power. It is always invested in ideology, whether spoken or unspoken. By adopting the viewpoints of marginalized women, and by examining the motivations of the male characters as they deploy power, Fewell and Gunn seek an approach to biblical interpretation that promises to liberate women and men from, rather than reinforce, religious ideologies of male dominance.

The Subject of the Bible's First Story

Gender, Power, and Promise

David J. A. Clines

Alan J. Hauser

Rhetoric in Biblical Literature

Art and Meaning

Aaron W. Hughes

Claudia V. Camp

Ehud Ben Zvi

In this volume, a list of esteemed scholars engage with the literary readings of prophetic and poetic texts in the Hebrew Bible that revolve around sensitivity to the complexity of language, the fragility of meaning, and the interplay of texts. These themes are discussed using a variety of hermeneutical strategies. In Part 1, Poets and Poetry, some essays address the nature of poetic language itself, while others play with themes of love, beauty, and nature in specific poetic texts. The essays in Part 2, Prophets and Prophecy, consider prophets and prophecy from a number of interpretive directions, moving from internal literary analysis to the reception of these texts and their imagery in a range of ancient and modern contexts. Those in Part 3, on the other hand, Texts in Play, take more recent works (from Shakespeare to Tove Jansson's Moomin books for children) as their point of departure, developing conversations between texts across the centuries that enrich the readings of both the ancient and modern pieces of literature.

Studies in Biblical Poetry and Prophecy in Honour of Francis Landy

Poets, Prophets, and Texts in Play

Diana Lipton

Paul M. Joyce

John F. A. Sawyer

"I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is informative, thought-provoking, and - despite being a commentary - holds the reader's attention. It made me appreciate Lamentations in a new way. To be recommended." The Swedish Exegetical Yearbook 2014, 1 October 2014 One of the shortest books in the Bible, Lamentations exercises a disproportionately powerful cultural influence. As an unflinching account of the devastation wreaked by war, it has been called upon again and again by Jews, Christians, and others in their responses to catastrophes as varied as the destruction of the Jerusalem temple, the Great Fire of London, the Holocaust and 9/11. Covering two-and-a-half millennia of liturgy and literature, theology and psychology, art, music and film, this volume explores the astonishing variety of cultural and religious responses to Lamentations, taking in the New Testament and the Dead Sea Scrolls, Yehudah Halevy, John Calvin, and Thomas Tallis, as well as the startling interpretations of Marc Chagall, Cynthia Ozick, Alice Miller, and Zimbabwean junk sculpture. Viewed through this kaleidoscope of sources, the ancient biblical text acquires a vital and resonant new life. Lamentations Through the Centuries is published within the Wiley Blackwell Bible Commentaries series. Further information about this innovative reception history series is available at www.bbibcomm.info.

Lamentations Through the Centuries

Gunn sets out his aim in this book to foster a fresh understanding of the narrative about David in 2 Samuel and 1 Kings, commonly known as the 'Succession Narrative,' by arguing for its fuller appreciation of its nature as a story. Gunn reviews the different hypotheses on the genre of the so-called Court History/Succession Narrative and concludes that the purpose of this story is to entertain. The work is to be considered primarily artistic and literary, and the rhetorical devices in the story are reliant on traditional motifs and devices.

Genre and Interpretation

Story of King David

David M. Gunn

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