The book of Ezra is generally known for its negative and exclusivist attitude towards the other. Others are the cause of dread in one part of the book, and in another part they are adversarial. Furthermore, Ezra commands that foreign wives and their children be sent away. Yet the book of Ezra also features an exceptional account of welcome. In Rebuilding a Post-exilic Community, Chingboi Guite Phaipi examines what drives negative attitudes toward the other, and argues that beneath the presence of different attitudes toward the other within the book of Ezra lies a coherent foundation. That is, negative attitudes toward others make sense in light of the community’s strong self-perception in the book of Ezra.
The book of Ezra is generally known for its negative and exclusivist attitude towards the other. Others are the cause of dread in one part of the book, and in another part they are adversarial. Furthermore, Ezra commands that foreign wives and their children be sent away. Yet the book of Ezra also features an exceptional account of welcome. In Rebuilding a Post-exilic Community, Chingboi Guite Phaipi examines what drives negative attitudes toward the other, and argues that beneath the presence of different attitudes toward the other within the book of Ezra lies a coherent foundation. That is, negative attitudes toward others make sense in light of the community's strong self-perception in the book of Ezra.
This volume had its origins in a session presented to the Society of Biblical Literature in Washington in 2006 in order to examine the legacy of Peter Ackroyd to the field of biblical studies. Ackroyd's work stretched over a wide range of topics within Biblical Studies, notably study of prophetic literature and work on exile and restoration. This volume particularly focuses upon his work on the latter. Whilst the present work is founded upon the papers given at the session it also includes several essays solicited subsequently which further serve to draw the contributions together into a fitting tribute to a pioneer in his field. The contributions take account of Ackroyd's approach to the theme of exile and restoration, focusing largely upon the study of Ezra-Nehemiah and Chronciles. As a brief flavour, Bob Becking examines the epigraphic evidence concerning the mixed marriage crisis Ezra-Nehemiah. Joe Blenkinsopp seeks to find the 'Sons of Aaron' before the 5th Century in a fascinating essay focusing which picks up the work of R.H. Kennett over a century ago. Among the other distinguished contributors are John Bergsma, Eric Myers and Jill Middlemass.
In times of conflict, the Bible is often used as a club to beat those whose opinions differ from one's own. We recoil from such usage, yet the Bible actually represents many diverse and conflicting points of view. It is like a library, full of books that speak to all sides of every question. Like Christians today, the communities and individuals who wrote the biblical texts often strongly disagree with each other. Ruth and Ezra, Isaiah and Ezekiel, Micah and Joel, Deuteronomy and Daniel, Mark and John. What would they say to each other? Do they have anything in common? Each of these voices is firmly committed to his or her specific view of "the truth," whether it reflects a particular place or community, a prophet, a style of worship, or an "understanding" of who is in and who is out. The author guides us in considering how we can do justice to this welter of disparate voices. What can the Bible teach us about living together? How can we use it as a powerful resource for understanding and for moving beyond conflict? A study guide and template for creating safe spaces for conversation abou the tough issues in which the bible may be dividing your community is found at the end of the book.
This diverse collection of essays in honor of Edward William Fudge explores the topics of hell and immortality, for which Fudge has been widely known through his magnum opus, The Fire That Consumes. Most Christians believe people will live and suffer in hell forever, but Fudge defends a view known historically as "conditional immortality." He and a growing minority of Christians believe God will grant immortality only to those who meet the condition of being united with Christ on the Last Day, while those who do not will perish forever. Although Christians sharing Fudge's view have defended it both before and after him, conditionalists today still point to The Fire That Consumes as the seminal treatment of the topic. In July 2014, Christians from around the world gathered at the inaugural Rethinking Hell conference, to celebrate Fudge's life and work and to discuss the nature of hell in an open and respectful forum. This volume contains most of the essays presented at that conference, and several others volunteered by conditionalists since then, as a gift to Fudge for the tremendous impact he has had on them, and for the continued work he does for God's kingdom.
While honoring the historical context and literary diversity of the Old Testament, Telling the Old Testament Story is a thematic reading that construes the OT as a complex but coherent narrative. Unlike standard, introductory textbooks that only cover basic background and interpretive issues for each Old Testament book, this introduction combines a thematic approach with careful exegetical attention to representative biblical texts, ultimately telling the macro-level story, while drawing out the multiple nuances present within different texts and traditions. The book works from the Protestant canonical arrangement of the Old Testament, which understands the story of the Old Testament as the story of God and God’s relationship with all creation in love and redemption—a story that joins the New Testament to the Old. Within this broader story, the Old Testament presents the specific story of God and God’s relationship with Israel as the people called, created, and formed to be God’s covenant partner and instrument within creation. The Old Testament begins by introducing God’s mission in Genesis. The story opens with the portrait of God’s good, intended creation of right-relationships (Gen 1—2) and the subsequent distortion of that good creation as a result of humanity’s rebellion (Gen 3—11). Genesis 12 and following introduce God’s commitment to restore creation back to the right-relationships and divine intentions with which it began. Coming out of God’s new covenant engagement with creation in Gen 9, this divine purpose begins with the calling of a people (who turn out to be the manifold descendants of Abraham and Sarah) to be God’s instrument of blessing for all creation and thus to reverse the curse brought on by sin. The diverse traditions that comprise the remainder of the Pentateuch then combine to portray the creation and formation of Israel as a people prepared to be God’s instrument of restoration and blessing. As the subsequent Old Testament books portray Israel’s life in the land and journey into and out of exile, the reader encounters complex perspectives on Israel’s attempts to understand who God is, who they are as God’s people, and how, therefore, they ought to live out their identity as God’s people within God’s mission in the world. The final prophetic books that conclude the Protestant Old Testament ultimately give the story of God’s mission and people an open-ended quality, suggesting that God’s mission for God’s people continues and leading Christian readers to consider the New Testament’s story of the Church as an extension and expansion of the broader story of God introduced in the Old Testament. The main methodological perspective that informs the book includes work on the phenomenological function of narrative (especially story’s function to shape the identity and practice of the reader), as well as more recent so-called “missional” approaches to reading Christian scripture. Canonical criticism provides the primary means for relating the distinctive voices within the Old Testament texts that still honor the particularity and diversity of the discrete compositions. Accessibly written, this book invites readers to enter imaginatively into the biblical story and find the Old Testament's lively and enduring implications.
This study of sixth-century Hebrew thought, a part of the Old Testament Library series, grew out of Peter Ackroyd's influential Hulsean Lectures on the same topic. The Old Testament Library provides fresh and authoritative treatments of important aspects of Old Testament study through commentaries and general surveys. The contributors are scholars of international standing.
The chapters in this volume clarify crucial aspects of Torah by exploring its relationship to sedaqa (righteousness). Observing the Torah is often considered to be the main identity-marker of Israel in the post-exilic period. However, sedaqa is also widely used as a force of group cohesion and as a resource for ethics without references to torah. The contributors to this volume explore these crucial themes for the post-exilic period, and show how they are related in the key texts that feature them. Though torah and sedaqa can have some aspects in common, especially when they are amended by aspects of creation, both terms are rarely linked to each other explicitly in the Old Testament, and if so, different relations are expressed. These are examined in this book. The opening of the book of Isaiah is shown to integrate torah-learning into a life of righteousness (sedaqa). In Deuteronomy sedaqa is shown to refer to torah-dictacticism, and in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah torah can be understood as symbol of sedaqa meaning the disposition of each individual to accept torah as prescriptive law. However, the chapters also show that these relationships are not exclusive and that sedaqa is not always linked to torah, for in late texts of Isaiah sedaqa is not realized by torah-observance, but by observing the Sabbath.
This substantially updated edition of a classroom standard provides students with an accessible introduction to the literature, history, and social context of the Old Testament. Written by two seasoned Old Testament professors, the book pays attention to methodology, archaeology, history, and literary genre and includes illustrations, sidebars, maps, and study questions.
