Was God being ironic in commanding Eve not to eat fruit from the tree of wisdom? Carolyn J. Sharp suggests that many stories in the Hebrew Scriptures may be ironically intended. Deftly interweaving literary theory and exegesis, Sharp illumines the power of the unspoken in a wide variety of texts from the Pentateuch, the Prophets, and the Writings. She argues that reading with irony in mind creates a charged and open rhetorical space in the texts that allows character, narration, and authorial voice to develop in unexpected ways. Main themes explored here include the ironizing of foreign rulers, the prostitute as icon of the ironic gaze, indeterminacy and dramatic irony in prophetic performance, and irony in ancient Israel's wisdom traditions. Sharp devotes special attention to how irony destabilizes dominant ways in which the Bible is read today, especially when it touches on questions of conflict, gender, and the Other.

The stories of Hagar, Dinah, and Tamar stand out as strangers in the ancestral narrative. They deviate from the main plot and draw attention to the interests and fates of characters who are not a part of the ancestral family. Readers have traditionally domesticated these strange stories. They have made them "familiar"--all about the ancestral family. Thus Hagar's story becomes a drama of deselection, Shechem and the Hivites become emblematic for ancestral conflict with the people of the land, and Tamar becomes a lens by which to read providence in the story of Joseph. This study resurrects the question of these stories' strangeness. Rather than allow the ancestral narrative to determine their significance, it attends to each interlude's particularity and detects ironic gestures made toward the ancestral narrative. These stories contain within them the potential to defamiliarize key themes of ancestral identity: the ancestral-divine relationship, ancestral relations to the land and its inhabitants, and ancestral self-identity. Perhaps the ancestral family are not the only privileged partners of God, the only heirs to the land, or the only bloodline fit to bear the next generation.

It is generally agreed that there is significant irony in the Bible. However, to date no work has been published in biblical scholarship that on the one hand includes interpretations of both Hebrew Bible and New Testament writings under the perspective of irony, and on the other hand offers a panorama of the approaches to the different types and functions of irony in biblical texts. The following volume: (1) reevaluates scholarly definitions of irony and the use of the term in biblical research; (2) builds on existing methods of interpretation of ironic texts; (3) offers judicious analyses of methodological approaches to irony in the Bible; and (4) develops fresh insights into biblical passages.

In this book, Thomas Jemielity demonstrates the striking relationship between satire and Hebrew prophecy by reviewing the role of ridicule in both and analyzing questions of nature, structure, form, and audience. This pioneering study makes compelling reading for all interested in the Bible and Western literature. The Literary Currents in Biblical Interpretation series explores current trends within the discipline of biblical interpretation by dealing with the literary qualities of the Bible: the play of its language, the coherence of its final form, and the relationships between text and readers. Biblical interpreters are being challenged to take responsibility for the theological, social, and ethical implications of their readings. This series encourages original readings that breach the confines of traditional biblical criticism.

The long and complex history of reception and interpretation of the Hebrew Bible / Old Testament through the ages, described in the HBOT Project, focuses in this concluding volume III, Part 2 on the multifarious research and the different methods used in the last century. Even this volume is written by Christian and Jewish scholars and takes its wider cultural and philosophical context into consideration. The perspective is worldwide and ecumenical. Its references to modern biblical scholarship, on which it is based, are extensive and updated.The indexes (names, topics, references to biblical sources and a broad body of literature beyond) are the key to the wealth of information provided.Contributors are J. Barton, H.L. Bosman, A.F. Campbell, SJ, D.M. Carr, D.J.A. Clines, W. Dietrich, St.E. Fassberg, D. Føllesdal, A.C. Hagedorn, K.M. Heim, J. Høgenhaven, B. Janowski, D.A. Knight, C. Körting, A. Laato, P. Machinist, M.A.O ́Brien, M. Oeming, D. Olson, E. Otto, M. Sæbø, J. Schaper, S. Sekine, J.L. Ska, SJ, M.A. Sweeney, and J. de Waard.

No one can read far in the Old Testament without encountering numerous acts of violence that are sanctioned in the text and attributed to both God and humans. Over the years, these texts have been used to justify all sorts of violence: from colonizing people and justifying warfare, to sanctioning violence against women and children. Eric Seibert confrons the problem of "virtuous" violence and urges people to engage in an ethically responsible reading of these troublesome texts. He offers a variety of reading strategies designed to critique textually sanctioned violence, while still finding ways to use even the most difficult texts constructively, thus providing a desperately needed approach to the violence of Scripture that can help us live more peaceably in a world plagued by religious violence. --from publisher description

The Triumph of Irony in the Book of Judges focuses on the literary quality of the book of Judges. Klein extrapolates the theme of irony in the book of Judges, seeking to prove that it is the main structural element. She points out how this literary device adds to the overall meaning and tone of the book, and what it reveals about the culture of the time. Chronologically divided into sections, Klein explores the narrative and commentates on the literary properties throughout-plot, character development, and resolution, as well as the main theme of irony.

This comprehensive classic textbook represents the most recent approaches to the biblical world by surveying Palestine's social, political, economic, religious and ecological changes from Palaeolithic to Roman eras. Designed for beginners with little knowledge of the ancient world, and with copious illustrations and charts, it explains how and why academic study of the past is undertaken, as well as the differences between historical and theological scholarship and the differences between ancient and modern genres of history writing. Classroom tested chapters emphasize the authenticity of the Bible as a product of an ancient culture, and the many problems with the biblical narrative as a historical source. Neither "maximalist" nor "minimalist'" it is sufficiently general to avoid confusion and to allow the assignment of supplementary readings such as biblical narratives and ancient Near Eastern texts. This new edition has been fully revised, incorporating new graphics and English translations of Near Eastern inscriptions. New material on the religiously diverse environment of Ancient Israel taking into account the latest archaeological discussions brings this book right up to date.

This unique introduction to the Prophetic books provides a comprehensive examination of one of the most important, and misunderstood genres of the Hebrew Bible. It examines the nature and purpose of prophetic literature, as well as providing an in-depth account of the origins and development of each individual book. The book begins by placing the prophets in their historical context and introducing the idea of a prophetic book. A series of chronological chapters focus on each prophetic book examining its literary structure, authorship, and the editorial processes that produced each book. Readers are also introduced to the most recent scholarly research into the formation of prophetic books and the ongoing task of the scribes in updating previous works to meet new situations. The Prophetic Literature offers rich and rewarding insights into a series of prophetic works whose profound influences and inspirational wisdom have endured to the present day.

Intra-Jewish conflict in Paul's communities After taking on traditional interpretations of Romans in (The Mystery of Romans, Nanos now turns his attention to the Letter to the Galatians. A Primary voice in reclaiming Paul in his Jewish context. Nanos challenges the previously dominant views of Paul as rejecting his Jewish heritage and the Law. Where Paul's rhetoric has been interpreted to be its most anti-Jewish, Nanos instead demonstrates the implications of an intra-Jewish reading. He explores the issues of purity, insiders/outsiders; the charactor of "the gospel"; the relationship between groups of Christ-followers in Jerusalem, Antioch, and Galatia; and evil-eye accusations.