How to Read the Bible

by Brettler, Marc

• ISBN13: 9780827607750
• ISBN10: 082760775X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-10-15
• Publisher: Jewish Pubn Society

Summary

This book is the first "Jewishly sensitive" introduction to the historical-critical method of interpreting the Bible. Unlike other such introductory texts, the Bible that this book speaks about is the Jewish one-with the three-part Tanakh arrangement, the sequence of books found in modern printed Hebrew editions, and the chapter and verse enumerations used in most modern Jewish versions. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Marc Zvi Brettler is Dora Golding Professor of Biblical Literature and chair of the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Abbreviations	xiii
Reading as a Jew and as a Scholar	1	(6)
What Is the Bible, Anyway?	7	(6)
The Art of Reading the Bible	13	(6)
A Brief History of Israel	19	(10)
With Scissors and Paste: The Sources of Genesis	29	(8)
Creation vs. Creationism: Genesis 1-3 as Myth	37	(12)
The Ancestors as Heroes	49	(12)
Biblical Law: Codes and Collections	61	(12)
Incense Is Offensive to Me: The Cult in Ancient Israel	73	(12)
``In the Fortieth Year . . . Moses Addressed the Israelites'': Deuteronomy	85	(10)
``The Walls Came Tumbling Down'': Reading Joshua	95	(12)
``May My Lord King David Live Forever'': Royal Ideology in Samuel and Judges	107	(10)
``For Israel Tore Away from the House of David'': Reading Kings	117	(12)
Revisionist History: Reading Chronicles	129	(8)
Introduction to Prophecy	137	(12)
``Let Justice Well Up like Water'': Reading Amos	149	(12)
``They Shall Beat Their Swords into Plowshares'': Reading (First) Isaiah	161	(12)
``I Will Make This House like Shiloh'': Reading Jeremiah	173	(12)
``I Will Be for Them a Mini-Temple'': Reading Ezekiel	185	(14)
``Comfort, Oh Comfort My People'': The Exile and Beyond	199	(10)
``Those That Sleep in the Dust . . . Will Awake'': Zechariah, Apocalyptic Literature, and Daniel	209	(10)
Prayer of Many Hearts: Reading Psalms	219	(12)
``Acquire Wisdom'': Reading Proverbs and Ecclesiastes	231	(12)
``Being But Dust and Ashes'': Reading Job	243	(14)
``Drink Deep of Love!'': Reading Song of Songs	257	(10)
``Why Are You So Kind . . . When I Am a Foreigner?'': Reading Ruth vs. Esther	267	(6)
The Creation of the Bible	273	(6)
Afterword: Reading the Bible as a Committed Jew	279	(6)
Notes	285	(54)
Sources Cited	339	(22)
Index of Subjects	361	(11)
Index of Biblical Passages and Other References	372