Understanding Old Testament Ethics

by Barton, John

• ISBN13: 9780664225964
• ISBN10: 0664225969
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-03-01
• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Pr

Summary

How can we best understand the different ways in which ethical issues are addressed in the Hebrew Bible? And how might that understanding usefully inform ethical decision making in our own day? These are the two key questions explored by John Barton in Part One of this study, in which he looks at how the Bible's narratives, as well as its collections of laws, oracles and wisdom writings, all contribute to our understanding of the whole. In Part Two, he focuses on the moral vision of the Prophets--especially Amos, Isaiah and Daniel--providing the reader with the fruits of his research in this area over the last few decades. The result is a book that enables students of the Bible, Ethics, and other theological disciplines to firmly grasp the main issues at stake in current scholarly debate about the ethical legacy of the Old Testament.

Table of Contents

Preface	vi
Acknowledgements	viii
Abbreviations	ix
Introduction: The Moral Vision of the Old Testament	1	(14)
Part One: Morality and Justice in the Hebrew Bible
Understanding Old Testament Ethics	15	(17)
Natural Law and Poetic Justice in the Old Testament	32	(13)
The Basis of Ethics in the Hebrew Bible	45	(10)
Reading for Life: The Use of the Bible in Ethics	55	(10)
Virtue in the Bible	65	(12)
Part Two: Explorations in the Prophets
Amos's Oracles against the Nations	77	(53)
Ethics in Isaiah of Jerusalem	130	(15)
Ethics in the Isaianic Tradition	145	(9)
Theological Ethics in Daniel	154	(8)
Conclusion: The Future of Old Testament Ethics	162	(14)
Notes	176	(20)
Bibliography	196	(9)
Index of Biblical Passages	205	(4)
Index of Modern Authors	209