Colleen M. Conway - A Contemporary Introduction to the Bible

African American Biblical Interpretation and the New Testament

Gender Criticism and Masculinity Studies

Cultural Criticism of the Bible

These boxes offer extra information relevant to the broader discussion. Some pull together relevant dates for a period, while others show parallels between texts, or summarize information on a theme or question that relates to the topic at hand. This information is not optional or superfluous. Instead, these boxes highlight topics that are worth focused attention.

Contents of the Hebrew Bible/Tanakh/Old Testament

The Origins of Chapters and Verses11

AD, BC, BCE, and CE

Visualizing (the Possible Ancestors of) Ancient Israelites

The Name of Israel’s God: Yahweh/the LORD

The Name “Israel”

Archaeology and Problems of History Surrounding David, Solomon, and the Beginning of the Israelite Monarchy

Labels (e.g. “Psalm of David”): What They (Don’t) Tell Us

A View from the Assyrian Imperial Court: The Annals of Sennacherib

Hosea and the “Book of the Twelve Prophets”

Isaiah 6 and the “Call Narrative”

Overview: The Covenant Code and Deuteronomy

The Books of the Former and Latter Prophets

The Conquest and Ancient Holy War

Forced Labor for Exiles Under Nebuchadnezzar

The Divine Council

Traditions That Moses Wrote the Pentateuch

The Story of Jacob at Bethel as an Example of the Addition of Promise to an Older Story

More Information: The Gap Between Ancestors and Moses

J (the “Yahwistic source”), E (the “Elohistic source”), and the Documentary Hypothesis

Alternative Perspectives on Foreigners

The Emergence of “Judaism”

The Book of Judith (as an Example of a Hasmonean Text)

The Dead Sea Scrolls

The Infancy Gospel of Thomas: The Boy Jesus and His Superpowers

More on the Historical Jesus Search

Eschatology Versus Apocalypticism

The Structure of Paul’s Letters

Paul and Slavery

The Question of Circumcision

Changing Perspectives on Paul

Markan Priority

An Exorcism of Rome?

More on Messianic Secret

Jesus the “Son of Man”

Intercalation or the Markan “Sandwich”

A Glimpse of Life Under Roman Occupation

More About the Q Document

Gender and Matthew’s Genealogy (Matt 1:1–17)

Who Were the Pharisees?

Possessions and the Poor: A Lukan Puzzle

The Priene Calendar Inscription

Was There a Johannine Community?

Tacitus’s Account of Nero’s Persecution of Christians in Rome

This book introduces students to the books of the Bible as shaped in the crucible of the history of Israel and the early church. A prominent theme throughout is the way the books of the Bible reflect quite different sorts of interaction with empires that dominated the ancient Near East and Mediterranean. At first some students and professors may find this approach unusual, since we do not begin with Genesis and do not proceed through biblical books in order. The group of texts introduced early on in this textbook is quite different from the Bible they now know. So why have we chosen this approach? There are many advantages. On the basis of our experience with using this approach we have seen that the picture of the Bible’s development comes into focus as the narrative of its formation unfolds. By the end, students should find meaning in aspects of the Bible that they once overlooked, even as they also understand that much of the power of the Bible has been its capability to transcend the original contexts in which it was written. Moreover, through discussion of the history of Jewish and Christian interpretation of focus texts toward the end of many chapters, students will gain a taste of how faith communities have used the Bible in creative, inspired, and sometimes death-dealing ways to guide and make sense of their lives. Given the already large scope of this Introduction , we have focused on texts included in the Old and New Testaments, with a particular emphasis – in the case of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament – on books included in the scriptures of Judaism and various forms of Christianity. This meant that we could not give sustained attention to apocryphal/deutero-canonical books of the Old Testament, or to the range of non-canonical early Christian works that did not end up being included in the Christian Bible.

The date framework given in this textbook follows that of Anson Rainey and Steven Notley’s The Sacred Bridge: Carta’s Atlas of the Biblical World (Jerusalem: Carta, 2005). In many cases specific dates are uncertain, but Rainey and Notley provide a recent, solid framework to start from on an introductory level. Unless otherwise indicated, the translations from Hebrew and Greek are our own.

As with any such textbook there is always room for improvement. We know that there are multiple ways in which virtually everything that is written here could be footnoted, qualified, and balanced with other perspectives. What this introduction provides is one general outline of a historical approach to the Bible that students can then supplement, correct, and balance in their future studies. We certainly invite all possible suggestions for correction and improvement of future editions of this textbook.

We have been helped by many people in writing this textbook. In particular, a diverse set of colleagues – Charles Carter, Thomas Dozeman, Esther Hamori, Mahri Leonard-Fleckman, Benjamin Sommer, Kent Reynolds, Robert Rezetko, Adele Reinhartz, Jerusha Rhodes, William Schniedewind, Mark Smith, and Marvin Sweeney – generously reviewed portions of chapters on the Hebrew Bible and/or offered advice on revisions and corrections for the first edition or this second edition. In addition, students at Union Theological Seminary and Seton Hall University have read chapter drafts and suggested corrections, and we received some further helpful suggestions from anonymous reviewers recruited by Wiley Blackwell. Some students and teaching assistants who have offered a particularly large volume of helpful corrections are Mary Ellen Kris, Candice Olson, Lizzie Berne-DeGear, Laurel Koepf-Taylor, Meagan Manas, and Todd Kennedy. Maia Kotrosits provided timely assistance with the glossary and web materials. Our thanks to all for their generous help in this project.

Finally, with love we dedicate this volume to our parents, James and Patricia Conway, John (now departed) and Adrienne Carr, whose love of teaching and care for their students helped inspire this book.

Colleen M. Conway and David M. Carr

The author and publisher gratefully acknowledge the permission granted to reproduce the copyrighted material in this book:

Chapter opener photo © Joseph Chalev/Shutterstock.com