Scripture as Social Discourse: Social-Scientific Perspectives on Early Jewish and Christian Writings

by Todd Klutz (Editor), Casey Strine (Editor), Jessica M. Keady (Editor)

Overview

Throughout the last several decades professional biblical scholars have adapted concepts and theories from the social sciences - particularly social and cultural anthropology - in order to cast new light on ancient biblical writings, early Jewish and Christian texts that circulated with the Scriptures, and the various contexts in which these literatures were produced and first received. The present volume of essays draws much of its inspiration from that same development in the history of biblical research, while also offering insights from other, newer approaches to interpretation.

The contributors to this volume explore a wide range of broadly social-scientific disciplines and discourses - cultural anthropology, sociology, archaeology, political science, the New Historicism, forced migration studies, gender studies - and provide multiple examples of the ways in which these diverse methods and theories can shed new and often fascinating light on the ancient texts. The fruit of scholarly work that is both international in flavour and truly collaborative, this volume provides fresh perspectives not only on familiar portions of Jewish and Christian Scripture but also on select passages from the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Nag Hammadi library and previously untranslated French texts.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780567692900
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	12/26/2019
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.58(d)

About the Author

Jessica M. Keady is Lecturer in Biblical Studies and Gender at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, UK.

Todd Klutz is Senior Lecturer in Biblical Studies and Early Christian Literature at the University of Manchester, UK.

C. A. Strine is Lecturer in Ancient Near Eastern History and Literature at the University of Sheffield, UK.

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Introduction: The Structure of Social Scientific and grammatical integrations – Todd Klutz, University of Manchester, UK
Part I: Social Scientific Perspectives on Jewish Scripture
1. Literary Historical Exegesis as a Social Science - Philip R. Davies, University of Sheffield, UK
2. The Concepts of 'Counter History' and Mnemohistory applied to Biblical Sciences - Thomas C. Römer, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
3. Your Name Shall No Longer be Jacob, but Refugee: Involuntary Migration and the Development of the Jacob Narrative - Casey A. Strine, University of Sheffield, UK
4. 'To Share Your Bread With The Hungry'; Justice or Charity? - Walter J. Houston, University of Manchester, UK
5. Space and Memory in the Book of Leviticus - Julia Rhyder, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
6. The Zadokite and Levite Scribal Conflicts - Jaeyoung Jeon, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
7. The Concept of Utopia and the Psalm of Habakkuk: An Alternative Reading - Chen Bergot, University of Geneva, Switzerland
Part II: Social Scientific Perspectives on the Dead Sea Scrolls and Early Christian Literature
8. The Social Sciences and the Dead Sea Scrolls - George J. Brook, University of Chester, UK
9. Reviewing Purity and Impurity from a Gendered Perspective: The War Scroll (1QM) as a Case Study - Jessica M. Keady, University of Helsinki, Finland
10. The Teacher of Righteousness from the Perspective of the Sociology of Organizations - David Hamidovic, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
11. Saving Face in Galatia: Eu0proswpe/w and Concern for Honour in the Argument of Paul's Letter - David S. Harvey, Mattersey Hall, UK
12. The Use of Social Models in Biblical Studies: Philippians 1.27–2.5 as a Case Study - Peter Oakes, University of Manchester, United Kingdom
13. Inside the Bridal Chamber: Individual, Group, and Intertextuality in Gospel of Philip 65.1-26 - Todd E. Klutz, University of Manchester, UK
14. Shifting Social Contexts at Nag Hammadi: Imagining a Fourth Century Monastic Response to the Roles of Knowledge and Love in the Gospel of Philip - Kimberly A. Fowler, Aix-Marseille University, France
Indexes

Editorial Reviews

"Scripture as Social Discourse brings together an array of experts in the literature of the Hebrew Bible, Qumran, the New Testament and Nag Hammadi who are all committed both to the use of social-scientific perspectives and to philological precision in their investigations. The reader is treated to an exciting array of fresh ideas that will foster new thinking and applications in research into biblical and extra-biblical texts. The book is an impressive addition to the expanding library of social-scientific interpretation." --Philip Esler, University of Gloucestershire, UK

"This is a landmark volume from European scholarship, on the engagement of various social-scientific methodologies in interpretation of diverse Jewish and early Christian texts (including the Dead Sea Scrolls and non-canonical Christian Gospels). Sensitivities to methodological issues within the interpretative task, coupled with close textual analysis and attention to historical/contextual dynamics, are the hallmark of all the contributions herein." --Louise Laurence, University of Exeter, UK

From the Publisher