The Biblical WorldJohn Barton The Biblical World is a comprehensive guide to the contents, historical settings and social context of the Bible. It presents the fruits of years of specialist study in an accessible form, and is essential reading for anyone who reads the Bible and would like to know more about how and why it came to be. Written by an international collection of experts, the volumes include a full overview of the full range of biblical material, before going on to more detailed discussions of myth and prophecy to poetry and proverbs. Explorations of the historical background are complemented by the findings of archaeology, and the book explores language, law, administration, social life and the arts as well. Major figures of the Bible - including Abraham, Jesus and Paul - are studied in detail, as are the main religious concepts it contains, such as salvation and purity. Also including an examination of how the Bible is viewed today, this monumental work will be an invaluable resource for students, academics and clergy, and for all to whom the Bible is important as a religious or cultural document. |
Contents
The Old TestamentHebrew Bible | |
The New Testament | |
Near Eastern myths and legends | |
Historiography in the Old Testament | |
Prophecy | |
Wisdom | |
Apocalypticism | |
Israels neighbours | |
The Hebrew and Aramaic languages | |
The Greek language | |
Warfare | |
architecture music poetry psalmody | |
Law and administration in the New Testament world | |
Religion in preexilic Israel | |
Religion in Israel during and after the exile | |
The Jewish novel | |
Letters in the New Testament and in the GrecoRoman world | |
the Old Testament | |
the New Testament | |
The Dead Sea Scrolls | |
Hebrew inscriptions | |
The Cairo Genizah | |
The gnostic gospels | |
Early Jewish biblical interpretation | |
Early Christian biblical interpretation | |
Biblical archaeology | |
Palestine during the Bronze | |
Palestine during the Iron | |
The age of the exile | |
Israel under Persia and Greece | |
Judaea under Roman rule 63 BCE135 | |
Judaism at the turn of the | |
social life | |
religious practice | |
the patriarchs and matriarchs | |
Moses | |
David and Solomon | |
Jesus | |
Paul | |
Salvation in Jewish thought | |
Salvation in Christian thought | |
Interpretations of the identity and role of Jesus | |
The Gospels | |
Death and afterlife | |
Purity | |