This book has been prompted by the dishonesty of much contemporary treatment of the Bible. It is not a 'debunking' of the Bible, but an attempt to show what qualities and what preliminary assumptions are needed for the Bible to be genuinely understood and interpreted. Honest scholarship and honest interpretations must acknowledge that a revolution has taken place in the understanding of the Bible during the last two hundred years and that to try to deny or (...) play down or disguise the results of this revolution is to be faithful neither to God nor to ourselves. With that conviction, and with their customary panache, the authors then go on to look at the facts about the Bible; the New Testament interpretation of scripture; the interpretation of the Bible in the early church; historical criticism; fundamentalism; and prophecy. 'They analyse the books of the Bible, examine the canon and the Bible as norm and as the church's book, consider the role of faith and conclude with a chapter 'In Praise of the Bible'. Here, in the last book together, the Professors Hanson are indeed on top of their form. (shrink)

Since the beginning of human history, there has been no society that did not have any religion. Man meets his need to believe, encoded in his nature by turning to God. God has not left humans alone in their journey on earth, and from time to time, He has intervened in the world through his prophets. The prophethood, which constitutes one of the main subjects of theology, is an important institution in God-human communication. The messengers chosen by God convey to (...) people the information that they received through revelation and offer teachings that will bring them to salvation. The idea of salvation by God when suffering or feeling helpless has driven people to the expectation of a savior. Nearly all religions except Shintoism have the awaited savior belief in the world. Accordingly, the savior will emerge in an environment of chaos where disasters are experienced, and a moral collapse is observed. The expected savior will drive people away from this turmoil, bring them happiness, well-being, and lead them to salvation. Although there is a savior belief in Judaism and Christianity, Muslims claim that the awaited savior in these religions is Muhammad. Muslim thinkers who believe that Muhammad was heralded in previous scripts, tried to find evidence on the subject from the Bible. One of the Islamic scholars who did researches for this purpose is Shamsuddin al-Samarqandi. Shamsuddin Mohammed b. Ashraf al-Husayni al-Samarqandi is an important Turkish-Islamic scholar who lived in Turkestan at the end of the 7th century and the first quarter of the 8th century. Samarqandi is a versatile scholar who produced important works in various fields such as philosophy, logic, mathematics, discussion, debate and astronomy. Shamsuddin al-Samarqandi is one of the eminent scholars who have written his name in the history of science and philosophy with his works. He adopted a critical and analytical style in almost every field, putting the science of logic at the center of his system. His constructive criticisms had an important function in understanding and interpreting the ideas of numerous thinkers, from Greek philosophers to Islamic philosophers and representatives of philosophical theology. In addition to all these, Samarqandi did not hesitate to criticize the Christian and Jewish belief systems, religions such as Sanawiyyah and Zoroastrianism, and the teachings of the naturalist philosophers regarding the relationship between God and the world in the light of rational and scriptural evidence. Samarqandi, who distinguished himself in rational sciences, also showed himself with his background in theology. Due to his exceptional intellectual interest, he analyzes some key concepts and divine codes related to the Bible, making original inferences about the loyalty of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam. Samarqandi interprets some passages of the Torah and the New Testament, which he considers as signs of Muhammad's prophethood, in the axis of language, logic and the rules of shariah, and concludes that Muhammad is the last prophet to be announced. The conceptual framework that he mostly focuses on in this regard contains Mount Paran, Paraklite, comparison with Moses, and the good news given to the Ishmaelites. Samarqandi makes inferences about the environment in which Muhammad appeared, his qualities, and his lineage, based on the aforementioned concepts. Samarqandi also responds to the criticisms raised by the Ahl al-Kitab about the principles, such as the abolition of other religious rules constituting the basis of Muhammad's legitimacy and establishment of Islam instead, and him being a universal prophet. An important privilege of Samarqandi is that he not only grounds his claims on a theoretical scale but also engages in debates with the leaders of the Ahl al-Kitab. Although Samarqandi exhibits a satisfactory analytical attitude in most of his claims, he displays a sophisticated approach based on the method of coercion (ilzām) in some of his claims. Although he adheres to the tradition of beshair al-nubuwwah in general, he gives a different perspective and strong reasoning to the same evidence within the tradition with the effect of his identity as a verifier (muhaqqik). (shrink)

The cities of refuge as detailed in the Deuteronomic witness in the Hebrew Bible have served as the inspiration and model for the practice of providing sanctuary for many throughout the centuries, namely with the most recent Sanctuary movements in the US and the UK in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. And yet, its biblical witness as to its implementation and effectiveness is practically silent. Using methods of biblical studies via liberation hermeneutics and theological ethics from both the Jewish (...) and Christian traditions, the following questions will be explored: What were the cities of refuge? How were they to be set up? What are the theological and ethical questions at play in the biblical witness as to their use? What relevance, if any, do they have for us today? (shrink)

Outside Waco, Texas, on 19 April 1993, a 51-day standoff between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and David Koresh and the Branch Davidians concluded with a devastating fire. Despite the fact that FBI negotiators talked on the telephone with Koresh or his main spokesman almost every day, the negotiators were unable to bring the standoff to a peaceful end. A frustrating yet persistent aspect for the FBI negotiators was the Davidians' talk about the Bible and their religious beliefs, what (...) agents dismissively described as `Bible babble'. In this study, we analyze several exchanges between Koresh and one of the FBI agents. The analysis shows how the FBI's identifying their problem as `Bible babble' contributed to the negotiation failure. Through their talk, Koresh was positioned as a biblical expert and the FBI agent as a novice. The FBI's talk also supported Koresh's face. These two conversational patterns, we argue, legitimated God as a key party and Koresh as the person who could best speak for him. In the conclusion, we suggest how a renaming of the problem might have reshaped the FBI's moves. (shrink)

Claudel's last work, J'aime la Bible is an appreciation of great feeling at its best and a kind of muddy carping with the Bible's detractors at its worst. The translation, by Wade Balkin, is idiomatic rather than poetic, and reads smoothly and easily.--R. F. T.

Professor Morgan styles himself an amateur in his investigation of the theme of love and in this work he lives up to this role in the best senses of the term. With an inspiring enthusiasm for the theme, he brings to bear a critical analysis of the central concepts in each area. In Plato's assimilation of love to moral and intellectual striving, in the Bible's orientation of the law around love, and in Freud's genetic account of personal and social (...) norms, Professor Morgan discerns similar attempts to reconcile reason and passion. The author is equally concerned to note the differences between the three theories of love and to resist the reduction of one to the other. Plato's Eros is fully teleological and finds its culmination in the rational impersonality of perfect form. The Bible teaches that love has no other end than its own perfection in the living, personal God. Freud sets himself against both these traditions by his materialistic bias, his emphasis on the efficient causes of love, and the irreducible dualism of Eros and Thanatos.—T. R. H. (shrink)

This is a sequel to the author's The Language and Logic of the Bible: The Earlier Middle Ages. The period of the reformation saw immense changes of approach to the study of the Bible, which in turn brought huge consequences. This book, seeking to show the direction of endeavour of such study in the last medieval centuries, examines the theory of exegesis, practical interpretation, popular Bible study and preaching, and looks especially at the areas of logic and (...) language in which the scholars of the period had considerable expertise. The condemnation of the scholastics has tended to sink with them a proper recognition of what they achieved. In looking forward to the reformation, Dr Evans demonstrates a greater continuity of attitude than has often been allowed and describes how the enquiries of later medieval scholars opened out into the explorations of the sixteenth century made by Protestant and Roman Catholic thinkers alike. (shrink)

This article evaluates the origins, nature and role of historical criticism in biblical studies as a discipline and its relationship with spiritual or theological readings of biblical texts. It firstly analyses the roots, origins and nature of historical criticism that dominated biblical studies as a discipline in modernity. It then investigates a critical response to historical criticism in the recent renaissance of theological and spiritual readings of the Bible. In this investigation, it discusses how recent hermeneutical developments confirm that (...) the two approaches, though clearly different, can function in a meaningful synergy to come to a more authentic and adequate interpretation of the Bible. The article concludes with an evaluation of this synergy, which is not about simply joining the two, but reflects a fixed pattern in which each one has a particular role to play. (shrink)

Professor Konvitz distinguishes between Homeric and Hebrew literary styles. In the Illiad and Odyssey, everything that Homer wants to say is put in the foreground and externalized. The events and relationships between the mortal characters and the gods are clearly explicated. In the Bible, on the other hand, only so much of the setting and relationships as is necessary is revealed. God is the unknowable, incomprehensible background to the action. God’s motives are seldom revealed and require explanation and interpretation. (...) The stories in the Bible certainly can be explained from the point of view of the senses, but to a man of faith they are the story of the working out of God’s will. Several examples are given to illustrate this. (shrink)

The author uses the Scriptures as the basis for constructing a moral philosophy. Besides describing the Biblical morality, he examines the nature of moral principle and of moral judgment in general. There is a suggestive supplementary essay, "The Logic of an Empirical Moral Philosophy and its Parallel in the Logic of Empirical Science."--R. B.

Violent: Isn't his account of philosophy, however, rather strange?--not, I fear, in the sense that it is novel or quite unusual, but in the sense that it is oddly misguided? Part of the oddness comes out in its titular description--"the search for ultimate reality." We find that he views ontology as the center of philosophy, for "philosophy is that cognitive endeavor in which the question of being is asked". "The search for ultimate reality beyond everything that seems to be real (...) is the search for being-itself, for the power of being in everything that is. It is the ontological question, the root question of every philosophy". (shrink)

Glenn Kreider explores the whole Bible to show us the full scope of God's active involvement in his creation from the very beginning. This better understanding of God's humility will affect our own humility and our attitude toward serving those around us."--Publisher description.

A popular, ecumenical effort that avoids theologizing, this book offers a short summary of each of the books of the Bible according to content, purpose, style, author and date.—E. A. R.

In fall 1844, a party of colonists led by William Keil arrived at what was to become their new home, a gentle slope rising from the bank of the North River in Shelby County, Missouri, about forty-five miles west of Hannibal. One year later the utopian Bethel Colony had been laid out, houses were being added as fast as they could be built, and construction of a steam-powered gristmill was under way.The Bethel colonists were Bible Communists who found the (...) inspiration for their communal life in the book of Acts, which records that in the Early Church "as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds and laid them at the apostles' feet; and distribution was made to each as any had need"... (shrink)

The Bible has influenced contemporary culture both positively and negatively. The present volume is a collection of papers that were discussed at an international colloquium on the use of the Bible in Ethics in the Department of Biblical Studies at the University of Sheffield in April 1995. Participants came from many parts of the world and from different backgrounds, and the papers reflect their varied interests and the contexts in which they work. The contributors, in addition to the (...) three editors, are John Barton, Bruce Birch, Mark Brett, Mark Chapman, David Clines, Philip Davies, Cheryl Exum, Stephen Fowl, Norman Gottwald, John Haldane, Walter Houston, Sharon Ringe, Chrisopher Rowland, Lisa Sowle Cahill and Gerald West. (shrink)

Les documents officiels de l’Eglise catholique font grand usage de la Bible. La manière dont le texte scripturaire fonctionne dans les documents du magistère dépend de la théologie opératoire sous-jacente. Cet article examine les changements survenus dans la manière dont l’Eglise comprend et utilise l’Ecriture dans les documents du magistère, plus précisément dans des textes concernant la doctrine sociale de l’Église. Des exemples choisis dans les documents officiels permettent de reconnaître en gros trois paradigmes dans l’interprétation de l’Ecriture: 1) (...) la Bible comme recueil de propositions doctrinales; 2) la Bible comme archives des actions salvifiques de Dieu dans l’histoire: 3) la Bible comme vision d’une communion plénière avec Dieu et le prochain. Les deux derniers paradigmes se trouvent en germe dans le document Dei Verbum de Vatican II, tandis que le premier, qui avait été dominant dans les documents antérieurs à ce concile, a fait sa réapparition après la période de Vatican II. On montre que la compréhension de la Bible comme collection de propositions doctrinales accorde peu d’attention aux contextes historique et littéraire, tandis que les deux autres modèles s’y montrent plus sensibles, mettant l’accent sur la transformation et la communion plutôt que sur l’information. (shrink)