1 2 Samuel An Introduction And Study Guide
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1 & 2 Samuel: An Introduction and Study Guide
Scholarly study of Samuel continues to wrestle with how we interpret this pivotal text. Even such basic matters as the question of what kind of literature it is remain unresolved while older questions such as the nature of its text and sources are debated anew in the light of material from Qumran and of current approaches to Hebrew narrative. Recognizing the importance of questions such as these, David Firth explores and introduces fresh ways of reading Samuel as a unified and yet complex text, which displays high levels both of literary artistry and of theological commitment. Although some stories in the books of Samuel are well known, and in the case of David and Goliath even proverbial, much of the content of these books is strange to modern readers. It is a story about a woman wanting a child, for example, that relates the beginnings of monarchy within Israel. Even the question of the monarchy is problematic, for we are introduced to not one royal family but two-those of Saul and David. David is ultimately shown to be the king chosen by God, yet by the end of the book he is only just managing to hold on to the kingdom as it is nearly torn from him by rivalries within his family. These arresting stories are perplexing, for Samuel's writers seldom tell us how to read and interpret them. Firth presents these complex and fascinating stories as part of a bigger picture, enabling students to chart their way through the literary and historical issues of the Samuel narrative. Firth addresses issues of historicity, sources, date and authorship, as well as -- crucially -- appreciating the text as a literary whole.
1, 2, and 3 John: An Introduction and Study Guide
Author: Warren Carter
language: en
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Release Date: 2024-07-11
This insightful study engages the debates and interpretations of the brief and somewhat elusive writings known in the Christian canon as 1, 2, and 3 John. Chapter 1 identifies six unknowns about the origins of the three writings: authors, relationship to John's Gospel, order, date and location of the writings, and their audiences. Chapters 2 and 3 delineate the debate concerning the relationship of these writings to a purported “Johannine tradition” and “Johannine community” in which a schism is claimed to have occurred. An alternative view recognizes that while there are some connections with John's Gospel, it is more compelling to see the writings as independent rather than derivative, as internally not externally directed, as pastoral not polemical, and as schism-free. Chapters 4-7 discuss important aspects of 1 John. Chapter 4 argues that its structure or organization is based on rhetorical and conceptual links among the writing's small units. Chapter 5 reads 1 John as a pastoral “in-house” writing, rather than a polemical attack on opponents. Chapter 6 identifies the genre of I John as not a letter or sermon but an epideictic speech that seeks to strengthen the identity, commitments, and practices of its believing recipients. Chapter 7 outlines theological understandings that underpin the writing's pastoral work. Chapters 8 and 9 focus on 2 and 3 John as writings that provide two different approaches to itinerant teachers. The narrative fiction in 2 John presents the elder's warning and skepticism about itinerant teachers whereas the author of 3 John, by contrast, advocates reception and welcome for itinerant teachers.
Ezra-Nehemiah: An Introduction and Study Guide
Author: Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer
language: en
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Release Date: 2017-08-10
This guide to Ezra and Nehemiah showcases the latest developments and most up-to-date scholarship on these important texts. Ezra and Nehemiah tell the story of the people in Yehud in the 6th and the 5th centuries BCE. This was a time of economic hardship. The people living in and around Jerusalem were scratching out a living in a land that had been devastated by war. It was also a time of soul searching. Having lost their political autonomy and national identity, the people in Yehud had to find new ways of understanding and shaping their identity. Ezra and Nehemiah provide glimpses of these issues by way of an assortment of narratives, lists, letters, and other types of records. The readers encounter different voices and different opinions. Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer provides an overview of the various texts and the topics, concerns, and disputes that they reflect. The guide also zooms in on select key issues pertaining to the development of the text, its historical background(s), the quest for identity, and its afterlife in Jewish and Christian traditions.