THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 36 The period from ad 70 to 135
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 36 The period from ad 70 to 135
by SPCK - N T Wright
The period from ad 70 to 135 We now turn to the period from ad 70 to 135. It might be thought that the events of ad 70 would have brought about that great change from political involvement to pious devotion that has been postulated to explain the difference between Josephus’ Phar…
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 34 The Agenda and Influence of the Pharisees
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 34 The Agenda and Influence of the Pharisees
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Agenda and Influence of the Pharisees cntd It is beyond a doubt that for quite some time before 63 bc there existed a pressure-group, known at least by its enemies as ‘Pharisees’. This group, not necessarily numerous, seems to have arisen around or after the time of the Macca…
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 40 STORY, SYMBOL, PRAXIS: ELEMENTS OF ISRAEL’S WORLDVIEW
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 40 STORY, SYMBOL, PRAXIS: ELEMENTS OF ISRAEL’S WORLDVIEW
by SPCK - N T Wright
STORY, SYMBOL, PRAXIS: ELEMENTS OF ISRAEL’S WORLDVIEW Within the turbulent history described in chapter 6, and amidst the pressure of parties described in chapter 7, there lived the ordinary Jews of the first century. It is difficult to tell what books, if any, such people read (…
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 38 Priests, Aristocrats and Sadducees
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 38 Priests, Aristocrats and Sadducees
by SPCK - N T Wright
Priests, Aristocrats and Sadducees We could quite easily imagine first-century Judaism without Essenes or Scrolls. The same is emphatically not true of the priests in general and the chief priests in particular. Josephus, writing at the end of the first century ad, says that ther…
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 43 Symbols
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 43 Symbols
by SPCK - N T Wright
Symbols (i) Introduction The stories which articulate a worldview focus upon the symbols which bring that worldview into visible and tangible reality. There is no problem in identifying the four key symbols which functioned in this way in relation to the Jewish stories. At the he…
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 42 Conclusion
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 42 Conclusion
by SPCK - N T Wright
Conclusion How then does the basic Jewish story ‘work’, in terms of the analysis of stories outlined in chapter 3? As we shall see in the next chapter, the focal point of the worldview is clearly the creator’s covenant with Israel, and hence, in a period of political oppression a…
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 41 The Smaller Stories
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 41 The Smaller Stories
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Smaller Stories Within this tradition of telling the large story, letting it point forwards in various ways to its own conclusion, there was a rich Jewish tradition of sub-stories. These can be seen in two forms, which criss-cross and overlap. On the one hand, there are expli…
The Women's Bible Commentary - Hagar: Mothering a Hero
The Women's Bible Commentary - Hagar: Mothering a Hero
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Hagar: Mothering a Hero The story of Hagar leads to a wider discussion of the major themes of this study: the barrenness of the patriarch’s wives, the annunciation scenes, and the wives’ positions as mother of the patriarch of the next generation…
The Women's Bible Commentary - Tamar: Trickster Would-be Mother
The Women's Bible Commentary - Tamar: Trickster Would-be Mother
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Tamar: Trickster Would-be Mother Genesis 38 begins as a story of Judah, who is left in the land of Canaan during Joseph’s ordeal in Egypt. In the Joseph narrative, Judah is one of the villain brothers. He does not actually want to kill the boy Joseph but suggests he be sold to a …
The Women's Bible Commentary - My Brother Esau Is a Hairy Man and I Am a Smooth Man
The Women's Bible Commentary - My Brother Esau Is a Hairy Man and I Am a Smooth Man
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
My Brother Esau Is a Hairy Man and I Am a Smooth Man The ancestor hero of Israel, Jacob, father of the Israelites, is smooth, whereas the founding father of the neighboring, related, Semitic-speaking people, the Edomites, is hairy. Particular cultural messages are encoded in such…
The Women's Bible Commentary - Rebekah the Trickster
The Women's Bible Commentary - Rebekah the Trickster
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Rebekah the Trickster In Genesis 27, the woman herself is the trickster who formulates the plan and succeeds, moving the men around her like chess pieces. Lest the reader think that here one finally encounters a more liberated woman, beware that again success is gained through th…
The Women's Bible Commentary - Inadmissible Mixtures
The Women's Bible Commentary - Inadmissible Mixtures
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Inadmissible Mixtures Deuteronomy 22:1–12 interweaves cases expressing concern for the neighbor (22:1–3, 4, 6–7, 8) and prohibitions against inadmissible mixtures (22:5, 9, 10, 11). The first of these, verse 5, prohibits cross-dressing: “No warrior’s object shall be on a woman, n…
The Women's Bible Commentary - Division of Property
The Women's Bible Commentary - Division of Property
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Division of Property These chapters of Joshua contain the continued efforts to drive out the remaining Canaanites and divide the land among the tribes. These chapters reflect the bureaucratic work of conquest: negotiating, maintaining, allotting, and defining boundaries…
The Women's Bible Commentary - Gang-Rape, Murder, and Dismemberment in Times of Peace
The Women's Bible Commentary - Gang-Rape, Murder, and Dismemberment in Times of Peace
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Gang-Rape, Murder, and Dismemberment in Times of Peace In Judges 19, an unnamed woman, identified as pilegesh, a Hebrew term of unclear social status and often translated as “concubine” but sometimes also as “secondary wife,” runs away from her husband, a Levite…
The Women's Bible Commentary - Genocide and More Rape in Times of War
The Women's Bible Commentary - Genocide and More Rape in Times of War
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Genocide and More Rape in Times of War When the other tribes realize what happened in Gibeah, they gather in Mizpah and ask the Levite: “Tell us, how did this criminal act come about?” (20:3). Identified as “the husband of the woman,” the Levite gives an answer that crucially mod…
The Women's Bible Commentary - Rape, Revenge, and Revolt: The Story of Tamar
The Women's Bible Commentary - Rape, Revenge, and Revolt: The Story of Tamar
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Rape, Revenge, and Revolt: The Story of Tamar The story of the rape of Tamar by her half-brother Amnon and the revenge taken against Amnon by Tamar’s full brother Absalom cannot be read apart from some of the details of the palace and family politics that the narrative takes for …
The Women's Bible Commentary - The Wise Woman of Abel-Maacah
The Women's Bible Commentary - The Wise Woman of Abel-Maacah
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
The Wise Woman of Abel-Maacah The second story about a wise woman (2 Sam. 20) is more instructive. When Joab is besieging the town of Abel of Beth-maacah and attacking it in order to drive out a rebel who had taken refuge there, a wise woman from within the city calls out to him …
The Women's Bible Commentary - Hezekiah and the Siege of Jerusalem