Debt-slavery in Israel and the Ancient Near East

Debt-slavery in Israel and the Ancient Near East PDF Author: Gregory Chirichigno
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1850753598
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 417

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Book Description
This original study concerns itself with the manumission laws of Exodus 20, Deuteronomy 15 and Leviticus 25. It begins with the social background to debt slavery and the socioeconomic factors encouraging the rise of debt slavery in Mesopotamia. After a comparative analysis of the Mesopotamian and biblical material Chirichigno examines the social background to debt slavery in Israel, the various slave laws in the Pentateuch (in order to delimit the chattel-slave laws from the debt-slave laws), and the biblical manumission laws themselves.

Debt-slavery in Israel and the Ancient Near East

Debt-slavery in Israel and the Ancient Near East PDF Author: Gregory Chirichigno
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1850753598
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 417

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Book Description
This original study concerns itself with the manumission laws of Exodus 20, Deuteronomy 15 and Leviticus 25. It begins with the social background to debt slavery and the socioeconomic factors encouraging the rise of debt slavery in Mesopotamia. After a comparative analysis of the Mesopotamian and biblical material Chirichigno examines the social background to debt slavery in Israel, the various slave laws in the Pentateuch (in order to delimit the chattel-slave laws from the debt-slave laws), and the biblical manumission laws themselves.

Violence and Personhood in Ancient Israel and Comparative Contexts

Violence and Personhood in Ancient Israel and Comparative Contexts PDF Author: T. M. Lemos
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0191087432
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
Violence and Personhood in Ancient Israel and Comparative Contexts is the first book-length work on personhood in ancient Israel. T. M. Lemos reveals widespread intersections between violence and personhood in both this society and the wider region. Relations of domination and subordination were incredibly important to the culture and social organization of ancient Israel often resulting in these relations becoming determined by the boundaries of personhood itself. Personhood was malleable—it could be and was violently erased in many social contexts. This study exposes a violence-personhood-masculinity nexus in which domination allowed those in control to animalize and brutalize the bodies of subordinates. Lemos argues that in particular social contexts in the contemporary "western" world, this same nexus operates, holding devastating consequences for particular social groups.

Law, Power, and Justice in Ancient Israel

Law, Power, and Justice in Ancient Israel PDF Author: Douglas A. Knight
Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
ISBN: 1611641519
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Book Description
From leading Old Testament scholar Douglas A. Knight comes the latest volume in the Library of Ancient Israel series. Using socio-anthropological theory and archaeological evidence, Knight argues that while the laws in the Hebrew Bible tend to reflect the interests of those in power, the majority of ancient Israelitesâ€"located in villagesâ€"developed their own unwritten customary laws to regulate behavior and resolve legal conflicts in their own communities. This book includes numerous examples from village, city, and cult. Volumes in the Library of Ancient Israel draw on multiple disciplinesâ€"such as archaeology, anthropology, sociology, linguistics, and literary criticismâ€"to illuminate the everyday realities and social subtleties these ancient cultures experienced. This series employs sophisticated methods resulting in original contributions that depict the reality of the people behind the Hebrew Bible and interprets these insights for a wide variety of readers.

Human Rights in Deuteronomy

Human Rights in Deuteronomy PDF Author: Daisy Yulin Tsai
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110385791
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 239

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Book Description
The humanitarian concerns of the biblical slave laws and their rhetorical techniques rarely receive scholarly attention, especially the two slave laws in Deuteronomy. Previous studies that compared the biblical and the ANE laws focused primarily on their similarities and developed theories of direct borrowing. This ignored the fact that legal transplants were common in ancient societies. This study, in contrast, aims to identify similarities and dissimilarities in order to pursue an understanding of the underlying values promoted within these slave laws and the interests they protected. To do so, certain innovative methodologies were applied. The biblical laws examined present two diverse legal concepts that contrast to the ANE concepts: (1) all agents are regarded as persons and should be treated accordingly, and (2) all legal subjects are seen as free, dignified, and self-determining human beings. In addition, the biblical laws often distinguish an offender’s “criminal intent,” by which a criminal’s rights are also considered. Based on these features, the biblical laws are able to articulate YHWH’s humanitarian concerns and the basic concepts of human rights presented in Deuteronomy.

For Your Sake He Became Poor

For Your Sake He Became Poor PDF Author: Georges Massinelli
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110723948
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 432

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Book Description
The Pauline collection for the poor in Jerusalem is the most famous example of financial support for geographically distant groups in early Christianity. Recent assessments of the Pauline collection have focused on patronage to explain the social relations between Jerusalem and the Pauline groups and the strategies adopted by Paul. Through a comparison with the Greco-Roman world and a close reading of the texts, this study challenges the recent approach and proposes that other factors shaped Paul’s stance. Paul was interested in reassuring the Corinthians about the financial outcome of the collection and dispelling doubts that he might take advantage of them. The collection was an action modeled on divine generosity and an exchange within a reciprocal relationship between Christian groups. This study also surveys intergroup support between Christian groups in the first three centuries CE. This practice involved churches from most of the Mediterranean Basin and was known even outside of Christian circles. Transfers of money were organized according to a consistent pattern modeled on local charitable practices. The Pauline collection had similar characteristics and can be seen as part of this widespread economic practice.

Bible Blindspots

Bible Blindspots PDF Author: Jione Havea
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 172527678X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 223

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Book Description
Several of the ways and cultures that the Bible privileges or denounces slip by unnoticed. When those--the privileged and the denounced--are not examined, they fade into and hide in the blind spots of the Bible. This collection of essays engages some of the subjects who face dispersion (physical displacement that sparks ideological bias) and othering (ideologies that manifest in social distancing and political displacement). These include, among others, the builders of Babel, Samaritans, Melchizedek, Jezebel, Judith, Gomer, Ruth, slaves, and mothers. In addition to considering the drive to privilege or denounce, the contributors also attend to subjects ignored because the Bible's blind spots are not examined. These include planet Earth, indigenous Australians, Palestinians, Dalits, minjungs, battered women, sexual-abuse victims, religious minorities, mothering men, gays, and foreigners. This collection encourages interchanges and exchanges between dispersion and othering, and between the Bible and context. It flows in the currents of postcolonial and gendered studies, and closes with a script that stages a biblical character at the intersection of the Bible's blind spots and modern readers' passions and commitments.

Discovering Biblical Equality

Discovering Biblical Equality PDF Author: Ronald W. Pierce
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 0830854800
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 540

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Book Description
The conversation about gender roles in Christian life and the church has evolved, but the topic continues to inspire debate and disagreement. Now in its third edition, this fresh, positive defense of gender equality brings together scholars firmly committed to the authority of Scripture to explore historical, biblical, theological, cultural, and practical aspects of this discussion.

Israel's History and the History of Israel

Israel's History and the History of Israel PDF Author: Mario Liverani
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317488938
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 448

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Book Description
In 'Israel's History and the History of Israel' one of the world's foremost experts on antiquity addresses the birth of Israel and its historic reality. Many stories have been told of the founding of ancient Israel, all rely on the biblical story in its narrative scheme, despite its historic unreliability. Drawing on the literary and archaeological record, this book completely rewrites the history of Israel. The study traces the textual material to the times of its creation, reconstructs the evolution of political and religious ideologies, and firmly inserts the history of Israel into its ancient-oriental context.

Did the Old Testament Endorse Slavery?

Did the Old Testament Endorse Slavery? PDF Author: Joshua Aaron Bowen
Publisher: Digital Hammurabi
ISBN: 1736592092
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 452

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Book Description
The God of the Old Testament commanded and endorsed many practices that we find morally reprehensible today. High on the list was the institution of slavery, which features prominently in several sections of the Hebrew Bible. Fathers could sell their daughters into slavery, masters could beat their slaves, creditors could carry off children for failure to repay a debt, and foreigners could be kept for life, passed down as inherited property. How are we to make sense of all of this from our modern point of view? Atheists and skeptics will often say that the God of the Old Testament was a moral monster for endorsing such atrocities. Christians will often respond that the slavery in the Hebrew Bible wasn’t as bad as we think, and was more like having a job or owning a credit card. While both sides of this debate are sincere in their positions, neither are ultimately correct. Our conclusions must derive from a thorough understanding of both the Old Testament and ancient Near Eastern contexts. This extensively revised and expanded second edition includes a wealth of information and analysis, including three additional chapters and two new appendices. Dr. Bowen thoroughly explores law collections of the ancient Near East, asking why they matter, and how they influence our understanding of slavery in the Old Testament. A comparative analysis of the legal provisions made for the treatment of slaves in the ancient world sheds extensive light on how slavery in the Old Testament should be viewed in relation to other ancient cultures, and an entire chapter explores biblical slavery after the Old Testament, through the New Testament, early church, and down to the antebellum south. This book will: Provide a detailed overview of slavery laws and practices in the Old Testament and the ancient Near East. Examine the significant – and highly controversial – passages in the Hebrew Bible that deal with slavery, including laws about beating your slave, taking foreign chattel slaves, and what to do if a slave runs away from their master. Answer the most challenging questions about slavery in the Old Testament, including, “Could you beat your slave within an inch of their life and get away with it?”, “Were slaves just property that had no human rights?”, and “Did the Old Testament really endorse slavery?” Consider how the biblical treatment of slaves changed from the Old to New Testament, and whether Old Testament slavery was substantially different to slavery in the American antebellum south.

Everyday Law in Biblical Israel

Everyday Law in Biblical Israel PDF Author: Raymond Westbrook
Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
ISBN: 0664234976
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 168

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Book Description
Introduction -- Sources -- Litigation -- Status and family -- Crimes and delicts -- Property and inheritance -- Contracts -- Conclusion