The right chorale : studies in biblical law and interpretation / Bernard M. Levinson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Levinson, Bernard M. (Bernard Malcolm)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bible. Deuteronomy--Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Bible.

Bible. Old Testament--Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Jewish law--Interpretation and construction.

Jewish law.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (458 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Winona Lake, Ind. : Eisenbrauns, 2011.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This book presents twelve selected investigations of textual composition, interpretation, revision, and transmission. With these studies, Bernard Levinson draws on the literary forebears of biblical law in cuneiform literature and its reinterpretation in the Second Temple period to provide the horizon of ancient Israelite legal exegesis. The volume makes a sustained argument about the nature of textuality in ancient Israel: Israelite scribes were sophisticated readers, authors, and thinkers who were conscious of their place in literary and intellectual history, even as they sought to renew and transform their cultural patrimony in significant ways. Originally published over a decade and a half, the significantly revised and updated studies gathered here explore the connections between law and narrative, show the close connections between Deuteronomy and the Neo-Assyrian loyalty oath tradition, address the literary relationship of Deuteronomy and the Covenant Code, reflect on important questions of methodology, and explore the contributions of the Bible to later Western intellectual history. The volume offers essential reading for an understanding of the Pentateuch and biblical law.

Contents:

""Preface""; ""Table of Contents""; ""List of Figures""; ""Abbreviations""; ""Setting the Agenda: Why Biblical Law Matters""; ""Introduction to Part One""; ""1. The Right Chorale: From the Poetics to the Hermeneutics of the Hebrew Bible""; ""2. The Seductions of the Garden and the Genesis of Hermeneutics as Critique""; ""3. The Sinai Covenant: The Argument of Revelation""; ""4. Deuteronomy�s Conception of Law as an “Ideal Type�: A Missing Chapter in the History of Constitutional Law""; ""The Paradigm of Legal Hermeneutics: Close Studies and Test Cases""; ""Introduction to Part Two""

""5. The “Effected Object� in Contractual Legal Language: The Semantics of “If You Purchase a Hebrew Slave� (Exodus 21:2)""""6. Textual Criticism, Assyriology, and the History of Interpretation: Deuteronomy 13:7a as a Test Case in Method""; ""7. Recovering the Lost Original Meaning of [omitted] (Deuteronomy 13:9)""; ""8. “But You Shall Surely Kill Him!�: The Text-Critical and Neo-Assyrian Evidence for MT Deuteronomy 13:10""; ""Debate And Dialogue: The Question of Method""; ""Introduction to Part Three""

""9. The Case for Revision and Interpolation within the Biblical Legal Corpora""""10. Calum M. Carmichael�s Approach to the Laws of Deuteronomy""; ""11. The Hermeneutics of Tradition in Deuteronomy: A Reply to J. G. McConville""; ""12. Is the Covenant Code an Exilic Composition? A Response to John Van Seters""; ""Acknowledgments""; ""Bibliography""; ""Index of Scripture""; ""Index of Other Ancient Sources""; ""Index of Authors""; ""Index of Key Words and Phrases""; ""Index of Subjects""

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [335]-376) and indexes.

ISBN:

1-57506-645-9

OCLC:

759160118