Understanding Old Testament Ethics: Approaches and Explorations

by John Barton

Overview

How can we best understand the different ways in which ethical issues are addressed in the Hebrew Bible? And how might that understanding usefully inform ethical decision making in our own day? These are the two key questions explored by John Barton in Part One of this study, in which he looks at how the Bible's narratives, as well as its collections of laws, oracles and wisdom writings, all contribute to our understanding of the whole. In Part Two, he focuses on the moral vision of the Prophets—especially Amos, Isaiah and Daniel—providing the reader with the fruits of his research in this area over the last few decades. The result is a book that enables students of the Bible, Ethics, and other theological disciplines to firmly grasp the main issues at stake in current scholarly debate about the ethical legacy of the Old Testament.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780664225964
Publisher:	Westminster John Knox Press
Publication date:	03/31/2003
Edition description:	1ST
Pages:	228
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

John Barton is Oriel and Laing Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture at the University of Oxford in England. His publications include The Oxford Bible Commentary, The Original Story, Understanding Old Testament Ethics (WJK), and How the Bible Came to Be (WJK).

Table of Contents

	Preface	vi
	Acknowledgements	viii
	Abbreviations	ix
	Introduction: The Moral Vision of the Old Testament	1
Part 1	Morality and Justice in the Hebrew Bible
1	Understanding Old Testament Ethics	15
2	Natural Law and Poetic Justice in the Old Testament	32
3	The Basis of Ethics in the Hebrew Bible	45
4	Reading for Life: The Use of the Bible in Ethics	55
5	Virtue in the Bible	65
Part 2	Explorations in the Prophets
6	Amos's Oracles against the Nations	77
7	Ethics in Isaiah of Jerusalem	130
8	Ethics in the Isaianic Tradition	145
9	Theological Ethics in Daniel	154
	Conclusion: The Future of Old Testament Ethics	162
	Notes	176
	Bibliography	196
	Index of Biblical Passages	205
	Index of Modern Authors	209