This wide-ranging investigation of the priestly cultic texts from Exodus 25 onwards explores the coherence and theology of the priestly writing, utilizing insights from anthropology and recent biblical scholarship. Through a carefully worked out set of laws and institutions, the priestly authors sought to order Israel's life before God in a sustainable and satisfying way. This is a valuable contribution to the growing number of studies concerned to understand and recover this neglected part of the Bible.

This wide-ranging investigation of the priestly cultic texts from Exodus 25 onwards explores the coherence and theology of the priestly writing, utilizing insights from anthropology and recent biblical scholarship. Through a carefully worked out set of laws and institutions, the priestly authors sought to order Israel's life before God in a sustainable and satisfying way. This is a valuable contribution to the growing number of studies concerned to understand and recover this neglected part of the Bible.

Informed, accessible textbook on law collections in the Pentateuch In this book William Morrow surveys four major law collections in Exodus–Deuteronomy and shows how they each enabled the people of Israel to create and sustain a community of faith. Treating biblical law as dynamic systems of thought facilitating ancient Israel's efforts at self-definition, Morrow describes four different social contexts that gave rise to biblical law: (1) Israel at the holy mountain (the Ten Commandments); (2) Israel in the village assembly (Exodus 20:22–23:19); (3) Israel in the courts of the Lord (priestly and holiness rules in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers); and (4) Israel in the city (Deuteronomy). Including forthright discussion of such controversial subjects as slavery, revenge, gender inequality, religious intolerance, and contradictions between bodies of biblical law, Morrow's study will help students and other serious readers make sense out of texts in the Pentateuch that are often seen as obscure.

Stephen Barton has commissioned social scientists, philosophers of religion, feminists, biblical scholars, historians, moral theologians and systematic theologians - international experts from a wide range of theological and related disciplines - to reflect on "holiness."The book is divided into four parts: the idea of holiness, holiness and scripture, holiness and Christian tradition, and holiness and contemporary issues. The contributions are inter-denominational and inter-religious. There is nothing comparable on "holiness" available at present, so this collection fills a significant gap in the literature. Its comprehensive range and its interdisciplinary style will make it an important resource for students and scholars in theology, church history, ethics and religious studies.

An in-depth exploration of holiness in the context of rabbinic Judaism, providing a much-needed comparative view during a key period in the development of the Jewish religion.

Christians cannot ignore the intersection of religion and violence. In our own Scriptures, war texts that appear to approve of genocidal killings and war rape raise hard questions about biblical ethics and the character of God. Have we missed something in our traditional readings? Identifying a spectrum of views on biblical war texts, Webb and Oeste pursue a middle path using a hermeneutic of incremental, redemptive-movement ethics.

Paul's understanding of holiness stems from the holiness of God as revealed in the Old Testament. Using varied terminology, Paul describes the holiness that should characterize the believers as the people of God. God expects moral integrity of his people, because he has provided believers with his Holy Spirit to enable them to live exemplary, Christlike lives in this present world, though polluted, as they prepare for the world to come. Believers, who, like Paul, anticipate the Parousia, must not only desire but also pray that holiness becomes a reality in their lives, cognizant of the fact that holiness is a matter of practice, not merely a status that one attains upon justification. Thus, holiness is an imperative for the people of God.