This brief volume brings together three of Norman Gottwald's classic essays that address issues of social class and ideology as they pertain to the interpretation of the biblical documents. The small format makes them useful for classroom and small-group use, providing definitions, theoretical concerns, and applications to specific texts. The author has been a leader in the social-scientific analysis of the Bible for almost fifty years. Contents Social Class as an Analytic and Hermeneutical Category in Biblical Studies Social Class and Ideology in Isaiah 40-55: An Eagletonian Reading Ideology and Ideologies in Israelite Prophecy

This brief volume brings together three of Norman Gottwald’s classic essays that address issues of social class and ideology as they pertain to the interpretation of the biblical documents. The small format makes them useful for classroom and small-group use, providing definitions, theoretical concerns, and applications to specific texts. The author has been a leader in the social-scientific analysis of the Bible for almost fifty years. Contents Social Class as an Analytic and Hermeneutical Category in Biblical Studies Social Class and Ideology in Isaiah 40–55: An Eagletonian Reading Ideology and Ideologies in Israelite Prophecy

CONTENTS PART 1: METHODS, MODELS, AND COMPARATIVE STUDIES What Does Sociology Have to Do with The Bible? The Bible and Economic Ethics Social Class as an Analytic and Hermeneutical Category in Biblical Studies Social Class and Ideology in Isaiah 40-55: An Eagletonian Reading Ideology and Ideologies in Israelite Prophecy Periodization, Interactive Power Networks, and Teleogical Constraints in Hebrew Bible Studies Icelandic and Israelite Beginnings: A Comparative Probe Structure and Origin of the Early Israelite and Iroquois "Confederacies" PART 2: TRIBUTES TO COLLEAGUES James Muilenburg: Superlative Teacher David Jobling: Fearless Frontiersman Marvin L. Chaney, Master Social Critic Jack Elliott: Breacher of Boundaries

A fully revised and updated analysis of the texts on social justice in the Old Testament; highlighting their importance in shaping a Christian theological approach to injustice.

PART 1: EXAMINING TEXTS 1. Social Drama in the Psalms of Individual Lament 2. Kingship in the Book of Psalms 3. Abusing the Bible: The Case of Deuteronomy 15 4. Do not Fear What They Fear: A Post-9/11 Reflection(Isaiah 8:11-15) 5. The Expropriated and the Expropriators in Nehemiah 5 6. How Do Extrabiblical Sociopolitical Data Illuminate Obscure Biblical Texts? The Case of Ecclesiastes 5:8-9 [Heb. 5:7-8] 7. On the Alleged Wisdom of Kings: An Application of Adorno's Immanent Criticism to Ecclesiastes PART 2: ENGAGING PRACTICES 8. Framing Biblical Interpretation at New York Theological Seminary: A Student Self Inventory on Biblical Hermeneutics 9. Theological Education as a Theory-Praxis Loop: Situating the Book of Joshua in a Cultural, Social Ethical, and Theological Matrix 10. The Bible as Nurturer of Passive and Active Worldviews 11. Biblical Scholarship in Public Discourse 12. On Framing Elections: The Stories We Tell Ourselves 13. Values and Economic Structures

Biblical scholars frequently attempt to contextualize the Priestly ritual corpus by comparing it to other ancient Near Eastern ritual traditions. This comparative approach tends to detect a hidden polemic at work in the Priestly Source (P) which was meant to highlight its distinctly monotheistic outlook. Isabel Cranz reframes current understandings of P by comparing Priestly rituals of atonement to their Assyro-Babylonian counterparts. In this way she shows how the Priestly ritual corpus is highly specialized and concerns itself primarily with sanctuary maintenance. Viewing P in this new light in turn helps to demonstrate that the authors of P were not interested in discrediting foreign rituals or pushing a monotheistic agenda. Instead P primarily aimed to confirm the Aaronide priests as the only legitimate priestly group fit for service at the altar. Subsequently if a polemical agenda is present in P it can be shown to be directed against rivals and critics of the Aaronide priesthood, not other rituals of the ancient Near East.

Texts about war pervade the Hebrew Bible, raising challenging questions in religious and political ethics. The war passages that readers find most disquieting are those in which God demands the total annihilation of the enemy without regard to gender, age, or military status. The ideology of the "ban," however, is only one among a range of attitudes towards war preserved in the ancient Israelite literary tradition. Applying insights from anthropology, comparative literature, and feminist studies, Niditch considers a wide spectrum of war ideologies in the Hebrew Bible, seeking in each case to discover why and how these views might have made sense to biblical writers, who themselves can be seen to wrestle with the ethics of violence. The study of war thus also illuminates the social and cultural history of Israel, as war texts are found to map the world views of biblical writers from various periods and settings. Reviewing ways in which modern scholars have interpreted this controversial material, Niditch sheds further light on the normative assumptions that shape our understanding of ancient Israel. More widely, this work explores how human beings attempt to justify killing and violence while concentrating on the tones, textures, meanings, and messages of a particular corpus in the Hebrew Scriptures.