Social Scientific Models for Interpreting the Bible

Social Scientific Models for Interpreting the Bible
Author: John Pilch
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 448
Release: 2021-10-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004496971

Fourteen members of The Context Group honor Bruce J. Malina and his scholarship in this volume by following his consistent example of developing or using explicit social scientific models to interpret documents from the ancient Mediterranean world. Ordinary features of that cultural world such as gossip, reciprocity, a pervasive military presence, the power of women, and becoming a follower of Jesus stand out with greater clarity in the Bible when a reader understands the cultural matrix in which such social dynamics function. These essays reflect The Context Group’s more than twenty years of collaborative experience in researching the cultural context of the Bible. New insights are built on the solidly established foundations of their earlier cross-cultural studies. Readers will find the individual essays enlightening and challenging. Taken as a whole they form a valuable resource and a stimulating and helpful aid to further study.

Christian Origins and Cultural Anthropology

Christian Origins and Cultural Anthropology
Author: Bruce Malina
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2010-11-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1725229048

Bruce Malina provides the foundation for in-depth biblical interpretation using the tools of cultural analysis. As one of the pioneers in this field of biblical studies, Malina has taken the work of sociologist Mary Douglas, interpreted her "Group/Grid" model of cultural analysis, and applied it admirably to biblical studies and interpretation. He refines a new methodology of scholarly biblical interpretation. Since cultures differ, proper interpretation of one culture by another requires a method to compare and contrast the cultures. He has designed such methods and models using the principles of the Douglas method of sociological study. Malina's charts, models, and illustrations serve as study tools for other biblical scholars. His careful thorough work will enable these scholars to incorporate these new models for study into their own methods of biblical interpretation.

What is Social-scientific Criticism?

What is Social-scientific Criticism?
Author: John Hall Elliott
Publisher: Fortress Press
Total Pages: 196
Release: 1993
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780800626785

This book gives a clearly written, authoritative introduction to social-scientific criticism of the New Testament, including the rise of this method, its practitioners and the focal points of their work, how the method is applied to the interpretation of the biblical text, and the presuppositions and procedures of the method. Four appendices; glossary; two bibliographies.

Healing in the New Testament

Healing in the New Testament
Author: John J. Pilch
Publisher: Fortress Press
Total Pages: 202
Release:
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9781451411324

How the earliest churches understood healing.

A Cultural Handbook to the Bible

A Cultural Handbook to the Bible
Author: John J. Pilch
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2012-09-21
Genre: Bibles
ISBN: 0802867200

Analyzes sixty-three subjects from the Bible from a cross-cultural perspective.

Rethinking Contexts, Rereading Texts

Rethinking Contexts, Rereading Texts
Author: Mark Daniel Carroll R.
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 281
Release: 2000-02-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0567442217

This volume brings together ten essays on the various contexts for texts that social-scientific approaches invoke. These contexts are: the cultural values that inform the writers of texts, the relationship between the text and the reader or community of readers, and the production of texts themselves as social artifacts. In the first, predominantly theoretical, section of the book, John Rogerson applies the perspective of Adorno to the reading of biblical texts; Mark Brett advocates methodological pluralism and deconstructs ethnicity in Genesis; and Gerald West explores the 'graininess' of texts. The second part contains both theory and application: Jonathan Dyck draws a 'map of ideology' for biblical critics and then applies an ideological critical analysis to Ezra 2. M. Daniel Carroll R. reexamines 'popular religion' and uses Amos as a test case; Stanley Porter considers dialect and register in the Greek of the New Testament, then applies it to Mark's Gospel. This is an original as well as wide-ranging exploration of important social-scientific issues and their application to a range of biblical materials.

Pillars in the History of Biblical Interpretation, Volume 2

Pillars in the History of Biblical Interpretation, Volume 2
Author: Stanley E. Porter
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 473
Release: 2016-11-03
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1498292917

This two-volume set is part of a growing body of literature concerned with the history of biblical interpretation. The ample introduction first situates key players in the story of the development of the major strands of biblical interpretation since the Enlightenment, identifying how different theoretical and methodological approaches are related to each other and describing the academic environment in which they emerged and developed. Volume 1 contains fourteen essays on twenty-two interpreters who were principally active before 1980, and volume 2 has nineteen essays on twenty-seven of those who were active primarily after this date. Each chapter provides a brief biography of one or more scholars, as well as a detailed description of their major contributions to the field. This is followed by an (often new) application of the scholar's theory. By focusing on the individual scholars and their work, the book recognizes that interpretive approaches arise out of certain circumstances, and that scholars are influenced by, and have influences upon, both other interpreters and the times in which they live. This set is ideal for any class on the history of biblical interpretation and for those who want a greater understanding of how the current field of biblical studies developed.

Pillars in the History of Biblical Interpretation, Volume 3

Pillars in the History of Biblical Interpretation, Volume 3
Author: Stanley E. Porter
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 510
Release: 2021-06-07
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1725287048

This third volume, like its predecessors, adds to the growing body of literature concerned with the history of biblical interpretation. With eighteen essays on nineteen biblical interpreters, volume 3 expands the scope of scholars, both traditional and modern, covered in this now multivolume series. Each chapter provides a biographical sketch of its respective scholar(s), an overview of their major contributions to the field, explanations of their theoretical and methodological approaches to interpretation, and evaluations and applications of their methods. By focusing on the contexts in which these scholars lived and worked, these essays show what defining features qualify these scholars as “pillars” in the history of biblical interpretation. While identifying a scholar as a “pillar” is somewhat subjective, this volume defines a pillar as one who has made a distinctive contribution by using and exemplifying a clear method that has pushed the discipline forward, at least within a given context and time period. This volume is ideal for any class on the history of biblical interpretation and for those who want a greater understanding of how the field of biblical studies has developed and how certain interpreters have played a formative role in that development.

Urgency and Severity: Pauline Rationale for Expulsion in 1 Corinthians 5:1-13

Urgency and Severity: Pauline Rationale for Expulsion in 1 Corinthians 5:1-13
Author: David E. Bosworth
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 326
Release: 2024-05-21
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004693130

When Paul heard that a Christ-follower in Corinth was in an incestuous relationship with his stepmother, the apostle insisted the man be removed immediately from the congregation. This dramatic response is surprising, as Paul responds to other serious situations with much less vehemence. Why did Paul react to the immoral man with such urgency and severity? Using socio-cultural tools, this study explains the importance of group identity and witness for Paul’s ecclesiology. The argument lays a foundation for contemporary readers to appraise contexts where an expulsive response to sin might be appropriate.