Bibliographical details:
Davies, P. R. (2004). Whose Bible Is It Anyway? 2nd ed. London: T & T Clark International.
Publisher’s information:
Can religious writings make sense to any reader who does not accept the reality of the deities to which they refer? Do Christians understand the Old Testament better than the Jews understand their Bible?
The Bible, argues this book, may belong to the Church or synagogue as an instrument of religious practice, but as an object of academic study it belongs to the world as a whole, and so can function in theory and practice as a secular discourse.
Whose Bible is it Anyway? shows how a genuinely academic discourse – one that distances itself from received canons of interpretation – about biblical writings can:
- expose a subtext of deceit within the Creation narratives;
- re-conceptualize the relationship between Abraham and his deity;
- reveal lament psalms as texts of oppression; and
- identify the death of Daniel’s God.
A new chapter for this edition evaluates how the film Monty Python’s Life of Brian contributes to ‘Life of Jesus’ research.
Here is a challenge to conventional biblical scholarship and a bid to define and establish a genuine academic discipline of biblical studies.
Philip Davies is Professor of Biblical Studies at the University of Sheffield. He is well known for his publications on Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls and is author of the highly acclaimed In Search of Ancient Israel.
Table of contents:
Preface to the Second Edition … 7
Acknowledgments … 8
Abbreviations … 9
Chapter 1
About this Book … 11
Chapter 2
Two Nations, One Womb … 17
Chapter 3
What Is a Bible? … 56
Chapter 4
Who to Believe? … 81
Chapter 5
Male Bonding: A Tale of Two Buddies … 95
Chapter 6
‘Take It to the Lord in Prayer’: The Peasant’s Lament … 114
Chapter 7
Daniel Sees the Death of God … 127
Chapter 8
Life of Brian Research … 142
Bibliography … 156
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You may also be interested to read the review by Dale Patrick, published in the Review of Biblical Literature. |
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