1st Edition

Samuel at the Threshold Selected Works of Graeme Auld

By Graeme Auld Copyright 2004
    308 Pages
    by Routledge

    308 Pages
    by Routledge

    In this book, Graeme Auld brings together his work relating to Samuel and the Former Prophets in an invaluable single volume. Including 'Prophets through the Looking Glass', which has been described as marking a paradigm shift in our thinking about the Bible's 'writing prophets', and which led the author to equally novel proposals about biblical narrative, the first part of this volume traces the route through the looking glass to his radical argument in Kings without Privilege (1994). The apparently straightforward, but actually controversial, claim is defended that the main source of the biblical books of Samuel-Kings and of Chronicles was simply the material common to both. The major portion of this volume of collected papers explores some of the fresh perspectives opened for reading the present books of Samuel, the books from Joshua to Kings as a whole, and the Pentateuch.

    Contents: Preview: Introduction; The former prophets. Looking through the glass: Prophets and prophecy in Jeremiah and Kings; Prophets through the looking glass: between writings and Moses; Gideon: hacking at the heart of the Old Testament; Amos and apocalyptic: vision, prophecy, revelation; The making of David and Goliath; Solomon at Gibeon: history glimpsed; Vision of a new future?; Solomon and the Deuteronomists; Prophets shared - but recycled; What was the main source of the Books of Chronicles?; What if the chronicler did use the Deuteronomistic history?. A Further View: Re-reading Samuel (historically): 'Etwas mehr Nichtwissen'; History - interpretation - theology: issues in biblical religion; From king to prophet in Samuel and Kings; Bearing the burden of David's guilt; The Deuteronomists and the former prophets, or what makes the former prophets Deuteronomistic?; The Deuteronomists between history and theology; Samuel and Genesis: some questions of John Van Seters' 'Yahwist'; Tamar between David, Judah and Joseph; Leviticus at the heart of the Pentateuch?; Leviticus: after Exodus and before Numbers; Samuel, Numbers and the Yahwist-question; Counting sheep, sins, and sour grapes: the primacy of the primary history?. Bibliography; Indexes.

    Biography

    Graeme Auld is Professor of Hebrew Bible at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.

    'Distinguished Scottish Hebraist Graeme Auld has, during many years, contributed considerably to further our understanding of biblical prophecy, Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles. In this series of original and nuanced studies on biblical narrative and historiography - not without provocative interpretations - he leads us further into the fascinating world of biblical story telling. Auld takes an important independent stand in the heated maximalist/minimalist debate on the historicity of the Hebrew Bible.' Hans M. Barstad, Professor of Hebrew Bible, University of Oslo, Norway 'Graeme Auld is a scholar that I have known for some time and for whom I have always had a great deal of respect. His works are always provocative and stimulating and I strongly endorse the publication of such a volume.' John van Seters, University of Toronto, Canada 'It is nice to have the essays of one of the keenest and most innovative thinkers in the field of the study of the Hebrew Bible gathered in one handy volume.' Steven McKenzie, University of Memphis, USA ’Graeme Auld has won acclamation as an independent, innovative, stimulating, and provocative Old Testament scholar; the choice of such adjectives is in no way an exaggeration, as is proved by so many of the essays in this volume.’ Journal of Theological Studies