Old Testament

• Genesis: useful academic articles, as far as possible in chaper order.
• Elsa Tamez, Bible of the Oppressed. This short book is really great. Studies "the experience of oppression as recorded in the Old Testament. This means determining why oppression occurs; who the oppressors are and who the oppressed are; what the characteristic traits of each of these two groups are; what the methods are that the oppressors use; and what forms oppression takes." Did you know that there are nine different terms for oppression in the Old Testament?
• John Burnett, "Objecting to Joshua: Violence in the Bible". Draft of a paper on violence in the Bible. This draft version is provided for discussion; please email me with any comments.
• John Burnett, 'Adam, High Priest and King'. This is another flyer, a follow-up of "What the Bible Really Says". This time I explore the creation stories of Genesis 1–3 in terms of their references to the Temple and Israel's history. If we read those stories as science, we not only do bad theology and bad science, but we completely miss the rich world of meaning that they really do show. Fundamentalism happens because we don't see what the biblical authors themselves thought their story was about. (If you use A4-sized paper, click here.)
• John Burnett, 'What the Bible Really Says' — My attempt to give a very top-level summary of the entire the Bible to my friends in Africa. It's dense, and meant for use in classes or for relaxed meditation more than for quick reading, but it should print on two sides of one A-4 sized sheet of paper, as a handout for inquirers and parishes. The paper started as a response to a challenge on the NT Wright New Testament discussion group to express the message of the Bible in positive terms, rather than beginning with an emphasis on human sin and unworthiness.
• Duane L. Christensen, 'The Mysterious Numbers of the Ages of the Patriarchs' (publication data unknown). An astonishing paper which provides the key to understanding the 'outlandish' numbers of years that the biblical patriarchs lived.
• Richard J. Clifford, 'The Exodus in the Christian Bible: The case for “figural” reading': Theological Studies, 6/1/2002. Many find the Bible diffuse, lacking in unity, and hard to grasp in any systematic way. Yet the Bible itself provides a powerful organizing principle that spans both testaments and unites them— the Exodus, in its dual aspects of liberation and formation. There are three Exodus moments: the thirteenth-century BC foundational event, its sixth-century renewal, and the first-century AD climactic renewal of Israel by Jesus.
• David W. Gooding, The Literary Structure of the Book of Daniel and Its Implications: Tyndale Bulletin 32 (1981) 43-80. The Tyndale Old Testament Lecture, 1980. A very helpful 15-page treatment that brings the message and purpose of Daniel nicely into focus. I don't think the book is as old as he says, but since the discussion is about structure not dating, it's still a great article.
• Richard J. Clifford, "The Unity of the Book of Isaiah and Its Cosmogonic Language": Catholic Biblical Quarterly 55/1 (Jan 1993).