Includes bibliographical references (pages 230-262) and indexes
Introduction : issues of "context" within social science approaches to biblical studies / M. Daniel Carroll R. -- The potential of the negative : approaching the Old Testament through the work of Adorno / John W. Rogerson -- Reading the Bible in the context of methodological pluralism : the undermining of ethnic exclusivism in Genesis / Mark G. Brett -- Gauging the grain in a more nuanced and literary manner : a cautionary tale concerning the contribution of the social sciences to biblical interpretation / Gerald O. West -- A map of ideology for Biblical critics ; Ezra 2 in ideological critical perspective / Jonathan E. Dyck -- Re-examining "popular religion" : issues of definition and sources. Insights from interpretive anthropology ; "For so you love to do" : probing popular religion in the Book of Amos / M. Daniel Carroll R. -- Dialect and register in the Greek of the New Testament : theory ; Register in the Greek of the New Testament : application with reference to Mark's Gospel / Stanley E. Porter
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 tex