Law and Religion: Essays on the Place of the Law in Israel and Early Christianity [Paperback]

Thirteen essays on the relationship between law and religion in Ancient Israel, Second Temple Judaism, and the Pauline and Apostolic Traditions.


The place of the Law and its relationship to religious observance and faith is a contested topic in the study of both the Old and New Testament. In Law and Religion, members of the Erhardt Seminar group provide an insight into the debate, probing key topics and offering new contributions to the subject. Their essays are grouped into three sections, focussing in turn on the Laws place in Israelite religion, in the Jesus tradition, and in Paul and the Apostolic tradition.

Thus, the foundation of the connection between law and religion in ancient Israel is explored, along with the decisive influence of the Deuteronomic reform and the radical new understanding now emerging of the later development in Judaism of the New Testament Period. So, also, the contemporary challenge to the conventional picture of Jesus and the Law is addressed, the attitude of Paul is shown in new light, and post-Pauline developments are examined. Readers will find in this symposium a refreshing breadth of opinion on a debate that spans the gamut of disciplines within Biblical studies.GBAbbreviations
Introduction

Part I. The law in Israelite religion
1. God as judge in Ugaritic and Hebrew thought  Adrian Curtis, Lecturer in Old Testament Studies
2. Law in Old Israel: Laws Concerning Adultery  Arnold A. Anderson, Senior Lecturer in Old Testament Studies
3. A Perpetual Statute Throughout Your Generations  Roger Tomes, Lecturer in Old Testament Studies at Northern College
4. The Temple Scroll: A Law Unto Itself?  George J. Brooke, Lecturer in Intertestamental Literature
5. Jewish Law in the Time of Jesus: Towards a Clarification of the Problem  Philip S. Alexander, Nathan Laski Senior Lecturer in Post- Biblical Jewish Studies

Part II The law in the Jesus tradition
6. All Foods Clean: Thoughts onlÃq