{"product_id":"understanding-the-bible-as-a-scripture-in-history-culture-and-religion-isbn-9781119730378","title":"Understanding the Bible as a Scripture in History, Culture, and Religion","description":"\u003cb\u003eUNDERSTANDING THE BIBLE AS A SCRIPTURE IN HISTORY, CULTURE, AND RELIGION\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe Bible is a popular subject of study and research, yet biblical studies gives little attention to the reason for its popularity: its religious role as a scripture. \u003ci\u003eUnderstanding the Bible as a Scripture in History, Culture, and Religion\u003c\/i\u003e integrates the history of the religious interpretation and ritual uses of biblical books into a survey of their rhetoric, composition, and theology in their ancient contexts. Emphasizing insights from comparative studies of different religious scriptures, it combines discussion of the Bible’s origins with its cultural history into a coherent understanding of its past and present function as a scripture.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA prominent expert on biblical rhetoric and the ritualization of books, James W. Watts describes how Jews and Christians ritualize the Bible by interpreting it, by expressing it in recitations, music, art, and film, and by venerating the physical scroll and book. The first two sections of the book are organized around the Torah and the Gospels—which have been the focus of Jewish and Christian ritualization of scriptures from ancient to modern times—and treat the history of other biblical books in relation to these two central blocks of the Hebrew Bible and New Testament. In addition to analyzing the semantic contents of all the Bible’s books as persuasive rhetoric, Watts describes their ritualization in the iconic and expressive dimensions in the centuries since they began to function as a scripture, as well as in their origins in ancient Judaism and Christianity. The third section on the cultural history and scriptural function of modern bibles concludes by discussing their influence today and the controversies they have fueled about history, science, race, and gender. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eInnovative and insightful, \u003ci\u003eUnderstanding the Bible as a Scripture in History, Culture, and Religion\u003c\/i\u003e is a groundbreaking introduction to the study of the Bible as a scripture, and an ideal textbook for courses in biblical studies and comparative scripture studies. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePreface 7\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter 1: Scripture and Ritual 10\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe Three Dimensions of Written Texts 13\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eRitualizing Scriptures in Three Dimensions 15\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eJewish and Christian Scriptures 18\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eManuscripts and Printing 21\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eSection 1: The Torah as a Scripture 24\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter 2: Torah and Pentateuch 25\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe Pentateuch in Three Dimensions 26\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eScripturalizing Torah in the Time of Ezra 29\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter 3: The Torah’s Rhetoric 34\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe Torah's Rhetoric of Origins 35\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAuthority, Sanctions, Readers 48\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe Rhetoric of the Deuteronomistic History 62\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter 4: The Torah's Iconic Dimension 70\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe Pentateuch's Iconic Dimension After Ezra 72\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe Pentateuch's Iconic Dimension Before Ezra 92\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAncient Lost-and-Found Books 100\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter 5: The Torah's Expressive Dimension 105\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eReading Torah after Ezra 109\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSongs and Poetry in the Hebrew Bible 123\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eExpressing the Covenant: the Prophets 128\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eExpressing Torah Before Ezra 130\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter 6: The Torah's Semantic Dimension 138\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eInterpreting Life: Wisdom Literature 138\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe Tanak as a Scripture 141\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ePromises, Threats, and Apocalyptic 146\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eScripturalizing Prophets, Psalms and Wisdom 153\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eInterpreting Scripture: Scribes and Rabbis 160\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIdentifying with Israel 171\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe Pentateuch Before Ezra 180\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eSection 2: The Gospels as a Scripture 192\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter 7: Rhetoric about Jesus 192\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eJesus in the Gospels\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ePaul and his Letters\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter 8: The Rhetoric of the Gospels\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe Gospel According to Mark\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe Gospel According to Matthew\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe Gospel According to Luke\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe Gospel According to John\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter 9: The Gospels’ Iconic Dimension\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIrenaeus and the Four Gospels\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIconic Gospels and Bibles\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter 10: The Gospels' Expressive Dimension\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eChristian Lectionaries\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSinging Christian Scriptures\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe Languages of Christian Scriptures\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eExpert Translators\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ePortraying Jesus in Visual Art and Media\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter 11: The Gospels' Semantic Dimension\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eInterpreting Jesus’s Death\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eOther Ancient Gospels\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWomen in the Gospels and Ancient Cultures\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe Gospel before the Gospels\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWriting Paul's Letters\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe Search for the Historical Jesus\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eSection 3: The Bible as a Scripture 248\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter 12: The Bible's Iconic Dimension 248\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ePublishing Tanaks and Bibles 248\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eRelic Books 255\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eDecalogue Tablets 261\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter 13: The Bible's Expressive Dimension 264\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe Bible in Art 264\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIllustrated Bibles 267\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eBible Maps 270\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe Bible in Theater and Film 272\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter 14: The Bible’s Semantic Dimension 277\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eBiblical Law and Authority 277\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eModern Controversies about Genesis 288\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChapter 15: The History of the Bible as a Scripture 303\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eScripturalization and Canonization 303\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eUnderstanding the Bible as a Scripture 304\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eCited Works and Further Reading 307\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cb\u003eJAMES W. WATTS\u003c\/b\u003e is Professor in the Department of Religion at Syracuse University. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eHow and Why Books Matter\u003c\/i\u003e (2019), \u003ci\u003eUnderstanding the Pentateuch as a Scripture\u003c\/i\u003e (Wiley Blackwell, 2017), \u003ci\u003eLeviticus 1-10\u003c\/i\u003e (2013), and \u003ci\u003eRitual and Rhetoric in Leviticus: From Sacrifice to Scripture\u003c\/i\u003e (2007). He is a co-founder of SCRIPT, The Society for Comparative Research on Iconic and Performative Texts. \u003cp\u003eWatts's 2017 textbook, \u003ci\u003eUnderstanding the Pentateuch as a Scripture\u003c\/i\u003e, is “wide-ranging yet admirably focused,” and also: “Intended as a textbook, this work in fact has a good deal to teach biblical critics. But it will also prove wonderfully useful to undergraduate and seminary students.” Benjamin Sommer in \u003ci\u003eReview of Biblical Literature\u003c\/i\u003e (2019);\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eand: \"“Watts is to be congratulated for this achievement in which his competence is coupled with a deep sense of measure and balance in his judgments.” Jean-Louis Ska in the \u003ci\u003eReview of Biblical Literature\u003c\/i\u003e (2020)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Wiley-Blackwell","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47990433186021,"sku":"NP9781119730378","price":44.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781119730378.jpg?v=1761787809","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/understanding-the-bible-as-a-scripture-in-history-culture-and-religion-isbn-9781119730378","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}