List of Boxes
List of Maps
Preface
Introduction
Why Study the Bible?
Chapter 1. What Is the Bible?
What Is the Bible?
Putting the Bible on the Map
Chapter 2. Why Is the Bible So Hard to Understand?
Challenges of Studying the Bible
Our Literary Approach
Excursus: Our Approaches to the Bible
Our Historical Approach
Chapter 3. The Book of Genesis
The Famous Stories of the Book of Genesis
Chapter 4. Who Wrote the Pentateuch?
The Traditional View
Oral Traditions and Cultural Parallels
Chapter 5. From Egypt to Mount Sinai: Exodus and Leviticus
The Book of Exodus
The Law of Moses (Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers)
Chapter 6. From Mount Sinai to the Promised Land: Numbers and Deuteronomy
The Book of Numbers in a Nutshell
The Book of Deuteronomy
Chapter 7. The Deuteronomistic History: Joshua and Judges
The Deuteronomistic History
The Book of Joshua
The Book of Judges
Chapter 8. The Books of Samuel and Kings
1 and 2 Samuel
1 and 2 Kings
Chapter 9. Early Israelite Prophets: Amos and Isaiah
The Rise of the Prophets
Amos of Tekoa
Isaiah of Jerusalem
Chapter 10. Other Pre-exilic Prophets: Hosea, Micah, Nahum, Zephaniah, Jeremiah, and Habakkuk
Hosea
Micah
Nahum
Zephaniah
Jeremiah
Habakkuk
Chapter 11. The Historians of Exile and Return: Ezra, Nehemiah, and Beyond
Ezra and Nehemiah
The Later History of Judea
Chapter 12. The Exilic and Post-Exilic Prophets
Ezekiel 1
Second Isaiah
Joel
Obadiah
Haggai
Zechariah
Third Isaiah
Malachi
Chapter 13. The Poets of Ancient Israel
The Nature of Hebrew Poetry
The Book of Psalms
The Book of Lamentations
The Song of Songs
Chapter 14. Storytellers in Ancient Israel
Ruth
Esther
Jonah
Daniel 1-6
1 and 2 Chronicles
Chapter 15. The Wisdom Literature
Introduction to the Wisdom Literature
Proverbs
Job
Ecclesiastes
Chapter 16. Jewish Apocalyptic Literature and the Apocrypha
The Rise of Jewish Apocalypticism
Other Jewish Literature of the Period: The Deuterocanonical or Apocryphal Books
Chapter 17. The World of Jesus and His Followers
One Remarkable Life
The Greco-Roman World
Judaism in the Time of Jesus
Putting the New Testament and Early Christianity on the Map
Chapter 18. The Synoptic Problem and the Gospel of Mark
The Storyline of the Synoptic Gospels
The Synoptic Problem
The Gospels as Biographies
The Gospel of Mark
Chapter 19. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke
The Gospel of Matthew
The Gospel of Luke
The Synoptic Gospels and the Problem of History
Chapter 20. The Gospel of John and the Later Gospels
The Gospel of John
The Other Gospels
Chapter 21. The Historical Jesus
Problems with Our Sources
Jesus the Apocalyptic Prophet
Chapter 22. The Life of the Apostle Paul
Problems in the Study of Paul
A Brief Biography of Paul
Chapter 23. The Letters of Paul
1 Thessalonians
1 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
Galatians
Philippians
Philemon
Romans
Chapter 24. The Acts of the Apostles
Paul During and After the New Testament
The Acts of the Apostles
Chapter 25. In the Wake of Paul: The Deutero-Pauline Letters
2 Thessalonians
Colossians
Ephesians
The Pastoral Epistles
Chapter 26. The General Epistles and the Book of Revelation
The Letter to the Hebrews
The Letter of James
1 Peter
2 Peter
1, 2, and 3 John
Jude
The Apocalypse of John
Excursus One: Jews and Christians in the Ancient World
Excursus Two: The Persecution of the Early Christians
Excursus Three: Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity
Chapter 27. Appendix: The Canon and Text of the Bible 3
The Canon of the Hebrew Bible
The Canon of the New Testament
The Text of the Hebrew Bible
The Text of the New Testament
Glossary
Credits
Index