Discovering Genesis: Content, Interpretation, Reception

by Iain Provan

Overview

Concise, student-friendly introduction to Genesis

Iain Provan here offers readers a compact, up-to-date, and student-friendly introduction to the book of Genesis, focusing on its structure, content, theological concerns, key interpretive debates, and historical reception.

Drawing on a range of methodological approaches (author-, text-, and reader-centered) as complementary rather than mutually exclusive ways of understanding, Discovering Genesis encourages students to dig deeply into the theological and historical questions raised by the text. It provides a critical assessment of key interpreters and interpretive debates, focusing especially on the reception history of the biblical text, a subject of growing interest to students and scholars of the Bible.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802872371
Publisher:	Eerdmans, William B. Publishing Company
Publication date:	05/06/2016
Series:	Discovering Biblical Texts (DBT)
Pages:	234
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Iain Provan is Marshall Sheppard Professor of Biblical Studies at Regent College. His other books include A Biblical History ofIsrael, The NIV Application Commentary volume on Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs, and Seriously Dangerous Religion: What the OldTestament Really Says and Why It Matters.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements viii

Abbreviations ix

1 Introduction 1

2 Strategies for Reading 1: Before the Renaissance 12

3 Strategies for Reading 2: From the Renaissance until the Present 29

4 The World of Genesis: Locating the Text in Its Time and Place 49

5 Creation: Genesis 1.1-2.25 59

6 The Entrance of Evil: Genesis 3.1-24 79

7 From Cain to the Great Flood: Genesis 4.1-6.8 95

8 From Noah to the Tower of Babel: Genesis 6.9-11.26 113

9 Abraham, Sarah and Isaac: Genesis 11.27-25.18 131

10 The Jacob Story: Genesis 25.19-37.1 152

11 The Joseph Story: Genesis 37.2-50.26 170

Bibliography 190

Index of Biblical References 199

Index of Pre-modern Sources 205

Index of Authors 207

Editorial Reviews

Walter Brueggemann
-- Columbia Theological Seminary
"Iain Provan has made a significant contribution to our ongoing interpretation of Genesis. Readers will find this a fresh and suggestive entry into the book of Genesis."

John Walton
-- Wheaton College
"A welcome and masterful presentation of how Genesis has been interpreted through the ages. Be prepared to have your mind stimulated by expanded views of hermeneutics and a close reading of the text."

Peter Enns
-- Eastern University
"Provan offers his readers a sweeping, succinct, accessible, and sometimes iconoclastic assessment of the history of interpretation of Genesis, a section-by-section rehearsal of its major interpretive challenges, and a deeper understanding of Genesis as theology."

Gordon McConville
-- University of Gloucestershire
"Iain Provan's study is set to become an essential text on the great book of Genesis. With enormous scholarly range and communicative skill, he offers an anatomy of biblical interpretation as well as an acute analysis of Genesis itself as both narrative and theology. The result is a remarkable book, which should find a space on all serious students' shelves."

Walter Moberly
-- Durham University
"An accessible contemporary reading of Genesis that interacts with past readings and displays both historical and hermeneutical sophistication."

Daniel Block
-- Wheaton College
"This work brings to life the first book of the Hebrew Bible. Provan's reviews of the treatment of the book's motifs in the history of interpretation, including the arts, are especially helpful."

From the Publisher