Thinking Biblically

This study discusses six crucial passages from the Old Testament, offering a commentary and new insights into their meaning. Employing a historical-critical method, the text takes account of archaeological, philological and historical research. This method is expanded to include the dynamic tradition of reading Scripture, including developments subsequent to the production of the original literary text. Also taken into account is the relation between the texts and the historical communities who read and interpreted them, together with philosophical speculation. The commentaries highlight the metaphorical structure of the passages and how they have served as catalysts for philosophical thinking from the Greeks to the modern age. Reading the Bible through different but complementary perspectives, the book seeks to reveal the familiar texts as vibrant, philosophically consequential and endlessly absorbing. The passages discussed are: the story of Adam and Eve; the commandment "thou shalt not kill"; "the valley of dry bones" passage from Ezekiel; Psalm 22; the "Song of Songs"; and the naming of God in Exodus 3;14.