Reading the Old Testament: Method in Biblical

One of the most reliable and helpful books on interpretive method is now available in a new and up-to-date edition. Firmly founded in the best scholarship, John Barton'sReading the Old Testamenthelps students to understand both the established methods of biblical study and the newer emerging trends.

FOREWORD TO THE SECOND EDITION

xi

(2)

FOREWORD

xiii

(2)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

xv

(1)

ABBREVIATIONS

xvi

INTRODUCTION

1

(7)

Methods of Old Testament Study

1

(3)

Method in Old Testament Study

4

(2)

Using This Book

6

(2)

1 `LITERARY COMPETENCE' AND GENRE-RECOGNITION

8

(12)

What are Critical Methods for?

8

(2)

A Literary Approach

10

(1)

`Literary Competence'

11

(5)

`Genre' in Old Testament Study

16

(3)

A Perspective for Understanding Old Testament Methods

19

(1)

2 `LITERARY' CRITICISM

20

(10)

Source Analysis

20

(6)

Whose Conventions?

26

(3)

Form Criticism: Oral Genres

29

(1)

3 FORM CRITICISM

30

(15)

The Idea of Genre in Speech

30

(2)

Sitz in Leben

32

(2)

Form Criticism and the Psalms: Historical Retrospect

34

(4)

Form Criticism and the Psalms: Implications

38

(2)

Form Criticism and Deuteronomy

40

(3)

Redaction Criticism

43

(2)

4 REDACTION CRITICISM

45

(16)

Rediscovering the Redactor

45

(2)

Genealogies

47

(4)

`Trivial' Details Rehabilitated

51

(1)

Trivial Details Exaggerated?

52

(4)

The Disappearing Redactor

56

(2)

Is the Old Testament Unreadable?

58

(3)

5 AN EXAMPLE: ECCLESIASTES

61

(16)

a Sample Study

61

(1)

Literary Criticism

62

(5)

Form Criticism

67

(2)

Redaction Criticism

69

(3)

Beyond Redaction Criticism

72

(5)

6 THE CANONICAL APPROACH

77

(12)

Back to the Canon

77

(2)

Reading the Bible as Scripture: B.S. Childs

79

(2)

Ecclesiastes as Scripture

81

(2)

Psalm 8: Man in the Bible

83

(1)

Is the Canonical Approach Anti-Critical?

84

(2)

The Canonical Approach and Literary Competence

86

(3)

7 CANON AS CONTEXT

89

(15)

Beyond Historical Criticism

89

(2)

Which Canon?

91

(1)

Ecclesiastes: A Case in Point

92

(1)

Criteria for Canonicity

93

(2)

Pre-Critical or Post-Critical?

95

(5)

A Literary Interpretation of the Cannonical Method

100

(1)

From Canon Criticism to Structuralism

101

(3)

8 STRUCTURALIST CRITICISM

104

(17)

The Road to Structuralism

104

(2)

Structuralism and Semiotics

106

(3)

Structuralism and Language

109

(3)

Structuralism and Systems

112

(1)

Structuralism and Literature

113

(1)

The Morphology of the Folktale

114

(2)

Jacob, the Angel, and Roland Barthes

116

(5)

9 BIBLICAL STRUCTURALISM

121

(19)

Convention and Constraint

121

(1)

Genesis 1--2

122

(5)

Naturalization and `Holistic' Reading

127

(2)

Ecclesiastes for Structuralists

129

(4)

Structuralist Dogma and Structuralist Style

133

(3)

The Bible and `Secular' Criticism

136

(2)

Biblical Structuralism: Select Bibliography

138

(2)

10 THE `NEW CRITICISM'

140

(18)

The Bible and Literacy Critism

140

(1)

Canon Criticism and the `New Critics'

141

(4)

Texts as Artefacts

145

(2)

The `Intentional Fallacy'

147

(4)

Canonical Meaning

151

(2)

New Criticism and Canon Criticism

153

(1)

Secular Literary Criticism and the Historical-Critical Method

154

(4)

11 `THE TEXT ITSELF'

158

(22)

Difficulties in New Criticism

158

(1)

Texts as Artefacts

159

(8)

Intentionalism

167

(3)

Canon

170

(8)

New Criticism and the Bible

178

(2)

12 THE TEXT AND THE READER

180

(18)

New Critics and Structuralists

180

(5)

Objections to Structuralism

185

(5)

The Uses of Structuralism

190

(4)

`Poetry Without a Poet'

194

(4)

13 THE READER IN THE TEXT

198

(22)

Writers and Readers

198

(1)

Rhetoric in the Bible

199

(3)

Inclusio and Chaismus

202

(2)

Biblical Poetics

204

(1)

Type-scenes and Doublets

205

(4)

The Reader in the Text

209

(3)

Reader-response Criticism and Reception-aesthetics

212

(2)

Responding to Ecclesiastes

214

(3)

Criticism and Theory

217

(3)

14 THEORY AND TEXTUALITY

220

(17)

After Structuralism

220

(3)

Roland Barthes' Second Encounter with the Angel

223

(1)

Writing: A Deconstruction Site

224

(2)

Ecclesiastes Deconstructed

226

(2)

Grafts

228

(3)

Reading the Bible through the year

231

(2)

Postmodernism

233

(4)

CONCLUSION

237

(10)

A Comparison of Methods

237

(6)

Old Testament Study and Literary Criticism

243

(1)

The Pursuit of Method

243

(4)

NOTES

247

(26)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

273

(13)

INDEX OF MODERN AUTHORS

286

(4)

INDEX OF SUBJECTS

290

(2)

INDEX OF BIBLICAL REFERENCES

292

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Reading the Old Testament: Method in Biblical Study

Summary

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials