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Index
Preface
Abbreviations
i. Historical Criticism and Its Postmodern Critics
2. The Crisis in Historiography
3. Exodus and Liberation in Postcolonial Perspective
4. The Impact of Feminist and Gender Studies
5. Israelite Religion: The Return of the Goddess
6. Is a Postmodern Biblical Theology Possible?
Bibliography
Index of Names
Index of Ancient Literature
This intriguing little story has received more than its share of scholarly attention.'
In recent years, this story has received new attention, even attracting notice from one of the icons
The distinctive postmodern take on the story, however, reverses the traditional evaluation. The en
This reading acquires credibility from the historical relation between Babylon and Israel and the
even if there is nothing explicit about oppression in the biblical text .5
fusion of languages has come to symbolize the celebration of diversity. In the context of biblical s
I should say at the outset that by training and temperament I am on the modern side of the modern/po
"Historical Criticism" is the label usually applied to what might be termed "mainline" biblical scho
In fact, it is not unusual to narrate the history of biblical scholarship as a succession of metho
Historical criticism of the Bible developed primarily as an enterprise of Protestant Christianity, w
historiography in the 19th.11
The principles that guided this criticism were articulated most insightfully by the German theolog
These principles included the autonomy of the historian. This principle is associated with the Enlig
As Harvey has well described it, autonomy represented a change in what may be called the morality
A second principle of historical criticism is the principle of analogy.15
A third principle of historical criticism is the principle of criticism.16
Scholarship is an ongoing process; its results are always provisional and never final. This is per
The original impact of historical criticism in the predominantly Christian contexts of Europe and No
The impact was felt mainly in connection with the historical reliability of the biblical text. For
heresy trials.20
In the United States, the Fundamentalist movement was in large part a reaction against historical
In the Roman Catholic Church, the Modernist movement embraced historical criticism but was condemn
Nonetheless, by the early loth century the point had been made, at least in the socalled mainline
Conversely, biblical scholars often sought to reconcile their findings with traditional faith. This
In the arena of history, this tendency can be seen in the enormously influential A History of Isra
course, profound differences between the American biblical theology movement represented by people l
but the common ground was considerable. The Old Testament was viewed from a distinctly Christian p
In the last quarter of the 20th century, however, that framework became increasingly problematic. We
Even the assured results of earlier generations, such as the documentary hypothesis in Pentateucha
New methods and approaches are sprouting up everywhere. The changes in the character of biblical s
In light of this situation, we may well ask what two hundred years of historical criticism has achie
gressive shedding of certitude. This is perhaps most obvious in the area of history, but it is opera
Historical criticism has seldom, if ever, pushed its principles to their logical conclusion. But i
There is another aspect of historical criticism that I should like to emphasize, and that seems to m
passage as a prophecy of Christ, they must at least recognize that this is a secondary meaning, whic
Scholarship is a conversation, in which the participants try to persuade each other by appeal to e
It is precisely this qualified objectivity, however, with its attempt to distance the text from the
It has been said to cover everything "from punk rock to the death of metanarrative."38
Michel Foucault, and some American literary critics such as Stanley Fish.39
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