The Hebrew Bible portrays King Manasseh and child sacrifice as the most reprehensible person and the most objectionable practice within the story of 'Israel'. This monograph suggests that historically, neither were as deviant as the Hebrew Bible appears to insist. Through careful historical reconstruction, it is argued that Manasseh was one of Judah's most successful monarchs, and child sacrifice played a central role in ancient Judahite religious practice. The biblical writers, motivated by ideological concerns, have thus deliberately distorted the truth about Manasseh and child sacrifice.

According to Deuteronomy 7, God commands Israel to exterminate the indigenous population of Canaan. In The Command to Exterminate the Canaanites: Deuteronomy 7, Arie Versluis offers an analysis and evaluation of this command. Following an exegesis of the chapter, the historical background, possible motives and the place of the nations of Canaan in the Hebrew Bible are investigated. The theme of religiously inspired violence continues to be a topic of interest. The present volume discusses the consequences of the command to exterminate the Canaanites for the Old Testament view of God and for the question whether the Bible legitimizes violence in the present. Finally, the author shows how he reads this text as a Christian theologian.

In Soundings in Kings, international scholars examin 1 and 2 Kings as an independent work, identifying new methods and models for envisioning the social location of the authors (or redactors) of Kings, the nature of the intended audience or audiences, and the political and rhetorical implications of its construction. Soundings in Kings demonstrates the role of Kings as a cornerstone work within the Hebrew Bible, a crossroads between prophecy, poetry, wisdom, ancestral and national narrative, and ritual instruction.

Violence and Personhood in Ancient Israel and Comparative Contexts is the first book-length work on personhood in ancient Israel. T. M. Lemos reveals widespread intersections between violence and personhood in both this society and the wider region. Relations of domination and subordination were incredibly important to the culture and social organization of ancient Israel, with these relations often determining the boundaries of personhood itself. Personhood was malleable--it could be and was violently erased in many social contexts. This study exposes a violence-personhood-masculinity nexus in which domination allowed those in control to animalize and brutalize the bodies of subordinates. Lemos also argues that in particular social contexts in the contemporary "western" world, this same nexus operates, holding devastating consequences for marginalized social groups.

In Intolerance, Polemics, and Debate in Antiquity politico-cultural, philosophical, and religious forms of critical conversation in the ancient Near Eastern, Biblical, Graeco-Roman, and early-Islamic world are discussed. The contributions enquire into the boundaries between debate, polemics, and intolerance, and address their manifestations in both philosophy and religion.

The essays in this volume were fi rst delivered as papers at the Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung Kolleg "Syro-Palestinian Religions and the Hebrew Bible" that was presented at the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Studies from 4-5 November 2005. The aim of the Kolleg was to bring together prominent German scholars and South African and other African scholars to discuss major issues in the present debate on the interface between Syro-Palestinian religions and the study of the Hebrew Bible. Different perspectives were offered and a variety of methodologies were applied in reading and interpreting the ancient sources, including texts and material sources.Table of contents: (9 contributions)I. Cornelius, From Ebla to StellenboschH. Niehr, Phoenician Cults in Palestine after 586 B.C.E.C. Frevel, Gifts to the Gods? Votives as Communication Markers in Sanctuaries and other Places in the Bronze and Iron Ages in Palestine/IsraelJ.S. du Toit, "These loving fathers": Infanticide and the Politics of MemoryA. Basson, Death as Deliverance in Job 3:11-26E. Blum, Israels Prophetie im altorientalischen Kontext. Anmerkungen zu neueren religionsgeschichtlichen Thesen

This book is a study of the image of the child in the teaching of Jesus and the literature of the New Testament set against the background of the ancient world, the Old Testament and Judaism. It also reflects on the complex relationship between attitudes to children and the imaging of the child. It is suggested that child imagery serves, generally speaking, as a window on tradition, and in religious discourse in particular it offers perspectives on the relationship between believing and belonging. In exploring how child imagery informs the teaching of Jesus, it is argued that his own use of such imagery, whilst not unique, being influenced primarily by the wider imagery of Israel as God's son (child) and servant, is nevertheless distinctive. As a metaphor symbolising primarily a call to change and renewal, it conveys in microcosm the central themes of his message of the kingdom of God. The study goes on to explore the meanings of child imagery in the theologies of the Gospel writers and in other New Testament literary contexts.

This text is divided into six. The first four deal with different manifestations through the centuries of what would be today considered violence and neglect. The fifth and sixth chapters look at the various violent and non-violent strategies used by children as coping mechanisms in what to us seems a very harsh world.