In The Plot-structure of Genesis Todd L. Patterson argues that Genesis is organized by a development from complication to dénouement. The question 'Will the righteous seed survive?' drives the narrative to climax. Gen 4 sets up the complication. Cain and Abel are the seed of the woman who should lead humanity back to God's creation-sanctuary. Because Cain does not master sin, his unrighteousness threatens the survival of the seed. Each narrative tôlĕdôt division develops this theme until dénouement in the Joseph narrative when God ensures the survival of the promised seed. By showing how plot integrates with the widely recognized tôlĕdôt structure, prominent motifs, and enigmatic features of the text, Todd L. Patterson provides a surprisingly novel interpretation of Genesis.

This exploration of Genesis 38 in three interpretive writings shows how new meanings emerge through encounters between the biblical text and later Jewish communities. A literary reading within the canon suggests that the story of Judah and Tamar points to the morally ambiguous origins of David's lineage. Ancient Jewish exegesis, however, challenges this understanding. The Testament of Judah interprets Genesis 38 as the story of a warrior king's tragic downfall. Targum Neofiti develops it to illustrate the concept "sanctification of the (divine) Name". and Genesis Rabbah portrays it as a series of providential events issuing in the royal and messianic lineage. Esther Marie Menn pioneers a fresh approach to the study of biblical interpretation by analyzing the relation between interpretative genre, altered plot structure, and cultural values.

The genesis of evil. The book of Genesis recites the beginnings of the cosmos and its inhabitants. It also reveals the beginning of evil. Before long, evil infests God's good creation. From there, good and evil coexist and drive the plot of Genesis. In Evil in Genesis, Ingrid Faro uncovers how the Bible's first book presents the meaning of evil. Faro conducts a thorough examination of evil on lexical, exegetical, conceptual, and theological levels. This focused analysis allows the Hebrew terminology to be nuanced and permits Genesis' own distinct voice to be heard. Genesis presents evil as the taking of something good and twisting it for one's own purposes rather than enjoying it how God intended. Faro illuminates the perspective of Genesis on a range of themes, including humanity's participation in evil, evil's consequences, and God's responses to evil.

To read Genesis intelligently, we must consider the questions, the literature, and the times in which Genesis was written. In How to Read Genesis Tremper Longman III provides a welcome guide to reading, studying, understanding, and savoring this panorama of beginnings—of both the world and of Israel. And importantly for Christian readers, we gain insight into how Genesis points to Christ and can be read in light of the gospel.

What if everything in the Bible has a larger outer context than is usually accounted for? Missional and biblical theologies suggest that the Bible presents a grand story like a play with multiple acts. The acts typically include creation, fall, redemption, and finally restoration. But what if the whole story itself occurs in another larger setting, occurring within a mission running in the background throughout the whole Bible? How might this aid our research, reading, and application? And why is this being proposed now? This book explores these questions. The larger context is the production of the place of God—a home and homeland wherein God, with his people, dwell on earth. Since place is underdeveloped in biblical studies, the book presents a new method for interpreting place. Then the book lays out the case that a grand mission to produce the place of God becomes the outer context for the whole Bible. Finally, the book defends this proposal with an in-depth placial commentary of the bookends of the Bible, since these bookends provide keys to unlock this message, thereby inviting further study on the rest of the Bible and on the implications for this transformative perspective.

The gospel story begins in Torah. What culminates at Golgotha starts with the rebellion in the garden. The Torah's story can be framed as a question: How will the word of God overcome the human revolution? Torah Story offers a student-friendly introduction to the redemptive narrative housed in the first five books of the Bible. Every main chapter introduces a section of Torah with attention to its basic structure. This is followed by another look at how this portion of Torah connects to the rest of the Christian Bible. The dynamic design includes opportunities in every chapter to make the most of Torah study including: Helps for getting started (focus questions, key terms, outline) An interactive workshop with challenge questions and advanced questions Suggestions for research projects Next steps for further study A refreshingly new approach to the Torah--neither an introduction nor a commentary--Torah Story provides an apprenticeship on the Old Testament's first five books. But it also provides a model of how to read Scripture intertextually with an eye to the New Testament gospels. It leaves no doubt as to the overarching unity of the message and composition of the Pentateuch. The second edition is streamlined and simplified throughout, with updated examples and new sidebars and imagery.

Sidney Greidanus's previous two preaching books -- The Modern Preacher and the Ancient Text andPreaching Christ from the Old Testament -- have received wide acclaim. Preaching Christ from Genesis offers more of Greidanus's solid, practical homiletical fare. Packed with unique features, Preaching Christ from Genesis uses the latest scholarly research to analyze twenty-three Genesis narratives presents the rhetorical structures and other literary features of each narrative discloses the message for Israel (theme) as well as the author's likely purpose (goal) explores various ways of preaching Christ from each narrative offers sermon exposition and commentary in oral style suggests relevant sermon forms, introductions, and applications Including helpful appendixes -- "Ten Steps from Text to Sermon," "An Expository Sermon Model," and three of the author's own Genesis sermons -- this volume will be an invaluable resource for preachers and Bible teachers.

The social and cultural challenges posed by the increasing threat to creation (climate change, destruction of biodiversity, etc.) are the starting point for new philosophical-ethical and theological reflections on the relationship between God, human beings and the world, as presented in this volume. God's creative impulse, which transforms anew, is at work in the actions of human beings and challenges us, in view of the threat to the "house of life" earth, to go new ways that make a common and good life possible. Creation and transformation are interrelated; an ecological theology of creation and practice of sustainability to be developed in the European context is to be embedded in the horizon of a global, liberating theology.

Inconsistency in the Torah

This accessibly written textbook has been a popular introduction to the Pentateuch for over twenty-five years. It identifies the major themes of the first five books of the Bible and offers an overview of their contents. Unlike some academic studies, it focuses on how the books from Genesis to Deuteronomy form a continuous story that provides an important foundation for understanding the whole Bible. This new edition has been substantially updated throughout to reflect the author's refined judgments and to address the future of pentateuchal studies.