Sleuthing the Bible: Clues That Unlock the Mysteries of the Text
Overview
Why is there crime-scene tape on my Bible? Elementary, my dear reader.
There is an element of detective work to biblical scholarship that entails sniffing out and interpreting clues that often escape the notice of readers. John Kaltner and Steven L. McKenzie introduce the art of sleuthing the Bible, providing the necessary training to hunt for clues and piece them together to understand the larger picture.
Sleuthing the Bible helps answer questions that occur during thoughtful examination of the Bible and provides exercises enabling readers to work through biblical passages on their own. Kaltner and McKenzie analyze two kinds of clues: (1) Smoking Guns—those that are obvious upon any close reading of biblical texts, and (2) Dusting for Prints—those that are more subtle or hidden from nonspecialists because of their unfamiliarity with the languages, culture, and larger content of the Bible.
Written in a jargon-free and accessible style, Sleuthing the Bible is an ideal resource for anyone who wants to dig deeper into the biblical text.
- Explores the mysteries of the Bible
- Develops the skills and know-how required to become a Bible sleuth
- Contains an overview of fifteen of the most common clues Bible detectives look for
Part One: Smoking Guns
- The Clue of the Intrusive Narrator
- The Clue of the Physical Description
- The Clue of the Etiology
- The Clue of the Weird Social Custom
- The Clue of the Inconsistency
- The Clue of the Doublet
- The Clue of the Echo
- The Clue of the Repeated Pattern
- The Clue of the Broken Pattern
Part Two: Dusting For Prints
- The Clue of the Telegraphed Information
- The Clue of the Name
- The Clue of the Anachronism
- The Clue of the Hidden Meaning
- The Clue of the Messy Manuscript
- The Clue of the Perspectival Bias
Top Highlights
“Jesus as a new Moses delivering a new (actually ‘renewed’) law” (Page 139)
“virility. When he does not know her sexually despite her great beauty (v. 4), Adonijah declares himself king” (Page 29)
“It was common in antiquity to remove all the body hair of prisoners of war as a way of shaming them” (Page 218)
“how to evaluate the events that have been described, and the narrator has become an interpreter” (Page 20)
“impelled by a more noble drive—the desire to help.” (Page 14)
Sleuthing the Bible is everything I want for a course textbook! It is engaging and fun to read, but it also offers top-notch biblical scholarship. Kaltner and McKenzie’s writing style is delightful, and the book instills a spirit of curiosity, openness, and play for those new to academic study of the Bible. I highly recommend it!
—Corrine L. Carvalho, University of St. Thomas
Looking for ‘just the evidence,’ master detectives Kaltner and McKenzie walk readers through several crime scenes for telltale signs of the perpetrators of the Bible’s composition. Autopsies on the bodies littered throughout the Bible uncover clues of its literary development and the perspectives of its writers. In all, this pair of Bible gumshoes provides a gripping detective thriller about how scholars figure out the Bible. A great romp; most highly recommended.
—Mark S. Smith, Princeton Theological Seminary
Haven’t got a clue about how to do first-rate, in-depth scriptural study? Or think you already know your way around the Bible? Super detectives and top-notch biblical scholars Kaltner and McKenzie unpack fifteen critical clues meriting careful attention by Bible investigators at all levels. This engaging instruction manual for Forensic Biblical Interpretation (FBI) agents provides a wealth of examples from both Old and New Testaments, presented with remarkable precision and panache. You won’t find on the market today a more insightful or delightful guide to ‘searching the scriptures.
—F. Scott Spencer, author of the Two Horizons New Testament Commentary on Luk
- Title: Sleuthing the Bible: Clues That Unlock the Mysteries of the Text
- Author: John Kaltner and Stephen L. McKenzie
- Publisher: Eerdmans
- Publication Date: 2019
- Pages: 224
- Resource Type: Introduction
- Topic: Biblical Interpretation
John Kaltner is Virginia Ballou McGehee Professor of Muslim-Christian Relations at Rhodes College. Among his publications are Ishmael Instructs Isaac and Introducing the Qur’an.
Steven L. McKenzie is Spence L. Wilson Senior Research Fellow and Professor of Hebrew Bible at Rhodes College. His books include The Hebrew Bible Today and All God’s Children: A Biblical Critique of Racism.