T&T Clark Handbook of Children in the Bible and the Biblical World

by Sharon Betsworth; Julie Faith Parker

Publisher:

Bloomsbury

, 2019

Overview

This ground-breaking volume examines the presentation and role of children in the ancient world, and specifically in ancient Jewish and Christian texts. With carefully commissioned chapters that follow chronological and canonical progression, a sequential reading of this book enables deeper appreciation of how understandings of children change over time.

Divided into four sections, this handbook first offers an overview of key methodological approaches employed in the study of children in the biblical world, and the texts at hand. Three further sections examine crucial texts in which children or discussions of childhood are featured; presented along chronological lines, with sections on the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, the Intertestamental Literature, and the New Testament and Early Christian Apocrypha. Relevant not only to biblical studies but also cross-disciplinary scholars interested in children in antiquity.

Key Features

• Offers a constructive resource for this rapidly-expanding area of scholarship
• Reviews research to date and explains the relationship of child-centered scholarship with the wider area of childhood studies
• Addresses questions of childhood, cultural perception, and self identification

Contents

Introduction

Part One Orientation to the Field

• History of Research on Children in the Bible and the Biblical World: Past Developments, Present State-and Future Potential - Reidar Aasgaard
• Accessing Childhoods: Interdisciplinary Tools at the Intersection of Biblical Studies and Childhood Studies - Laurel W. Koepf Taylor

Part Two Hebrew Bible

• Methodology: Who Is a Child and Where Do We Find Children in the Ancient Near East? - Kristine Henriksen Garroway
• The Logic of Sacrificing Firstborn Children - Heath D. Dewrell
• Children of Diaspora: The Cultural Politics of Identity and Diasporic Childhood in the Book of Esther - Dong Sung Kim
• Children in Proverbs, Proverbial Children - Ericka S. Dunbar and Kenneth N. Ngwa
• God as a Child in the Hebrew Bible? Playing with the Possibilities - Julie Faith Parker

Part Three Intertextual Issues and Intertestamental Texts

• Children and the Memory of Traumatic Violence - Kathleen Gallagher Elkins
• A Road-Trip to Manhood: Tobias's Coming of Age in Tobit 6–12 - Stephen M. Wilson

Part Four New Testament

• Methodology: Who Is a Child and Where Do We Find Children in the Greco-Roman World? - John W. Martens
• Children Playing in the Marketplaces - Sharon Betsworth
• “Theirs is the Kingdom”: Children as Proprietors of the Kingdom of God in Luke 18:15–17 - Amy Lindeman Allen
• The “Lost Boys” (and Girls) of Q's “Neverland” - A. James Murphy
• Children, Parents, and God/Gods in Interreligious Roman Households and the Interpretation of 1 Corinthians 7:14 - Judith M. Gundry
• Fathers and Daughters in 1 Corinthians 7:36–38: The Social Implications of Marriage in EarlyChristian Families - John W. Martens

Part Five Early Christian Apocrypha

• Absence and Presence of Children in the Apocryphal Acts - Anna Rebecca Solevåg
• Traveling with Children: Flight Stories and Pilgrimage Routes in the Apocryphal Infancy Gospels -Tony Burke

Contributors

• Reidar Aasgaard
• Amy Lindeman Allen
• Sharon Betsworth
• Tony Burke
• Heath D. Dewrell
• Ericka S. Dunbar
• Kathleen Gallagher Elkins
• Kristine Henriksen Garroway
• Judith M. Gundry
• Dong Sung Kim
• John W. Martens
• A. James Murphy
• Kenneth N. Ngwa
• Julie Faith Parker
• Anna Rebecca Solev å g
• Laurel W. Koepf Taylor
• Stephen M. Wilso

Praise for the Print Edition

The study of children in the Bible and the biblical world speaks to a range of audiences; children are members of communities past and present, and the Bible continues to shape cultures and the lives of individuals worldwide. This volume provides a wealth of resources, taking both biblical studies and child-focused interdisciplinary research to new levels. Initial chapters provide a valuable orientation to the significance of the study of children and childhood in the biblical world and to recent advances in this rapidly growing area of research. Subsequent contributions display a range of creative methodological approaches, offering new insights into biblical and early Christian texts and the history of childhood in the ancient Near East

—Marcia J. Bunge, Professor of Religion and the Bernhardson Distinguished Chair, Gustavus Adolphus College, USA, and editor of The Child in the Bible

Building from years of scholarly interactions, conferences, articles, and monographs, this first compendium on child-centered approaches to ancient biblical texts continues to solidify the case for why research on children is critical for biblical studies. From historical insights to the analyses of theology and reception history through varying methodological approaches, this collection further anchors a discipline specific nomenclature for child-centered approaches. The editors gather expertise from archaeology, historical contexts, ancient households, post-colonial studies, linguistics, source criticism, and trauma studies, which each invite a wide conversation on the importance of child-centered topics. As such, the volume is multilayered, bringing seemingly disparate methodologies and varying fields of study together. This first compendium is an essential tool for exploring the possibilities of children, their role, function, and their critical importance in the interpretation of ancient texts and their receptions.

—Shawn W. Flynn, Associate Professor of the Hebrew Bible and Academic Dean, University of Alberta, Canada, and author of Children in Ancient Israel: The Hebrew Bible and Mesopotamia in Comparative Perspective

T&T Clark Handbook of Children in the Bible and the Biblical World is a welcome and much-needed resource for investigating childhood in the ancient world and constructions of children in biblical literature. Combining new and seasoned voices in childist studies, this volume issues a compelling invitation to learn from and join in critical conversations on children and childhood in the biblical world.

—Danna Nolan Fewell, John Fletcher Hurst Professor of Hebrew Bible, Drew University, USA, and author of The Children of Israel: Reading the Bible for the Sake of Our Children

Product Details

• Title: T&T Clark Handbook of Children in the Bible and the Biblical World
• Editors: Sharon Betsworth and Julie Faith Parker
• Series: T&T Clark Handbooks
• Publisher: T&T Clark
• Publication Date: 2019
• Pages: 496
• Resource Type: Collected Essays
• Topic: Biblical Studies

About the Editors

Sharon Betsworth is the Associate Professor of New Testament at Oklahoma City University, in Oklahoma City, USA.

Julie Faith Parker is Visiting Assistant Professor in Bible at Andover Newton Theological School, USA.