Families in Ancient Israel
Overview
Four respected scholars of the Hebrew Bible and early Judaism provide a clear portrait of the family in ancient Israel. Important theological and ethical implications are made for the family today.
The Family, Culture, and Religion series offers informed and responsible analyses of the state of the American family from a religious perspective and provides practical assistance for the family’s revitalization.
- Examines the origins and development of the Israelite and early Jewish family
- Addresses the purpose, form, roles, and meaning of families
- Provides a summary of the family in ancient Israel and early Judaism
- The Family in Early Israel
- The Family in First Temple Israel
- Marriage Divorce and Family
- The Israelite and Early Jewish Family: Summary and Conclusions
- The Household, Old Testament Theology, and Contemporary Hermeneutics
Despite the common notion that biblical times were idyllic, families in ancient Israel lived under constant hardships, strains, and threats not unlike our own.
—Douglas A. Knight, Professor of Hebrew Bible, Vanderbilt University Divinity School
- Title: Families in Ancient Israel
- Authors: John J. Collins, Joseph Blenkinsopp, Leo G. Perdue, and Carol L. Meyers
- Editors: Don S. Browning and Ian S. Evison
- Series: Family, Religion, and Culture
- Publisher: Westminster John Knox
- Publication Date: 1997
- Pages: 285
- Resource Type: Collected Essays
- Topic: Judaica
John J. Collins is Holmes Professor of Old Testament Criticism and Interpretation at Yale Divinity School in New Haven, Connecticut. His books include Daniel, a commentary in the Hermeneia series, and The Bible after Bable: Historical Criticism in a Postmodern Age. He is co-editor of the three-volume Encyclopedia of Apocalypticism and has participated in the editing of the Dead Sea Scrolls. He has served as president of both the Catholic Biblical Association and the Society of Biblical Literature.
Joseph Blenkinsopp is John A. O’Brien Professor Emeritus of Biblical Studies at the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana. He is the author of Sage, Priest, Prophet: Religious and Intellectual Leadership in Ancient Israel.
Leo G. Perdue is Professor of Hebrew Bible at Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth, Texas. He is an international authority on wisdom literature and the author of numerous books, including Proverbs in the esteemed Interpretation commentary series.
Carol L. Meyers holds the Mary Grace Wilson Professorship in Religion at Duke Univeristy, Durhum, North Carolina. A specialist in biblical studies and archaeology, she is a prominent scholar in the study of women in the biblical world and has been a staff member or Co-Director of many archaeological field projects. She has also been a consultant for many media productions focusing on the Bible, including DreamWorks’s Prince of Egypt, Nova’s The Bible’s Buried Secrets, and many segments of the A&E Mysteries of the Bible and Biography series. She was recently appointed to the Advisory Board of Bible Park, USA. She has authored or co-authored ten books and has edited or co-edited five others. Her book, Discovering Eve is a landmark study of women in ancient Israel; and her reference book, Women in Scripture, is the most comprehensive study ever made of women in Jewish and Christian scriptures. Her most recent books are Exodus, for a Cambridge University Press commentary series, and Households and Holiness: The Religious Culture of Israelite Women. Meyers co-directs Duke’s Summer in Israel program, is currently serving as Director of Undergraduate Studies in Religion and Convener of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament graduate program, and is an affiliated faculty member of Duke’s Women’s Studies Program.