Reading Joshua as Christian Scripture / / Douglas S. Earl.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Penn State University Press Complete eBook-Package Pre-2014
• VerfasserIn: Earl, Douglas S.,
• Place / Publishing House: University Park, PA : : Penn State University Press, , [2022]; ©2010
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Language: English
• Series: Journal of Theological Interpretation Supplements ; 2
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (296 p.)

The book of Joshua has been received and used as Christian Scripture throughout Christian history. The challenge today, however, is how Christians should appropriately continue to read Joshua as Scripture, not least in the light of well-known historical and ethical difficulties with the narrative. In Reading Joshua as Christian Scripture, Douglas Earl draws on conceptual resources offered by recent anthropological approaches to myth and combines this with a close literary reading of the text, in order to argue that Joshua is misconstrued when it is treated as a historical account of conquest. Instead, in its ancient Israelite context Joshua functioned to reshape accepted norms of community identity, as reflected in the book of Deuteronomy, by forming a new "cultural memory." Furthermore, Earl reconsiders the traditional notion of the "spiritual sense" of Scripture in terms of a rich account of symbol and also makes use of the narrative hermeneutics of Paul Ricoeur. The result is a fresh and unexpected reading of Joshua as Christian Scripture that develops the original function of the narrative in a way that resonates with classic premodern readings and is also challenging to contemporary Christian understandings of identity and faithfulness.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- PREFACE -- ABBREVIATIONS -- SECTION I AN INTRODUCTION TO THE HERMENEUTICS OF READING JOSHUA AS CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURE -- 1: READING JOSHUA AS CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURE? -- 2: LEARNING TO SPEAK OF GOD THROUGH MYTH- APPROACHING JOSHUA AS MYTH -- 3: THE HERMENEUTICS OF READING JOSHUA AS CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURE -- SECTION II MAKING JOSHUA INTELLIGIBLE AS DISCOURSE: STARTING TO READ WELL -- 4: JOSHUA AS PART OF TRADITION(S) -- 5: THE GENRE OF JOSHUA-CODES OF PRODUCTION AND USE OF LITERARY CONVENTIONS -- 6: UNDERSTANDING THE SIGNIFICANCE OF חדם -- SECTION III READING JOSHUA -- 7: THE TEXT OF JOSHUA -- 8: READING JOSHUA -- 9: DRAWING IT ALL TOGETHER: READING JOSHUA AS CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURE TODAY -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- INDEX OF SUBJECTS AND AUTHORS -- INDEX OF SCRIPTURE