Book contents
- The Cambridge Companion to the Bible and Literature
- Cambridge Companions to Religion
- The Cambridge Companion to the Bible and Literature
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Literature in the Ancient Near East and the Bible
- 2 The Primary Narrative (Genesis through 2 Kings)
- 3 Reading Biblical Literature from a Legal and Political Perspective
- 4 Biblical Law and Literature
- 5 Kings, Prophets, and Judges
- 6 Prophetic Literature
- 7 Wisdom Literature
- 8 The Gospels
- 9 Paul’s Letters
- 10 Apocalyptic Literature
- 11 Shakespeare’s King Lear and the Bible
- 12 The Bible and John Milton’s Paradise Lost
- 13 The Bible, Shelley, and English Romanticism
- 14 Herman Melville and the Bible
- 15 The Song of Songs and Two Biblical Retellings
- Index
- Other Titles in the Series
- References
3 - Reading Biblical Literature from a Legal and Political Perspective
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 March 2020
- The Cambridge Companion to the Bible and Literature
- Cambridge Companions to Religion
- The Cambridge Companion to the Bible and Literature
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Literature in the Ancient Near East and the Bible
- 2 The Primary Narrative (Genesis through 2 Kings)
- 3 Reading Biblical Literature from a Legal and Political Perspective
- 4 Biblical Law and Literature
- 5 Kings, Prophets, and Judges
- 6 Prophetic Literature
- 7 Wisdom Literature
- 8 The Gospels
- 9 Paul’s Letters
- 10 Apocalyptic Literature
- 11 Shakespeare’s King Lear and the Bible
- 12 The Bible and John Milton’s Paradise Lost
- 13 The Bible, Shelley, and English Romanticism
- 14 Herman Melville and the Bible
- 15 The Song of Songs and Two Biblical Retellings
- Index
- Other Titles in the Series
- References
Summary
The Bible’s Primary History – the great history of the Israelite people extending from Genesis to Second Kings – contains within it a remarkable set of ideas about government and law. The work touches on nearly all of the great themes of political theory in the modern era – the necessity of government, the problem of anarchy, the moral basis of obligation, the distinguishing features of good and bad leaders, and the analysis of optimal government structure and design. Associated with these political ideas is a remarkably insightful exploration of the basic problems of jurisprudence: the nature of law, the justifications for constitutions, and the articulation of specific legal norms in legislations and principles of customary law.
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- The Cambridge Companion to the Bible and Literature , pp. 48 - 62Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020