Love And Joy: Law, Language, And Religion In Ancient Israel

Book Summary

This is a book about law and religion. It opens with a study of prophetic intercession as a response to the tensions inherent in monotheism, the struggles between love and justice that seem to take place within Israel's God. The final chapters concern the rich legal vocabulary in which Israelites expressed ideas of freedom and spontaneity. The intervening essays also deal with legal language and concepts in religious contexts. Studying the interplay of figurative language, law, and religious thought, Yochanan Muffs brings us a new understanding of both the Bible and ancient Near Eastern cultures. This first single-volume collection of the pivotal writings of this great religious humanist includes his studies of love and joy as metaphors, the laws of war in ancient Israel, the figurative nature of legal language, the role of the prophet and prophetic speech, and the expressions of belonging which united a culture.

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