The family narratives in the book of Genesis are important in understanding the meaning of the book and are fundamental to the unfolding story of the birth of the Israelite nation. Devora Steinmetz sees kinship in ancient narratives as a symbolic structure representing the ability of the emerging culture to survive despite conflict that threatened society's existence. The family narratives in Genesis reflect a culture's capacity to survive as a united people.

The Literary Currents in Biblical Interpretation series explores current trends within the discipline of biblical...

This comprehensive consideration of Luke-Acts offers lucid introductions to a wide variety of exegetical methods. Emphasizing the use of literary criticism, and relating the methods of Roland Barthes's five literary voices, the author analyzes point of view, levels of reliability, and strategies for reformulating reader response, narrative structure, characterization, textual gaps, the cultural repertoire, and redundant antitheses. This book advocates synthesis as the ultimate aim of reading and interpreting and opens new avenues for understanding this important unit of New Testament...

Intertextuality (the reading of one text in terms of another) is a diverse practice. It is a central and prevalent subject in poststructuralist literary theory. Reading between Texts is the first book to address intertextuality as it relates specifically to interpretation of the Hebrew Bible. The contributors bring together lucid theoretical discussion and sophisticated interpretations from a variety of backgrounds, offering biblical scholars and students a helpful and thorough introduction to the issues and possibilities of intertextuality.

The Literary Currents in Biblical...