Social-scientific ways of knowing, thinking and being are inescapable; in the contemporary world a social-scientific perspective seems less an option than an unavoidable constituent of the public and private imagination. The social sciences play a central role in the self-understandings of contemporary societies and in the lives of their citizens. Biblical studies has been dramatically impacted by these intellectual developments. This book brings together new essays that reflect on the current state of social-scientific and cultural studies approaches in biblical studies, critically review...