Description

This volume's essays discuss how Genesis figures in unity appeals from widely varying times from the Ancient Near East to the twenty-first century and in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

In doing so, the contributors particularly attend to these appeals' hermeneutical dimensions, to why and how these appeals connect themselves to the text and work to foster unity as they do. Each essay offers its own important portrait of the hermeneutics of unity, and viewed together, these essays' individual portraits form a larger mosaic. Operation of the hermeneutics of unity in different times and contexts inevitably manifests itself differently. On the other hand, the interpreters that this volume addresses have a common pool of material from which they work (Genesis 1:1–11:9), and they work that material toward a common goal (unity). Thus, for all the differences in these interpreters' own situations-and, indeed, because of these differences-they illumine what they share in common as readers who attempting to foster unity in dialog with Genesis and the traditions surrounding it.

Table of Contents

Introduction: “Hermeneutics, Unity, and Genesis 1:1–11:9”, J. David Stark
Part 1: Reading for Unity in Genesis 1:1–3:24
Chapter One: “The Battle for the Bible: Evangelical Biblical Interpretation, Inerrancy, and Genesis 1–2”, Todd M. Brenneman
Chapter Two: “Irenaeus on Genesis 1–2: The Unity of First and Last Things in the Economic Work of God”, Joseph K. Gordon
Chapter Three: “Imag(in)ing Adam and the Messiah in a Hermeneutics of Unity”, J. David Stark
Chapter Four: “'Seeing with Eyes Asquint': A Re-visionist Reading of Augustine's Teaching on Original Sin”, Alden Bass
Chapter Five: “The Seven Faces of Eve: Reflections on Recent Reception Critical Analysis of the Character of Eve”, Kevin Youngblood
Part 2: Reading for Unity in Genesis 4:1–11:9
Chapter Six: “Genesis 4 in 1 John 3: Cain and Abel as Models of Christian Division and Unity”, Melvin L. Otey
Chapter Seven: “Inundation and Prophetic Inspiration: Noah's Flood in the Prophetic Literature”, Kipp Swinney
Chapter Eight: “United We Fall: The Unifying Power of the Curse of Ham”, Wes Crawford
Chapter Nine: “Unity and Exclusivity: The Table of Nations and Fictive Kinships in the Hellenistic World”, Jared Saltz
Chapter Ten: “'In the Guise of Wrath Did He Give the Riches of His Beneficence': The Drama of Divine Pedagogy in Early Syrian Interpretations of Genesis 11:1–9”, Jeff W. Childers
Chapter Eleven: “Resisting Babel: A Polemic against Imperial Power”, John Mark Hicks
About the Contributors

Product details

Published Dec 11 2025
Format Hardback
Edition 1st
Extent 288
ISBN 9781666962987
Imprint T&T Clark
Illustrations 3 bw illus
Dimensions 229 x 152 mm
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Anthology Editor

Daniel B. Oden

Daniel B. Oden is professor of Hebrew Bible in the…

Anthology Editor

J. David Stark

J. David Stark is professor of Biblical Studies an…

Contributor

Alden Bass

Contributor

Wes Crawford

Contributor

John Mark Hicks

Contributor

Daniel B. Oden

Daniel B. Oden is professor of Hebrew Bible in the…

Contributor

Melvin L. Otey

Contributor

Jared Saltz

Contributor

J. David Stark

J. David Stark is eCampus Director at Faulkner Uni…

Contributor

Kipp Swinney

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