The Social Sciences and New Testament Interpretation [Hardcover]

Richard L. Rohrbaugh (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1996

Methods and findings from the social sciences are increasingly important for New Testament scholars. Unfortunately, however, anthropology and related disciplines are still unfamiliar territory for many students of the Bible. This work acquaints readers with this territory by providing introductions and basic bibliographic orientations to the application of social-scientific categories to New Testament research.

"Although it is impossible to know fully how ancient people lived their daily lives, these essays come as close to realizing that goal as we moderns are likely to get. Required reading for anyone who respects Scripture enough to investigate the world in which it was written and to which its writers originally spoke . . . an invaluable resource for pastor, seminarian, and scholar alike."
—William R. Herzog II, Colgate-Rochester Divinity School

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Richard Rohrbaugh is Professor of Religious Studies at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Hendrickson Publishers (November 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565632397
• ISBN-13: 978-1565632394
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,674,960 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent introductory book to Social Science interpretation, December 6, 2000

By 

sylantroadie "www.somewherecold.com" (Fort Worth, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Social Sciences and New Testament Interpretation (Hardcover)

If ancient culture is what interests you, this is one of the primary texts one should begin with. Rohrbaugh has brought together a great collection of articles on honor and shame, kinship realtions, purity regulations, patron and client, among others. This is an important book for all biblical interpreters and people generally interested in ancient culture. Furthermore, the bibliographic information provided on each subject is helpful for further research. I am going to use this book with my students for years to come.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cross-cultural reading of the Bible is not a matter of choice., April 11, 2006

By 

R. Stander "axisofaccess.blogspot.com" (Grand Forks, ND) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Social Sciences and New Testament Interpretation (Hardcover)

I picked this text up at the regional AAR conference this spring and ended up reading 1/3 of the book that day.

"Cross-cultural reading of the Bible is not a matter of choice." (p.1) The authors intent is to help make us aware of our social distance...that we as Western individualists may not have the cross-cultural understanding to appropriately interpret the New Testament.

The authors readily admit that ancient and modern Mediterranean culture are not exact equivilents but many of the ancient characteristics persist still today which makes it a credible study for social science approach to interpretation.

Bruce Malina's essay on "Understanding New Testament Persons" was particularly helpful. I have had a growing displeasure with individualistic focus of so much Biblical interpretation over the past year and found Malina's thoughts refreshing.

As an introductory text into this conversation another very helpful aspect of this book are the references to other texts in the same field. It has been a great resource already.