Growing Up in Ancient Israel

by Kristine Henriksen Garroway
Growing Up in Ancient Israel
Author: Kristine Henriksen Garroway
Publisher: SBL Press
Total Pages: 357
Release: 2018-11-16
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0884142965
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The first expansive reference examining the texts and material culture related to children in ancient Israel Growing Up in Ancient Israel uses a child-centered methodology to investigate the world of children in ancient Israel. Where sources from ancient Israel are lacking, the book turns to cross-cultural materials from the ancient Near East as well as archaeological, anthropological, and ethnographic sources. Acknowledging that childhood is both biologically determined and culturally constructed, the book explores conception, birth, infancy, dangers in childhood, the growing child, dress, play, and death. To bridge the gap between the ancient world and today’s world, Kristine Henriksen Garroway introduces examples from contemporary society to illustrate how the Hebrew Bible compares with a Western understanding of children and childhood. Features: More than fifty-five illustrations illuminating the world of the ancient Israelite child An extensive investigation of parental reactions to the high rate of infant mortality and the deaths of infants and children An examination of what the gendering and enculturation process involved for an Israelite child

Child Sacrifice in Ancient Israel

by Heath D. Dewrell
Child Sacrifice in Ancient Israel
Author: Heath D. Dewrell
Publisher: Penn State Press
Total Pages: 253
Release: 2017-05-23
Genre: History
ISBN: 1646022017
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Among the many religious acts condemned in the Hebrew Bible, child sacrifice stands out as particularly horrifying. The idea that any group of people would willingly sacrifice their own children to their god(s) is so contrary to modern moral sensibilities that it is difficult to imagine that such a practice could have ever existed. Nonetheless, the existence of biblical condemnation of these rites attests to the fact that some ancient Israelites in fact did sacrifice their children. Indeed, a close reading of the evidence—biblical, archaeological, epigraphic, etc.—indicates that there are at least three different types of Israelite child sacrifice, each with its own history, purpose, and function. In addition to examining the historical reality of Israelite child sacrifice, Dewrell’s study also explores the biblical rhetoric condemning the practice. While nearly every tradition preserved in the Hebrew Bible rejects child sacrifice as abominable to Yahweh, the rhetorical strategies employed by the biblical writers vary to a surprising degree. Thus, even in arguing against the practice of child sacrifice, the biblical writers themselves often disagreed concerning why Yahweh condemned the rites and why they came to exist in the first place.

Children in Ancient Israel

by Shawn W. Flynn
Children in Ancient Israel
Author: Shawn W. Flynn
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 270
Release: 2018-08-29
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0191087025
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Flynn contributes to the emerging field of childhood studies in the Hebrew Bible by isolating stages of a child's life, and through a comparative perspective, studies the place of children in the domestic cult and their relationship to the deity in that cult. The study gathers data relevant to different stages of a child's life from a plethora of Mesopotamian materials (prayers, myths, medical texts, rituals), and uses that data as an interpretive lens for Israelite texts about children at similar stages such as: pre-born children, the birth stage, breast feeding, adoption, slavery, children's death and burial rituals, childhood delinquency. This analysis presses the questions of value and violence, the importance of the domestic cult for expressing the child's value beyond economic value, and how children were valued in cultures with high infant mortality rates. From the earliest stages to the moments when children die, and to the children's responsibilities in the domestic cult later in life, this study demonstrates that a child is uniquely wrapped up in the domestic cult, and in particular, is connected with the deity. The domestic-cultic value of children forms the much broader understanding of children in the ancient world, through which other more problematic representations can be tested. Throughout the study, it becomes apparent that children's value in the domestic cult is an intentional catalyst for the social promotion of YHWHism.

Families in Ancient Israel

by Leo G. Perdue
Families in Ancient Israel
Author: Leo G. Perdue
Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
Total Pages: 314
Release: 1997-01-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780664255671
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Four respected scholars of the Hebrew Bible and early Judaism provide a clear portrait of the family in ancient Israel. Important theological and ethical implications are made for the family today. The Family, Culture, and Religion series offers informed and responsible analyses of the state of the American family from a religious perspective and provides practical assistance for the family's revitalization.

Children in the Ancient Near Eastern Household

by Kristine Henriksen Garroway
Children in the Ancient Near Eastern Household
Author: Kristine Henriksen Garroway
Publisher:
Total Pages: 374
Release: 2014
Genre: Children
ISBN: 9781575062952
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Children were an important part of the ancient Near Eastern household. This idea seems straightforward, but it can be understood in many ways. On a basic level, children are necessary for the perpetuation of a household. On a deeper level, the definitions of child and member of the household are far from categorical. This book begins to explore the multiple definitions of child and the way the child fits within a household. It examines what membership in the household looks like for children and what factors contribute to it. A study addressing what a child is and how a child's gender and social status affect her place in the household is vital to a proper understanding of the ancient Near Eastern household. Despite their importance, children have long been marginalized in discussions of ancient societies. Only recently has this trend begun to change within biblical and ancient Near Eastern scholarship. A recent wave of studies, especially in relation to the Hebrew Bible, has started to address children in their own right. In light of the current state of scholarship on children, the purpose of this book is threefold. First, Garroway continues to fill out the picture of the child in the ancient Near East by compiling child-centric texts and archaeological realia. In analyzing these materials, she surveys the relationship between children and ancient Near Eastern society by examining the extent to which structuring forces in a community, such as social status and gender, contribute to the process of a child's becoming a member of his household and society. Finally, this information provides a base for future research, for example, a cross-cultural study of children in the ancient Near East in Classical Antiquity.

Children in the Bible and the Ancient World

by Shawn W. Flynn
Children in the Bible and the Ancient World
Author: Shawn W. Flynn
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 343
Release: 2019-03-29
Genre: History
ISBN: 1351006088
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The topic of children in the Bible has long been under-represented, but this has recently changed with the development of childhood studies in broader fields, and the work of several dedicated scholars. While many reading methods are employed in this emerging field, comparative work with children in the ancient world has been an important tool to understand the function of children in biblical texts. Children in the Bible and the Ancient World broadly introduces children in the ancient world, and specifically children in the Bible. It brings together an international group of experts who help readers understand how children are constructed in biblical literature across three broad areas: children in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East, children in Christian writings and the Greco-Roman world, and children and materiality. The diverse essays cover topics such as: vows in Ugarit and the Hebrew Bible, obstetric knowledge, infant abandonment, the role of marriage, Greek abandonment texts, ritual entry for children into Christian communities, education, sexual abuse, and the role of archeological figurines in children’s lives. The volume also includes expertise in biological anthropology to study the skeletal remains of ancient children, as well as how ancient texts illuminate Mary’s female maturity. The volume is written in an accessible style suitable for non-specialists, and it is equipped with a helpful resource bibliography that organizes select secondary sources from these essays into meaningful categories for further study. Children in the Bible and the Ancient World is a helpful introduction to any who study children and childhood in the ancient world. In addition, the volume will be of interest to experts who are engaged in historical approaches to biblical studies, while appreciating how the ancient world continues to illuminate select topics in biblical texts.

Oxford Bibliographies

by Ilan Stavans
Oxford Bibliographies
Author: Ilan Stavans
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release:
Genre: Hispanic Americans
ISBN: 9780199913701
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"An emerging field of study that explores the Hispanic minority in the United States, Latino Studies is enriched by an interdisciplinary perspective. Historians, sociologists, anthropologists, political scientists, demographers, linguists, as well as religion, ethnicity, and culture scholars, among others, bring a varied, multifaceted approach to the understanding of a people whose roots are all over the Americas and whose permanent home is north of the Rio Grande. Oxford Bibliographies in Latino Studies offers an authoritative, trustworthy, and up-to-date intellectual map to this ever-changing discipline."--Editorial page.

The Child in the Bible

by Marcia J. Bunge
The Child in the Bible
Author: Marcia J. Bunge
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Total Pages: 494
Release: 2008-09-15
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0802848354
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In this volume nineteen biblical scholars collaborate to provide an informed and focused treatment of biblical perspectives on children and childhood. Looking at the Bible through the "lens" of the child exposes new aspects of biblical texts and themes. Some of the authors focus on selected biblical texts -- Genesis, Proverbs, Mark, and more -- while others examine such biblical themes as training and disciplining, children and the image of God, the metaphor of Israel as a child, and so on. In discussing a vast array of themes and questions, the chapters also invite readers to reconsider the roles that children can or should play in religious communities today. Contributors: Reidar Aasgaard David L. Bartlett William P. Brown Walter Brueggemann Marcia J. Bunge John T. Carroll Terence E. Fretheim Beverly Roberts Gaventa Joel B. Green Judith M. Gundry Jacqueline E. Lapsley Margaret Y. MacDonald Claire R. Mathews McGinnis Esther M. Menn Patrick D. Miller Brent A. Strawn Marianne Meye Thompson W. Sibley Towner Keith J. White

God's Babies

by John McKeown
God's Babies
Author: John McKeown
Publisher: Open Book Publishers
Total Pages: 262
Release: 2014-12-17
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1783740523
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The human population's annual total consumption is not sustainable by one planet. This unprecedented situation calls for a reform of religious cultures that promote a large ideal family size. Many observers assume that Christianity is inevitably part of this problem because it promotes "family values" and statistically, in America and elsewhere, has a higher birthrate than nonreligious people. This book explores diverse ideas about human reproduction in the church past and present. It investigates an extreme fringe of U.S. Protestantism, including the Quiverfull movement, that use Old Testament "fruitful" verses to support natalist ideas explicitly promoting higher fecundity. It also challenges the claim by some natalists that Martin Luther in the 16th century advocated similar ideas. This book argues that natalism is inappropriate as a Christian application of Scripture, especially since rich populations’ total footprints are detrimental to biodiversity and to human welfare. It explores the ancient cultural context of the Bible verses quoted by natalists. Challenging the assumption that religion normally promotes fecundity, the book finds surprising exceptions among early Christians (with a special focus on Saint Augustine) since they advocated spiritual fecundity in preference to biological fecundity. Finally the book uses a hermeneutic lens derived from Genesis 1, and prioritising the modern problem of biodiversity, to provide ecological interpretations of the Bible's "fruitful" verses.