What Is This Babbler Trying to Say?: Essays on Biblical Interpretation

This book is a collection of revised-and-updated essays about the Hebrew Bible written by a North American scholar over a period of several decades. Subdivided into three parts--Torah Prophecy/Apocalyptic and Wisdom--these seventeen essays attempt to model for younger scholars and students what the discipline of biblical interpretation can look like attending carefully to literary historical canonical and comparative intertextual methods of investigation. For more than three decades Michael Moore has shed light on the social worlds behind and the imaginative worlds within and arising from biblical texts. Moving from discrete exegetical problems to the life patterns of communities of faith these essays model an approach to biblical scholarship that says to all come and enjoy this for yourself. We may all be grateful that Moore has invited us to share the fruits of his labors. --Mark Hamilton Onstead Professor of Biblical Studies Graduate School of Theology Abilene Christian University Drawing upon the breadth and depth of his knowledge of ancient Near Eastern studies modern biblical scholarship and numerous methodologies Moore traverses the range of genres within the Bible yielding new understanding. The collection of essays exhibits uniformly philological literary and historical richness. Torrents of insights flow from these essays. --Joel Gereboff Associate Professor of Religious Studies Arizona State University Michael S. Moore (PhD Drew University) teaches courses about the Hebrew Bible to students at Arizona State University Fuller Theological Seminary and the Arizona Research Center for the Ancient Near East (www.arcane-az.com) where he serves as Director. He is the author of The Balaam Traditions: Their Character and Development (Scholars Press 1990) and WealthWatch: A Study of Socioeconomic Conflict in the Bible (Pickwick 2011).