Earth Bible Commentary (2 vols.)

by Marie Turner; Margaret Daly-Denton

Publisher:

Bloomsbury

, 2017–2018

Overview

The Earth Bible Commentary series provides ecological readings of biblical texts, focusing on some of the core issues facing the world today. The writers accentuate issues in the original texts that relate specifically to the care of our global environment, and the interaction between religion and ecology. The volumes read the Bible from the perspective of the Earth and consider how the Earth can be presented as sacred.

Key Features

• Focuses on the ecological and environmental issues presented in Scripture
• Provides development in the field of ecological hermeneutics
• Challenges readers to consider the place of the Earth in God's redemptive story

Product Details

• Title: Earth Bible Commentary (2 vols.)
• Editor: Norman C. Habel
• Series: Earth Bible Commentary
• Publisher: T&T Clark
• Volumes: 2
• Pages: 408
• Resource Type: Commentaries
• Topic: Biblical Studies

John: An Earth Bible Commentary

• Author: Margaret Daly-Denton
• Editor: Norman C. Habel
• Series: Earth Bible Commentary
• Publisher: T&T Clark
• Publication Date: 2018
• Pages: 264

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

This volume in the Earth Bible Commentary Series suggests how John’s Gospel might motivate and resource a Christian response to the ecological crisis. Margaret Daly-Denton shows how aptly Mary Magdalene recognized the risen Jesus as ‘the gardener’ (Jn 20.15), completing his day’s work in the ‘garden’ of the Earth. The Johannine story of Jesus offers his present day followers a paradigm with considerable potential to inspire Earth care, sustainable living and commitment to eco-justice. The Fourth Evangelist believes that Jesus fulfills the Jewish hope for a restoration envisaged as a return of humankind to Eden. Keeping this theme continually in mind, Daly-Denton reads the gospel with sensitivity to the role of the more-than-human world in the narrative and with particular attention to the scriptural underlay that repeatedly brings this world into the foreground. The commentary begins with an exploration of the memories and associations that the garden setting would have evoked for the intended audience. It then follows the gospel’s spiral path that eventually leads to the garden of Mary’s encounter. Each chapter concludes by asking how believers might do God’s work (Jn 6.28) in today’s ecologically damaged world and by offering practical suggestions indicative of the reflection that readers of the commentary will be able to do in their own setting.

It should not be surprising that a Gospel about the one through whom ‘all things came into being’ has profound implications for ecological responsibility, but Daly-Denton is the first major scholar to show this convincingly. Her commentary combines excellent scholarship, deep insight, and prophetic relevance. It is a superb example of what John’s Gospel itself encourages: being ‘led into all the truth’ through a wise blend of rereading scriptures and passionate commitment to Jesus who came for the sake of ‘life in all its fullness.’

—David F. Ford, Selwyn College, University of Cambridge, UK

Margaret Daly-Denton’s early career as a liturgical musician and an internationally published church composer led her to become a biblical scholar. She has recently retired from teaching New Testament at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.

Ecclesiastes: An Earth Bible Commentary

• Author: Marie Turner
• Editor: Norman C. Habel
• Series: Earth Bible Commentary
• Publisher: T&T Clark
• Publication Date: 2018
• Pages: 144

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Qoheleth is one of the most challenging and intriguing of the biblical authors. Above all, he is attentive to life’s realities, neither optimistic about the world nor unappreciative of its goodness and pleasures. In this volume, Turner examines the writings of Qoheleth in the book of Ecclesiastes and provides an ecological reading of the text that gives readers clear insights into how biblical wisdom literature can be used to respond to the challenges facing the environment in the present day, as well as advancing the field of ecological hermeneutics.

In this commentary Turner looks at the concept of Qoheleth’s ‘eternal earth,’ moving through the chapters of Ecclesiastes with an ear attuned to the voice of the Earth as it struggles to be heard above the voice of the economy. Such a voice is not necessarily antagonistic to that of Earth, but neither is it neutral. The ecological reader knows that a prudent economy is necessary for living, but if it is given precedence at the expense of Earth, there will be no future, let alone ‘eternity,’ for Earth. Eco-justice demands that contemporary readers should be mindful of future generations and heed Qoheleth’s counsel to value the fruits of one’s labour without greed, allowing ecological hermeneutics to provide insights into contemporary environmental issues. Illustrating how a biblical framework for environmentally responsible living may be generated, Turner’s analysis is vital both to those studying Qoheleth and to those invested in the Bible and ecology.