Dangerous Worlds

Brief Description

The narrative books of the Bible are dominated by the themes of violence and death. In his newly released work, author and biblical scholar Mark McEntire examines the messy stories of life and death found in the Bible. From gentle death at a good, old age to starvation to brutal murder, death appears in its many forms in these biblical worlds. Through the stories, we are invited to move back and forth between our own stories and those of the Bible, as McEntire writes, “so that we might live and die faithfully in the dangerous world they form together.” As we live and die in our own dangerous world, the stories of life and death we encounter in the Bible offer us resources for understanding the most difficult aspect of our existence.

About the Author

Mark McEntire is Associate Professor of Religion at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. He is also the author of The Blood of Abel: The Violent Plot in the Hebrew Bible and The Function of Sacrifice in Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah. He is also co-author (with John H. Tullock) of The Old Testament Story.

Table of Contents

Reading in Dangerous Places
– Introduction
– Understanding Biblical Narrative Worlds
– Violence and Death in the Bible
– Organization of the Book

Genesis: Striving with God
– The Narrative Shape of Genesis
– To Dust You Shall Return
– I Shall Not Look on the Death of the Child
– Reflections

Judges: Who Shall Go Up?
– The Narrative Shape of Judges
– Perish All Your Enemies O Lord
– For They Have Done a Wicked and Disgraceful Thing in Israel
– Reflections

Samuel: Like the Other Nations
– The Narrative Shape of Samuel
– 1 Samuel: The Bows of the Mighty Are Broken
– 2 Samuel: From the Blood of the Slain
– Reflections

Ezra-Nehemiah: All Who Trembled
– The Narrative Shape of Ezra-Nehemiah
– Ezra: Because They Were in Dread
– Nehemiah: In Great Evil and Shame
– Reflections

Matthew: Not Peace but a Sword
– The Narrative Shape of Matthew
– Rachel Weeping for Her Children
– His Blood Be on Us
– Reflections

The Acts of the Apostles: Those Who Were Scattered
– The Narrative Shape of Acts
– After His Suffering
– For the Sake of the Hope of Israel
– Reflections

Living and Dying

Bibliography