T&T Clark Handbook of Children in the Bible and the Biblical World: (T&T Clark Handbooks)

This ground-breaking volume examines the presentation and role of children in the ancient world, and specifically in ancient Jewish and Christian texts. With carefully commissioned chapters that follow chronological and canonical progression, a sequential reading of this book enables deeper appreciation of how understandings of children change over time. Divided into four sections, this handbook first offers an overview of key methodological approaches employed in the study of children in the biblical world, and the texts at hand. Three further sections examine crucial texts in which children or discussions of childhood are featured; presented along chronological lines, with sections on the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, the Intertestamental Literature, and the New Testament and Early Christian Apocrypha. Relevant not only to biblical studies but also cross-disciplinary scholars interested in children in antiquity.

Table of Contents:
List of Tables and Illustrations List of Contributors Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations 1. Introduction - Sharon Betsworth, Oklahoma City University, USA and Julie Faith Parker, Trinity Lutheran Seminary, USA Part One Orientation to the Field 2. History of Research on Children in the Bible and the Biblical World: Past Developments, Present State-and Future Potential - Reidar Aasgaard 3. Accessing Childhoods: Interdisciplinary Tools at the Intersection of Biblical Studies and Childhood Studies - Laurel W. Koepf Taylor Part Two Hebrew Bible 4. Methodology: Who Is a Child and Where Do We Find Children in the Ancient Near East? - Kristine Henriksen Garroway 5. The Logic of Sacrificing Firstborn Children - Heath D. Dewrell 6. Children of Diaspora: The Cultural Politics of Identity and Diasporic Childhood in the Book of Esther - Dong Sung Kim 7. Children in Proverbs, Proverbial Children - Ericka S. Dunbar and Kenneth N. Ngwa 8. God as a Child in the Hebrew Bible? Playing with the Possibilities - Julie Faith Parker 155 Part Three Intertextual Issues and Intertestamental Texts 9. Children and the Memory of Traumatic Violence - Kathleen Gallagher Elkins 10. A Road-Trip to Manhood: Tobias's Coming of Age in Tobit 6–12 - Stephen M. Wilson Part Four New Testament 11. Methodology: Who Is a Child and Where Do We Find Children in the Greco-Roman World? - John W. Martens 12. Children Playing in the Marketplaces - Sharon Betsworth 13. “Theirs is the Kingdom”: Children as Proprietors of the Kingdom of God in Luke 18:15–17 - Amy Lindeman Allen 14. The “Lost Boys” (and Girls) of Q's “Neverland” - A. James Murphy 15. Children, Parents, and God/Gods in Interreligious Roman Households and the Interpretation of 1 Corinthians 7:14 - Judith M. Gundry 16. Fathers and Daughters in 1 Corinthians 7:36–38: The Social Implications of Marriage in EarlyChristian Families - John W. Martens Part Five Early Christian Apocrypha 17. Absence and Presence of Children in the Apocryphal Acts - Anna Rebecca Solevåg 18. Traveling with Children: Flight Stories and Pilgrimage Routes in the Apocryphal Infancy Gospels -Tony Burke Bibliography Scripture Index Ancient Source Index Subject Index

About the Author :
Sharon Betsworth is Professor of Religion at Oklahoma City University, USA. She is the author of Children in Early Christian Narratives (T&T Clark 2015) and The Reign of God is Such as These: A Socio-literary Analysis of Daughters in the Gospel of Mark (T&T Clark 2010). Julie Faith Parker is Associate Professor of Biblical Studies at The General Theological Seminary in New York City, USA. She is the author or editor of seven books, including Valuable and Vulnerable: Children in the Hebrew Bible, Especially the Elisha Cycle (Brown University, 2013).

Review :
Overall, this book provides an excellent starting point for students and researchers new to the field of children in the Bible and the biblical world… This handbook is an especially helpful guide in providing useful methodologies, a history of the research field, and new research prospects. The study of children in the Bible and the biblical world speaks to a range of audiences; children are members of communities past and present, and the Bible continues to shape cultures and the lives of individuals worldwide. This volume provides a wealth of resources, taking both biblical studies and child-focused interdisciplinary research to new levels. Initial chapters provide a valuable orientation to the significance of the study of children and childhood in the biblical world and to recent advances in this rapidly growing area of research. Subsequent contributions display a range of creative methodological approaches, offering new insights into biblical and early Christian texts and the history of childhood in the ancient Near East. Building from years of scholarly interactions, conferences, articles, and monographs, this first compendium on child-centered approaches to ancient biblical texts continues to solidify the case for why research on children is critical for biblical studies. From historical insights to the analyses of theology and reception history through varying methodological approaches, this collection further anchors a discipline specific nomenclature for child-centered approaches. The editors gather expertise from archaeology, historical contexts, ancient households, post-colonial studies, linguistics, source criticism, and trauma studies, which each invite a wide conversation on the importance of child-centered topics. As such, the volume is multilayered, bringing seemingly disparate methodologies and varying fields of study together. This first compendium is an essential tool for exploring the possibilities of children, their role, function, and their critical importance in the interpretation of ancient texts and their receptions. T&T Clark Handbook of Children in the Bible and the Biblical World is a welcome and much-needed resource for investigating childhood in the ancient world and constructions of children in biblical literature. Combining new and seasoned voices in childist studies, this volume issues a compelling invitation to learn from and join in critical conversations on children and childhood in the biblical world. The publication of Handbook of Children in the Bible and the Biblical World marks a milestone in the development of studies of childhood and children in the Bible. No longer in its infancy, the work signals a maturation in this area of research.