What Are Biblical Values?

John J. Collins is Holmes Professor of Old Testament Criticism and Interpretation at Yale Divinity School.

“Clear and accessible. . . . Topics include the right to life, gender, sexuality, marriage and family, the environment, slavery, violence, and social justice. Collins effectively demonstrates how such issues are morally complex.”—David Atkinson, Church Times“A wise, insightful, and often surprising discussion of the relevance (and sometimes irrelevance) of the Bible for significant ethical debates of our day.”—Bart D. Ehrman, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill“In this engaging study of the conflicting and discordant values found in the Bible, one of the world’s foremost scholars of the Hebrew Bible confronts us with hard truths. Brimming with promise for ecumenical and inter‑religious conversations, his book offers a constructive program for wrestling with this tradition.”—Candida Moss, author of Divine Bodies“This remarkable volume takes on the considerable task of determining what the Bible actually says about various issues of contemporary concern apart from the facile and tendentious rhetoric that surrounds them. The author examines these topics in an evenhanded way, then turns to the text itself, its context, and other relevant authorities. This is an excellent, balanced, and important book.”—Randall Balmer, Dartmouth College“Too many people think they know what biblical values are without actually having read the Bible. In this wise and insightful book, John Collins shows us what it really says on contested moral issues.”—John Barton, University of Oxford“With accessible prose and provocative conclusions, What Are Biblical Values? offers a concise account of how to read (and not read) biblical texts in relation to a host of contested issues. It challenges readers to transcend the division between historical studies and normative ethics.”—Eric Gregory, Princeton University