Contending for Justice

The Rev. Dr Walter J. Houston is Fellow Emeritus at Mansfield College, University of Oxford, and Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Religions and Theology at the University of Manchester, UK. He is a contributor to the Oxford Bible Commentary and Eerdmans Bible Commentary.

'A very fine work, probably the most useful and comprehensive I have come across...this accomplishment...is a real contribution to the study of biblical ethics.' Charles T. Haley Professor of Old Testament Theology, Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, NJ, USA

• Preface to Revised Edition Preface to First Edition Acknowledgements Abbreviations Chapter 1 Texts and Contexts 1. Introduction 1.a. The author's context 1.b. Studies of social justice in the Old Testament 1.c. Biblical justice in Christian tradition and today 1.d. The hermeneutical problem 2. A proposal for our method 3. Selecting the objects of study Chapter 2 The Ancient Social Context 1. Explaining the evidence 2. Rent capitalism 3. ‘Ancient' class society 4. The tributary state5. The patronage system 6. Conclusions Chapter 3 Oppression and the Prophets 1. Interpreting the prophets 2. Amos 2.a. The message of the book of Amos 2.b. Perceiving oppression in Amos 2.b.1. The victims 2.b.2. The oppressors 2.b.3. The acts of oppression 2.b.4. The law and the prophet 2.c. The paradox of Amos 3. Surveying the prophets 4. Micah 5. Isaiah 6. Jeremiah 7. Ezekiel 8. Oppression in the prophets 8.a. The victims 8.b. The oppressors 8.c. The acts of oppression 8.c.1. Bloodshed 8.c.2. Violence and coercion 8.c.3. Extortion, unjust gain 8.c.4. Loss of freedom 8.c.5. Perversion of right 8.c.6. Indulgence at the expense of the poor 9. The justice of YHWH 10. Conclusions Chapter 4 Justice and the Patron 1. Introduction 2. Ezekiel 18 3. Exodus 22.21 (Heb. 20)-23.12 4. Proverbs 5. Job 6. The virtue of justice Chapter 5 Justice and the King 1. Introduction 2. Criticism of monarchy? 3. The royal ideology 4. Psalm 72 and the ideology of royal justice 5. The theme of social justice in the royal traditions 6. Expecting the just king Chapter 6 Justice and the People 1. Visions of justice in the Prophets 1.a. Introduction 1.b. Visions of justice in Isaiah 1.c. Justice in the vision of Ezekiel 1.d. A vision of justice in Zephaniah 1.e. Interpreting utopia 2. The just society in the Torah 2.a. The Torah as a whole 2.b. Deuteronomy 2.b.1. The context of composition 2.b.2. General provisions 2.b.3. The third-year tithe 2.b.4. The release of debts 2.b.5. The release of slaves 2.b.6. Deuteronomy, class and community 2.c. The law of jubilee in the Holiness Code Chapter 7 The God of Justice 1. Introduction 2. Impartial and partial justice 3. Social affinities 3.a. Patronage 3.b. Kingship 3.c. Synthesis 4. Ideological functions 5. Reflections for today Chapter 8 The Old Testament as a Resource in Contending for Justice? 1. Old Testament justice in today's world 2. Embodying the justice of God Bibliography