Can the Old Testament help us in keeping the excesses of capitalism in check? How can a book that goes on about "e;justice and righteousness,"e; but says "e;there will always be poor people in the land"e; and accepts slavery have anything to say to us about social justice? Did kings of Israel draft their subjects--and which subjects--for forced labor? What does it mean when the Psalms say God is coming to judge the world? Is charity justice?--or is justice more than charity? Does Genesis give us the right to use the earth and its creatures as we like? These are some of the questions that Walter Houston asks, and tries to answer, in this book of essays from his work over the last twenty-five years.

Can the Old Testament help us in keeping the excesses of capitalism in check? How can a book that goes on about "e;justice and righteousness,"e; but says "e;there will always be poor people in the land"e; and accepts slavery have anything to say to us about social justice? Did kings of Israel draft their subjects--and which subjects--for forced labor? What does it mean when the Psalms say God is coming to judge the world? Is charity justice?--or is justice more than charity? Does Genesis give us the right to use the earth and its creatures as we like? These are some of the questions that Walter Houston asks, and tries to answer, in this book of essays from his work over the last twenty-five years.

Can the Old Testament help us in keeping the excesses of capitalism in check? How can a book that goes on about "e;justice and righteousness,"e; but says "e;there will always be poor people in the land"e; and accepts slavery have anything to say to us about social justice? Did kings of Israel draft their subjects--and which subjects--for forced labor? What does it mean when the Psalms say God is coming to judge the world? Is charity justice?--or is justice more than charity? Does Genesis give us the right to use the earth and its creatures as we like? These are some of the questions that Walter Houston asks, and tries to answer, in this book of essays from his work over the last twenty-five years.