G Geoffrey Harper - Böcker

The book of Leviticus remains a mystery to many Christians, which is a great pity, for Leviticus is not only theologically rich, but also essential for grasping the full–orbed message of the gospel. The book’s central concern is clear: preparing people to live near Yahweh’s presence and survive the encounter; yet the message of Leviticus remains one of grace. It is God who desires to live with his people, and it is God who provides means and instructions to make such an arrangement possible. Geoffrey Harper’s guide to this complex but crucial book will be helpful to small group leaders and preachers who want to teach Leviticus but are unsure where to start. This series is designed to help the pastor/preacher, a small group leader or a youth worker teach their way through a Biblical book. It will help you in planning and executing a lesson advising on background, structure, key points and application.

The well-known parallels between Genesis and Leviticus invite further reflection, particularly in regard to the rhetorical and theological purpose of their lexical, syntactical, and conceptual correspondences. This volume investigates the possibility that the final-form text of Leviticus is an indirect reference to Genesis 1–3 and examines the rhetorical significance of such an allusion.The face of Pentateuch scholarship has shifted dramatically in the last forty years, resulting in the questioning of many received truths and the employment of a host of new, renewed, and often competing methodologies by biblical scholars. This study sits at the intersection of these recent interpretive trends. G. Geoffrey Harper uses insights from the fields of intertextuality, rhetorical criticism, and speech act theory to create a methodological framework, which he applies to three Leviticus pericopes. Chapters 11, 16, and 26 are examined in turn, and for each the assessment of potential parallels at lexical, syntactical, and conceptual levels reveals a complex web of interconnected allusion to the creation and Eden narratives of Genesis 1 and 2–3. Moreover, Harper probes the theological and rhetorical import of these intertextual connections and explores how Leviticus ought to be understood in its Pentateuchal context.This comprehensive study of the connections between these two sections of the Hebrew Bible sheds light on both the literary artistry of these ancient texts and the persuasive purposes that lie behind their composition.