Throughout the last several decades professional biblical scholars have adapted concepts and theories from the social sciences - particularly social and cultural anthropology - in order to cast new light on ancient biblical writings, early Jewish and Christian texts that circulated with the Scriptures, and the various contexts in which these literatures were produced and first received. The present volume of essays draws much of its inspiration from that same development in the history of biblical research, while also offering insights from other, newer approaches to interpretation.The contributors to this volume explore a wide range of broadly social-scientific disciplines and discourses - cultural anthropology, sociology, archaeology, political science, the New Historicism, forced migration studies, gender studies - and provide multiple examples of the ways in which these diverse methods and theories can shed new and often fascinating light on the ancient texts. The fruit of scholarly work that is both international in flavour and truly collaborative, this volume provides fresh perspectives not only on familiar portions of Jewish and Christian Scripture but also on select passages from the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Nag Hammadi library and previously untranslated French texts.

PrefaceAcknowledgementsAbbreviationsIntroduction: The Structure of Social Scientific and grammatical integrations - Todd Klutz, University of Manchester, UKPart I: Social Scientific Perspectives on Jewish Scripture1. Literary Historical Exegesis as a Social Science - Philip R. Davies, University of Sheffield, UK2. The Concepts of 'Counter History' and Mnemohistory applied to Biblical Sciences - Thomas C. Römer, University of Lausanne, Switzerland 3. Your Name Shall No Longer be Jacob, but Refugee: Involuntary Migration and the Development of the Jacob Narrative - Casey A. Strine, University of Sheffield, UK4. 'To Share Your Bread With The Hungry'; Justice or Charity? - Walter J. Houston, University of Manchester, UK5. Space and Memory in the Book of Leviticus - Julia Rhyder, University of Lausanne, Switzerland6. The Zadokite and Levite Scribal Conflicts - Jaeyoung Jeon, University of Lausanne, Switzerland7. The Concept of Utopia and the Psalm of Habakkuk: An Alternative Reading - Chen Bergot, University of Geneva, Switzerland Part II: Social Scientific Perspectives on the Dead Sea Scrolls and Early Christian Literature8. The Social Sciences and the Dead Sea Scrolls - George J. Brook, University of Chester, UK9. Reviewing Purity and Impurity from a Gendered Perspective: The War Scroll (1QM) as a Case Study - Jessica M. Keady, University of Helsinki, Finland10. The Teacher of Righteousness from the Perspective of the Sociology of Organizations - David Hamidovic, University of Lausanne, Switzerland11. Saving Face in Galatia: Eu0proswpe/w and Concern for Honour in the Argument of Paul's Letter - David S. Harvey, Mattersey Hall, UK12. The Use of Social Models in Biblical Studies: Philippians 1.27-2.5 as a Case Study - Peter Oakes, University of Manchester, United Kingdom13. Inside the Bridal Chamber: Individual, Group, and Intertextuality in Gospel of Philip 65.1-26 - Todd E. Klutz, University of Manchester, UK14. Shifting Social Contexts at Nag Hammadi: Imagining a Fourth Century Monastic Response to the Roles of Knowledge and Love in the Gospel of Philip - Kimberly A. Fowler, Aix-Marseille University, France Indexes