The Yahwist's Landscape: Nature and Religion in Early Israel

Praise for The Yahwist's Landscape"Issues of religion and ecology have never mattered more, and The Yahwist's Landscape remains the gold standard. Congratulations to Fortress Press for making it widely available."-Larry L. Rasmussen, Reinhold Niebuhr Professor Emeritus of Social EthicsUnion Theological Seminary"Hiebert's foundational study opens the world of nature as a major aspect of biblical thought. It lays to rest the traditional dichotomy between nature and history that has been so long read into the Bible and Israel's religion, redeeming the natural world as the realm of human life and God's care. Von Rad and Eichrodt are there, but this time Wendell Berry and Wes Jackson are also in the picture. That makes for a different and interesting conversation."-Patrick D. Miller, Charles T. Haley Professor of Old Testament Theology EmeritusPrinceton Theological Seminary"The human being is a farmer. Humans and animals are companions made of the same topsoil. The land is a sovereign to be served by humans. God appears in nature. Earth has ultimate value. Such is the worldview of the Yahwist, uncovered by Ted Hiebert, a worldview that lacks any real dichotomy between history and nature, between redemption and creation. This biblical worldview is a crucial alternative for us to consider in the face of the current ecological crisis, especially given our past obsession with the mandate to dominate in Genesis 1:26-28. We owe you, Ted. Your research is timely and compelling "-Norman Habel, Editor and Contributor, The Earth Bible"Professor Theodore Hiebert has written a 'must-read' book for biblical scholars and their students, for the clergy and well-informed laity. Hiebert focuses on the J (Yahwist) source, whose vivid narrative has been adroitly braided into the epic source (JE). Hiebert's highly original study demonstrates that it was, not the desert, but the agro-pastoralist villages of highland Israel, which provided the social and environmental matrix from which the J source wove his captivating narrative."-Larry Stager, Dorot Professor of the Archaeology of IsraelHarvard UniversityTheodore Hiebert is the Francis A. McGaw Professor of Old Testament at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago. He is the author of essays on biblical perspectives on nature in The New Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, The Oxford Companion to the Bible, The Anchor Bible Dictionary, and in various books and periodicals.