Justice and Compassion in Biblical Law - by Richard H Hiers (Paperback)

About the Book

The theory and praxis of biblical law in the historical and contemporary landscape of American law and culture is contentious and controversial. Richard Hiers provides a new consideration of the subject with an emphasis upon the underlying justice and compassion implicit within. Special consideration is given to matters of civil law, the death penalty, and due process. An analysis of various biblical trial scenes are also included. The book draws on, and in turn relates to three areas of scholarship and concern: biblical studies, social ethics, and jurisprudence (legal theory).

Book Synopsis

The theory and praxis of biblical law in the historical and contemporary landscape of American law and culture is contentious and controversial. Richard Hiers provides a new consideration of the subject with an emphasis upon the underlying justice and compassion implicit within. Special consideration is given to matters of civil law, the death penalty, and due process. An analysis of various biblical trial scenes are also included.

The book draws on, and in turn relates to three areas of scholarship and concern: biblical studies, social ethics, and jurisprudence (legal theory). Modern legal categories often illuminate the nature of biblical law: for instance, by distinguishing between inheritance and bequests or wills (a distinction not found in traditional biblical commentaries), and by identifying the meaning or function of biblical laws by using such categories as "contract" and "tort" law, "due process," "equal protection," and "social welfare legislation."

Several discussions throughout the book compare or contrast biblical laws with modern Anglo-American law or social policies. Each chapter begins with two or three relevant quotations: one or two from biblical texts, and sometimes from one or two relevant latter-day sources, notably, Magna Carta, the United States Constitution, and writings by Ayn Rand, and Robert Bellah. Although modern law usually shows greater compassion, biblical law often combines concern for both justice and compassion in ways that sometime provide grounds for critiquing modern counterparts.

Review Quotes

Justice and Compassion in Biblical Law is an enlightening book. Hiers' project is to examine Biblical law through the lens of contemporary American law. By so doing, Hiers not only makes clear many central elements of the Biblical legal system but also reveals some of the core values animating both legal systems. Whether one's goal is to better understand ancient Biblical law or to gain a new light on contemporary legal and social discourse, readers of Justice and Compassion in Biblical Law will be richly rewarded.
Theological Book Review

Richard Hiers' Justice and Compassion in Biblical Law offers an extraordinarily thorough analysis of Old Testament legal texts, organized around the categories of civil law, criminal law, and social welfare legislation. Employing a methodology that analyzes biblical legal texts according to their likely development over time, Hiers assesses these texts in light of western/American categories of legal thought. In so doing, he shows that these oft-neglected materials not only have considerable moral depth and contemporary relevance, but that they also played a role in shaping American public life from our earliest days as a people. Writing with great scholarly self-discipline and staying tightly focused on his task, Hiers' research ends up leading him to offer stinging challenges to our political, academic, and popular cultures, which are losing the transcendent and other-regarding moral vision that undergirds any sustainable human community. This excellent book makes an indispensable contribution to both biblical scholarship and contemporary social ethics.

The connections - and disconnections - between religion and law are often assumed but rarely grasped. Justice and Compassion presents in a delightfully accessible form a multitude of common elements between western law and biblical sources. Richard Hiers crafts a carefully nuanced approach in a field too frequently known for its dogmatism rather than its doctrines and insights. His frames of reference open the door to new insights into enduring truths.
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About the Author

Richard H. Hiers, Professor of Religion, Emeritus, and Affiliate Professor of Law, Emeritus, University of Florida.