Children in the Bible and the ancient world : comparative and historical methods in reading ancient children / edited by Shawn W. Flynn.

The topic of children in the Bible has long been under-represented, but this has recently changed with the development of childhood studies in broader fields, and the work of several dedicated scholars. While many reading methods are employed in this emerging field, comparative work with children in the ancient world has been an important tool to understand the function of children in biblical texts. Children in the Bible and the Ancient World broadly introduces children in the ancient world, and specifically children in the Bible. It brings together an international group of experts who help readers understand how children are constructed in biblical literature across three broad areas: children in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East, children in Christian writings and the Greco-Roman world, and children and materiality. The diverse essays cover topics such as: vows in Ugarit and the Hebrew Bible, obstetric knowledge, infant abandonment, the role of marriage, Greek abandonment texts, ritual entry for children into Christian communities, education, sexual abuse, and the role of archeological figurines in children's lives. The volume also includes expertise in biological anthropology to study the skeletal remains of ancient children, as well as how ancient texts illuminate Mary's female maturity. The volume is written in an accessible style suitable for non-specialists, and it is equipped with a helpful resource bibliography that organizes select secondary sources from these essays into meaningful categories for further study. Children in the Bible and the Ancient World is a helpful introduction to any who study children and childhood in the ancient world. In addition, the volume will be of interest to experts who are engaged in historical approaches to biblical studies, while appreciating how the ancient world continues to illuminate select topics in biblical texts.

Cover; Half Title; Series Information; Title Page; Copyright Page; Table of contents; Contributors; Foreword; Abbreviations; Part I Children in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East; 1 Vows and children in the Hebrew Bible; Children as the object requested; Children as the object vowed; Conclusion; Notes; 2 Turning birth into theology: Traces of ancient obstetric knowledge within narratives of difficult childbirth in the ...; 'She conceived and bore a son': biblical birth narratives and traces of medical knowledge; Biblical images for conception and pregnancy

Difficulties experienced during labor and childbirthRebecca, Esau, and Jacob; Rachel and Ben-Oni / Ben-Jamin; Tamar, Peretz, and Zerah; Beyond birth: putting medical knowledge into a theological context; When birth becomes a metaphor for crisis; Terminological choices as indicators of literary purpose; 'He came out': yatsa; 'How have you broken through your breach?': perets; 'The midwife took it and tied a scarlet thread onto his hand': qashar and shani; 'She had hard labor': qasha; 'Two nations from your loins will divide': parad; 'Inside her, the children moved around tumultuously': razaz

ConclusionNotes; 3 Uncooperative breeders: Parental investment and infant abandonment in Hebrew and Greek narrative; Infant abandonment; Hebrew infant abandonment stories; Moses; Ishmael; Greek infant abandonment stories; Diodorus of Sicily; Semiramis; Heracles; Telephus; Agathocles; Pseudo-Apollodorus; Zeus; Pelias and Neleus; Perseus; Telephus; Zethus and Amphion; Oedipus; Atalanta; Paris; Comparative perspective; Conclusion; Notes; 4 Failure to marry: Girling gone wrong; Childist interpretation; Socialisation and gendering in the biblical world; Rites of passage

'Zooming-in': tales of warning and girling gone wrong'Zooming out': a childist analysis; Notes; Part II Children in Christian writings and the Greco-Roman world; 5 Girls and goddesses: The Gospel of Mark and the Eleusinian Mysteries; Mark's religious and literary context; The Homeric Hymn to Demeter and the Eleusinian Mysteries; The Gospel of Mark and the Eleusinian Mysteries; The agency of girls; The dance and dancing in Mark and the Mysteries; Sowing seeds, God's mysterious reign, and casting pigs into the sea; Conclusion; Notes

6 Children and the Church: The ritual entry of children into Pauline churchesRitual entry into the community; Circumcision and the mother goddess; Baptism for all, including children; Children in community: 1 Cor 7:14; Conclusions; Notes; 7 'Stay away from my children!': Educators and the accusation of sexual abuse in Roman Antiquity; Roman schools and Roman views of sexuality; Sex in the classroom; Accusations against educators; Evidence ranked according to the type of educator; Lucian and the Greek dossier; The Pergamene youth: literary evidence and social history

OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.