Introducing Biblical Law – Study Guide, Additional Resources

Recommended Readings:

• Christine Hayes, What’s Divine about Divine Law?: Early Perspectives, 1st edition (Princeton University Press, 2015).
• John Collins, What Are Biblical Values?: What the Bible Says on Key Ethical Issues (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2019).
• David P. Wright, Inventing God’s Law: How the Covenant Code of the Bible Used and Revised the Laws of Hammurabi (Oxford University Press, 2009).

Additional Readings:

• Torah, Encyclopedia Britannica
• Hebraic Law, Encyclopedia Britannica
• Biblical Law in the Hebrew Bible, Oxford Bibliographies
• Chaya Halberstam, “The Art of Biblical Law,” Prooftexts 27, no. 2 (2007): 345–64

Lectures:

• Biblical Law: The Three Legal Corpora of JE (Exodus), P (Leviticus and Numbers) and D (Deuteronomy), Christine Hayes at Yale University
• “The ‘Truth’ About Torah”, Christine Hayes at Congregation Neveh Shalom

Videos:

• “Biblical Law”, the Bible Project

Art:

• “God, Law,” Jean-Michel Basquiat
• “Moses Receiving the Ten Commandments”, Marc Chagall*

*This is one among many of the expressionist paintings from Marc Chagall’s famous “Bible Series.” Learn more about Chagall and his unique artistic approach to Old Testament narratives here.