CONTENTS
Preface to Living as the People of God -- p.11
Preface -- p.13
Introduction -- p.l7
PART ONE: A STRUCTURE FOR OLD TESTAMENT ETHICS
1 The theological angle -- p.23
God’s identity -- p.24
God’s action -- p.25
God’s words -- p.30
God’s purpose -- p.З3
God’s way -- p.46
God’s goodness -- p.42
Further reading -- p.47
2.The social angle -- p.48
The social dimension of redemption -- p.48
The distinctiveness of Israel -- p.52
Israel as God’s paradigm -- p.62
Further reading -- p.74
3 The economic angle -- p.76
The land in Israel’s story -- p.77
The land as divine gift -- p.85
The land under divine ownership -- p.92
The land as covenantal measuring gauge -- p.96
Further reading -- p.99
PART TWO: THEMES IN OLD TESTAMENT ETHICS
4. Ecology and the earth -- p.103
God’s earth: divine ownership -- p.106
Our earth: divine gift and human responsibility -- p.116
Cursed earth: human sin and ecological destruction -- p.129
New creation: ecology and eschatology
Further reading -- p.137
5. Economics and the poor -- p.144
Economic ethics in creation perspective -- p.146
Economics in a fallen world -- p.146
Economic dimensions to Israel’s story of redemption -- p.150
Creation values restored in Israel’s -- p.economic system -- p.154
Responding to poverty -- p.156
Further reading -- p.168
6 The land and Christian ethics -- p.180
Paradigmatic interpretation -- p.182
Eschatological interpretation -- p.183
Typological interpretation -- p.184
The jubilee: a case study
Further reading -- p.187
7 Politics and the nations -- p.212
Perspectives from creation and the fall -- p.213
God’s people and the state: perspectives from Israel’s history -- p.229
God and the nations: Israel’s universal vision -- p.249
Further reading -- p.251
8 Justice and righteousness -- p.253
Justice as God displays it -- p.254
Justice as God demands it -- p. 265 Justice as God will deliver it -- p.275
Further reading -- p.279
9 Law and the legal system -- p.281
The main legal blocks -- p. 284
The different kinds of law -- p.288
The administration of justice -- p. 301
Israel’s scale of values -- p.305
Theological reflections -- p. 314
Further reading -- p.326
10 Culture and family -- p.327
Rejection and prohibition -- p.328
Qualified toleration -- p.329 Christians and the family --p.353
Further reading -- p.361
The way of the individual -- p.363
The individual in community -- p.363
Personal responsibility -- p.365
Models of morals -- p.368
Failure and forgiveness -- p. 378
Further reading -- p. 382
PART THREE: STUDYING OLD TESTAMENT ETHICS
A survey of historical approaches -- p.387
The early church -- p.388
The Reformation era -- p.391
Some contemporary confessional approaches -- p.399
Further reading -- p. 413
Contemporary scholarship: a bibliographical essay -- p.415
Hermeneutics and authority in Old Testament ethics -- p.441
Getting there from here: methodological problems -- p.442
Getting back here from there: ideological problems -- p.446
The question of authority -- p.454
Conclusion -- p.469
Further reading -- p.469
\ppendix: What about the Canaanites? -- p.472
iliography -- p.481
lex of Scripture References -- p.500
lex of Names -- p.512
lex of Subjects -- p.516

Some Christians distinguish the moral laws in the Old Testa-
ment (which must be obeyed) from the ceremonial and civil
laws (which may be disregarded). Others prefer a strictly
New Testament ethic. Neither option, argues Chris Wright, does
justice to the Old Testament as an essential part of our Bible.
In this lively and readable approach, he develops a comprehensive alternative. First, he proposes a theological, social and economic framework for Old Testament ethics. Then, in relation to contemporary issues, he explores a variety of themes: economics, the land and the poor; ecology and the earth; politics and the world of nations; law and justice; society, culture and the family; die way of the individual.