Conversations with Scripture : The Law

Although the Ten Commandments has been the center of much recent controversy in American politics, scripture contains many laws about which Christians are perplexed. If the Bible contains laws, shouldn't those laws be followed? What does the law that prohibits reaping a harvest to the very edges of your field mean in modern times? Or, what about God's prohibition, in Leviticus, not to round off the hair on your temples or to mar the edges of your beard? The Decalogue and the Holiness Code in Leviticus contain guidelines to ethical behavior that originally helped to shape a covenant community and still have meaning for us today.

In the newest addition to the Conversations with Scripture series, Kevin Wilson offers fresh insights into the meaning of the Law for today. In chapters that explore the Law in Exodus and Leviticus, Wilson examines the historical and cultural contexts of these legal codes. He discusses rituals such as sacrifice and rituals related to purification from defilement. Wilson demonstrates the ways in which the temple priests used many of these laws as their own code of purity and their own method of enforcing purity in the covenant community.

As with other books in the series, Wilson's book features definitions and sidebars in each chapter on particular topics, as well as study questions.

Kevin A. Wilson is Professor of Biblical Studies at Lithuania Christian College. He has taught Old Testament at Virginia Theological Seminary and biblical studies at Wartburg College. He is frequently a guest speaker in parishes in the Episcopal Dioceses of Maryland and Washington, D.C., and he serves on the executive board of the Anglican Association of Biblical Scholars.