Marital Imagery In The Bible - New Book Forces Rethink Of Traditional Divorce Teaching

LONDON - Nov. 23, 2015 - PRLog -- Marital Imagery in the Bible: An Exploration of Genesis 2:24 and its Significance for the Understanding of New Testament Divorce and Remarriage Teaching by Colin Hamer

This important and thoroughly researched thesis challenges centuries of academic scholarship and ecclesiastical assumptions about divorce. Hamer's detailed analysis contests the consensus view that the marriage outlined in Genesis 2:24 indicates an ontological reality that replicates the union of Adam and Eve, suggesting important implications for the understanding of marriage and divorce.

Contact: Mathew Bartlett
Email: editor@apostolos-publishing.com
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FOR IMMEDIATE WORLDWIDE RELEASE

It can only be imagined that when the New Testament writers made their comments on divorce and remarriage that they assumed they would be understood. So what has gone wrong?
In the years after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 C.E., when Graeco-Roman culture was at its height, the Jewish perspective of marriage and divorce, and thus the context of those brief New Testament comments was lost. The Christian church of that era was influenced by the neoplatonic ideas of the day, and an idealised concept of marriage developed from Adam and Eve’s marriage recorded in Genesis 2:23—it was love at first sight, a marriage made in heaven. These concepts frame an understanding of marriage in much of Western culture even today.
However, that was never the understanding of ancient Israel. Instead they looked to Genesis 2:24: ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh’—so a naturally born man chooses a wife for himself, and their union was based on a ‘covenant’—in other words an agreement. The Old Testament makes it clear what the basis of that agreement was. Furthermore, it is clear, if that agreement was broken, there could be a divorce and a remarriage. All of the marital imagery in the Bible (where the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures imagine that God is married to his people) is based on that understanding of human marriage.
However, our modern concept of marriage understands that Genesis 2:24, when referenced in the New Testament, refers to Adam and Eve’s marriage—a literal ‘one-flesh’ union made without a covenant. For many people this understanding excludes (or greatly restricts) the possibility of divorce and remarriage. This study challenges that paradigm—and suggests that the New Testament writers would not have employed an imagery which had at its centre divorce and remarriage, only to deny the possibility of such in their own human marriage teaching.
Synopsis:

Colin Hamer's thesis represents the only work in biblical scholarship that embraces recent developments in metaphor theory in its consideration of marital imagery. It challenges centuries of academic scholarship and ecclesiastical assumptions about divorce. Hamer's detailed analysis contests the consensus view that the marriage outlined in Genesis 2:24 indicates an ontological reality that replicates the union of Adam and Eve. Many contemporary scholars look at marriage, divorce, and remarriage from a constricted standpoint; Hamer takes readers to an unprecedented level to provide a more comprehensive understanding. Readers will not go away unchallenged.

Scholars have praised the author’s diligent efforts. David Instone-Brewer, Senior Research Fellow, Tyndale House, Cambridge comments, "This novel approach incorporates a holistic view of Scripture that produces surprisingly enlightening insights. Regular summaries guide the reader through a detailed analysis using modern metaphor theory to arrive at a valuable conclusion.”

William A. Heth, Professor of Greek and New Testament at Taylor University says, “Hamer’s appeal to marital imagery throughout Scripture and how it informs our understanding of the New Testament teaching on divorce and remarriage is brilliant.”

Marital Imagery in the Bible from Apostolos Publishing, will be on general sale from released on 16th November 2015. Copies can currently be pre-ordered directly from the publisher: http://www.apostolos-publishing.com/

ISBN: 978-1-910942-25-3 (Paperback, 312 pages perfect bound – RRP £19.99)

ISBN: 978-1-910942-28-4 (Hardback, 312 pages RRP £39.99)

ISBN: 978-1-910942-27-7 (ebook – RRP £9.99)

Trade order terms: 55% discount/no returns (Orders can be placed via Ingramspark or Nielsen BookNet, or directly with publisher. Re-sellers who remain in credit with publisher may request a sale or return account).

About the Author:
Colin Hamer (PhD, University of Chester) served for many years as an elder of a Grace Baptist Church in the UK. He has degrees from the University of Liverpool and the University of Wales. He studied for the PhD on which this study is based at the Wales Evangelical School of Theology (WEST).

Colin Hamer’s previous publications include:
Divorce and the Bible: A Systematic Exegesis to Challenge the Traditional Views (AuthorHouse, 2006)
Being a Christian Husband: A Biblical Perspective (Evangelical Press, 2007)
Anne Boleyn (A Biography; Day One, 2007)
Finding God’s Will (Wipf & Stock, 2010)
Thomas Cranmer (A Biography; EP Books, 2012)