Just Deceivers - by Matthew Newkirk (Paperback)

About the Book

An in-depth study of the depiction of lies and deception in 1 and 2 Samuel, demonstrating the complexity of the attitudes towards falsehood expressed in the text.

Book Synopsis

An in-depth study of the depiction of lies and deception in 1 and 2 Samuel, demonstrating a complexity of attitude towards falsehood in the text.

Does the Bible allow us to deceive? Is it ever right to lie? These are perennial questions that have been discussed and debated by theologians for centuries with little consensus. Entering this conversation, Just Deceivers provides a fresh analysis of this important topic through a comprehensive examination of the motif of deception in the books of Samuel. While many studies have explored deception in other Old Testament texts - especially the patriarchal narratives of Genesis - and a few articles have initiated examination of this motif in Samuel, Just Deceivers builds upon this groundwork and offers an exhaustive treatment of this theme in this important portion of the Hebrew Bible. Newkirk takes the reader through the books of Samuel, investigating every occurrence of deception in the narrative, exploring how the author depicts these various acts of deception, and then synthesising the results to offer an exegetically based theology of deception. In so doing, this study both challenges commonly held views concerning the Bible's stance on falsehood and illustrates the importance of attending to the sophisticated literary character of biblical narrative.

Review Quotes

This book is a very useful contribution to studies in the Book of Samuel and to an understanding of the biblical perspective on deception--Benjamin J M Johnson "Oxford, Theological Book Review vol.28 no.1, pp.17-8"