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The Decalogue: An Icon of Ethical Discourse

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Chapter
The Oxford Handbook of the Bible and the Reformation introduces readers to an expansive history of the Bible as it was shaped, shared, and received during the Reformation and across Christian traditions. Over the course of five parts, the volume’s content explores the biblical canon, translation and print, the development of Reformation hermeneutics, the history of Bible commentators, and exegesis relating to key texts and theological themes of Reformation writing and discourse. To engage the subject broadly, intricately, and robustly required a multitude of scholarly hands who hold a range of expertise attuned to the early modern Bible’s composition and position as sacred text and, from the Renaissance era on, printed book. With gratitude to the contributions of over fifty leading scholars and international experts in their respective fields, a fuller account emerges. The importance of the Bible’s role, reach, and authority among European Christians of the early modern period is made evident.
Article
The Decalogue’s iconic status within its history of reception, especially in the modern era, has made it a focal point of scholarly discussion. Its transmission in both Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5, as well as its relation to comparative material in the Pentateuch’s legal texts, has provided an ample field of inquiry for modern historical criticism. One of the main areas that has preoccupied scholars is the quest for its origin, which is the first focus in this chapter. The chapter then turns to some of the issues that specifically concern the Decalogue’s role within Deuteronomy, where it features as a portable monument to the covenant at Horeb. The prohibition against venerating “other gods” is unfolded in Deuteronomy 6-11, and several scholars have discussed the Decalogue’s relationship with the book’s collection of laws. In the late written chapter Deuteronomy 4, the Decalogue’s prohibition of images arrives at its theological culmination in the profession of monotheism. Moses’s prophecy that breaking the prohibition of idolatry would lead to exile invites reflection on the symbolism of the breaking and renewal of the stone tablets in Deuteronomistic historiography.
Book
The Reformation of the Decalogue tells two important but previously untold stories: of how the English Reformation transformed the meaning of the Ten Commandments, and of the ways in which the Ten Commandments helped to shape the English Reformation itself. Adopting a thematic structure, it contributes new insights to the history of the English Reformation, covering topics such as monarchy and law, sin and salvation, and Puritanism and popular religion. It includes, for the first time, a comprehensive analysis of surviving Elizabethan and Early Stuart 'commandment boards' in parish churches, and presents a series of ten case studies on the Commandments themselves, exploring their shifting meanings and significance in the hands of Protestant reformers. Willis combines history, theology, art history and musicology, alongside literary and cultural studies, to explore this surprisingly neglected but significant topic in a work that refines our understanding of British history from the 1480s to 1625.
The Decalogue in History. A Preliminary Survey of the Fields and Genres of Its Reception
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