Existing legal relationships can determine the historical or the fictive setting of a drama or a plot, narratives can propagate, expose the problems of, denounce or try to correct legal norms. The authors of the articles in this volume examine these relationships using examples of literary and functional texts from the Bible, the Ancient Near East, Early Judaism and from Classical Antiquity.

Law is not only conveyed in codified clauses; it is often featured as a pivotal topic in literary texts. Existing legal relationships can determine the historical or the fictive setting of a drama or a plot, narratives can propagate laws or demonstrate their inherent problems. Literature can be used as an integral part of a strategy to implement legally justified demands, it can aim at correcting or even at denouncing legal rules. The authors of this volume examine literary and functional texts from the bible, the Ancient Near East, early Judaism and classical antiquity. They choose from the fields of constitutional law, litigation, family law, property and inheritance law, damages, punishment, privilege and maintenance.

Autorentext
Born 1965; studied Protestant Theology in Berlin, Tübingen, München; 1999 PhD; 2005 Habilitation; Professor of Old Testament at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. (1960-2012) Studium der Ev. Theologie in Heidelberg, München, Montpellier und Tübingen; Studium der Judaistik in Jerusalem und Berlin; 1995 Promotion; 2000 Habilitation; 2002-12 Professor für Neues Testament und antikes Judentum in Marburg. Geboren 1979; Studium der Evangelischen Theologie in Tübingen und Leipzig; 2010 Promotion; Vikarin der Evangelischen Kirche im Rheinland in Wuppertal. Born 1962; Senior Lecturer in the Departments of Bible and History of the Jewish People and Contemporary Judaism at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel.

Inhalt
Cornelia Wunsch : Legal Narrative in the Neo-Babylonian Trial Documents: Text Reconstruction, Interpretation, and Assyriological Method - Wolfgang Oswald : Die Exodus-Gottesberg-Erzählung als Gründungsurkunde der judäischen Bürgergemeinde - Udo Rüterswörden : Gesetz und Erzählung anhand der Josephsgeschichte - Nili Wazana : "For an Impaled Body is a Curse of God" (Deut 21:23): Impaled Bodies in Biblical Law and Conquest Narratives - Klaus-Peter Adam : A Didactic Case Narrative on Homicide Law: 1 Samuel 26 - Rachel Magdalene : The Reader as Judge in the Book of Job: Interpretation and the Narrativity of Case Law - Joachim Hengstl : Rechtliche Anliegen in biblischen Schilderungen. Methodische Gesichtspunkte - Susanne Gödde : Recht ohne Gesetz? Szenarien der Rechtssprechung bei Homer, Hesiod und Aischylos - Stefan Krauter : Rechtsnorm und Beispielerzählung im Dienste der Überzeugung. M. Tullius Cicero, De domo sua ad pontifices - Beate Ego: "Diejenigen, welche die Wahrheit tun, werden Gelingen haben in ihren Werken" (Tob 4,6). "Law" und "narrative" im Buch Tobit - Cana Werman: Narrative in the Service of Halakha: Abraham, Prince Mastema, and the Paschal Offering in Jubilees - Lutz Doering: Reinheit und Tempel. Ein Beitrag zum Verhältnis von Law und Narrative im Jubiläenbuch - Tal Ilan : Babatha the Killer-Wife: Literature, Folk Religion and Documentary Papyri - Catherine Hezser : Orality, Textuality, and Memory in the Transmission of Rabbinic Legal Narratives - Lukas Bormann : Das Lukasevangelium als tragische Geschichtserzählung vom Zusammenbruch der Rechtsgemeinschaft des Judentums in Galiläa und Judäa - Douglas A. Hume : "Sharing All Things in Common": Narrative, Alienation, and the Friendship Ethos in Acts 2:41-47 and 4:32-35 - Eyal Regev : The Gradual Conversion of Gentiles in Acts and Luke's Paradox of the Gentile Mission - Friedrich Avemarie : The Apostolic Decree and the Jewishness of Luke's Paul: On the Narrative Function of Acts 15:23-29