Divorce Discourses: A Biblical Dilemma

The main aim of this book is to try and reconcile the apparently irreconcilable differences between the Biblical texts that allow divorce and those that prohibit divorce.  Although, the New Testament references to divorce were ambiguous enough to prevent a rapid consensus within the church that divorce was wholly unacceptable, it is notable that the Christian debate for and against divorce drew on both texts from the Old as well as the New Testament.  This book analyses the social and religious crisis faced by Ezra and Nehemiah, bringing about an understanding of why they mandated the Israelite men to forcefully divorce the foreign women they had married.  It focuses on a provisional understanding of divorce in the Ancient Israelite Society, analyzing what motivations influenced their ethical systems.  Against this background, it analyses Jesus’ response to the Pharisees in the Synoptic Gospels.