Books by Andre LaCocque

This book provides a hermeneutical reflection on the biblical notion of labor, combining texts from the book of Genesis with the conceptions of work in psychoanalysts and philosophers such as Sigmund Freud and Karl Marx.

Due in large measure to its unique literary genre, the Song of Songs has been interpreted in diverse ways. According to Andre LaCocque, this supports the notion that the issue with which any reader of the Song must come to grips is, first and foremost, a hermeneutical one.""Once in a generation a biblical scholar unlocks the hidden secrets of an entire biblical book. Building upon a thorough knowledge of the full range of ancient and modern exegesis of the Song of Songs, Andre LaCocque--the rare combination of first-rate philologist, theologian, teacher, and preacher--proves that the Song of Songs is the work of a single ancient Hebrew poetess. This poetess, LaCocque demonstrates, writes neither about sex nor about marriage but about that extremely rare occurrence of the meeting and pairing of two human souls, which the Greeks call eros 'love,' an event not so different from the equally rare meeting of a human person and God, which is often called 'religious experience.'""--Mayer I. Gruber, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheva, Israel""Andre LaCocque has written a remarkable, postmodern study of the Song of Songs. On the one hand, it exemplifies the intertextual reading of the Bible as fully as any midrash, but on the other hand, he resists all attempts to harmonize the text with the pieties of tradition. Most of all it continues the 'critique from the margins' begun in his earlier book, The Feminine Unconventional, and shows that a senior, white, European male can have exceptional empathy with female sensitivity.""--John J. Collins, Holmes Professor of Old Testament Criticism and Interpretation, Yale Divinity SchoolAndre LaCocque is Professor of Old Testament Emeritus at Chicago Theological Seminary. He is the author of The Trial of Innocence and The Feminine Unconventional and coauthor of Thinking Biblically: Exegetical and Hermeneutical Studies.

This is the second edition of a 1979 commentary on the book of Daniel. The commentary is completely revised, and the introduction in particular is here much extended and addresses fundamental questions regarding the book of Daniel and the apocalyptic movement it inaugurates (with 1 Enoch). Daniel is an indispensable trove and reference about issues like the apocalyptic vision of world's periodized history, the notion of Son of Man, messianism without a messiah, the belief in resurrection, the kingdom of God, the centrifugal spread of divine revelation, and the positive role of the Jewish diaspora. This edition is meant for scholars, college and university researchers, and students of the Bible (of the Old Testament and New Testament) in general.""LaCocque brings to this book his vast knowledge of biblical and related texts and, in this second edition, integrates added insights gleaned from a lifetime of study and experience, along with his wisdom and good judgement. Scholars, pastors, and theological students are sure to devour this book with enthusiasm and joy."" --Doreen McFarlane, St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada ""In this expanded edition, Andre LaCocque offers the serious scholar or student a richly drawn guide to the book of Daniel, especially its apocalyptic dimensions. He presents the necessary historical-critical arguments and explores the theological implications, firmly grounding the work in its historical context while preserving the multivalence of apocalyptic symbolism.""--Rachel S. Mikva, Chicago Theological Seminary""This second edition of Lacocque's classic commentary on the book of Daniel revives interest in one of the 'strange books of the Bible.' New updated introductions and fresh critical discussions of the biblical text enhance this masterful commentary that is enriched by illuminating insights from rabbinic literature. Also, profound and existential reflections on life and the meaning of history give this ancient book pertinence and relevancy.""--Jacques Doukhan, Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, Andrews UniversityAndre LaCocque is emeritus professor of Hebrew Scripture and Director of the Center of Jewish-Christian Studies at the Chicago Theological Seminary. He is the author or coauthor of numerous books, including the Cascade Books trilogy on the Yahwist: The Trial of Innocence (2006), Onslaught against Innocence (2008) and The Captivity of Innocence (2009). Other volumes include Thinking Biblically (1998, with Paul Ricoeur) and Jesus the Central Jew (2015).

The Adam and Eve narrative in Genesis 2-3 has gripped not only biblical scholars, but also theologians, artists, philosophers, and almost everyone else. In this engaging study, a master of biblical interpretation provides a close reading of the Yahwist story. As in his other works, LaCocque makes wise use of the Pseudepigrapha and rabbinic interpretations, as well as the full range of modern interpretations. Every reader will be engaged by his insights.""This book by LaCocque is an important contribution to the numberous studies on the story of paradise. . . . The reading of this book is enriching. The range of material on which L. draws is remarkable. . . . LaCocque''s book is original in approach and rich in insights. I highly recommend it to scholars and students alike.""--Catholic Biblical Quarterly""Andre LaCocque brings a distinctive style of imagination, interpretation, and articulation to his growing corpus of valuable exposition. Here he probes the thickest text of biblical faith. He goes ''back'' to common cultural myths, but then shows how Israel has claimed generic myths for its own peculiar lived experience. And then he goes ''forward'' to show how the voiced experience of Israel is paradigmatic for all human reality. Along the way he connects with the demanding interpretive tradition that includes Kierkegaard, Ernest Becker, and Ernst Bloch plus the richness of rabbinic work. The outcome is a compelling invitation to think again, afresh, about texts that have too long been settled in conventional, reductionist ways. LaCocque models the courage needed for reading and demanded by the texts."" --Walter Brueggemann Columbia Theological SeminaryAndre LaCocque is Professor Emeritus of Old Testament at Chicago Theological Seminary. He is the author of The Feminine Unconventional and Romance, She Wrote, and the coauthor (with Paul Ricoeur) of Thinking Biblically: Exegetical and Hermeneutical Studies.

In this study-the third panel of a trilogy on J''s tales about evil and innocence in the primeval era-the author turns to Genesis 11:1-9, another parable, this time on the so-called ""Tower of Babel."" The Captivity of Innocence analyzes a systemic robotization of society as a way of keeping innocence behind bars, contending that innocence never fails to offend, never fails to stir envy and hate. Here, evil is not wrought by an individual like Cain or Lamech, but by ""all the earth,"" so that the summit of evil is now reached before Abraham''s breakthrough in Genesis'' following chapter. The present analysis uses a variety of techniques to interpret the biblical text, including historical-critical, literary, sociopolitical, psychoanalytic, and deconstructive approaches. The inescapable conclusion is that ""Babel"" is the ""Kafkaesque"" image of our world and is a powerful paradigm of our hubristic contrivances and constructions-""Des Tours de Babel,"" says Derrida-in order to deny our finiteness. Then innocence is trampled upon, but it is not overcome: Babel/Babylon''s fate is to crumble down, and to bring up from her ashes the Knight of Faith.""Breaking free from the compartmentalized exegesis of traditional commentaries, LaCocque suggests some lively, diverse, and somehow splintered leads of interpretation for Babel. Giving up the illusion of producing the meaning of the text, juxtaposing instead various approaches and ways to translate and understand it, he echoes the teaching of this moral tale : men''s calling is to understand each other without denying their differences, without submitting to any unifying tyrant.""--Hubert BostEcole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (Paris-Sorbonne)""There are few scholars in the world today who can combine expertise in Hebrew and biblical scholarship with intimate familiarity with leading figures in theory and philosophy. The range of disciplinary languages brought together in this new Babel is deeply impressive; the conversation is genuine, rich, and insightful."" --Yvonne SherwoodSenior Lecturer in Biblical StudiesUniversity of GlasgowAndre LaCocque is Professor Emeritus of Old Testament at Chicago Theological Seminary. He is the author of The Trial of Innocence and Onslaught against Innocence (Cascade Books); The Feminine Unconventional; Romance, She Wrote; Esther Regina; and a commentary on Ruth. He is also the coauthor (with Paul Ricoeur) of Thinking Biblically: Exegetical and Hermeneutical Studies.

Never before has the problem of evil been a more urgent subject for our reflection. The Yahwist confronts the issue through a sequence of stories on the progressive deterioration of the divine-human relationship in Genesis 2-11. In Genesis 4 he narrates the initial slaughter of one human being by another, and strikingly, it is described as fratricidal. Onslaught Against Innocence: Cain, Abel, and the Yahwist provides a close reading of J''s story by using literary criticism and psychological criticism. It shows that the biblical author has more than an ""archaeological"" design. His characters--including God, Adam, Eve, Cain, and Abel, plus minor characters--are paradigmatic. They allow J to proceed with a fine analytical feel for the nature of evil as performed by ""homo"" as ""homini lupus."" No imaginative ""mimesis"" of evil has ever been recounted with such an economy of means and such depth of psychological insight.""Among Scripture interpreters, Andre LaCocque is a singular force because of his generative and restless mind that always seeks a new angle on the text. Here he continues his close reading of the early Genesis materials-this time the Cain and Abel narrative. LaCocque is an urbane intellectual who knows the world of myth and the critical claims of psychology. He is, at the same time, a most able and cunning reader of texts. The outcome of his interpretation is a vigorous fresh reading of Genesis 4 as a primal statement of failure and possibility in Western culture. This book is an offer of his rich, suggestive interpretation and an example of how to connect what is ancient and thick to contemporary life.""-Walter Brueggemann, author of A Pathway of Interpretation""In this remarkable book, Andre LaCocque uses insights from literature, art and psychology to probe the ancient story of Cain and Abel. He argues for a dialogic view of God, which respects human freedom, and he uncovers the roots of human violence in the quest for immortality. This is a first-rate, highly original, contribution to biblical theology.-John J. Collins, author of Does the Bible Justify Violence?""The master of a truly extraordinary range of techniques of interpretation, Andre LaCocque is able to extract deep theological, psychological, and moral meanings out of a deceptively simple and often under-interpreted chapter of the Bible. This sophisticated yet accessible book will repay the attention of many types of readers-Jewish or Christian, religious or secular, with training in Biblical Studies or without.""-Jon D. Levenson, author of Creation and the Persistence of Evil""LaCocque presents a literary-critical analysis of the myth of Cain and Abel, exploring its anthropological, theological, and psychological dimensions. The resources he draws upon are classical exegetical studies, but additionally Ellul, Girard, Jung, Kant, Kierkegaard, Levinas, Nietzsche, Ricoeur, Sartre, and others. Students and scholars-and also the ordinary reader of the Bible-will greatly profit from this book, which I highly recommend to all.""-Walter Vogels, author of Biblical Human Failures""It was said that William James wrote like a novelist and that his brother, Henry James, wrote like a psychologist. Andre LaCocque writes like both, adding to the mix the perspectives of anthropology, linguistics, historiography, and literary-criticism. Rarely have I stepped into a volume of biblical scholarship with the sense of beginning a journey into undisclosed depths of a tale I had known for years, surrounded by a chorus of voices ranging from Aristotle to Ricoeur, from Freud to Voegelin, from the Yahwist (''the greatest story teller in the Hebrew Bible'') to Dostoevsky. The denouement leads to a penetrating, sobering, yet hopeful revisioning of the Cain and Abel saga as a story profoundly embedded within Judaeo-Christian cultural consciousness."" -Wayne G. Rollins, author of Soul and PsycheAndre LaCocque is Professor Emeritus of Old Testament at Chicago

In this study-the third panel of a trilogy on J's tales about evil and innocence in the primeval era-the author turns to Genesis 11:1-9, another parable, this time on the so-called "Tower of Babel." The Captivity of Innocence analyzes a systemic robotization of society as a way of keeping innocence behind bars, contending that innocence never fails to offend, never fails to stir envy and hate. Here, evil is not wrought by an individual like Cain or Lamech, but by "all the earth," so that the summit of evil is now reached before Abraham's breakthrough in Genesis' following chapter. The present analysis uses a variety of techniques to interpret the biblical text, including historical-critical, literary, sociopolitical, psychoanalytic, and deconstructive approaches. The inescapable conclusion is that "Babel" is the "Kafkaesque" image of our world and is a powerful paradigm of our hubristic contrivances and constructions-"Des Tours de Babel," says Derrida-in order to deny our finiteness. Then innocence is trampled upon, but it is not overcome: Babel/Babylon's fate is to crumble down, and to bring up from her ashes the Knight of Faith.

Synopsis:The Adam and Eve narrative in Genesis 2-3 has gripped not only biblical scholars, but also theologians, artists, philosophers, and almost everyone else. In this engaging study, a master of biblical interpretation provides a close reading of the Yahwist story. As in his other works, LaCocque makes wise use of the Pseudepigrapha and rabbinic interpretations, as well as the full range of modern interpretations. Every reader will be engaged by his insights.Endorsements:"This book by LaCocque is an important contribution to the numberous studies on the story of paradise. . . . The reading of this book is enriching. The range of material on which L. draws is remarkable. . . . LaCocque''s book is original in approach and rich in insights. I highly recommend it to scholars and students alike."--Catholic Biblical Quarterly"André LaCocque brings a distinctive style of imagination, interpretation, and articulation to his growing corpus of valuable exposition. Here he probes the thickest text of biblical faith. He goes ''back'' to common cultural myths, but then shows how Israel has claimed generic myths for its own peculiar lived experience. And then he goes ''forward'' to show how the voiced experience of Israel is paradigmatic for all human reality. Along the way he connects with the demanding interpretive tradition that includes Kierkegaard, Ernest Becker, and Ernst Bloch plus the richness of rabbinic work. The outcome is a compelling invitation to think again, afresh, about texts that have too long been settled in conventional, reductionist ways. LaCocque models the courage needed for reading and demanded by the texts."--Walter Brueggemann, Columbia Theological SeminaryAuthor Biography:André LaCocque is Professor of Old Testament Emeritus at Chicago Theological Seminary. He is the author of ''The Feminine Unconventional'' and ''Romance, She Wrote,'' and the coauthor (with Paul Ricoeur) of ''Thinking Biblically: Exegetical and Hermeneutical Studies.''

These marvelous stories! This volume is a woman's canon presented with scholarship and wit. I thoroughly enjoyed it. - Susan B. Thistlethwaite In his treatment of Judith, LaCocque reflects on the paradox that Judith - more 'woman-oriented' than (the conceivably female-authored) Susanna - was probably written by a man. He concludes that this deserves to be celebrated: 'The best advocates for a cause are those who are not self-serving.' LaCocque appears to plead his own cause here, as he celebrates the underrepresented but bold interventions of women on behalf of God, for Israel and the world. As literature and as individuals, Susanna, Judith, Esther, and Ruth accomplish a peripeteia that allows God to convict, convert, and save. - Christopher R. Seitz

Never before has the problem of evil been a more urgent subject for our reflection. The Yahwist confronts the issue through a sequence of stories on the progressive deterioration of the divine-human relationship in Genesis 2-11. In Genesis 4 he narrates the initial slaughter of one human being by another, and strikingly, it is described as fratricidal. Onslaught Against Innocence: Cain, Abel, and the Yahwist provides a close reading of J's story by using literary criticism and psychological criticism. It shows that the biblical author has more than an ""archaeological"" design. His characters--including God, Adam, Eve, Cain, and Abel, plus minor characters--are paradigmatic. They allow J to proceed with a fine analytical feel for the nature of evil as performed by ""homo"" as ""homini lupus."" No imaginative ""mimesis"" of evil has ever been recounted with such an economy of means and such depth of psychological insight.

Discusses six crucial passages from the Old Testament, offering a commentary and new insights into their meaning. Employing a historical-critical method, this text takes account of archaeological, philological and historical research.