Using societal patterns of exploitation that are evidenced in agrarian societies from the Bronze Age to modern-day corporate globalization, Re-Reading the Prophets offers a new approach to understanding the hidden contexts behind prophetic complaints against economic injustice in eighth-century Judah.

• Dedication Page (page 5)
• Table of Contents (page 7)
• Preface (page 11)
• Acknowledgments (page 13)
• Abbreviations (page 17)
• 1Introduction: The Lost Contexts of Eighth-Century Prophecy (page 19)
• A. Traditional Interpretations of Landownership Abuse in Eighth-Century Judah (page 22)
• Biblical Commentary on Mic. 2.1...2 and Isa. 5.8...10 (page 23)
• Mic. 2.1...2 (page 25)
• Isa. 5.8...10 (page 31)
• 2Cultural-Evolutionary Theory and Economic Motivation (page 51)
• A. Foundations and Development of Cultural-Evolutionary Theory (page 54)
• Reactions to Xenophobia in Early Cultural-Evolutionary Theory (page 57)
• The Theory of Multilinear Evolution (page 61)
• B. Motivations for Economic Behavior (page 64)
• The Substantivist/Structuralist Schools (page 65)
• The Formalist/Ecological Schools (page 70)
• Structuralism and the Ecological in the Context of Biblical Interpretation (page 74)
• C. The Development of Political Economies in Subsistence Communities (page 78)
• Economic Strategy in Subsistence Agriculture (page 78)
• Causes and Consequences of Adaptation (page 80)
• Negative Consequences of a Strengthened Political Economy (page 84)
• D. The Interpretive Value of Cultural-Evolutionary Theory in Biblical Studies (page 89)
• Chaney's and Premnath's use of Cultural-Evolutionary Theory (page 91)
• 3Trade and Transformation in the Ancient World (page 95)
• A. Effects of Interregional Trade in the Bronze Age (page 97)
• Cycles of Urbanism and Trade in the EarlyBronze Age (page 99)
• Middle Bronze Age Cycles (page 103)
• Evidence of Societal Transformation in the Bronze Age (page 105)
• Latifundialization in the Wider Ancient Near Eastern Context (page 110)
• B. Eighth-Century Palestine and Neo-Assyrian Expansion (page 115)
• The Revitalization of Ekron (page 116)
• Ashkelon in the Assyrian Trade Nexus (page 124)
• C. Judah's Entrance into an Eighth-Century World System (page 129)
• Societal Transformation in Judah (page 131)
• Eighth-Century Judean Transformation as Cultural Evolution (page 141)
• 4Twentieth-Century Corporate Globalization (page 153)
• A. The Development of Twentieth-Century Corporate Globalization (page 156)
• Development of the IMF and the World Bank (page 158)
• Bretton Woods' Vision Versus Actualization (page 162)
• Conditionality and Social Change in the Developing World (page 167)
• B. The 1980s Debt Crisis and Cultural-Evolutionary Theory (page 178)
• The Roots of the Debt Crisis (page 179)
• Crisis Management and Perpetuation (page 182)
• Attempts to Address the Negative Outcomes ofStructural Adjustment (page 189)
• C. Conclusion (page 191)
• 5Reshaping Landownership in Tunisia (page 197)
• A. A Brief Introduction to Land Tenure in Tunisia (page 197)
• Why Tunisia Is a Useful Case Study (page 198)
• Traditional Land Tenure in Rural Tunisia (page 200)
• B. French Prologue to Land Abuses in Independent Tunisia (page 203)
• Effects of Colonialism on Tunisian Subsistence Farmers (page 205)
• C. Tunisian Independence and Land Reforms (page 207)
• The Privatization of Traditional Collectives (page 208)
• 1950s Land Reforms and Cultural-Evolutionary Theory (page 215)
• D. The 1960s Néo-Destourian Socialist Experiment (page 221)
• The Rise of Néo-Destour Socialism (page 222)
• The Failings and Collapse of Néo-Destourian Socialism (page 224)
• Socialist Destour and Cultural-Evolutionary Theory (page 228)
• E. Privatization, Liberalization, and Oppression in the 1970s (page 229)
• Land Privatization (page 229)
• Acceptance of World Bank Conditions (page 232)
• Policy Failures, Resistance, and Violent Oppression (page 234)
• Policies of the 1970s and Cultural-Evolutionary Theory (page 235)
• F. Solidification of Societal Change in the 1980s and Its Consequences on Standards of Living (page 238)
• Effects of Accelerated Liberalization on Public Heath (page 240)
• Effects of Accelerated Liberalization on Wealth Discrepancy (page 241)
• Accelerated Liberalization and Cultural-Evolutionary Theory (page 242)
• G. Conclusion (page 243)
• 6Insights to Be Gained through the Modern Context (page 245)
• A. Introduction (page 245)
• What Globalization and Tunisia Might Contribute (page 246)
• B. The Voices of the Oppressed (page 250)
• Displacement of Subsistence Farmers and Altered Social Relations (page 251)
• The Poorest of the Poor (page 255)
• Observations of an Educated Peasant (page 263)
• Contempt for the Poor amongst the Elite (page 268)
• An Alternative Perspective (page 270)
• C. Shifts in Regional Power Structures (page 273)
• Tunisian Power-Shifts and the Prophetic Texts (page 276)
• Potential Motivations behind the Composition of Isa. 5.8...10 and Mic. 2.1...2 (page 278)
• D. Conclusion (page 282)
• 7Conclusion (page 283)
• A. What Has Been Discovered (page 284)
• The Contextual Problem and the Use of Cultural Evolution (page 284)
• Historical and Archaeological Precedence (page 286)
• The Evolution of World Systems into the Modern Day (page 289)
• Modern-Day Corporate Globalization and Tunisia (page 290)
• The Value of This Interdisciplinary Approach (page 293)
• B. Contributions Offered by This Study (page 294)
• The Issue of Perpetrators and Victims (page 294)
• C. Potential for Future Study (page 299)
• Bibliography (page 303)
• Index (page 333)