• Preface


• Abbreviations


• Contributors


• Introduction Brent A. Strawn, ''The Bible and Happiness?''


• Part I. Hebrew Bible/Old Testament


• Introduction to Part I


• Terence E. Fretheim, ''God, Creation, and the Pursuit of Happiness''


• Nathan MacDonald, ''Is There Happiness in the Torah?''


• Jacqueline Lapsley, ''A Happy Blend: Isaiah's Vision of Happiness (and Beyond)''


• William P. Brown, ''Happiness and Its Discontents in the Psalms''


• Carol A. Newsom, ''Positive Psychology and Ancient Israelite Wisdom''


• Part II. New Testament


• Introduction to Part II


• Carl R. Holladay, ''The Beatitudes: Happiness and the Kingdom of God''


• Joel B. Green, '''We Had to Celebrate and Rejoice!' Happiness in the Topsy-Turvy World of Luke-Acts''


• Colleen Shantz, '''I Have Learned to Be Content': Happiness according to St. Paul''


• Greg Carey, ''Finding Happiness in Apocalyptic Literature''


• Part III. Beyond the Bible:


• Continuing the Conversation into Other Disciplines


• Introduction to Part III


• Ellen T. Charry, ''The Necessity of Divine Happiness: A Response from Systematic Theology''


• Thomas G. Long, ''A Constructed Happiness: A Response from Practical Theology''


• Steven J. Sandage, ''The Transformation of Happiness: A Response from Counseling Psychology''


• Epilogue Brent A. Strawn, ''The Triumph of Life: Towards a Biblical Theology of Happiness''


• Appendix Michael J. Chan, ''A Biblical Lexicon of Happiness''


• Bibliography


• Index

Brent A. Strawn is Associate Professor of Old Testament, Candler School of Theology, Emory University.

Scholars of the social sciences have devoted more and more attention of late to the concept of human happiness, mainly from sociological and psychological perspectives. This volume, which includes essays from scholars of the New Testament, the Old Testament, systematic theology, practical theology, and counseling psychology, poses a new and exciting question: what is happiness according to the Bible?