Brandon Hurlbert (one of the hosts of The Two Cities podcast) discusses his article “Deconstructing the Downward Spiral: Anthology as Coherence in the Book of Judges,” arguing that it should be viewed as an anthology of narratives rather than a unified story depicting a downward spiral of moral decay. He explores the editorial processes behind ancient texts, the complexity of biblical narratives, and the presence of humor and irony within the stories. Hurlbert also evaluates the common downward spiral thesis through a series of tests, ultimately challenging its validity and emphasizing the interpretive freedom readers have when approaching these texts. Brandon recommends that listeners read Andrew Judd’s Modern Genre Theory: An Introduction for Biblical Studies.

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