New From Sheffield Phoenix

Recent publication announcements from Sheffield Phoenix Press (via their North American distributor, the SBL):



Incarnate Word, Inscribed Flesh: John's Prologue and the Postmodern

Ela Nutu

In this ground-breaking study, Nutu offers an unremittingly postmodern scrutiny of the Logos as the incarnate word that becomes visible as it is inscribed in human flesh.
Bible in the Modern World, 6
ISBN: 978-1-905048-25-0 € Cloth $85.00 € August 2007
If you are within North America, click here. If you are outside of North America, click here.



In Other Words: Essays on Social Science Methods and the New Testament in Honor of Jerome H. Neyrey

Edited by Anselm C. Hagedorn, Zeba A. Crook, Eric Stewart

In this Festschrift to Jerome H. Neyrey, the contributors (David Aune, Zeba Crook, Craig deVos, John H. Elliott, Philip Esler, Bruce Malina and John Pilch, Halvor Moxnes, Douglas Oakman, Carolyn Osiek, Eric Stewart, Gerd Theissen) notably advance the cause of social-scientific New Testament study.
The Social World of Biblical Antiquity, Second Series, 1
ISBN: 978-1-905048-39-7 € Cloth $95.00 € August 2007
If you are within North America, click here. If you are outside of North America, click here.



The Birth of Moses and the Buddha: A Paradigm for the Comparative Study of Religions

Vanessa R. Sasson

Responding to a recent upsurge of Jewish interest in Buddhism, Sasson undertakes the first serious academic effort to uncover the common ground between the founders of the two religions, Moses and the Buddha.
Hebrew Bible Monographs, 9
ISBN: 1-905048-38-6 € Cloth $85.00 € September 2007
If you are within North America, click here. If you are outside of North America, click here.



Text and Community: Essays in Memory of Bruce M. Metzger (vol. 1)

Edited by J. Harold Ellens

The first of two wide-ranging and often innovative volumes created in Metzger's honor, subtitled Interpretation of the Text for the Community, falls into two parts: The Nature of the Bible: Manuscripts, Texts, and Translation (e.g. an ancient papyrus biblical fragment, biblical exegesis in the third world), and Understanding the Bible: Hermeneutics (e.g. biblical interpretation in Paul in its cultural context).
New Testament Monographs, 19
ISBN: 1-906055-15-7 € Cloth $85.00 € September 2007
If you are within North America, click here. If you are outside of North America, click here.



Text and Community: Essays in Memory of Bruce M. Metzger (vol. 2)

Edited by J. Harold Ellens

The second volume, on Implementation of the Text in the Community, has as its two parts, The Church and the Bible: Pulpit and Parish (e.g. pastoral care and the Bible) and The Academy, Science, Culture, Society, and the Bible (e.g. psychological method and the historical Jesus, Jungian and Freudian perspectives on gender in the Gospel of John).
New Testament Monographs, 20
ISBN: 978-1-906055-00-0 € Cloth $85.00 € September 2007
If you are within North America, click here. If you are outside of North America, click here.

New Seals and Inscriptions, Hebrew, Idumean, and Cuneiform

Edited by Meir Lubetski

This collection of fifteen papers is a significant addition to our textual evidence for the world of the Bible: it presents over fifty inscriptions, tablets and seals from the collections of Shlomo Moussaieff, in Hebrew, Idumean, and cuneiform. Most of these texts are being published here for the first time.
Hebrew Bible Monographs, 8
ISBN: 1-905048-35-1 € Cloth $95.00 € September 2007
If you are within North America, click here. If you are outside of North America, click here.

BAR Highlights: 9/26/07

More recent archaeological news from Biblical Archaeology Review:

“Devil’s Bible” Returns to Prague
A medieval Bible copied by a monk and, according to legend, the Devil is on view in Prague thanks to a loan from Sweden. The manuscript was captured by Swedish troops in 1648, during the Thirty Years’ War.

Jordan Contributes to Temple Mount
The Hashemite Kingdom has announced it will contribute $1.5 million to reconstruction and preservation work for the Al Aqsa Mosque and other structures on the Mount.

Second Temple Quarry Found
Northwest of ancient Jerusalem, archaeologists have discovered the quarry they believe provided the huge stones used by King Herod’s builders when they expanded the Temple Mount. For additional photos, see http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/popup?id=3642720.

Egypt in the Negev
An Egyptian administrative building from the Late Bronze Age has been uncovered in southern Israel near the Gaza Strip. The excavators also revealed the remains of a seventh-century B.C. Philistine village.

Sale of Statuette Expected to Fetch Millions
The Guennol Lioness, a 5,000-year-old Mesopotamian statue, has been at the Brooklyn Museum of Art since 1948 but will be auctioned in December; proceeds will go to a charitable foundation.

Underwater Survey Yields Results
A project to map ancient shipwrecks has found a 2,400-year-old Greek vessel off the coast of Albania.

YUP Acquires Anchor Bible Series: Part Deux

Just hours after I published my own happy reflections on Yale University Press' purchase of the Anchor Bible series, Charles Halton had the audacity to give a brief list of reasons "Why Anchor Yale Bible is Bad for Biblical Studies and the General Public"! Seriously... how dare he! ;-) His list (supplemented by a few initial comments of my own) is given below:

As a division of Random House, Doubleday had the biggest mass-market exposure of any publisher of biblical studies related books. Now that Yale owns the series, this exposure will probably dramatically decrease.
As a former employee of a major bookstore (I worked for Borders Books & Music for five years, the last year as an inventory manager), I don't think that Doubleday could have ever claimed "the biggest mass-market exposure of any publisher of biblical studies related books." That title probably belongs to HarperCollins, which not only boasts a large imprint dedicated entirely to religious and spiritual titles (HarperOne, formerly HarperSanFrancisco), but also has published some religious titles under its regular label. And as I stated in my first post on this subject (see below), what good are size and resources if they're not being utilized on behalf of your product? It's also important to note that many large bookstores now include titles from academic publishers in their regular backlists. Both of the Borders stores where I worked (in Louisville, KY) carried titles by Jaroslav Pelikan... titles published by YUP.

Anchor Yale Bible is a really bad name: its long, uncreative, and cumbersome–I guess the new acronym is going to be AYB which looks more like a fraternity than an academic series.
Well, I can't argue with this one. Frankly, I wish they would have simply retained the "Anchor Bible" name... or changed it to "Yale Bible" (which sounds nice, but would discard the name recognition of the original series). I guess if you make a deal like this, you should get to put your name on the marquee. ;-)

Yale has a much smaller pocketbook than Doubleday which might limit projects.
The smaller pocketbook is undeniable--but see my response to Halton's first point (and also my post below). I think it's safe to say that Anchor will be more important for the continued success of YUP than it was for that of Doubleday... and hopefully the product will reflect this fact.

Because of the prominence and wide reach of Anchor Bible (even popping up on Barnes and Noble shelves) the thoughtful reach of the field of biblical studies as a whole will shrink.
I certainly haven't shopped in every major bookstore in the country, but I've been in a large number of them, and I've never seen an Anchor Bible commentary on any of their shelves. (I have occasionally seen Anchor Bible Reference Library titles, such as John Meier's A Marginal Jew series and Raymond Brown's two-volume The Death of the Messiah, in both Borders and Barnes & Noble.) But again, if these bookstores already carry backlist from academic publishers, there's no reason why they would stop now... or why they wouldn't begin to carry additional titles, if YUP markets them aggressively and effectively.

YUP Acquires Anchor Bible Series

The ever-vigilant Jim West notes that Yale University Press and Anchor Doubleday have reached an agreement to transfer control of the acclaimed Anchor Bible series (consisting of the Anchor Bible commentary series, the Anchor Bible Reference Library, and the six-volume Anchor Bible Dictionary) from the latter to the former. Based on my experience in the bookstore world, I think that this could be a very positive development--both for YUP and for readers everywhere. YUP takes over a popular, well-established series that greatly enhances their presence in the biblical studies market; also, as a smaller academic publisher, they may be better equipped to give the series the attention it deserves. Over the past several years, many of the key commentaries (e.g., those of Raymond Brown and Joseph Fitzmyer) have quietly gone out of print, with no immediate plans to republish. Doubleday lamely attempted to fill the gap by providing print-on-demand paperback editions of some older titles, but these were expensive and shoddily made. My copy of Joseph Fitzmyer's The Gospel According to Luke, I-IX (which we used in a Greek exegesis course with Prof. Adela Collins last semester) fell apart after just a few weeks. Hopefully YUP will reprint most, if not all, of these titles in the sturdy hardcover editions they--and we--deserve!

While I'm indulging in wishful thinking, it would be nice for YUP to borrow a few features from Hermeneia (Anchor Bible's major competitor in the scholarly commentary market), such as the use of actual Hebrew and Greek fonts rather than transliteration, and a larger layout. But I probably shouldn't get too greedy too fast. ;-)

The Context of Crucifixion

On The Jesus Dynasty blog, James Tabor has posted a nice summary of the Jewish historian Josephus' references to crucifixion. Although crucifixion is naturally a focal point of Christian history, theology, and worship, many believers are largely unaware of the broader history and context of the practice. These passages from Josephus (and also Martin Hengel's brief summary of crucifixion) help to fill that gap.

On a supplemental note, it is interesting that one of the passages listed by Tabor (Antiquities 18.65, 78-80) includes one of the very few (if not the only) recorded crucifixions of a woman: the freedwoman Ide, who devised the twisted plot by which Mundus seduced the virtuous Paulina.

Fun with Hebrews

Although this is only the third week of the fall semester, all of my classes are already well underway, and are engaging in some rich discussion. Hopefully I'll have more time to blog about these topics in future weeks; between classes, work at the bookstore, PhD applications, and GRE study, I've been wondering when I'll have time to eat, let alone blog!

However, I will take a few brief moments to mention an issue which arose during Greek Exegesis of Hebrews, which meets every Monday afternoon under the eminently learned supervision of Prof. Harry Attridge. We were translating and discussing Hebrews 2, and when it came time for v. 9, one of my classmates read aloud and translated the final clause (as printed in the Nestle-Aland critical edition):

ὅπως χάριτι θεοῦ ὑπὲρ παντὸς γεύσηται θανάτου
("so that, by the grace of God, he might taste death on everyone's behalf")

The translation given above is my own, but it isn't substantially different from standard translations such as the NRSV, or from the on-the-spot translation provided by my classmate. But Prof. Attridge noted that a few manuscript witnesses (0243, and the original hand of the important minuscule 1739) as well as a few patristic witnesses (Origen, Ambrose, Jerome, and Fulgentius) replace χάριτι θεοῦ with χωρις θεου, which would dramatically alter the translation and sense of the clause:

ὅπως χωρις θεου ὑπὲρ παντὸς γεύσηται θανάτου
("so that, apart from God, he might taste death on everyone's behalf")

The witness of Origen (who died c. 254 CE) is particularly interesting, as he is just a few decades removed from Hebrews' earliest manuscript witness (P46, normally dated to c. 200 CE). Furthermore, this would certainly fall within the category of the "more difficult reading," which often guides text critics in their attempts to determine which reading is more original, and which has been altered by later scribes. Bruce Metzger, however, has argued that χωρις θεου was either a simple scribal mistake (χάριτι and χωρις are somewhat similar in appearance), or originally arose as a marginal note indicating that the πάντα ("everything") mentioned in v. 8 did not include God, and then was mistakenly integrated into the text. Hmm... pretty interesting stuff... and we've got a long way to go!

RBL Highlights: 9/20/07

A few highlights from this week's Review of Biblical Literature. A few other bloggers (including Mark Goodacre and Stephen Carlson) have noted the large review Of Peter Jeffery's The Secret Gospel of Mark Unveiled. I share Goodacre's gratification that the RBL is expanding to include more extended, detailed articles, but I won't be able to slog through 47 single-spaced pages until Christmas break. ;-)
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ESSAY REVIEW (47 pages)
Peter Jeffery
The Secret Gospel of Mark Unveiled: Imagined Rituals of Sex, Death, and Madness in a Biblical Forgery
Reviewed by Scott G. Brown

Martin Goodman
Judaism in the Roman World: Collected Essays
Reviewed by Judith M. Lieu

Isaac Kalimi and Peter J. Haas, eds.
Biblical Interpretation in Judaism and Christianity
Reviewed by Craig A. Evans

Michelle V. Lee
Paul, the Stoics, and the Body of Christ
Reviewed by Richard A. Wright

Alastair H. B. Logan
The Gnostics: Identifying an Early Christian Cult
Reviewed by Jon Ma. Asgeirsson

BAR Highlights: 9/20/07

More recent archaeological news from Biblical Archaeological Review:

A Second Flood?
A planned dam in Turkey will destroy an ancient Mesopotamian city.

Egypt Pines for Nefertiti
The country is miffed that its request for a 3-month loan of the famed statue of the ancient queen has been rebuffed by Germany. More international tensions may be in the offing: Egypt may soon seek to borrow the Rosetta Stone from England.

Artifacts for Rent?
A Harvard economist thinks there’s a way to cut down on the traffic in illegal antiquities: Let countries or institutions with the means rent artifacts from poorer countries that cannot afford to excavate or protect them.

Tracking the Phoenicians’ DNA
A researcher has been finding the genetic footprint of the ancient seafaring people along the trade routes they used—and has also stumbled into a very modern debate over identity.

X-Ray Vision
A new type of X-ray machine, touted as being far more powerful than its predecessors, will be used to peer into and decipher Dead Sea Scroll fragments that are too fragile to be unrolled.

Sprechen Sie Cuneiform?
A Web-based program translates English words into cuneiform or hieroglyphics.

Trying to Put a Stop to It
Prominent Israeli archaeologists and other leading figures have asked their country’s High Court of Justice to prevent further digging atop Jerusalem’s Temple Mount.

Blogger of the Month: Alan Bandy

As a number of other bloggers have noted, Alan Bandy (of Cafe Apocalypsis fame) is the current Biblioblogger of the Month. Check out his chat with Jim West here.

Caiaphas' Twin... Jabba the Hutt?

On the Bible Films Blog, Matt Page has posted a fascinating comparison between the characters of Caiaphas the high priest (as he is depicted in Mel Gibson's controversial film The Passion of the Christ) and... you guessed it... nefarious warlord Jabba the Hutt (of the Star Wars hexateuch fame)! Don't laugh just let... Page makes some provocative observations, such as the ways in which both Gibson and George Lucas subtly manipulate light and shadow in order to emphasize the natures and purposes of certain characters. However, my absolute favorite was this visual comparison of the guards stationed in the villains' respective palaces:



Check out the entire post... it's well worth a look!

SBL Bound!

I registered for the AAR/SBL Annual Meeting this morning. As much as I enjoyed presenting a paper last year, it will be nice to simply sit back and absorb the plethora of exhibits, panels, and presentations this time around. (I did make it to a few interesting panels last year, but I was a little preoccupied with my own impending doom!) I'm particularly excited about seeing some of my own professors in action; e.g., Adela Collins (see the brief post below). Of course, I'll also be busy seeking out scholars with whom I may be studying in the near future, as well as religious publishers and other professional folks in case I decide that I'm tired of school. So many possibilities, so little time... I may be coming down with a case of graduate senioritis!

Special Delivery! Bauckham's Jesus and the Eyewitnesses

When I got to the bookstore today, I discovered a package from Eerdmans containing, among other things, my special order copy of Richard Bauckham's incendiary Jesus and the Eyewitnesses. As many of you are surely aware, this book has generated a tremendous amount of online and offline chatter in just a few short months. That fact alone would normally be enough to pique my interest, but I've also discovered that Prof. Adela Collins (one of my favorite professors at Yale) is presenting her own review of the book as part of a panel at the upcoming SBL meeting. I'm planning to start reading tonight... it's a good thing that I don't have class tomorrow. ;-)

Additions to the Online Critical Pseudepigrapha

A welcome announcement from the SBL. However, I should note that despite the announcement's assertion that the OCP interface is now fully compatible with Safari, the included hyperlinks didn't work on my Mac. Fortunately, Firefox worked like a charm!
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The Online Critical Pseudepigrapha is pleased to announce two new publications plus an important site enhancement.

2 Baruch (Edition 2.0)
edited by Daniel M. Gurtner with David M. Miller and Ian W. Scott

All of the primary evidence for the Apocalypse of Baruch (2 Baruch) is now included in this new edition prepared by Daniel M. Gurtner. The only complete text of 2 Baruch is preserved in one Syriac manuscript (7a1). Chapters 1–77 of this manuscript, comprising the full text of the Apocalypse, are transcribed here in their entirety as they appear in the edition of Dedering. Dedering’s edition also records a large number of conjectural emendations as well as manuscript variants found in three Jacobite lectionaries. These have been included in the OCP’s interactive critical apparatus. Also included in this edition is the surviving Greek evidence for 2 Baruch found in manuscript P.Oxy. 403 and the single Latin excerpt found in Cyprian, Test. 3.29.

Visions of Amram (Edition 1.0)
edited by Robert Duke

The Visions of Amram is a previously unknown work included among the Dead Sea Scrolls and preserved in five Aramaic copies (4Q543–547). The version presented here, compiled by Robert Duke, is the first eclectic text of the Visions of Amram. This edition was produced directly from photographic images of the fragments, and in a few cases this results in different readings from those of Émile Puech’s DJD edition. The “chapter” and “verse” numbers are new to this edition. Each “chapter” represents a distinct narrative episode in the document, and Duke suggests that these episodes appeared in the original document in the order they are presented here. Note that these numbers do not correspond to the fragment, column, and line numbers by which Armam has previously been referenced. A critical apparatus of all the variants evident in the five manuscripts is being prepared, and this will allow readers to view each fragment separately.

Mac-Friendly Reader Interface
Mac users will be glad to hear that documents in the Online Critical Pseudepigrapha are now presented in an upgraded reader interface that is fully compatible with the Safari web browser as well as with Internet Explorer and Firefox.

BAR Highlights: 9/12/07

More recent archaeological news from Biblical Archaeology Review:

In or Out?
Excavations in Syria are turning theories about the origins of cities upside down—or inside out. Rather than beginning with a central core and growing outward, cities may have started as scattered villages that linked and grew inward.

Ancient Vandalism
Restoration work on reliefs belonging to Bowdoin College in Maine shows that a depiction of the Assyrian ruler Ashurnasirpal II was defaced in ancient times by his enemy, the Medes.

Escape Route
Archaeologists Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron have discovered an underground drainage channel that was used by many of Jerusalem’s residents to flee the Roman destruction of the city in 70 A.D. Artifacts found in the channel can be seen at http://news.yahoo.com/photo/070909/ ids_photos_wl/r2682897765.jpg.

Iron Age Chef
The team excavating Tell es-Safi (Biblical Gath) is finding that the Philistine way of cooking was copied by neighboring Israelites and Canaanites. The Philistines were especially fond of crock pots.

What to Do? Consult a Liver
Archaeologists at Hazor have discovered a tablet that contains instructions on how to foretell the future by studying animal livers (note: the article states the tablet was written in hieroglyphics, but it meant to say cuneiform).

Hezekiah Inscription to Return to Israel
The famed inscription, which was carved into the wall of Hezekiah’s Tunnel in Jerusalem and which celebrates the city’s survival of an Assyrian siege, will be on view in Israel for at least several months and possibly longer. It has been in Turkey since the late 19th century, when Palestine was a part of the Ottoman Empire.

Land of Milk and ...
Excavators at Tel Rehov, in the Beth-Shean Valley, have uncovered 30 intact beehives and an inscribed jar that may refer to the father or grandfather of the Biblical king Jehu.

Eisenbrauns Catalogs

James Spinti announces that two new catalogs are now available online from Eisenbrauns (print versions should be out within the next few weeks). Here are the respective links:

Scholars' Source Catalog

Ancient Near Eastern Resources Catalog

Exploring the Social Tumult Behind the Reformation Movement

A recent announcement from Augsburg Fortress Publishers:



Perhaps no period in Christian history experienced such vast religious tumult and rapid social change as the European Reformation, when it quickly became apparent that social and political issues—finding deep resonance with the common people—were deeply entwined with religious ones raised by the Reformers.

For historians, clergy, college, university, seminary students, and general readers who want to learn more about this period in time Fortress Press is happy to announce the release of Reformation Christianity, Volume 5 in the A People's History of Christianity Series.

"These stories may come up from the basement of church history, but news about their existence deserves to be shouted from the housetops....This new series turns history upside down..."
—Martin E. Marty, University of Chicago Divinity School

Led by eminent Reformation historian Peter Matheson, ten distinguished social historians trace the myriad and profound ways in which Europe's several Reformations played out in the lives of common folk: in their personal spirituality and corporate worship, catechesis and discipline, sexuality and gender roles, mores surrounding marriage, birth, and baptism, aging and death, relations with Jews and Muslims, lay theologies, as well as the utopian and even revolutionary ventures they spawned.

Visit the companion Web site, www.peopleshistoryofchristianity.com, to learn more about the series including testimonials, tables of contents, research paper guides, and more.

RBL Highlights: 9/10/07

A few highlights from this week's Review of Biblical Literature:

Peter H. Davids
The Letters of 2 Peter and Jude
Reviewed by James P. Sweeney
Reviewed by Daniel B. Wallace

Craig A. Evans
Fabricating Jesus: How Modern Scholars Distort the Gospels
Reviewed by Stephen J. Patterson

Jonathan D. Lawrence
Washing in Water: Trajectories of Ritual Bathing in the Hebrew Bible and Second Temple Literature
Reviewed by James W. Watts

More Used NT Titles From Dove

A few of the most recent New Testament offerings from Dove Booksellers' Used Book Department. There's a lot of good stuff this week...

Allison Jr, Dale C
THE END OF THE AGES HAS COME: AN EARLY INTERPRETATION OF THE PASSION AND RESURRECTION OF JESUS
(Augsburg Fortress, 1985)
Condition: VG Hardcover $16.00
Comments: DJ

Bailey, James L; L D Vander Broek
LITERARY FORMS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT: A HANDBOOK
(Westminster John Knox, 1992)
Condition: VG Paperback $12.00

Barr, James
SEMANTICS OF BIBLICAL LANGUAGE
(Oxford University Press, 1961)
Condition: GC Hardcover $30.00
Comments: Pencilled UL through p 20

Black, David Alan
RETHINKING NEW TESTAMENT TEXTUAL CRITICISM
(Baker Book House, 2002)
Condition: NF Paperback $12.00

Charles, R H
APOCRYPHA AND PSEUDEPIGRAPHA OF THE OLD TESTAMENT (2 VOLS)
(Oxford University Press, 1963)
Condition: VG Hardcover $160.00
Comments: Bookplate; handstamp, annotation on rear pastedown of Vol 2

Charlesworth, James H
OLD TESTAMENT PSEUDEPIGRAPHA (2 VOLS)
(Doubleday, 1983)
Condition: VG Hardcover $58.00
Comments: DJs

Cross Jr, Frank Moore
QUMRAN AND THE HISTORY OF THE BIBLICAL TEXT
(Harvard University Press, 1975)
Condition: GC Paperback $12.00

Davies, W D
PAUL AND RABBINIC JUDAISM: SOME RABBINIC ELEMENTS IN PAULINE THEOLOGY
(SPCK, 1962)
Condition: VG Hardcover $22.00

Dodd, C H
INTERPRETATION OF THE FOURTH GOSPEL
(Cambridge University Press, 1960)
Condition: VG Hardcover $25.00
Comments: DJ

Hartin, Patrick J
JAMES AND THE Q SAYINGS OF JESUS
(Sheffield Academic Press, 1991)
Condition: VG Hardcover $55.00
Comments: R

Kenyon, Sir Frederic G
OUR BIBLE AND THE ANCIENT MANUSCRIPTS
(Eyre-Spottiswoode, 1939)
Condition: VG Hardcover $24.00

Martin, Dale
SLAVERY AS SALVATION: THE METAPHOR OF SLAVERY IN PAULINE CHRISTIANITY
(Yale University Press, 1990)
Condition: VG Hardcover $20.00
Comments: DJ

Moore, George Foote
JUDAISM IN THE FIRST CENTURIES OF THE CHRISTIAN ERA (3 VOLS)
(Harvard University Press, 1962)
Condition: VG Hardcover $60.00
Comments: DJs

Robinson, James M; Helmut Koester
TRAJECTORIES THROUGH EARLY CHRISTIANITY
(Fortress, 1971)
Condition: GC Hardcover $20.00
Comments: Minor pencilled UL; DJ (worn)

Sanders, E P
JESUS, THE GOSPELS AND THE CHURCH: ESSAYS IN HONOR OF WILLIAM R FARMER
(Mercer University Press, 1987)
Condition: VG Hardcover $32.00

BAR Highlights: 9/6/07

More recent archaeological news from Biblical Archaeology Review:

Roman Footprint
The footprint of a Roman soldier has been found preserved in cement at the ancient city of Hippos/Sussita in Israel.

Ballard Back to the Sea
Oceanographer Robert Ballard, who discovered the Titanic, will be exploring a shipwreck in the Black Sea from the Byzantine era.

Dog Walk Leads to Roman House
A man walking his dog at a local golf course found pottery shards and roof tiles from a Roman house at the Cumberwell Park Golf Club near Bradford on Avon in England.

That Was Fast!
Samarkand, along the Silk Road, celebrates its 2,750th birthday this year, after celebrating its 2,500th birthday just 11 years ago. The reason? New archaeological finds have necessitated a revision of the city.

Greece Aflame
Dozens of fires have been burning out of control in southern Greece and threatening ancient sites, including where the Olympic Games were first played.

Rebuild the Buddhas?
A debate is growing over whether the two giant statues of Buddha that were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001 can be rebuilt—and whether they should be.

Another Semester in the Halls of Ivy

Yale's fall semester began today. Although I may visit a few other courses during the two-week "shopping period," my schedule will most likely consist of:

REL 654 Sibling Rivalries: Israel and "The Other" (Joel Kaminsky)
REL 687 Greek Exegesis: Hebrews (Harry Attridge)
REL 835 Iconography of Christian Art (Jaime Lara)

I'm particularly excited/terrified about Hebrews, given Dean Attridge's status as a leading interpreter of this particular letter. In addition, I'm planning to audit Reading Knowledge of German (a necessity for NT studies, and one that will hopefully make me a more attractive PhD applicant!). Attention, Jim West... I'll be directing all my German questions to you. ;-)

Christ and the Cross in Stories of Redemption

A recent announcement from Augsburg Fortress Publishers:



What does it mean to be saved, and how can we make sense of the Christian claim that Christ died for our sins?

That is the work of soteriology, the classic discipline of theology that inquires into the "saving work" of Christ and asks what, why, and how of redemption as understood by Christians.

In Fortress Introduction to Salvation and the Cross, a masterful survey and analysis of 2000 years of Christian reflection on salvation, theologian David A. Brondos, Professor of Theology at the Theological Community of Mexico, lays bare the diverse and even competing understandings, their social context and development, and their strengths and weaknesses.

Concentrating on thirteen of the most important figures in that long arc—from its biblical roots to its most controverted contemporary expressions—Brondos unfolds the thought of each theologian as articulating a distinctive story of salvation or atonement.

An excellent learning tool, Brondo's succinct and helpful text is augmented with a helpful timeline, illustration, glossary, suggestions for further reading, and questions for discussion and reflection. His work illumines how Christians through the ages have understood Jesus, salvation, and human reconciliation with God.

Order your copy today!

RBL Highlights: 9/5/07

A few highlights from this week's Review of Biblical Literature:

Roger S. Bagnall and Raffaella Cribiore
Women's Letters from Ancient Egypt, 300 BC-AD 800
Reviewed by Carolyn Osiek

Mark J. Boda and Gordon T. Smith, eds.
Repentance in Christian Theology
Reviewed by David H. Wenkel

M. Eugene Boring
Mark: A Commentary
Reviewed by Darrell L. Bock

David B. Gowler
What Are They Saying about the Historical Jesus
Reviewed by Mary J. Marshall

Larry W. Hurtado
The Earliest Christian Artifacts: Manuscripts and Christian Origins
Reviewed by James F. McGrath
Reviewed by Joseph Verheyden

Hillel Newman, edited by Ruth Ludlam
Proximity to Power and Jewish Sectarian Groups of the Ancient Period: A Review of Lifestyle, Values, and Halakhah in the Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, and Qumran
Reviewed by Gerbern Oegema

Jerome H. Neyrey
The Gospel of John
Reviewed by Mary L. Coloe

Great Resource For Bible Neophytes!

Danny Zacharias has announced that deinde.org has reintroduced its online glossary of biblical studies terms, which he describes as "the largest glossary for biblical studies on the net (335 terms and counting)." This is a great resource for students taking introductory courses (I still remember long nights in the library struggling to memorize lovely terms like "amphictyony"!) or any others seeking greater fluency in the lingua franca of biblical scholarship. I've added it to the "Helpful Links" section of the blog. Check it out!

Upcoming Accordance Seminars

Regular readers of this blog know that I am an avid user of Accordance Bible Software. One of the many fringe benefits of this software is that its support staff regularly present seminars designed to expand users' working knowledge and improve their experiences. Here are the preliminary dates, times, and locations of some upcoming seminars:

Orlando, FL
Circle Community Church
Saturday Sept. 29 and Monday Oct. 1
All day seminars, choose one

Atlanta, GA
Atlanta Vineyard
Saturday Oct. 6
All day seminar

Houston and Dallas TX
to be decided

St. Louis, MO
to be decided

Concord, NH
United Baptist Church
Saturday Oct. 20 (or Monday 22)
All day seminar

Princeton, NJ
Princeton Theological Seminary
Thursday Oct. 25??
Day and Hours to be decided

South Hamilton, MA
Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
Saturday Oct. 27
All day seminar

Santa Barbara, CA
Saturday Nov. 10
All day seminar

San Diego, CA
Journey Community Church
Tuesday Nov. 13
Before the ETS meeting, all day seminar

San Diego, CA
Friday evening, Nov. 16
At AAR/SBL meeting, 7 to 10 pm

Berkeley, CA
Saturday Jan. 19, 2008
All day seminar

Tips For Statements of Purpose

On The Forbidden Gospels Blog, April DeConick has listed a number of timely tips for students preparing statements of purpose as part of their MA/PhD applications. As a student preparing to apply to a number of PhD programs this fall, I'm most grateful... thanks, Prof. DeConick!

New: Introduction to the Desert Fathers

A recent announcement from Wipf and Stock Publishers:



An Introduction to the Desert Fathers
by Jason Byassee

The desert fathers wanted to get away from a church co-opted by empire and a Christian faith grown cold and listless. Byassee’s introduction to the Sayings of the Desert Fathers is offered in the hope that readers with lives quite different from those third- and fourth-century desert dwellers might nevertheless come to imitate their lives of poverty, chastity, and obedience; and more importantly, that they might grow more imaginative and passionate in their following of the same Lord.

“Jason Byassee is the perfect guide—an intrepid all-terrain interpreter in the heart of the desert.”
—Timothy Larsen, Wheaton College

• Read Complete Description and Endorsements

• Read Excerpts (includes Table of Contents)

• Request Review or Exam Copy

ISBN 13: 978-1-59752-530-5 / 130 pp / $16 Retail / Paper

Latest from Tyndale Tech: SESB

The latest offering from Tyndale Tech (a nice resource prepared by David Instone-Brewer) is a review of the Stuttgart Electronic Study Bible (SEBS), which features electronic editions of the Nestle-Aland and Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia critical texts, as well as their respective apparatuses. Instone-Brewer concludes: "give away your paper BHS + NA27 and buy this. An extraordinary conclusion for someone who doesn't like Libronix, but this is an extraordinary product which is more usable than the paper versions." Jim West is a little more skeptical, and counters: "No. Don’t. It’s never proper to replace an easily portable, non electronic, easy to use reference tool for one that requires a battery or a cord. But, do take his advice seriously if you are looking for an electronic supplement to your print collection." I'm always loath to disagree with Jim West, but I'm not sure that I would describe the BHS/N-A apparatuses as "easy to use." When my first Greek instructor introduced our class to the N-A apparatus, he told us that we were learning not one but two languages: koine Greek and the countless sigla of the apparatus. Furthermore, in order to weigh manuscript evidence properly, one must learn the provenance and relevance of all the papyri, uncials, early translations, and other versions which appear in the apparatus. That's a lot of information.

In an electronic edition, all of this information is available at the click of a mouse. Instone-Brewer mentions that a slightly less powerful, less expensive version of the SEBS is also available from Accordance Bible Software; I have used this version for the past year or so. (I also recently purchased an Accordance edition of Bruce Metzger's Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, which is included in the SEBS reviewed by Instone-Brewer.) My verdict: I love the feel and portability of my Greek-English New Testament, but text-critical work is much simpler in the digital world. Explanations of sigla and the provenances of manuscripts appear simply by placing the cursor over them. The apparatuses can be searched with ease according to scriptural references, critical signs, witnesses, etc. In preparation for an exegesis class I'm taking this fall, I wanted to see how papyri have affected the development of the Nestle-Aland text from the 25th edition to the present 27th edition, with particular emphasis on the Letter to the Hebrews. I simply searched the critical signs for the cross (which symbolizes a reading which was part of the 25th edition but has now been changed), restricted the search results to Hebrews, and noted that almost all of the changes were supported by the papyri. Pretty easy.

In short, I'll probably keep my paper editions... staring at computer screens all day makes my eyes tired. ;-) But I highly recommend electronic apparatuses to all serious biblical scholars.

Teaching (and Studying) Difficult Issues

On The Forbidden Gospels Blog, April DeConick writes of her intention to include a "course contract" on her syllabi this year (after receiving a tip from a friend who developed a similar practice). The text of her contract is given here. As a biblical studies major, my classes often address difficult issues from the relationship between theology and biblical hermeneutics to theodicy, abortion, and homosexuality (the latter of which is also mentioned by DeConick as an example), and so I can see that such a contract may be warranted. And as a critically minded scholar myself, I'm not overly troubled by a contract which stipulates that students engage the various texts and their various issues in a critical way. This is certainly how the Old Testament Interpretation and the New Testament Interpretation courses are taught at Yale. But the concluding sentence of DeConick's contract still gave me some pause: "[b]y remaining in this course and accepting this syllabus, you are expressing your understanding of and agreement with these fundamental, non-negotiable conditions of intellectual freedom and critical engagement." Is intellectual freedom truly being maintained if certain viewpoints are expressly forbidden at the outset? How does the work of canonical critics such as Brevard Childs fit into a matrix which places "faith" on one pole and "scholarship" on the other? I must admit that I have no answers to these questions, nor do I really believe that they can be satisfactorily answered. And I do believe that in an academic setting, an approach such as DeConick's is both the most appropriate and the most effective. I just enjoy playing the Devil's Advocate. ;-)

I once heard a story about Prof. John Collins (possibly apocryphal, possibly not) which I still find amusing. Prof. Collins was in his first semester as an active faculty member at Yale and was teaching the standard Old Testament Interpretation course, a course of approximately 75-100 students. When it came time for him to deliver his lecture on Lev. 18, the class was a little tense, as the chapter's decisive verdict against male homosexuality remains a difficult issue for many. However, he noted that this passage includes no such verdict against female homosexuality--possibly because of a lack of concern for non-penetrative intercourse, or some similar reason. But before he could go any further, a young woman sitting in the back exclaimed in relief, "Pshew!" The entire class laughed and moved on.

The moral of this story: laughter is the surest way to bring people together, even if they represent different theological and doctrinal backgrounds. If only the church fathers had had better senses of humor...

BAR Highlights: 8/29/07

More recent archaeological news from Biblical Archaeology Review:

Temple Mount Digging Condemned—Again
Israeli archaeologists have again blasted Muslim religious authorities for construction work on the Temple Mount and have criticized the Israel Antiquities Authority for doing nothing to stop it.

Hadrian Unearthed
Parts of a large (13-16 feet) statue of the Roman emperor who quashed the Second Jewish Revolt have been uncovered in south-central Turkey.

An Inconvenient Truth?
Climate change may have led to the flooding of ancient Israel’s coastal plain 5,500 years ago.

New Translation of Egyptian Religious Text
The Pyramid Texts, one of the oldest known religious texts from Egypt and which evolved into the Book of the Dead, has been translated into English.

An Artifact in the Strangest Place
A woman in western Austria unwittingly uncovered a medieval cross while searching in a trash container for old dishes. The artifact, valued at half a million dollars, was part of a collection in Poland but was taken to Austria in 1941 by the Nazis.

New: A Slimmer Version of Collins' Intro

A recent announcement from Augsburg Fortress Publishers concerning the publication of a new abridgment of John Collins' An Introduction to the Hebrew Bible. The abridgment is about half the size of its predecessor. Prof. Collins is not only my advisor at Yale (which more than earns him a plug on this blog) but also one of the best teachers I have studied with in my career. I haven't had a chance to read the book, but I have seen a copy in the bookstore and it looks fantastic. Plenty of high-quality illustrations, helpful excurses in distinctive colored boxes, and other aids designed to appeal to undergraduates and other introductory readers. Check out the brief video clip on the accompanying website (www.collinstext.com) in which Prof. Collins wryly mentions that one of his major challenges was to produce a textbook "that students can read." With wit like that, how can he not be my favorite professor? ;-)
-------

Collins' Authoritative Introduction to the Hebrew Bible Now Abridged



"To now have A Short Introduction to the Hebrew Bible in a format fashioned especially for the undergraduate course is most welcome."
—James VanderKam, John A. O'Brien Professor of Hebrew Scriptures, University of Notre Dame

Fortress Press's new release of A Short Introduction to the Hebrew Bible brings the erudition of John Collins's well-regarded Introduction to the Hebrew Bible with CD-ROM (2004) to a wider audience. A marvel of conciseness, A Short Introduction provides more student-friendly features than the larger Introduction, including new charts and maps, more illustrations, chapter summaries, illuminating vignettes, and selected bibliographies.

"Using Collins' textbook is like team-teaching with a master teacher."
—Carol Newsom, Professor of Old Testament, Candler School of Theology

A dedicated Web site (www.collinstext.com) includes test banks and classroom resources geared for the busy professor.

Order your copy today

A Different Kind of "Historical Jesus"?

On his blog Euangelion, Michael Bird (currently attending the Dogmatics Conference in Edinburgh) has provided the final sentences of a paper given by John Webster entitled "The Eternal Begetting of the Son":

"The only historical Jesus there is is the one who has his being in union with the Son of God who is eternally begotten of the Father. Those who pore over the gospels searching for another Jesus (whether their motives be apologetic or critical) pierce their hearts with many pangs, for they study a matter which does not exist."

This is certainly a provocative conclusion, especially in light of the explosive growth of historical Jesus scholarship throughout the last century (growth helpfully charted for the blogosphere by Scot McKnight, with additional insightful comments from Mark Goodacre). I'm longing to read the rest of the paper... are "[t]hose who pore over the gospels searching for another Jesus" doomed to failure because of a lack of reliable source material (a judgment akin to that of Bultmann)? Or are the theological and historical personages of Jesus truly inseparable? Alas, a trip to Edinburgh wasn't included in my summer budget... ;-)

RBL Highlights: 8/28/07

A few highlights from this week's Review of Biblical Literature:

Zev Garber, ed.
Mel Gibson's Passion: The Film, the Controversy, and Its Implications
Reviewed by Timothy D. Finlay

Michael W. Holmes
The Apostolic Fathers in English
Reviewed by Hennie Stander

Ben-Zion Rosenfeld and Joseph Menirav
Markets and Marketing in Roman Palestine
Reviewed by Michael Trainor

C. Kavin Rowe
Early Narrative Christology: The Lord in the Gospel of Luke
Reviewed by Joel B. Green

Gregory Tatum
New Chapters in the Life of Paul: The Relative Chronology of His Career
Reviewed by Eve-Marie Becker

Gerd Theissen
The Bible and Contemporary Culture
Reviewed by Christian Danz

BAR Highlights: 8/22/07

More recent archaeological news from Biblical Archaeology Review:

New Tomb of Egyptian Noblewoman Uncovered
Archaeologists have uncovered the tomb of an Egyptian noblewoman in Saqqara, 15 miles south of Cairo. The stone coffin is from the 27th dynasty and is part of the royal burial grounds.

Ireland’s Earliest Breweries?
Two Irish archaeologists have proposed that the horseshoe-shaped, grass-covered mounds found throughout Ireland were in fact used for brewing beer, not for cooking as previously thought. The analysis has been rather tasty.

Returning Art
The Getty Museum’s return of several artifacts to Italy is a major international case, one that may set a precedent for other countries.

Math in Translation
A new book gives English translations of significant mathematical theories from the non-Western world in historical and mathematical context.

Mesopotamian Revivalism through Art
Iraqi artists in Baghdad have been hired to paint over the concrete slabs throughout the city with images of former kings and mythical scenes from pre-Islamic history.

New: Severson on the Parable of the Sheep and Goats

A recent announcement from Wipf and Stock Publishers:



The Least of These
Selected Readings in Christian History
by Eric R. Severson
ISBN 13: 978-1-55635-106-8 / 282 pp / $31 Retail / Paper

This collection of primary documents from Christian history—all dealing with the interpretation of the Parable of the Sheep and Goats in Matthew—spans the second to eighteenth centuries.

“A unique and brilliant contribution to theological pedagogy.”
—Robert Cummings Neville, author of Behind the Masks of God

Read Complete Description and Endorsements

Read Excerpts

Request Review or Exam Copy

RBL Highlights: 8/22/07

A few highlights from this week's Review of Biblical Literature. I was pleased to see that Jouette Bassler's Navigating Paul (which I used while facilitating a four-week study of Paul this summer) received three pretty positive reviews.
-------

Jouette M. Bassler
Navigating Paul: An Introduction to Key Theological Concepts
Reviewed by William S. Campbell
Reviewed by Robert A. Bryant
Reviewed by David J. Downs

Charles B. Cousar
An Introduction to the New Testament: Witnesses to God's New Work
Reviewed by Greg Carey

Edmondo Lupieri
A Commentary on the Apocalypse of John
Reviewed by Craig R. Koester

Lee Martin MacDonald
The Biblical Canon: Its Origin, Transmission, and Authority
Reviewed by David Chapman

Peter Schäfer
Jesus in the Talmud
Reviewed by Catherine Hezser

McKnight Turns to the Historical Jesus

Scot McKnight has followed his illuminating series of posts on the "New Perspective on Paul" with an equally illuminating series on Historical Jesus research, which concludes with nine general points for the reader. Mark Goodacre responded to these final points with a number of minor critiques, several of which I would second (e.g., his argument that some scholars are more effective than others in their attempts to objectively and dispassionately produce an historical reconstruction of Jesus). A few additional observations and comments of my own:

McKnight's fourth point is as follows: "I don’t think historical Jesus has any place in theological studies for the Church. To bracket off one’s theological views in order to study the historical Jesus and then to do theological studies on top of that bracketed-off-study-of-Jesus is a vicious circular argument. You won’t find the Church’s Jesus this way because you’ve decided the Church’s Jesus isn’t allowed at the table! Historical Jesus studies is for historians." While his warnings against circular arguments are well taken, it seems to me that our evolving conceptions of who Jesus really was--what he said, did, didn't say, didn't do, etc.--can and should have a profound effect on the church which is supposedly fundamentally based on his life and teachings. The Church's Jesus and the Historical Jesus may not always be one and the same, but they can communicate with one another, and learn from one another.

And his fifth point: "still, nearly every historical Jesus scholar I know--and I know most of them--believes in the portrait of Jesus they construct on the basis of the historical methods. John Dominic Crossan and Marc Borg and Tom Wright and Dick Horsley et al believe, so it seems to me, in the Jesus they have constructed. (We all do this, don’t we?)" Goodacre objects, and again points to Sanders as a pertinent example. The key to this question is one's understanding of the term "believe." If it is to be understood from a religio-spiritual perspective, then I would agree with Goodacre, and add additional examples such as Bart Ehrman (as I don't think an avowed agnostic can "believe" in Jesus in this way!). If it is to be understood from a more empirical perspective, then I would be more inclined to agree with McKnight. It is to be expected that researchers believe in the results they achieve. Thus the research process must be carefully regulated and comprehensively executed, in order to obtain a result worth believing in.

And, finally, his sixth point: "historical Jesus studies have waned significantly in the last ten years. The hey day was the 80s and 90s but the creative work has been done, climaxing perhaps in Tom Wright’s big book, and mostly the conversation has grown stale. What used to attract hundreds to academic sessions now attracts 30 or 40." Goodacre essentially agrees, and adds that "[t]here is so much of it; it is so much in the mainstream that it has become somewhat less exciting. I am tempted to add that I have not seen anything in twenty years that begins to approach Sanders' Jesus and Judaism for stimulation and interest, but then I really would sound like a Johnny-one-note." Here I find myself disagreeing with both of my esteemed colleagues. McKnight suggests that the climax of recent Historical Jesus research is Tom Wright's "big book" (which I assume is Jesus and the Victory of God, released in 1997). However, both McKnight and Goodacre fail to mention John P. Meier's magisterial Marginal Jew series, the most recent of which was released in 2001 (the third volume, with another volume forthcoming). For my money, these are the definitive volumes on the Historical Jesus, and they are every bit as stimulating and interesting as Jesus and Judaism, albeit in a slightly different vein. McKnight mentions the work of Paula Fredericksen and Amy-Jill Levine, but doesn't mention that their work is relatively recent as well (Fredericksen's Jesus of Nazareth: King of the Jews was first published in 1999; Levine's The Misunderstood Jew was first published last year). Last fall I took a seminar course with Adela Collins entitled "The Historical Jesus"; it was one of the largest seminars I've taken at Yale. There's still a great deal of interest in the Historical Jesus, and if some of that interest is outside the academy, so much the better.

Take a look at all these intriguing posts (and Goodacre's responses) and see what you think!

RBL Highlights: 8/17/07

A few highlights from this week's Review of Biblical Literature:

François Bovon
Luke the Theologian: Fifty-Five Years of Research (1950-2005)
Reviewed by Christoph Stenschke

Trevor J. Burke
Adopted into God's Family: Exploring a Pauline Metaphor
Reviewed by Mary L. Coloe

C. D. Elledge
Life after Death in Early Judaism: The Evidence of Josephus
Reviewed by Daniel Maoz

Ehud Netzer
The Architecture of Herod, the Great Builder
Reviewed by Peter Richardson

Séamus O'Connell
From Most Ancient Sources: The Nature and Text-Critical Use of the Greek Old Testament Text of the Complutensian Polyglot Bible
Reviewed by Anneli Aejmelaeus

Abraham Wasserstein and David Wasserstein
The Legend of the Septuagint: From Classical Antiquity to Today
Reviewed by John Mason

More NT Titles From Dove

More recent New Testament offerings from Dove Booksellers' Used Book Department:

Aland, Kurt; Barbara Aland
TEXT OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
(Wm B Eerdmans Publishing Co, 1988)
Condition: VG Dust Jacket Condition: VG Hardcover $16.00
Comments: DJ

Bell, H Idris; T C Skeat
FRAGMENTS OF AN UNKNOWN GOSPEL AND OTHER EARLY CHRISTIAN PAPYRI
(British Museum, 1935)
Condition: GC Hardcover $30.00
Comments: Shelfworn, frayed at head and tail of spine

Bruce, F F
BIBLICAL EXEGESIS IN THE QUMRAN TEXTS
(Wm B Eerdmans Publishing Co, 1959)
Condition: VG Hardcover $24.00
Comments: DJ

Charlesworth, James H
JESUS' JEWISHNESS: EXPLORING THE PLACE OF JESUS IN EARLY JUDAISM
(Crossroad Publishing, 1991)
Condition: VG Hardcover $22.00
Comments: DJ

Childs, Brevard S
NEW TESTAMENT AS CANON: AN INTRODUCTION
(Fortress, 1985)
Condition: NF Dust Jacket Condition: VG Hardcover $30.00
Comments: DJ

Davies, W D
JEWISH AND PAULINE STUDIES
(Fortress, 1984)
Condition: VG Hardcover $25.00
Comments: DJ

Farmer, William R
MACCABEES, ZEALOTS AND JOSEPHUS: AN INQUIRY INTO JEWISH NATIONALISM IN THE GRECO-ROMAN PERIOD
(Columbia University Press, 1956)
Condition: VG Hardcover $28.00
Comments: DJ

Farmer, William R
SYNOPTIC PROBLEM: A CRITICAL REVIEW OF THE PROBLEM OF THE LITERARY RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN MATTHEW, MARK, AND LUKE
(Macmillan, 1964)
Condition: VG Hardcover $18.00
Comments: Owner stamp on ffep, title page; DJ

Kummel, Werner Georg
NEW TESTAMENT: THE HISTORY OF THE INVESTIGATION OF ITS PROBLEMS
(Abingdon Press, 1972)
Condition: VG Hardcover $30.00
Comments: DJ

Lake, Kirsopp
EARLIER EPISTLES OF ST PAUL: THEIR MOTIVE AND ORIGIN
(Rivingtons, 1911)
Condition: VG Hardcover $30.00

Ludemann, Gerd
HERETICS: THE OTHER SIDE OF EARLY CHRISTIANITY
(Westminster John Knox, 1996)
Condition: VG Hardcover $20.00

Meier, John P
MARGINAL JEW: RETHINKING THE HISTORICAL JESUS, VOLUME 1: THE ROOTS OF THE PROBLEM AND THE PERSON
(Bantam Doubleday Dell, 1991)
Condition: VG Dust Jacket Condition: VG Hardcover $23.00
Comments: DJ

Moore, Stephen D
LITERARY CRITICISM AND THE GOSPELS
(Yale University Press, 1989)
Condition: VG Hardcover $20.00
Comments: DJ

Sanders, E P; Magaret Davies
STUDYING THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS
(Trinity Press International, 1989)
Condition: GC Paperback $20.00
Comments: Front cover, text creased at fore edge

Smith, Morton
SECRET GOSPEL: THE DISCOVERY AND INTERPRETATION OF THE SECRET GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK
(Harper & Row, 1973)
Condition: VG Hardcover $20.00
Comments: DJ

Tischendorf, Constantine
NOVUM TESTAMENTUM GRAECE (2 VOLS BOUND TOGETHER, 7TH ED)
(Adolph Winter, 1859)
Condition: GC Hardcover $40.00
Comments: Half-leatherm very worn but intact; faint dampstain to text along front and bottom edges

Weaver, Walter P
HISTORICAL JESUS IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY: 1900-1950
(Trinity Press International, 1999)
Condition: VG Paperback $19.00

BAR Highlights: 8/16/07

More recent archaeological news from Biblical Archaeology Review:

Saving History or Criminal Activity?
In September 2005, Israeli professor Hanan Eshel was suspected of trading antiquities and purchasing stolen goods. Although no charges were filed and the matter languished, one lawyer is demanding that the Israel Antiquities Authority be held accountable for cutting the nearly-2,000-year-old scroll that Eshel obtained.

Death on View
Royal graves in Alacahöyük, in the province of Çorum, Turkey, near the Black sea, will be on view for tourists. Replicas of the tombs will offer visitors a chance to see how the royals were buried and what treasures accompanied them.

Unexpected Find at Tiberias
The Israel Antiquities Authority’s excavation at Tiberias has uncovered a mosaic on the floor of a Byzantine church with a surprising inscription that contradicts an earlier theory about Jews and Christians in Tiberias.

Fruit Baskets: Popular Then and Now
A sixth-century B.C.E. floor mosaic showing trees and fruit baskets has been uncovered at Yavneh Yam, an ancient archaeological seaport 15 miles south of Jaffa.

Cursing Like the Ancients
Archaeologists may have found exceptional curse tablets in Lincolnshire, England, dating to a time of political turmoil under the Roman empire.

Tanning in Rome
An ancient tannery has been uncovered in the outskirts of Rome, but it is now threatened by railway construction. The complex, at 3,345 square feet, is the largest discovered in the city.

Car vs. God

I've pulled some tough all-nighters and taken some frustrating classes, but I don't think that I've ever considered this course of action as a possible outlet:

Deputies: Man 'Mad At God' Drives Into Church
St. Augustine Man Accused Of Criminal Mischief

Fortunately, it doesn't appear that anyone was injured.

Key Stendhal Essay Available Online

Mark Goodacre notes that Krister Stendhal's seminal essay "Paul and the Introspective Conscience of the West" is now available online via The Paul Page. In many ways, Stendhal's work blazed a trail for Sanders, Dunn, and others who followed. I read this article for the first time last spring as part of Judy Gundry-Volf's class on Paul, and found it to be as good as advertised. Check it out!

UMC Cotillion?

An article posted on the website of the Kentucky Conference of the United Methodist Church proclaims, "New Tone Set for Conversation, Debate at 2008 Methodist General Conference." In preparation for the upcoming conference (the denomination's chief policy-making body, scheduled to meet in Fort Worth April 23-May 2), a task force has prepared a brief set of rules entitled "Guidelines for Holy Conferencing: What God Expects of Us." I suspect that fears of a devastating schism over homosexuality, magnified by the continuing state of affairs in the Episcopal Church in America and the Anglican Communion, motivated this course of action. So... will it succeed? Only time will tell, but at the moment I have doubts. While it is certainly worthwhile to urge all parties to "listen patiently before formulating responses" and "avoid using inflammatory words, derogatory names, or an excited and angry voice," the biblical text has an uncanny way of igniting people's passions, particularly when they feel that basic theological tenets are at stake. Furthermore, the rules could lead to the conclusion that the maintenance of denominational decorum, however improbable, is more important than action... in any direction. (And for what it's worth, the historical Jesus seems to have been much more interested in action than decorum!) Nevertheless, we can all benefit from timely reminders to "strive to understand the experience out of which others have arrived at their views" and "remember that people are defined, ultimately, by their relationship with God--not by the flaws we discover, or think we discover, in their views and actions."

Love for the Variants

I've just finished reading Eldon Jay Epp's article on textual variants in the most recent edition of the Harvard Theological Review (if you or your supporting institution are subscribers, you may access a full text version of the article here; the abstract is available to everyone). Not surprisingly, I found it to be extremely stimulating (and not just because he taught at Case Western, where my best friend went to school!). Epp concludes with a brief definition of textual criticism which, in my opinion, succinctly captures the new direction in which the discipline is headed:

"New Testament textual criticism, employing aspects of both science and art, studies the transmission of the New Testament text and the manuscripts that facilitate its transmission, with the unitary goal of establishing the earliest attainable text (which serves as a baseline) and, at the same time, of assessing the textual variants that emerge from the baseline text so as to hear the narratives of early Christian thought and life that inhere in the array of meaningful variants."

The body of the article is concerned with the paradigm shift expressed in the above definition: the abandonment of the long-standing search for an "original text" in favor of an "earliest attainable text," and a more detailed exploration of the relationship between individual variants and the communities which produced them. In particular, Epp is determined to avoid the common text-critical pitfall in which one reading is determined to be "original" or "correct" while the others are simply discarded. He even offers a sample of a prototypical, "variant-friendly" critical text:



I must admit that despite my appreciation of the various sigla of the Novum Testamentum Graece--particularly the unobtrusive way in which they offer a vast amount of information to readers without forcing it upon them--I enjoyed the ability to view variants alongside the "baseline" text. Of course, as Epp points out, this is only a brief sample; a full-scale edition is but a pinpoint on the biblical studies horizon. He also notes that even if such an edition were produced, it would be best used in conjunction with existing critical editions, rather than apart from them. Even so... I think I'd buy one. ;-)

More on the "New Perspective"

Mark Goodacre has helpfully provided a link to Simon Gathercole's recent article on the "New Perspective on Paul," which appeared in the August issue of Christianity Today. I agree with his observation that Gathercole's appended bibliography unfairly neglects the works of E.P. Sanders and James Dunn (particularly Sanders) in favor of those of N.T. Wright. Furthermore, it seems to me that a number of the "Six Tendencies" which Gathercole presents as the New Perspective's shortcomings could be rebutted. But the article is still well worth a read.

The Many Faces of the "New Perspective"

On his blog Jesus Creed, Scot McKnight has composed an excellent series of posts which briefly and accessibly summarize the work of the three most influential pioneers of the "New Perspective on Paul" (E.P. Sanders, James Dunn, and N.T. Wright), and also offer a number of other helpful insights regarding the coherence of the movement, terminology, theology, etc. These were particularly interesting to me, as I spent a good deal of my summer with the various works of these men while preparing and facilitating a four-week study of Paul at my home church in Louisville, Kentucky. Although it's certainly a close call, I would reverse McKnight's rankings of the two most important recent developments in biblical studies (he places historical Jesus studies ahead of the New Perspective, a choice which may be related to the fact that he has written at least one magisterial book on the former subject!). In my mind, the radical reassessment of ancient Judaism which followed in the New Perspective's formidable wake, and the ways in which this reassessment can affect current Jewish-Christian relations, give it a slight edge. Dunn's reading of Paul, in which Judaism is no longer an inherently flawed system of works-righteousness but merely the recipients of a promise which Paul desires to expand, removes much of the traditional boundary between Pauline Christianity and Second Temple Judaism and brings them closer together--a bond which offers their modern descendants a legitimate foundation for dialogue and fellowship. That's pretty exciting to me.

If you have a few minutes, check these posts out!

(NOTE: Just after completing this post, I noticed that McKnight has now added a post which outlines some of the objections to the New Perspective. Keep checking for additional updates!)

BAR Highlights: 8/9/07

More recent archaeological news from Biblical Archaeology Review:

Massive Hadrian
A larger-than-life-sized statue of the emperor Hadrian has been uncovered at Sagalassos in south-central Turkey. The statue was found in part of a bath complex that was built during the emperor’s reign.

Largest Fortress from Pharaonic Egypt Uncovered
A massive fortress dating to the pharaonic period of ancient Egypt has been uncovered at Tell-Huba near the Suez Canal. Archaeologists found graves of soldiers, horses and remnants of a water-filled moat.

Beyond the Fertile Crescent
Archaeologists are showing that civilization emerged about 5,000 years ago not only along the Euphrates River, but also along an arc from the Russian steppes through Iran and into the Arabian Peninsula.

A Tour of the Jewish Quarter
A news site in Israel describes the sumptuous Herodian remains at the Wohl Archaeological Museum in Jerusalem. Also on the site is a brief video tour of the museum.

Faith and Scholarship...

In a post on his self-titled blog, Dr. Claude Mariottini responds to criticisms of his earlier claim that in terms of biblical hermeneutics, "believers" are inherently superior to "atheists." Mariottini correctly observes that atheism cannot pass the "outsider test": it cannot scientifically prove that God does not exist, anymore than Christianity (or any other religion, for that matter) can scientifically prove otherwise. This fact is recognized by more erudite atheist commentators such as Richard Dawkins, but often overlooked or ignored by others.

However, a number of other points are extremely problematic--at least in my view. First and foremost, how does one define the term "believer"? Are Jews included within this category? Mariottini does not explicitly address this question, as he is principally concerned with the battle between Christianity and atheism. He does state that the distinction between Christian exegetes and their atheist counterparts is that the former "read the Bible from a historical, sociological, linguistic perspective, but also from the perspective of faith and religion." Under those criteria, Jewish scholars would certainly qualify, at least as far as Hebrew Bible studies are concerned. But even if these are included, the fact remains that a number of Jewish scholars have turned their attentions to the world of the New Testament, with fruitful results. Samuel Sandmel and Amy-Jill Levine immediately come to mind. Should their efforts be discarded because, in Mariottini's words, they cannot "say 'Christ lives in me'" or "understand fully what it means to be saved by grace"? Having recently read and enjoyed Levine's The Misunderstood Jew, I would respond in the negative.

Furthermore, Mariottini's argument that faith provides intrinsic exegetical superiority is largely incompatible with the last century of mainstream biblical scholarship, which has encouraged a more critical, scientific approach. A number of significant developments have occurred as direct results of this shift, including the reevaluation of key texts in light of extrabiblical historical and archaeological findings and the advent of ecumenical research efforts. A return to faith-based scholarship would likely undermine these developments. While Mariottini may believe that atheists are at a disadvantage because "they approach the Bible with false assumptions" such as the belief that there is no God, the actual veracity of those assumptions remains beyond the scope of human epistemology. Neither the atheist nor the believer can produce evidence which irrefutably verifies his or her claims. In their own ways, they are both matters of faith... and members of both camps must recognize and respect this.

Ultimately, it seems that the validity of Mariottini's arguments rests with one's understanding of the relationship between faith and scholarship--specifically, whether the two must go hand in hand. Anyone who feels that the discipline is and should be dedicated to Christian apologetics will likely be attracted to his position. On the other hand, anyone who feels that it is a primarily critical enterprise--capable of being strengthened by faith, but not simply operating on its behalf--will likely dissent. Personally, I believe that it is quite possible to be a person of faith and a critical scholar, and to use the results of the latter to strengthen the former. Also, I feel that it is possible to learn a great deal from critical scholars who represent faith commitments other than my own. Both of these beliefs certainly reflect my experience at Yale. Nevertheless, I realize that others will hold different views. Shall we agree to disagree?

Hidden Images in Da Vinci's Last Supper?

Just when you thought it was safe to put away your copy of The Da Vinci Code:

New "Last Supper" theory crashes Web sites
A new theory that Leonardo's "Last Supper" might hide within it a depiction
of Christ blessing the bread and wine has triggered so much interest that
Web sites connected to the picture have crashed.

BAR Highlights: 8/5/07

More recent archaeological news from Biblical Archaeology Review:

Ancient Mariners
Researchers on the coast of Cyprus have discovered tools used by seamen as far back as 10,000 years ago.

Getty to Return 40 Objects to Italy
Facing an embargo from Italy, the Getty Museum has agreed to return 40 ancient objects that the nation claims were looted from within its borders. Among the objects is one of the Getty’s best-known holdings, a statue thought to represent the goddess Aphrodite.

Exploring Galilee Hideouts
A doctoral student is investigating caves near the Sea of Galilee that may have served as rebel hideouts in the Great Revolt against Rome (for a photo, click here).

Iraq to Renovate Prophet’s Tomb
The traditional site of the burial place of the Prophet Nahum and the synagogue of which it is a part, located about 25 miles north of Mosul, are slated to be renovated next year. Nahum is recognized as a prophet in the Jewish and Christian traditions and in Sunni and Shiite Islam.

Model Soldiers
Researchers say a virtual model of Qumran, the site near where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found, shows that the settlement was originally built for warriors.

Egypt in the News
Several items from the land of the Pharaohs: Excavators have announced the discovery of the largest fort yet found from the pharaonic era and of underwater remains of the city at Alexandria from seven centuries before Alexander the Great established his city. And a British researcher suggests that a wooden toe on a mummy is the world’s oldest prosthetic device.

NT Markdowns From Dove

A few tempting NT markdowns from Dove... and if you order before August 18, every five titles that you order earns a sixth title free!

I feel compelled to add that I'm not receiving any kind of compensation for these plugs... I simply get occasional e-mail newsletters from Dove, and enjoy passing the savings on to you. ;-)
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Ashton, John
THE RELIGION OF PAUL THE APOSTLE
(Yale University Press, 2000)
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Attridge, Harold, and Gohei Hata (eds)
EUSEBIUS, CHRISTIANITY AND JUDAISM
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HEIRS OF PAUL: PAUL'S LEGACY IN THE NEW TESTAMENT AND IN THE CHURCH TODAY
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THE LORD'S PRAYER THROUGH NORTH AFRICAN EYES: A WINDOW INTO EARLY CHRISTIANITY
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AUTHENTICATING THE ACTIVITIES OF JESUS
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AUTHENTICATING THE WORDS OF JESUS
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JOSEPHUS IN GALILEE AND ROME: HIS VITA AND DEVELOPMENT AS A HISTORIAN
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CHRISTIAN ENGAGEMENTS WITH JUDAISM
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Fitzmyer SJ, Joseph A
TO ADVANCE THE GOSPEL: NEW TESTAMENT STUDIES
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GALILEE AND GOSPEL
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DEAD SEA SCROLLS STUDY EDITION, 2 VOLUMES
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SOCIOLOGY AND THE JESUS MOVEMENT
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ARCHAEOLOGY OF QUMRAN AND THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS
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Sherwin-White, A N
ROMAN SOCIETY AND ROMAN LAW IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
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New: John H. Elliott on 1 Peter

A new publication announcement from Wipf and Stock Publishers:

Conflict, Community, and Honor: 1 Peter in Social-Scientific Perspective
by John H. Elliott

“The book is an excellent introduction to Prof. Elliott’s seminal work in applying social-scientific analysis of this New Testament writing, and will richly reward its careful reader.”
—Paul J. Achtemeier, author of 1 Peter (Hermeneia)

“This... reading reveals the letter in its own context, in such a way that we can appropriate its message and values into our own.”
—Carolyn Osiek, co-author of A Woman’s Place: House Churches in Earliest Christianity

“Here, as elsewhere, Elliott expertly joins the findings of social-scientific research with the insights of literary and theological analysis to clarify the ‘good news’ that is proclaimed in this often-overlooked New Testament writing.”
—Victor Paul Furnish, author of The Moral Teaching of Paul

John H. Elliott is Professor of New Testament Emeritus at the University of San Francisco. Among his numerous publications are The Elect and Holy, A Home for the Homeless, What Is Social-Scientific Criticism?, and 1 Peter (Anchor Bible).