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The Book of Judges: Ecopsychological Readings

Published: Oct 2025
£60.00
Directly addressing ecological crises and our planetary future, Deryn Guest’s ecopsychological readings present an urgent and profoundly innovative challenge to biblical scholars all over the world. For, when organic connection between humans and the natural world has been lost, indeed even the capacity for such connection profoundly damaged, the complicity of the Bible and its interpretation in this loss must be scrutinised. No longer is it possible to write biblical commentary without asking similar questions to those posed in this volume. The new dialogue partners Guest brings into the field of biblical scholars are most welcome and most needed. Applying theories of ecopsychology and employing a three-dimensional sensory amplification of scenes from the Book of Judges, Guest brings what has often been relegated as ‘background’ or ‘setting’ imaginatively into the foreground. Readers will find themselves reconsidering mountain-daughter encounters, pondering how standing stones can offer a word from the Gods, how trees and flames participate in navigating human-divine relations and how horses, foxes and lions become collateral damage in those dealings. A surprising discovery is that a single thread runs through many of these scenes. Guest names it the ‘Changing of the Gods’. It involves the denigration and censure of all things ‘Canaanite’. As the not-us, the not-Christian, not-Jewish, not-Yahwistic, the ‘Canaanite’ is revealed as a projection of our own anxieties and demons on to a convenient Other. The significant consequence of such scapegoating is that we are alienated from the life-giving, numinous encounters that could otherwise happen on every green hill and under every green tree. A compelling interdisciplinary study, this book is vital reading for all involved in biblical interpretation. It promises not only transformation of the field, but of scholars themselves as they reflect on their own complicity in writing commentaries that alienate their readers from the whisper of stones and the messages of trees.
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The Book of Judges: Ecopsychological Readings

£60.00
Directly addressing ecological crises and our planetary future, Deryn Guest’s ecopsychological readings present an urgent and profoundly innovative challenge to biblical scholars all over the world. For, when organic connection between humans and the natural world has been lost, indeed even the capacity for such connection profoundly damaged, the complicity of the Bible and its interpretation in this loss must be scrutinised. No longer is it possible to write biblical commentary without asking similar questions to those posed in this volume. The new dialogue partners Guest brings into the field of biblical scholars are most welcome and most needed. Applying theories of ecopsychology and employing a three-dimensional sensory amplification of scenes from the Book of Judges, Guest brings what has often been relegated as ‘background’ or ‘setting’ imaginatively into the foreground. Readers will find themselves reconsidering mountain-daughter encounters, pondering how standing stones can offer a word from the Gods, how trees and flames participate in navigating human-divine relations and how horses, foxes and lions become collateral damage in those dealings. A surprising discovery is that a single thread runs through many of these scenes. Guest names it the ‘Changing of the Gods’. It involves the denigration and censure of all things ‘Canaanite’. As the not-us, the not-Christian, not-Jewish, not-Yahwistic, the ‘Canaanite’ is revealed as a projection of our own anxieties and demons on to a convenient Other. The significant consequence of such scapegoating is that we are alienated from the life-giving, numinous encounters that could otherwise happen on every green hill and under every green tree. A compelling interdisciplinary study, this book is vital reading for all involved in biblical interpretation. It promises not only transformation of the field, but of scholars themselves as they reflect on their own complicity in writing commentaries that alienate their readers from the whisper of stones and the messages of trees.
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Empires Fall, Yhwh Reigns: Concluding Performance Readings in Jeremiah

Published: Oct 2025
£70.00
This work completes Billingham’s performance reading of selected passages in the book of Jeremiah, following two previous volumes: The Great Drama of Jeremiah: A Performance Reading and A Distraught Prophet and Other Performance Readings in Jeremiah. Employing her established methodology that includes rhetorical analyses of her own translations, she discusses ten scenes selected from Chaps. 34-52 according to their scripts, actors, audiences, settings, and improvisations of traditional narratives and customs. Ancient Near Eastern historical accounts are enlivened as they are viewed as dramas. - In a life and death struggle between the word of Yhwh and the king, the scroll is read and burnt by King Jehoiakim. However, the divine word is indestructible as it is recomposed by Jeremiah and rewritten by Baruch to produce an enhanced version. - During the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem, Jeremiah is incarcerated in various prisons. However, he is rescued from a dungeon by the Ethiopia eunuch Ebed Melech. The unexpected and unsolicited kindness he experiences provides a hopeful paradigm for Yhwh’s care for the exilic community. - The Oracles against the Nations demonstrate Yhwh’s international power and covenantal commitment to Judah. - In a sign-act Jeremiah ties Yhwh’s judgment oracle to a stone and flings it into the Euphrates River in the heart of Babylon. There, as a silent symbol, it awaits Yhwh’s fulfilment, providing hope for the captive Judeans. - A tale of two kings and the toppling temple embody the dismantling of Judah’s royal-priestly support structures. - The conclusion of the book remains open-ended, allowing for the possibilities of survival, return to Judah, and faith in God. While empires fall, Yhwh reigns. Billingham’s set of performance readings in Jeremiah provide illuminating resources for students, teachers and clergy alike.
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Empires Fall, Yhwh Reigns: Concluding Performance Readings in Jeremiah

£70.00
This work completes Billingham’s performance reading of selected passages in the book of Jeremiah, following two previous volumes: The Great Drama of Jeremiah: A Performance Reading and A Distraught Prophet and Other Performance Readings in Jeremiah. Employing her established methodology that includes rhetorical analyses of her own translations, she discusses ten scenes selected from Chaps. 34-52 according to their scripts, actors, audiences, settings, and improvisations of traditional narratives and customs. Ancient Near Eastern historical accounts are enlivened as they are viewed as dramas. - In a life and death struggle between the word of Yhwh and the king, the scroll is read and burnt by King Jehoiakim. However, the divine word is indestructible as it is recomposed by Jeremiah and rewritten by Baruch to produce an enhanced version. - During the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem, Jeremiah is incarcerated in various prisons. However, he is rescued from a dungeon by the Ethiopia eunuch Ebed Melech. The unexpected and unsolicited kindness he experiences provides a hopeful paradigm for Yhwh’s care for the exilic community. - The Oracles against the Nations demonstrate Yhwh’s international power and covenantal commitment to Judah. - In a sign-act Jeremiah ties Yhwh’s judgment oracle to a stone and flings it into the Euphrates River in the heart of Babylon. There, as a silent symbol, it awaits Yhwh’s fulfilment, providing hope for the captive Judeans. - A tale of two kings and the toppling temple embody the dismantling of Judah’s royal-priestly support structures. - The conclusion of the book remains open-ended, allowing for the possibilities of survival, return to Judah, and faith in God. While empires fall, Yhwh reigns. Billingham’s set of performance readings in Jeremiah provide illuminating resources for students, teachers and clergy alike.
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Productive and Disordered Bodies: Judges 19–21 as a Somatic Society

Published: Oct 2025
£68.00

Examining pre-monarchic Israelite society—as seen in Judges 19–21—M.L. Case focuses on the depiction of bodies as both productive bodies which are useful for society and as disordered bodies that contribute to social breakdown. Written as an idealized example of ancient Israelite pre-monarchic society, Judges 19–21 relates the story of the rape and death of the Levite’s wife (pîlegeš), the subsequent civil war, and the attempts of the Israelite factions to reconcile at the end of the conflict. In her examination of the pericope, Case examines how female and male bodies are portrayed and how their regulation functions in this society.

Case uses social-scientific theories outlining the importance of bodies to social organization, particularly Bryan Turner’s concept of a somatic society. The resulting interpretation argues that this story describes an ideal scenario of the success of Israelite society in overcoming their inter-tribal conflict without a king. This sits in divergence to scholars who have viewed Judges 19–21 as a story which points toward the unavoidable rise of the monarchy— interpretation on these chapters as a whole has typically focused on the apparent social disorder in the period before the monarchy which they are claimed to portray, a decline from which only the establishment of the (Davidic) monarchy can rescue the Israelites.

Instead, this monograph proposes that the exchange of women in Judges 21 makes it possible for the Benjaminite War to end in peace. The society depicted in this pericope depends on the proper control of bodies, both male and female: improper regulation, such as the lack of hospitality for a foreign body, occasions social disorder, while correct regulation of bodies, such as providing hospitality to foreign bodies or limiting who has sexual access to female bodies, results in social harmony. The exchanged women’s bodies, then, critically serve as both the means and location for rapprochement.

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Productive and Disordered Bodies: Judges 19–21 as a Somatic Society

£68.00

Examining pre-monarchic Israelite society—as seen in Judges 19–21—M.L. Case focuses on the depiction of bodies as both productive bodies which are useful for society and as disordered bodies that contribute to social breakdown. Written as an idealized example of ancient Israelite pre-monarchic society, Judges 19–21 relates the story of the rape and death of the Levite’s wife (pîlegeš), the subsequent civil war, and the attempts of the Israelite factions to reconcile at the end of the conflict. In her examination of the pericope, Case examines how female and male bodies are portrayed and how their regulation functions in this society.

Case uses social-scientific theories outlining the importance of bodies to social organization, particularly Bryan Turner’s concept of a somatic society. The resulting interpretation argues that this story describes an ideal scenario of the success of Israelite society in overcoming their inter-tribal conflict without a king. This sits in divergence to scholars who have viewed Judges 19–21 as a story which points toward the unavoidable rise of the monarchy— interpretation on these chapters as a whole has typically focused on the apparent social disorder in the period before the monarchy which they are claimed to portray, a decline from which only the establishment of the (Davidic) monarchy can rescue the Israelites.

Instead, this monograph proposes that the exchange of women in Judges 21 makes it possible for the Benjaminite War to end in peace. The society depicted in this pericope depends on the proper control of bodies, both male and female: improper regulation, such as the lack of hospitality for a foreign body, occasions social disorder, while correct regulation of bodies, such as providing hospitality to foreign bodies or limiting who has sexual access to female bodies, results in social harmony. The exchanged women’s bodies, then, critically serve as both the means and location for rapprochement.

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The Woman of Courage: A Womanist Reading of Proverbs 31

Published: Oct 2025
£60.00
In The Woman of Courage, Mmapula Diana Kebaneilwe provides a brilliant contextual and inter-textual, womanist analysis of Proverbs 31:10-31. Kebaneilwe critically engages with this well-known pericope’s intertextual context with other biblical texts from the same era. As she renders the Hebrew eshet hayil, she questions conventional patriarchal readings of Prov. 31 and emphasizes the agency, tenacity, and economic might of the ‘woman of courage.’ Kebaneilwe shows that the woman who is celebrated in this biblical text lives in a culture with accentuated gender roles which resonate with the lived experiences of many Batswana women in many ways and at different levels. Like Botswana culture, ancient Israelite culture, as demonstrated throughout the Hebrew Bible, is agrarian, patriarchal, and androcentric. In both worlds, a woman’s worth and dignity are closely associated with her socially prescribed and labour-intensive roles of wife and mother. This monograph demonstrates that eshet-hayil is impressive to her oppressors, including her husband and the patriarchs in higher authority, who are urged by the overarching voice of the narrator to hold her in high esteem and applaud her for her work and position. The implied praise of the men at the gate shows that the Woman of Courage has transcended one of the fundamental limitations of the patriarchal system, which was that she could never be recognised, praised, or rewarded for her work. By emphasizing African womanist viewpoints, Kebaneilwe shows that Prov. 31 is not only a critique of patriarchal biblical ideas about women, but also—and perhaps more significantly—a text of empowerment for modern women and everyone else because it provides new perspectives on gender justice issues. The Woman of Courage is a must read for theologians, undergraduate and graduate students and all those interested in the intersection of religion and gender justice.
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The Woman of Courage: A Womanist Reading of Proverbs 31

£60.00
In The Woman of Courage, Mmapula Diana Kebaneilwe provides a brilliant contextual and inter-textual, womanist analysis of Proverbs 31:10-31. Kebaneilwe critically engages with this well-known pericope’s intertextual context with other biblical texts from the same era. As she renders the Hebrew eshet hayil, she questions conventional patriarchal readings of Prov. 31 and emphasizes the agency, tenacity, and economic might of the ‘woman of courage.’ Kebaneilwe shows that the woman who is celebrated in this biblical text lives in a culture with accentuated gender roles which resonate with the lived experiences of many Batswana women in many ways and at different levels. Like Botswana culture, ancient Israelite culture, as demonstrated throughout the Hebrew Bible, is agrarian, patriarchal, and androcentric. In both worlds, a woman’s worth and dignity are closely associated with her socially prescribed and labour-intensive roles of wife and mother. This monograph demonstrates that eshet-hayil is impressive to her oppressors, including her husband and the patriarchs in higher authority, who are urged by the overarching voice of the narrator to hold her in high esteem and applaud her for her work and position. The implied praise of the men at the gate shows that the Woman of Courage has transcended one of the fundamental limitations of the patriarchal system, which was that she could never be recognised, praised, or rewarded for her work. By emphasizing African womanist viewpoints, Kebaneilwe shows that Prov. 31 is not only a critique of patriarchal biblical ideas about women, but also—and perhaps more significantly—a text of empowerment for modern women and everyone else because it provides new perspectives on gender justice issues. The Woman of Courage is a must read for theologians, undergraduate and graduate students and all those interested in the intersection of religion and gender justice.
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Reading the Landscape of Ezekiel 40-48: A Theology of Resilience

Published: Sep 2025
£75.00
When the landscape architect IChun Kuo opens up an ancient plan written in the book of Ezekiel, she encounters a planner who is called “son of man”, who was instructed to a vision. Bewildered by this unworldly yet grounded visioned plan, Kuo seeks help from Assyrian King Sennacherib who constructed gardens, Jerome who was puzzled by the labyrinth, Newton who was obsessed with the measurement. She asks biblical scholars, archaeologists, architects and planners, until she finds the patterns.  Reading the Landscape of Ezekiel  is a journey of decoding a mesmerizing ancient landscape, which reflects history of social and ecological catastrophes, survival and renovation, and the mechanisms of God’s design. Kuo argues that Ezekiel 40–48 can be understood as an ancient resilient landscape plan that encompasses rigidity and ductility, resistance and recovery. Given the ancient hazards described in Ezekiel (sword, famine, evil creatures, and pestilence), the mechanism of landscape resilience in Ezekiel 40–48 is similar to modern time ecosystem resilience, as well as disaster risk reduction, and epidemiology/public health of war and defence policy. An understanding of the ancient planning in Ezekiel 40–48 may shed light on our reading of the biblical text, our way of viewing the depicted visions, as well as the implications of our planning of the environment.
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Reading the Landscape of Ezekiel 40-48: A Theology of Resilience

£75.00
When the landscape architect IChun Kuo opens up an ancient plan written in the book of Ezekiel, she encounters a planner who is called “son of man”, who was instructed to a vision. Bewildered by this unworldly yet grounded visioned plan, Kuo seeks help from Assyrian King Sennacherib who constructed gardens, Jerome who was puzzled by the labyrinth, Newton who was obsessed with the measurement. She asks biblical scholars, archaeologists, architects and planners, until she finds the patterns.  Reading the Landscape of Ezekiel  is a journey of decoding a mesmerizing ancient landscape, which reflects history of social and ecological catastrophes, survival and renovation, and the mechanisms of God’s design. Kuo argues that Ezekiel 40–48 can be understood as an ancient resilient landscape plan that encompasses rigidity and ductility, resistance and recovery. Given the ancient hazards described in Ezekiel (sword, famine, evil creatures, and pestilence), the mechanism of landscape resilience in Ezekiel 40–48 is similar to modern time ecosystem resilience, as well as disaster risk reduction, and epidemiology/public health of war and defence policy. An understanding of the ancient planning in Ezekiel 40–48 may shed light on our reading of the biblical text, our way of viewing the depicted visions, as well as the implications of our planning of the environment.
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Jonah’s Motive in the Light of Exodus 32–34

Published: Sep 2025
£70.00

Chanreiso Lungleng offers a favourable insight into the motivation and concerns of Jonah. This monograph pivots on the significance of Jonah 4.2 with the contention that the allusion to Exodus 32–34 unveils Jonah’s motive—zeal for God’s glory—which is otherwise assumed in the narrative.

Although the book of Jonah has received much attention in recent years—with many describing Jonah using terms such as ‘bigoted nationalist,’ ‘chauvinist,’ ‘jingoist,’ ‘anti-prophet,’ ‘satirical comic character,’ ‘hypocrite,’ and others—Lungleng argues that Yahweh’s attribution of the virtue of ‘pity’ to Jonah in Jonah 4.10 provides a key insight into Jonah’s character. Lungleng’s fresh exploration of Jonah’s character against the backdrop of Exodus 32–34, leads to several interesting discoveries. Collectively, these insights form a coherent exposition of this prophetic book. This provides the foundation for understanding that Jonah’s interactions with Yahweh and other characters in the narrative are motivated by a concern for the defence of God’s glory. And yet where Jonah’s zealous concern is for maintaining God’s reputation, Lungleng interprets the interchange with Yahweh, as divine guidance to Jonah that God’s glory is most radiantly revealed in showing compassion—even to Nineveh, a Gentile city—rather than in the protectionist approach of the prophet.
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Jonah’s Motive in the Light of Exodus 32–34

£70.00

Chanreiso Lungleng offers a favourable insight into the motivation and concerns of Jonah. This monograph pivots on the significance of Jonah 4.2 with the contention that the allusion to Exodus 32–34 unveils Jonah’s motive—zeal for God’s glory—which is otherwise assumed in the narrative.

Although the book of Jonah has received much attention in recent years—with many describing Jonah using terms such as ‘bigoted nationalist,’ ‘chauvinist,’ ‘jingoist,’ ‘anti-prophet,’ ‘satirical comic character,’ ‘hypocrite,’ and others—Lungleng argues that Yahweh’s attribution of the virtue of ‘pity’ to Jonah in Jonah 4.10 provides a key insight into Jonah’s character. Lungleng’s fresh exploration of Jonah’s character against the backdrop of Exodus 32–34, leads to several interesting discoveries. Collectively, these insights form a coherent exposition of this prophetic book. This provides the foundation for understanding that Jonah’s interactions with Yahweh and other characters in the narrative are motivated by a concern for the defence of God’s glory. And yet where Jonah’s zealous concern is for maintaining God’s reputation, Lungleng interprets the interchange with Yahweh, as divine guidance to Jonah that God’s glory is most radiantly revealed in showing compassion—even to Nineveh, a Gentile city—rather than in the protectionist approach of the prophet.
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Irony in the Divine Response to Job

Published: Sep 2025
£70.00

The interrogation by Scott Xu of the ironic motifs in the divine response to Job offers a new understanding of the Book of Job’s questions surrounding suffering. Xu offers a thorough investigation and analysis of the different levels and aspects of irony in Job, particularly in the closing chapters (Job 38–42). The use of irony, Xu proposes, is designed to respond to the key issue in Job that has plagued readers and scholars over the ages, namely that of innocent suffering.

Prior to this monograph, there has been no in-depth study of irony, beyond at a verbal level; nor had the book’s theological concerns—in relation to irony—been sufficiently addressed. Nearly a century of Joban scholarship on irony demonstrates a growing literary appreciation of the book of Job, but leaves much to be desired such as methodological uniformity. A survey of previous studies on irony in the book of Job is conducted and critical gaps are identified. A sophisticated framework of irony is established and then applied to the divine speeches and the Epilogue.

The result of this analysis is the discovery that the Book of Job can be understood as suggesting that an innocent sufferer can have a positive understanding of their suffering as well as of their relation with the divine. Fundamental to this interpretation is the revelation of a God who responds to the issue of innocent suffering in ingenious ways, whose pride cannot be threatened, but who nevertheless identifies with the human situation and is even capable of self-irony. In conclusion, the completed interpretive lens that is offered enables the reader to see irony itself as the divine response to the issue of innocent suffering.

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Irony in the Divine Response to Job

£70.00

The interrogation by Scott Xu of the ironic motifs in the divine response to Job offers a new understanding of the Book of Job’s questions surrounding suffering. Xu offers a thorough investigation and analysis of the different levels and aspects of irony in Job, particularly in the closing chapters (Job 38–42). The use of irony, Xu proposes, is designed to respond to the key issue in Job that has plagued readers and scholars over the ages, namely that of innocent suffering.

Prior to this monograph, there has been no in-depth study of irony, beyond at a verbal level; nor had the book’s theological concerns—in relation to irony—been sufficiently addressed. Nearly a century of Joban scholarship on irony demonstrates a growing literary appreciation of the book of Job, but leaves much to be desired such as methodological uniformity. A survey of previous studies on irony in the book of Job is conducted and critical gaps are identified. A sophisticated framework of irony is established and then applied to the divine speeches and the Epilogue.

The result of this analysis is the discovery that the Book of Job can be understood as suggesting that an innocent sufferer can have a positive understanding of their suffering as well as of their relation with the divine. Fundamental to this interpretation is the revelation of a God who responds to the issue of innocent suffering in ingenious ways, whose pride cannot be threatened, but who nevertheless identifies with the human situation and is even capable of self-irony. In conclusion, the completed interpretive lens that is offered enables the reader to see irony itself as the divine response to the issue of innocent suffering.

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Character Development in MT Esther

Published: Sep 2025
£70.00
Through this literary reading of MT Esther, Bernard Tola determines—in this early example of a novel—whether character change and complexity can be discerned in the four main characters: Esther, Mordecai, Ahasuerus and Haman. Characterization in MT Esther has widely been assessed as flat and unchanging, resulting in portrayals that lack depth, with the possible exception of Esther herself. In this view, the characters remain superficial, merely fulfilling archetypal roles or representing static wisdom types. Tola investigates if the narrative is more concerned with the quality of Jewish life in the diaspora rather than with depicting character. This monograph shows how the author of Esther makes use of a wide range of tools in their work with characterization, creating a variety of characters that interact with each other in interesting and sometimes surprising ways. By applying the anthropological model of Cultural Theory, Tola provides a typology for linking worldview and behaviour. Tola uses this for analysing the interactions between different worldviews, clarifying the cultural commitments of the four main characters. Other methodologies are used to analyse how the worldviews and psychology of the characters manifest themselves through their speech. They provide a means of investigating the interactions between protagonists and of identifying character changes. This study establishes that the many clashes between the various characters arise from differences in their worldviews, that the result of these clashes is often a change in worldview, and that the worldviews of the characters fuel the plot of the narrative. In their own way, the four main characters change in the course of the narrative. Their changes are sometimes abrupt, sometimes gradual, sometimes profound and sometimes do not amount to character development. Their changes are, however, always important in the narrative.
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Character Development in MT Esther

£70.00
Through this literary reading of MT Esther, Bernard Tola determines—in this early example of a novel—whether character change and complexity can be discerned in the four main characters: Esther, Mordecai, Ahasuerus and Haman. Characterization in MT Esther has widely been assessed as flat and unchanging, resulting in portrayals that lack depth, with the possible exception of Esther herself. In this view, the characters remain superficial, merely fulfilling archetypal roles or representing static wisdom types. Tola investigates if the narrative is more concerned with the quality of Jewish life in the diaspora rather than with depicting character. This monograph shows how the author of Esther makes use of a wide range of tools in their work with characterization, creating a variety of characters that interact with each other in interesting and sometimes surprising ways. By applying the anthropological model of Cultural Theory, Tola provides a typology for linking worldview and behaviour. Tola uses this for analysing the interactions between different worldviews, clarifying the cultural commitments of the four main characters. Other methodologies are used to analyse how the worldviews and psychology of the characters manifest themselves through their speech. They provide a means of investigating the interactions between protagonists and of identifying character changes. This study establishes that the many clashes between the various characters arise from differences in their worldviews, that the result of these clashes is often a change in worldview, and that the worldviews of the characters fuel the plot of the narrative. In their own way, the four main characters change in the course of the narrative. Their changes are sometimes abrupt, sometimes gradual, sometimes profound and sometimes do not amount to character development. Their changes are, however, always important in the narrative.
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Jacob: Conflicted Twin, Aggrieved Patriarch

Published: Jun 2025
£70.00

George Savran brings his narrative interpretive approach to look closely at Jacob’s shifting identity. Jacob is indelibly linked to his brother Esau in the Genesis narrative, and their complex relationship as twins foregrounds this problematic connection. Jacob’s lineage is examined—he differs noticeably from his ancestors and his offspring in the complexity of his changing character. At times he is a “simple man” at the mercy of the demands of others; elsewhere he is a devious trickster eager to use his wits to achieve personal success. His search for a coherent identity, as it unfolds in this study, leads to his emergence as the patriarch of his family, compelled to make peace with his brother and his sons in the midst of ongoing conflict.

This study brings out how Jacob’s mature identity is clarified further by his reactions to three unusual and unexpected encounters which shed light on his ability to recalibrate his self-understanding.

  • The first is his struggle with the man/angel at the Jabbok, where he receives a blessing with the name Israel, and comes to realize that his relationship to God is more complicated (and less predictable) than he had previously thought.
  • An additional insight comes the following day during his reunion with Esau, as he learns to appreciate him in a new way and compares beholding his face to “seeing the face of God”. This is a remarkable admission by a brother who thought only the worst of his twin.
  • Jacob’s rethinking his own self-importance emerges later in the Joseph story, when he is compelled to realizes that his insistence on his personal concerns will lead to the dissolution of his family.

Savran’s interpretation of these reactions underscores their significance in Jacob’s development, revealing a character of depth and resilience and giving new meaning to his role as the avatar of Israel.

     
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Jacob: Conflicted Twin, Aggrieved Patriarch

£70.00

George Savran brings his narrative interpretive approach to look closely at Jacob’s shifting identity. Jacob is indelibly linked to his brother Esau in the Genesis narrative, and their complex relationship as twins foregrounds this problematic connection. Jacob’s lineage is examined—he differs noticeably from his ancestors and his offspring in the complexity of his changing character. At times he is a “simple man” at the mercy of the demands of others; elsewhere he is a devious trickster eager to use his wits to achieve personal success. His search for a coherent identity, as it unfolds in this study, leads to his emergence as the patriarch of his family, compelled to make peace with his brother and his sons in the midst of ongoing conflict.

This study brings out how Jacob’s mature identity is clarified further by his reactions to three unusual and unexpected encounters which shed light on his ability to recalibrate his self-understanding.

  • The first is his struggle with the man/angel at the Jabbok, where he receives a blessing with the name Israel, and comes to realize that his relationship to God is more complicated (and less predictable) than he had previously thought.
  • An additional insight comes the following day during his reunion with Esau, as he learns to appreciate him in a new way and compares beholding his face to “seeing the face of God”. This is a remarkable admission by a brother who thought only the worst of his twin.
  • Jacob’s rethinking his own self-importance emerges later in the Joseph story, when he is compelled to realizes that his insistence on his personal concerns will lead to the dissolution of his family.

Savran’s interpretation of these reactions underscores their significance in Jacob’s development, revealing a character of depth and resilience and giving new meaning to his role as the avatar of Israel.

     
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Song of Songs in Sense, Sound and Space

Published: Nov 2024
£70.00
This volume offers 13 cutting-edge essays on the Song of Songs presented in four categories. 1. Exegetical and Contextualised Studies.  Fernandes argues Solomon’s sidelining in the Song is unjust and uncovers subtle allusions to him. Scheffler examines the contentious place of Song 7.1 and its depiction. Lombaard challenges whether gender equity exists in the Song, arguing that female voices are more prominent than male ones. Landy employs affect theory to the depiction of the woman as a mare (1.9-11) and the invitation for her to return (7.1). Kim highlights the subjectivity of interpretation by comparing readings of Song 7 by Keel, Black and herself through the lens of Umberto Eco’s semiotic model. Potgieter and Lombaard contemporise Paul Decock’s readings of Origen and Bernard on the Song. 2. Spatial Studies.  Fischer applies Lefebvre’s spatial theory to the Song, highlighting the protagonists’ physical space; their conceived (cultural) space; and their lived space (their supra-temporal experience). Dantonel analyses several spatial domains in both the Song and Proverbs: spring; well; and vineyard along with three places of enduring love: mother’s house; door; and window. 3. Comparative Studies.  Volkonski compares Early Arabic poetic techniques and the Song to show new possibilities for interpreting the latter. Recalcati investigates parallels between the Song and Hellenistic epigrammatic poetry within the Anthologia Palatina. Biermann explores the metaphor(s) ‘set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm’ in 8.6 through cognitive linguistics and sensory archaeology. 4. Studies in Music.  Boyce-Tillman integrates her reading of the Song with her musical compositions to contemporise themes including fertility, the body, ecotheology, and apophatic theology. Lamont and Fernandes survey four shared tropes between Arvo Pärt’s The Deer’s Cry, St. Patrick’s Breastplate and the Song: love and war; incantation and magic; connection with nature; and in medias res.
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Song of Songs in Sense, Sound and Space

£70.00
This volume offers 13 cutting-edge essays on the Song of Songs presented in four categories. 1. Exegetical and Contextualised Studies.  Fernandes argues Solomon’s sidelining in the Song is unjust and uncovers subtle allusions to him. Scheffler examines the contentious place of Song 7.1 and its depiction. Lombaard challenges whether gender equity exists in the Song, arguing that female voices are more prominent than male ones. Landy employs affect theory to the depiction of the woman as a mare (1.9-11) and the invitation for her to return (7.1). Kim highlights the subjectivity of interpretation by comparing readings of Song 7 by Keel, Black and herself through the lens of Umberto Eco’s semiotic model. Potgieter and Lombaard contemporise Paul Decock’s readings of Origen and Bernard on the Song. 2. Spatial Studies.  Fischer applies Lefebvre’s spatial theory to the Song, highlighting the protagonists’ physical space; their conceived (cultural) space; and their lived space (their supra-temporal experience). Dantonel analyses several spatial domains in both the Song and Proverbs: spring; well; and vineyard along with three places of enduring love: mother’s house; door; and window. 3. Comparative Studies.  Volkonski compares Early Arabic poetic techniques and the Song to show new possibilities for interpreting the latter. Recalcati investigates parallels between the Song and Hellenistic epigrammatic poetry within the Anthologia Palatina. Biermann explores the metaphor(s) ‘set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm’ in 8.6 through cognitive linguistics and sensory archaeology. 4. Studies in Music.  Boyce-Tillman integrates her reading of the Song with her musical compositions to contemporise themes including fertility, the body, ecotheology, and apophatic theology. Lamont and Fernandes survey four shared tropes between Arvo Pärt’s The Deer’s Cry, St. Patrick’s Breastplate and the Song: love and war; incantation and magic; connection with nature; and in medias res.
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Ancient Israel, Judah, and Greece: Laying the Foundation of a Comparative Approach

Published: Nov 2024
£70.00
Andrew Tobolowsky offers a new starting point for comparative investigations into the traditions of the Hebrew Bible and of ancient Greece. Noting a number of shared problems and questions in the study of each corpus, he advocates for a method based on comparing not tradition to tradition but scholarly approach to scholarly approach. He argues that such a method not only helps overcome the problem of parallelomania, and a high philological barrier to entry, but transforms scholars in each discipline into fellow travellers, capable of offering each other useful insights. By applying this method of comparing scholarly approaches, Tobolowsky considers four crucial questions: - what do contemporary understandings of ethnic identity mean for the study of these traditions; - what role should extraliterary evidence play in illuminating them; - how should we understand the data of genealogical traditions; - and what do new understandings of the porousness of cultural boundaries in the ancient world mean for the study of foundation traditions. In each case, he surveys the landscape of contemporary debates in both fields to determine what new ideas hold the most promise for solving intractable problems—and for most successfully moving on from outdated assumptions. In addition, Ancient Israel, Judah, and Greece particularly emphasizes the usefulness of thinking about the historical development of traditions in the Hebrew Bible through the lens of a Mediterranean context where there is so much more evidence for how traditions were inherited and adapted to work with. Overall, Tobolowsky argues that what each of these comparisons most clearly demonstrates is the crucial importance of completing the shift from a “kernels of truth” based approach to the study of traditions to one where their ongoing dynamism as the medium for redescribing identity and the past is emphasized instead.
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Ancient Israel, Judah, and Greece: Laying the Foundation of a Comparative Approach

£70.00
Andrew Tobolowsky offers a new starting point for comparative investigations into the traditions of the Hebrew Bible and of ancient Greece. Noting a number of shared problems and questions in the study of each corpus, he advocates for a method based on comparing not tradition to tradition but scholarly approach to scholarly approach. He argues that such a method not only helps overcome the problem of parallelomania, and a high philological barrier to entry, but transforms scholars in each discipline into fellow travellers, capable of offering each other useful insights. By applying this method of comparing scholarly approaches, Tobolowsky considers four crucial questions: - what do contemporary understandings of ethnic identity mean for the study of these traditions; - what role should extraliterary evidence play in illuminating them; - how should we understand the data of genealogical traditions; - and what do new understandings of the porousness of cultural boundaries in the ancient world mean for the study of foundation traditions. In each case, he surveys the landscape of contemporary debates in both fields to determine what new ideas hold the most promise for solving intractable problems—and for most successfully moving on from outdated assumptions. In addition, Ancient Israel, Judah, and Greece particularly emphasizes the usefulness of thinking about the historical development of traditions in the Hebrew Bible through the lens of a Mediterranean context where there is so much more evidence for how traditions were inherited and adapted to work with. Overall, Tobolowsky argues that what each of these comparisons most clearly demonstrates is the crucial importance of completing the shift from a “kernels of truth” based approach to the study of traditions to one where their ongoing dynamism as the medium for redescribing identity and the past is emphasized instead.
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Trauma Theories: Refractions in the Book of Jeremiah

Published: Oct 2024
£75.00
A first of its kind, this monograph examines five common trauma theories used within biblical studies, setting out the assumptions and implications of each and using passages from the book of Jeremiah to demonstrate interpretive possibilities. Trauma Theories highlights the interdisciplinary character of trauma hermeneutics and demonstrates the distinctive contribution each approach offers for biblical interpreters. In her exploration of trauma theories, Elizabeth Boase treats each school of thought separately, tracing its disciplinary roots and its underlying convictions about language and memory. At the same time, she argues for the importance of understanding the way each theory accounts for the place of texts in a communal setting, suggesting that it is the communal impact of trauma that is key to reading biblical texts. Boase uses passages from the Book of Jeremiah as case studies, showcasing how different theories offer diverse ways of understanding the impact of suffering experienced during the time of the Babylonian incursion on Judah and Jerusalem in the sixth century BCE. This volume will be an invaluable resource for newcomers to the field of biblical trauma hermeneutics and for those more familiar with these approaches.
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Trauma Theories: Refractions in the Book of Jeremiah

£75.00
A first of its kind, this monograph examines five common trauma theories used within biblical studies, setting out the assumptions and implications of each and using passages from the book of Jeremiah to demonstrate interpretive possibilities. Trauma Theories highlights the interdisciplinary character of trauma hermeneutics and demonstrates the distinctive contribution each approach offers for biblical interpreters. In her exploration of trauma theories, Elizabeth Boase treats each school of thought separately, tracing its disciplinary roots and its underlying convictions about language and memory. At the same time, she argues for the importance of understanding the way each theory accounts for the place of texts in a communal setting, suggesting that it is the communal impact of trauma that is key to reading biblical texts. Boase uses passages from the Book of Jeremiah as case studies, showcasing how different theories offer diverse ways of understanding the impact of suffering experienced during the time of the Babylonian incursion on Judah and Jerusalem in the sixth century BCE. This volume will be an invaluable resource for newcomers to the field of biblical trauma hermeneutics and for those more familiar with these approaches.
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A Distraught Prophet and Other Performance Readings in Jeremiah

Published: July 2024
£70.00
Continuing the theme of Valerie M Billingham’s, The Great Drama of Jeremiah: A Performance Reading which addresses eleven scenes in Jer 1-19, Billingham presents a performance reading of nine further scenes from chs. 20-32. In a synchronic reading, she undertakes rhetorical analyses of her own translations of the Masoretic Text, noting repetitions, chiastic structures, parallelism, alliteration and assonance that add impact to the messages. She analyses each scene according to their actors, audience, settings (geographical and socio-political), and improvisation of traditional scripts. Employing the Earth Bible Team’s six Eco-justice Principles, she attends to the voices of Earth and members of the Earth community as they express their distress at the Babylonian invasion of Judah, and rejoice at the prospect of the exiles’ return. With the exilic community suffering Post Traumatic Stress, she argues that Jeremiah presents a manual that offers healing and restoration. Acknowledging performance as a worthy pursuit, Billingham provides helpful groundwork for engaging with texts in order to produce scripts for acting. The performances presented include Jeremiah's distress at Yhwh's apparent deception and coercion regarding his prophetic vocation. The kings are the problem in Judah, provoking Yhwh’s judgment, but plans to appoint an ideal leader who will rule according to the covenantal qualities of wisdom, justice and righteousness. Two baskets of figs represent the exilic community and those who remain in Judah. In a twist, the good figs are identified as the suffering exiles, and the bad figs are those who avoided deportation. In a heated clash over the severity and duration of exile, yokes are smashed and Jeremiah is declared to be the true prophet of Yhwh. Jeremiah purchases his uncle’s block of land. An ecological reading presents the field as a silent symbol of hope for the exilic community. It represents all the other fields that will be restored to the rightful families of the returning exiles.
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A Distraught Prophet and Other Performance Readings in Jeremiah

£70.00
Continuing the theme of Valerie M Billingham’s, The Great Drama of Jeremiah: A Performance Reading which addresses eleven scenes in Jer 1-19, Billingham presents a performance reading of nine further scenes from chs. 20-32. In a synchronic reading, she undertakes rhetorical analyses of her own translations of the Masoretic Text, noting repetitions, chiastic structures, parallelism, alliteration and assonance that add impact to the messages. She analyses each scene according to their actors, audience, settings (geographical and socio-political), and improvisation of traditional scripts. Employing the Earth Bible Team’s six Eco-justice Principles, she attends to the voices of Earth and members of the Earth community as they express their distress at the Babylonian invasion of Judah, and rejoice at the prospect of the exiles’ return. With the exilic community suffering Post Traumatic Stress, she argues that Jeremiah presents a manual that offers healing and restoration. Acknowledging performance as a worthy pursuit, Billingham provides helpful groundwork for engaging with texts in order to produce scripts for acting. The performances presented include Jeremiah's distress at Yhwh's apparent deception and coercion regarding his prophetic vocation. The kings are the problem in Judah, provoking Yhwh’s judgment, but plans to appoint an ideal leader who will rule according to the covenantal qualities of wisdom, justice and righteousness. Two baskets of figs represent the exilic community and those who remain in Judah. In a twist, the good figs are identified as the suffering exiles, and the bad figs are those who avoided deportation. In a heated clash over the severity and duration of exile, yokes are smashed and Jeremiah is declared to be the true prophet of Yhwh. Jeremiah purchases his uncle’s block of land. An ecological reading presents the field as a silent symbol of hope for the exilic community. It represents all the other fields that will be restored to the rightful families of the returning exiles.
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1 & 2 Kings: A Visual Commentary

Published: Mar 2024
£75.00

In this uniquely conceived and brilliantly illustrated book, Martin O’Kane, one of the leading experts internationally on biblical art, turns his attention to the narratives of 1&2 Kings. Here we encounter a large and varied cast of characters, men and women whose lives are portrayed imaginatively, ranging from exotic kings and queens and flamboyant prophets to lowly servants and other insignificant functionaries. Readers meet individuals of all ages, from the old and wise to the young and foolish, saints and sinners alike. Many of these characters, and the stories in which they appear, play a prominent part in the religious traditions and cultural worlds of three major faiths—Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Interpreted according to each faith’s distinctive norms, they are popular subjects not only in the literature but particularly in the rich iconographies of the three religions.

1&2 Kings: A Visual Commentary takes the form of a commentary that focuses on the interpretation of characters and stories from the books of Kings in the visual cultures of the three monotheistic faiths. In each chapter, the first section sets out the most distinctive interpretations and appropriations of the biblical story. The second section interprets how the story has been received and interpreted in Jewish, Christian and Islamic literature. The final section details how characters or episodes from Kings re-appear in original ways in the artwork of the three religions. With its over one hundred and seventy-five full-colour images, from Christian mediaeval manuscripts and Persian and Ottoman miniature paintings to contemporary Jewish art, the volume shows why stories from 1&2 Kings feature so prominently in the artistic and cultural worlds the three religions have helped to shape.

Scholars, students and Bible readers in general will find something new and something delightful on every page of this unusually engaging work.

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1 & 2 Kings: A Visual Commentary

£75.00

In this uniquely conceived and brilliantly illustrated book, Martin O’Kane, one of the leading experts internationally on biblical art, turns his attention to the narratives of 1&2 Kings. Here we encounter a large and varied cast of characters, men and women whose lives are portrayed imaginatively, ranging from exotic kings and queens and flamboyant prophets to lowly servants and other insignificant functionaries. Readers meet individuals of all ages, from the old and wise to the young and foolish, saints and sinners alike. Many of these characters, and the stories in which they appear, play a prominent part in the religious traditions and cultural worlds of three major faiths—Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Interpreted according to each faith’s distinctive norms, they are popular subjects not only in the literature but particularly in the rich iconographies of the three religions.

1&2 Kings: A Visual Commentary takes the form of a commentary that focuses on the interpretation of characters and stories from the books of Kings in the visual cultures of the three monotheistic faiths. In each chapter, the first section sets out the most distinctive interpretations and appropriations of the biblical story. The second section interprets how the story has been received and interpreted in Jewish, Christian and Islamic literature. The final section details how characters or episodes from Kings re-appear in original ways in the artwork of the three religions. With its over one hundred and seventy-five full-colour images, from Christian mediaeval manuscripts and Persian and Ottoman miniature paintings to contemporary Jewish art, the volume shows why stories from 1&2 Kings feature so prominently in the artistic and cultural worlds the three religions have helped to shape.

Scholars, students and Bible readers in general will find something new and something delightful on every page of this unusually engaging work.

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Doing Biblical Masculinity Studies as Feminist Biblical Studies? Critical Interrogations

Published: Oct 2023
£60.00
This anthology presents a collaborative interrogation at the intersection of feminist biblical studies and biblical masculinity studies. The included essays make a compelling case for both feminist and masculist readers to recognize the advantage of engaging with each other. As they join forces, they produce research that not only brings female characters, gender issues or queer interpretation histories to the forefront but also interrogates critically male characters as well as androcentric and heteronormative conventions, viewpoints and norms. Connections to geopolitical, ethno-religious and other intersectional issues are part and parcel of the diverse range of approaches. As a whole, then, the book expands the scholarly discourse from essentializing attention on ‘women’ or ‘men’ to a multifaceted (de)construction of gender that exposes gendered structures of domination in comprehensive ways. The shared goal is to halt reactionary gender discourses and to foster intersectional comprehension of texts and scholarship. Theoretical, historical, contemporary and textual considerations underscore the methodological, hermeneutical and exegetical value of this kind of work. The volume is organized into three main parts. First, ‘Theoretical Considerations’, presents two essays illuminating meta-level assumptions and developments when biblical scholars embrace the interrelationship of feminist and masculinity studies in their work. Second, ‘Historical and Contemporary Considerations’, contains three essays examining the Bible in past and present cultural contexts. Third, ‘Textual Considerations’, features four essays focusing on specific passages with lenses informed by masculinity and feminist studies. All nine essays, and the three responses addressing them, invite readers to understand, critique and interrupt phallogocentric assumptions in texts, interpretation histories, and research of the Hebrew Bible.
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Doing Biblical Masculinity Studies as Feminist Biblical Studies? Critical Interrogations

£60.00
This anthology presents a collaborative interrogation at the intersection of feminist biblical studies and biblical masculinity studies. The included essays make a compelling case for both feminist and masculist readers to recognize the advantage of engaging with each other. As they join forces, they produce research that not only brings female characters, gender issues or queer interpretation histories to the forefront but also interrogates critically male characters as well as androcentric and heteronormative conventions, viewpoints and norms. Connections to geopolitical, ethno-religious and other intersectional issues are part and parcel of the diverse range of approaches. As a whole, then, the book expands the scholarly discourse from essentializing attention on ‘women’ or ‘men’ to a multifaceted (de)construction of gender that exposes gendered structures of domination in comprehensive ways. The shared goal is to halt reactionary gender discourses and to foster intersectional comprehension of texts and scholarship. Theoretical, historical, contemporary and textual considerations underscore the methodological, hermeneutical and exegetical value of this kind of work. The volume is organized into three main parts. First, ‘Theoretical Considerations’, presents two essays illuminating meta-level assumptions and developments when biblical scholars embrace the interrelationship of feminist and masculinity studies in their work. Second, ‘Historical and Contemporary Considerations’, contains three essays examining the Bible in past and present cultural contexts. Third, ‘Textual Considerations’, features four essays focusing on specific passages with lenses informed by masculinity and feminist studies. All nine essays, and the three responses addressing them, invite readers to understand, critique and interrupt phallogocentric assumptions in texts, interpretation histories, and research of the Hebrew Bible.
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Effective Stories: Genesis Through the Lens of Resilience

Published: July 2023
£70.00
This book is the first monograph-length reading of a biblical book through the lens of resilience. Megan Warner first defines the lens and outlines its boundaries, before training it upon Genesis—to draw new, and often surprising, meaning out of a much-mined text. This innovative reading responds to the need for sustained readings of biblical text, not just in the spheres of resilience and vulnerability, but also in the closely connected interpretative field of trauma.

Warner demonstrates that the authors and editors of Genesis wrote and presented ‘effective stories’—i.e. stories designed to effect change. The devastation of the destruction of Jerusalem, the exile and dispiriting return are nowhere explicitly addressed in Genesis. It relates the history of much earlier events. Nevertheless, this reading exposes intimate engagement with these seminal disasters and the formulation of responses to them. Genesis reaches back into ancient history for the purpose of preparing a new and resilient road into an uncertain future. Amongst the contributions of this volume are:
 a presentation of Genesis’ two creation stories as concerted and complementary responses to the Babylonian crisis;
 the identification of an extensive book-wide project, focused on Abraham, to present a history of a united (albeit Judah-centred) Israel designed to challenge the Mosaic Yahwisms of the pre-exilic and exilic periods;
 exploration of patterns of use and recruitment of female characters for political means; and
 a sustained reading of the resilience of a single character, Joseph. Warner’s critical approach exposes limitations of the use of resilience as lens, but ultimately demonstrates its potential to go beyond trauma-centred approaches, to recognise innovative, practical and above all, effective, strategies for the construction of viable futures.
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Effective Stories: Genesis Through the Lens of Resilience

£70.00
This book is the first monograph-length reading of a biblical book through the lens of resilience. Megan Warner first defines the lens and outlines its boundaries, before training it upon Genesis—to draw new, and often surprising, meaning out of a much-mined text. This innovative reading responds to the need for sustained readings of biblical text, not just in the spheres of resilience and vulnerability, but also in the closely connected interpretative field of trauma.

Warner demonstrates that the authors and editors of Genesis wrote and presented ‘effective stories’—i.e. stories designed to effect change. The devastation of the destruction of Jerusalem, the exile and dispiriting return are nowhere explicitly addressed in Genesis. It relates the history of much earlier events. Nevertheless, this reading exposes intimate engagement with these seminal disasters and the formulation of responses to them. Genesis reaches back into ancient history for the purpose of preparing a new and resilient road into an uncertain future. Amongst the contributions of this volume are:
 a presentation of Genesis’ two creation stories as concerted and complementary responses to the Babylonian crisis;
 the identification of an extensive book-wide project, focused on Abraham, to present a history of a united (albeit Judah-centred) Israel designed to challenge the Mosaic Yahwisms of the pre-exilic and exilic periods;
 exploration of patterns of use and recruitment of female characters for political means; and
 a sustained reading of the resilience of a single character, Joseph. Warner’s critical approach exposes limitations of the use of resilience as lens, but ultimately demonstrates its potential to go beyond trauma-centred approaches, to recognise innovative, practical and above all, effective, strategies for the construction of viable futures.
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The Way to Zion in Isaiah 40-55: Beyond New Exodus or Metaphor

Published: Jun 2023
£70.00
Entering into a longstanding debate in Isaiah research on 'way' language in chapters 40–55 comes The Way to Zion in Isaiah 40–55. This discussion concerns whether the 'way' is best understood as a new exodus of the exiles from Babylon or instead as a metaphor signifying the transformation of Jerusalem from a place of judgement to a place of redemption. Caleb Gundlach’s study contributes to this debate by arguing that the pilgrimage to Zion becomes a prevalent aspect of the 'way' theme in Isaiah 40–55 and influences how the homecoming is envisioned in these chapters. Firstly, it lays out criteria for recognizing the pilgrimage to Zion as the predominant journey type in Isaiah 49–55. It then explores the relationship of this pilgrimage journey to the major theme of Zion’s restoration within Isaiah 40–55, a theme also emphasized by metaphorical interpretations of the 'way'. Resituating the homecoming material within the perspective of pilgrimage to Zion sheds light on other interpretive debates on Isaiah 40–55, including: - the Babylonian or Judahite provenance for the text; - emphasis on either the text’s compositional stages or its thematic coherence; - thematic tensions, such as between Zion’s restoration and the Servant’s mission to the nations. Reconsidering Isaiah’s 'way' imagery under the paradigm of the pilgrimage to Zion provides new avenues for negotiating these issues and takes a further step towards understanding how Isaiah 40–55 coheres as a meaningful and complex unity.
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The Way to Zion in Isaiah 40-55: Beyond New Exodus or Metaphor

£70.00
Entering into a longstanding debate in Isaiah research on 'way' language in chapters 40–55 comes The Way to Zion in Isaiah 40–55. This discussion concerns whether the 'way' is best understood as a new exodus of the exiles from Babylon or instead as a metaphor signifying the transformation of Jerusalem from a place of judgement to a place of redemption. Caleb Gundlach’s study contributes to this debate by arguing that the pilgrimage to Zion becomes a prevalent aspect of the 'way' theme in Isaiah 40–55 and influences how the homecoming is envisioned in these chapters. Firstly, it lays out criteria for recognizing the pilgrimage to Zion as the predominant journey type in Isaiah 49–55. It then explores the relationship of this pilgrimage journey to the major theme of Zion’s restoration within Isaiah 40–55, a theme also emphasized by metaphorical interpretations of the 'way'. Resituating the homecoming material within the perspective of pilgrimage to Zion sheds light on other interpretive debates on Isaiah 40–55, including: - the Babylonian or Judahite provenance for the text; - emphasis on either the text’s compositional stages or its thematic coherence; - thematic tensions, such as between Zion’s restoration and the Servant’s mission to the nations. Reconsidering Isaiah’s 'way' imagery under the paradigm of the pilgrimage to Zion provides new avenues for negotiating these issues and takes a further step towards understanding how Isaiah 40–55 coheres as a meaningful and complex unity.
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From Qumran to Jude: A History of Social Crisis at Qumran and in Early Jewish Christianity

Published: Jun 2023
£65.00
Many have noted the Qumran-like language of Jude. Chris Armitage provides a detailed comparative consideration of the similarities between Jude and the Dead Sea Scrolls peshers in the Hebrew Bible. The writers, in each of these texts, frequently appeal to examples of eschatological punishment for deviant theology and conduct, from the Hebrew Bible. This study delves systematically into Jude’s use of pesher technique—appropriating a Hebrew Bible example of deviant teaching and behaviour and its eschatological consequences and applying it to the present—and shows, across the divide of Koine Greek and Classical Hebrew, that this is same technique as found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Armitage infers that similar socio-theological crises faced Jude’s and the Qumran community, requiring each to generate literature containing purity and pollution rhetoric, derived from remodelling Hebrew Bible predictions of eschatological punishment to fit its own time, in order to ensure internal solidarity.
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From Qumran to Jude: A History of Social Crisis at Qumran and in Early Jewish Christianity

£65.00
Many have noted the Qumran-like language of Jude. Chris Armitage provides a detailed comparative consideration of the similarities between Jude and the Dead Sea Scrolls peshers in the Hebrew Bible. The writers, in each of these texts, frequently appeal to examples of eschatological punishment for deviant theology and conduct, from the Hebrew Bible. This study delves systematically into Jude’s use of pesher technique—appropriating a Hebrew Bible example of deviant teaching and behaviour and its eschatological consequences and applying it to the present—and shows, across the divide of Koine Greek and Classical Hebrew, that this is same technique as found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Armitage infers that similar socio-theological crises faced Jude’s and the Qumran community, requiring each to generate literature containing purity and pollution rhetoric, derived from remodelling Hebrew Bible predictions of eschatological punishment to fit its own time, in order to ensure internal solidarity.
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Joban Papers

Published: Apr 2023
£75.00
In this volume, David J.A. Clines—known for his magisterial three-volume commentary on Job in the Word Biblical Commentary series (1989–2011)—brings together a sequence of 27 of his papers on his favourite biblical book from a variety of publications. In two sections, the wide-ranging Syntheses and the more focused Probes on particular chapters, this collection is a necessary adjunct to his commentary. Among the titles in the Syntheses are: - On the Poetic Achievement of the Book of Job - Why Is There a Book of Job, and What Does It Do to You If You Read It? - Job’s Fifth Friend: An Ethical Critique of the Book of Job - Deconstructing the Book of Job Among the Probes the reader will find: - False Naivety in the Prologue to Job - In Search of the Indian Job - Quarter Days Gone: Job 24 and the Absence of God - Those Golden Days: Job and the Perils of Nostalgia - Putting Elihu in his Place: A Proposal for the Relocation of Job 32–37 - One or Two Things You May Not Know about the Universe - The Worth of Animals in the Book of Job - Job’s Crafty Conclusion, and Seven Interesting Things about the Epilogue to Job
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Joban Papers

£75.00
In this volume, David J.A. Clines—known for his magisterial three-volume commentary on Job in the Word Biblical Commentary series (1989–2011)—brings together a sequence of 27 of his papers on his favourite biblical book from a variety of publications. In two sections, the wide-ranging Syntheses and the more focused Probes on particular chapters, this collection is a necessary adjunct to his commentary. Among the titles in the Syntheses are: - On the Poetic Achievement of the Book of Job - Why Is There a Book of Job, and What Does It Do to You If You Read It? - Job’s Fifth Friend: An Ethical Critique of the Book of Job - Deconstructing the Book of Job Among the Probes the reader will find: - False Naivety in the Prologue to Job - In Search of the Indian Job - Quarter Days Gone: Job 24 and the Absence of God - Those Golden Days: Job and the Perils of Nostalgia - Putting Elihu in his Place: A Proposal for the Relocation of Job 32–37 - One or Two Things You May Not Know about the Universe - The Worth of Animals in the Book of Job - Job’s Crafty Conclusion, and Seven Interesting Things about the Epilogue to Job
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Play the Man! Biblical Imperatives to Masculinity

Published: Apr 2023
£75.00
David J.A. Clines argues in Play the Man! that masculinity is a script, written for men by their societies, a script that men in their various cultures act out their whole lives long: 'no one is born a man'. He has been quick to deploy the insights of sociologists, historians, educationists, health professionals, psychologists and other scholars investigating masculinity in the contemporary and ancient worlds. The book's title is a recognition of masculinity as performance, and the Bible's depictions of males in action as far more than information or entertainment; they function as demands on the men who read them or have them read to them. Hence the subtitle, Biblical Imperatives to Masculinity, presumes that every biblical reference to the masculine is some kind of authoritative command. Clines—in this collection of writings prepared across three decades—has seen biblical texts as an excellent test bed for research into masculinity in one ancient culture as well as being an indubitable influence upon views and practices of masculinity in our own time.  The bulk of the book consists of studies of individual characters and texts of the Bible, analysing and profiling the masculinity that is there attested, assumed and encouraged. In conclusion, Clines reflects on the continuing impact of the biblical imperatives to masculinity, their effect on men, women and religion, in our own time.  
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Play the Man! Biblical Imperatives to Masculinity

£75.00
David J.A. Clines argues in Play the Man! that masculinity is a script, written for men by their societies, a script that men in their various cultures act out their whole lives long: 'no one is born a man'. He has been quick to deploy the insights of sociologists, historians, educationists, health professionals, psychologists and other scholars investigating masculinity in the contemporary and ancient worlds. The book's title is a recognition of masculinity as performance, and the Bible's depictions of males in action as far more than information or entertainment; they function as demands on the men who read them or have them read to them. Hence the subtitle, Biblical Imperatives to Masculinity, presumes that every biblical reference to the masculine is some kind of authoritative command. Clines—in this collection of writings prepared across three decades—has seen biblical texts as an excellent test bed for research into masculinity in one ancient culture as well as being an indubitable influence upon views and practices of masculinity in our own time.  The bulk of the book consists of studies of individual characters and texts of the Bible, analysing and profiling the masculinity that is there attested, assumed and encouraged. In conclusion, Clines reflects on the continuing impact of the biblical imperatives to masculinity, their effect on men, women and religion, in our own time.  
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