Ancestral Queerness: The Normal and the Deviant in the Abraham and Sarah Narratives
Published: May 2019
£50.00
What would it look like to be queer in the time of Abraham and Sarah? What is normative and what is deviant in their stories? What does this have to do with queer lives today?
In Ancestral Queerness, Gil Rosenberg uses a careful comparative method to develop a cross-cultural queer category ('Queer'). He applies this category to Abraham and Sarah and argues that, Abraham and Sarah may usefully be regarded as 'Queer'.
Rosenberg's comparisons draw on a variety of contemporary queer stories, scholarship, and theories. These include a lesbian mother trying to support her partner and newborn daughter, Australian polyamorous families, Lee Edelman's figure of the Child, and gay men building families through surrogacy.
These comparisons lead Rosenberg to surprising new interpretations of several key passages in Genesis 11 —21. For example, he argues that Abraham wants to hide his marriage to Sarah because their relationship is a queer one, and that Sarah may not actually be wanting a biological child. Rosenberg also highlights the combination of normative and deviant elements in Abraham's strategies for obtaining an heir, and the role of ethnic and class difference in Abraham's and Sarah's efforts to become more normative.
Bold in its conclusions but careful and precise in its method, Ancestral Queerness breaks new ground by developing a queer theory applicable to diverse cultures, revealing the bias in previous scholarship on Abraham and Sarah, and opening up new paths of interpretation in their narratives.
Ancestral Queerness: The Normal and the Deviant in the Abraham and Sarah Narratives
£50.00
What would it look like to be queer in the time of Abraham and Sarah? What is normative and what is deviant in their stories? What does this have to do with queer lives today?
In Ancestral Queerness, Gil Rosenberg uses a careful comparative method to develop a cross-cultural queer category ('Queer'). He applies this category to Abraham and Sarah and argues that, Abraham and Sarah may usefully be regarded as 'Queer'.
Rosenberg's comparisons draw on a variety of contemporary queer stories, scholarship, and theories. These include a lesbian mother trying to support her partner and newborn daughter, Australian polyamorous families, Lee Edelman's figure of the Child, and gay men building families through surrogacy.
These comparisons lead Rosenberg to surprising new interpretations of several key passages in Genesis 11 —21. For example, he argues that Abraham wants to hide his marriage to Sarah because their relationship is a queer one, and that Sarah may not actually be wanting a biological child. Rosenberg also highlights the combination of normative and deviant elements in Abraham's strategies for obtaining an heir, and the role of ethnic and class difference in Abraham's and Sarah's efforts to become more normative.
Bold in its conclusions but careful and precise in its method, Ancestral Queerness breaks new ground by developing a queer theory applicable to diverse cultures, revealing the bias in previous scholarship on Abraham and Sarah, and opening up new paths of interpretation in their narratives.
The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew. I. Aleph. Revised Edition
Published: July 2018
£150.00
The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew Revised (DCHR ) is a complete revision, with over 100,000 improvements, of the original Dictionary of Classical Hebrew (1993 —2016).
It contains 6,300 Hebrew words not in the standard lexicon of BDB, and refers to many newly published texts, including 540 Dead Sea Scrolls and 4,000 ancient Hebrew inscriptions. New features include: a notation of 3,700 byforms (words with the same meaning and similar form) identified for the first time; 700 verbal nouns (nouns derived from a verb) with their own articles (not previously shown in Hebrew lexica), 330 denominative verbs (verbs derived from a noun), and the semantic field to which every word belongs (a totally new feature for Hebrew dictionaries).
Data on synonyms have been greatly expanded, and loanwords from other languages included. Articles on personal names show (for the first time) all short forms, long forms, and alternative forms of the name, bibliographies have been updated and expanded, and 35,000 emendations of biblical texts noted. Every occurrence of each word in Classical Hebrew is noted.
All the subjects and objects of verbs are listed, and the verbs used with each noun, as well as all nouns used in a construct (genitive) relation with another noun. As with DCH, every Hebrew word in the Dictionary (except for the sections on synonyms) is followed immediately by an English translation, so that the Dictionary can be easily understood by a person with little or no Hebrew. When completed, DCHR will be 5 million words in length (equivalent to 50 standard-size books), 25% longer than DCH, and 4 times the length of BDB and HALOT.
There is a special discount price for customers subscribing to the DCHR set, and an easy payment plan (details from phoenix.bibs@sheffield.ac.uk).
The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew. I. Aleph. Revised Edition
£150.00
The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew Revised (DCHR ) is a complete revision, with over 100,000 improvements, of the original Dictionary of Classical Hebrew (1993 —2016).
It contains 6,300 Hebrew words not in the standard lexicon of BDB, and refers to many newly published texts, including 540 Dead Sea Scrolls and 4,000 ancient Hebrew inscriptions. New features include: a notation of 3,700 byforms (words with the same meaning and similar form) identified for the first time; 700 verbal nouns (nouns derived from a verb) with their own articles (not previously shown in Hebrew lexica), 330 denominative verbs (verbs derived from a noun), and the semantic field to which every word belongs (a totally new feature for Hebrew dictionaries).
Data on synonyms have been greatly expanded, and loanwords from other languages included. Articles on personal names show (for the first time) all short forms, long forms, and alternative forms of the name, bibliographies have been updated and expanded, and 35,000 emendations of biblical texts noted. Every occurrence of each word in Classical Hebrew is noted.
All the subjects and objects of verbs are listed, and the verbs used with each noun, as well as all nouns used in a construct (genitive) relation with another noun. As with DCH, every Hebrew word in the Dictionary (except for the sections on synonyms) is followed immediately by an English translation, so that the Dictionary can be easily understood by a person with little or no Hebrew. When completed, DCHR will be 5 million words in length (equivalent to 50 standard-size books), 25% longer than DCH, and 4 times the length of BDB and HALOT.
There is a special discount price for customers subscribing to the DCHR set, and an easy payment plan (details from phoenix.bibs@sheffield.ac.uk).
Dictionary of the Bible and Western Culture
Published: Nov 2017
£19.50 – £60.00
Consumers of culture in the modern world — high culture or popular culture — discover before long that the Bible, its tales and its characters and its idioms, is woven into the culture. Most of us wish we knew the Bible better, and are often at a loss to know what the biblical source or reference is to phrases or ideas we encounter.
The editors of this unique volume have seen the need for an easy-to-use reference guide for those needing to track down information on characters, phrases, places, and concepts originating in the Bible. They assembled 200 scholars to write 1000 encyclopaedia entries on such biblical backgrounds to Western culture. The contributors to the volume have in mind readers without the specialization of formal biblical studies, and even those not familiar with the Bible's basic content. The presentation is twofold: entries begin with discussion of biblical terms in their original settings, and then illustrate occasions when those terms reappear in later cultural artefacts. This volume is then a dictionary of the reception of the Bible in later Western artistic and intellectual expression.
There is a great deal here to explore and discover; turning these pages will prove illuminating not only as an introduction to biblical literature but also as a demonstration of the Bible's persistent contributions to our cultural heritage.
Dictionary of the Bible and Western Culture
£19.50 – £60.00
Consumers of culture in the modern world — high culture or popular culture — discover before long that the Bible, its tales and its characters and its idioms, is woven into the culture. Most of us wish we knew the Bible better, and are often at a loss to know what the biblical source or reference is to phrases or ideas we encounter.
The editors of this unique volume have seen the need for an easy-to-use reference guide for those needing to track down information on characters, phrases, places, and concepts originating in the Bible. They assembled 200 scholars to write 1000 encyclopaedia entries on such biblical backgrounds to Western culture. The contributors to the volume have in mind readers without the specialization of formal biblical studies, and even those not familiar with the Bible's basic content. The presentation is twofold: entries begin with discussion of biblical terms in their original settings, and then illustrate occasions when those terms reappear in later cultural artefacts. This volume is then a dictionary of the reception of the Bible in later Western artistic and intellectual expression.
There is a great deal here to explore and discover; turning these pages will prove illuminating not only as an introduction to biblical literature but also as a demonstration of the Bible's persistent contributions to our cultural heritage.
Feminist Interpretation of the Hebrew Bible in Retrospect: II. Social Locations
Published: Nov 2017
£25.00 – £60.00
This is the second of a set of three volumes reviewing the progress of feminist Hebrew Bible scholarship over the last 40 years. In it, fourteen essayists focus on the feminist work from various geographical areas and different hermeneutical locations.
Each essay explores the range and depth of feminist exegesis, presents substantial yet easily digestible trends, preferences and perspectives in feminist scholarship, and demonstrates that feminist biblical approaches are not monolithic but diverse in feminist conviction, hermeneutics and method.
The result of this collaborative task is a comprehensive though selective survey, which includes suggestions for future feminist engagement. What feminist biblical scholarship has accomplished during the past forty years is no small feat. But it becomes clear from this volume that much remains to be done in the pursuit of dismantling structures of gender domination in Hebrew Bible exegesis and beyond.
Feminist Interpretation of the Hebrew Bible in Retrospect: II. Social Locations
£25.00 – £60.00
This is the second of a set of three volumes reviewing the progress of feminist Hebrew Bible scholarship over the last 40 years. In it, fourteen essayists focus on the feminist work from various geographical areas and different hermeneutical locations.
Each essay explores the range and depth of feminist exegesis, presents substantial yet easily digestible trends, preferences and perspectives in feminist scholarship, and demonstrates that feminist biblical approaches are not monolithic but diverse in feminist conviction, hermeneutics and method.
The result of this collaborative task is a comprehensive though selective survey, which includes suggestions for future feminist engagement. What feminist biblical scholarship has accomplished during the past forty years is no small feat. But it becomes clear from this volume that much remains to be done in the pursuit of dismantling structures of gender domination in Hebrew Bible exegesis and beyond.
Ears That Hear: Explorations in Theological Interpretation of the Bible
Published: Nov 2017
£25.00 – £60.00
The contemporary renaissance of theological interpretation as an approach to reading the Bible has brought with it a host of questions. Most importantly, what is the relationship between theological interpretation and more traditional forms of historical inquiry characteristic of the field in the modern era? Does theological interpretation require that the church's faith determine the meaning of biblical texts? How does a theological hermeneutic navigate the conventional roles of author, text, and reader? What are the natural intellectual companions of theological interpretation?
Essays in this volume tackle questions like these primarily by engaging directly with biblical texts, both in theological interpretation for its own sake and to see what the texts themselves might suggest about doing theological interpretation. The result is a much-needed exploration of theological interpretation in the hands of biblical scholars, theologians, and linguists occupied with exegesis.
The volume arises from an international colloquium on the theological interpretation of the Bible held at Laidlaw College in Auckland, New Zealand, in August 2011.
Ears That Hear: Explorations in Theological Interpretation of the Bible
£25.00 – £60.00
The contemporary renaissance of theological interpretation as an approach to reading the Bible has brought with it a host of questions. Most importantly, what is the relationship between theological interpretation and more traditional forms of historical inquiry characteristic of the field in the modern era? Does theological interpretation require that the church's faith determine the meaning of biblical texts? How does a theological hermeneutic navigate the conventional roles of author, text, and reader? What are the natural intellectual companions of theological interpretation?
Essays in this volume tackle questions like these primarily by engaging directly with biblical texts, both in theological interpretation for its own sake and to see what the texts themselves might suggest about doing theological interpretation. The result is a much-needed exploration of theological interpretation in the hands of biblical scholars, theologians, and linguists occupied with exegesis.
The volume arises from an international colloquium on the theological interpretation of the Bible held at Laidlaw College in Auckland, New Zealand, in August 2011.
Feminist Interpretation of the Hebrew Bible in Retrospect: I. Biblical Books
Published: Oct 2017
£25.00 – £60.00
This is the first of a set of three volumes reviewing the progress of feminist Hebrew Bible scholarship over the last 40 years. In it, fourteen essayists focus on the feminist work on each of the biblical books.
Each essay explores the range and depth of feminist exegesis, presents substantial yet easily digestible trends, preferences and perspectives in feminist scholarship, and demonstrates that feminist biblical approaches are not monolithic but diverse in feminist conviction, hermeneutics and method.
The result of this collaborative task is a comprehensive though selective survey, which includes suggestions for future feminist engagement. What feminist biblical scholarship has accomplished during the past forty years is no small feat. But it becomes clear from this volume that much remains to be done in the pursuit of dismantling structures of gender domination in Hebrew Bible exegesis and beyond.
Feminist Interpretation of the Hebrew Bible in Retrospect: I. Biblical Books
£25.00 – £60.00
This is the first of a set of three volumes reviewing the progress of feminist Hebrew Bible scholarship over the last 40 years. In it, fourteen essayists focus on the feminist work on each of the biblical books.
Each essay explores the range and depth of feminist exegesis, presents substantial yet easily digestible trends, preferences and perspectives in feminist scholarship, and demonstrates that feminist biblical approaches are not monolithic but diverse in feminist conviction, hermeneutics and method.
The result of this collaborative task is a comprehensive though selective survey, which includes suggestions for future feminist engagement. What feminist biblical scholarship has accomplished during the past forty years is no small feat. But it becomes clear from this volume that much remains to be done in the pursuit of dismantling structures of gender domination in Hebrew Bible exegesis and beyond.
The Decalogue and its Cultural Influence
Published: Oct 2017
£33.00 – £70.00
Reception history is one of the most inviting, yet also one of the most difficult, fields in the study of the Bible today. It is difficult because it involves so many layers of expertise. The reception-historian does not only need a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of the biblical text itself, but also familiarity with the cultures and intellectual background of the many diverse ages in which it has been read and appropriated; and in addition needs to be versed in media other than writing, including the visual and performing arts.
But it is inviting because it carries its practitioners so far beyond the confines of ordinary textual study, with its concern for language and text, and out into an ocean of interdisciplinary engagement with writings that have, after all, stimulated the imaginations as well as the intellects of generations of religious (and non-religious) readers. The Decalogue is an obvious candidate for a reception-historical treatment. It has acquired over the centuries an enormous weight of commentary, and has been assimilated into the most varied cultures. Though a text, it has often also been an icon, appearing on walls in churches and now even in American courthouses. The subject was ripe for study, and the conference at which the papers in this book were delivered marked a significant milestone in biblical reception history' (from John Barton's Preface to the volume).
The 21 papers in this volume offer the richest and most wide-ranging interdisciplinary collection of studies on the reception of the Decalogue in culture, and will prove to be a fundamental resource for students of the biblical text and of the reception of the Bible in general.
The Decalogue and its Cultural Influence
£33.00 – £70.00
Reception history is one of the most inviting, yet also one of the most difficult, fields in the study of the Bible today. It is difficult because it involves so many layers of expertise. The reception-historian does not only need a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of the biblical text itself, but also familiarity with the cultures and intellectual background of the many diverse ages in which it has been read and appropriated; and in addition needs to be versed in media other than writing, including the visual and performing arts.
But it is inviting because it carries its practitioners so far beyond the confines of ordinary textual study, with its concern for language and text, and out into an ocean of interdisciplinary engagement with writings that have, after all, stimulated the imaginations as well as the intellects of generations of religious (and non-religious) readers. The Decalogue is an obvious candidate for a reception-historical treatment. It has acquired over the centuries an enormous weight of commentary, and has been assimilated into the most varied cultures. Though a text, it has often also been an icon, appearing on walls in churches and now even in American courthouses. The subject was ripe for study, and the conference at which the papers in this book were delivered marked a significant milestone in biblical reception history' (from John Barton's Preface to the volume).
The 21 papers in this volume offer the richest and most wide-ranging interdisciplinary collection of studies on the reception of the Decalogue in culture, and will prove to be a fundamental resource for students of the biblical text and of the reception of the Bible in general.
Feminist Interpretation of the Hebrew Bible in Retrospect. III: Methods
Published: Oct 2017
£25.00 – £60.00
This is the third of a set of three volumes reviewing the progress of feminist Hebrew Bible scholarship over the last forty years. In this third volume, eighteen contributors focus on the wide range of exegetical methods as they have been productively employed in feminist biblical interpretations.
More specifically, each essay investigates how feminist Hebrew Bible exegetes have worked with exegetical methods. Each essay surveys the method under consideration as it has emerged in academic discourse generally and in biblical studies in particular. Each essay also explains how feminist uses of the various exegetical methods have been deeply embedded within the theological, cultural, and even political expectations and assumptions of readers of the Bible.
This volume asks readers to come to terms with the following question: What are the best methods for feminist exegesis in the light of past and present socio-political, theological, or hermeneutical developments in reading the Bible? After all, feminist theorists have come to recognize that methods are always already situated within powerful epistemological and methodological structures that have their roots in vast arrays of historical, political, economic, social, and religious factors. This volume encourages feminist debate on these complex issues that stand at the heart of biblical exegesis.
Feminist Interpretation of the Hebrew Bible in Retrospect. III: Methods
£25.00 – £60.00
This is the third of a set of three volumes reviewing the progress of feminist Hebrew Bible scholarship over the last forty years. In this third volume, eighteen contributors focus on the wide range of exegetical methods as they have been productively employed in feminist biblical interpretations.
More specifically, each essay investigates how feminist Hebrew Bible exegetes have worked with exegetical methods. Each essay surveys the method under consideration as it has emerged in academic discourse generally and in biblical studies in particular. Each essay also explains how feminist uses of the various exegetical methods have been deeply embedded within the theological, cultural, and even political expectations and assumptions of readers of the Bible.
This volume asks readers to come to terms with the following question: What are the best methods for feminist exegesis in the light of past and present socio-political, theological, or hermeneutical developments in reading the Bible? After all, feminist theorists have come to recognize that methods are always already situated within powerful epistemological and methodological structures that have their roots in vast arrays of historical, political, economic, social, and religious factors. This volume encourages feminist debate on these complex issues that stand at the heart of biblical exegesis.
Biblical Masculinities Foregrounded
Published: Oct 2017
£25.00 – £65.00
Biblical Masculinities Foregrounded brings together ten innovative studies on varieties of masculinity evidenced in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and other early Christian writings. A sequel to the 2010 collection, Men and Masculinity in the Hebrew Bible and Beyond, this new volume raises important questions about why the study of biblical masculinities matters, what it contributes to our knowledge of the ancient writers' world as well as to our contemporary world, and which methods adequately attend to that study. The volume is designed as a resource for scholars of both Testaments working from a variety of biblical traditions and ideological perspectives on masculinity.
The following studies are offered as companions in the conversation: Yahweh's masculinity in appearances in glory in Exodus and Ezekiel (Alan Hooker); Proverbs' (de)construction of masculinity (Hilary Lipka); Saul's troubled masculinity in 1 —2 Samuel (Marcel M€Äcelaru); weeping men in the Torah and the Deuteronomistic history (Milena Kirova); Athaliah's manly rule (Stuart Macwilliam); Joseph of Nazareth as an everyday man (Justin Glessner); being a male disciple in Matthew's 'antitheses' (Hans-Ulrich Weidemann); eunuch masculinity in Matthew's Gospel (Susanna Asikainen); masculinity and circumcision in the first century (Karin Neutel and Matthew Anderson); and Thecla's masculinity in the Acts of Thecla (Peter-Ben Smit). Ovidiu Creangă opens the volume with a critical appraisal of the current state of play in the field, while Martti Nissinen and Bjorn Krondorfer offer closing critical reflections that situate the book's topics within broader debates regarding masculinities in religious studies.
Biblical Masculinities Foregrounded
£25.00 – £65.00
Biblical Masculinities Foregrounded brings together ten innovative studies on varieties of masculinity evidenced in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and other early Christian writings. A sequel to the 2010 collection, Men and Masculinity in the Hebrew Bible and Beyond, this new volume raises important questions about why the study of biblical masculinities matters, what it contributes to our knowledge of the ancient writers' world as well as to our contemporary world, and which methods adequately attend to that study. The volume is designed as a resource for scholars of both Testaments working from a variety of biblical traditions and ideological perspectives on masculinity.
The following studies are offered as companions in the conversation: Yahweh's masculinity in appearances in glory in Exodus and Ezekiel (Alan Hooker); Proverbs' (de)construction of masculinity (Hilary Lipka); Saul's troubled masculinity in 1 —2 Samuel (Marcel M€Äcelaru); weeping men in the Torah and the Deuteronomistic history (Milena Kirova); Athaliah's manly rule (Stuart Macwilliam); Joseph of Nazareth as an everyday man (Justin Glessner); being a male disciple in Matthew's 'antitheses' (Hans-Ulrich Weidemann); eunuch masculinity in Matthew's Gospel (Susanna Asikainen); masculinity and circumcision in the first century (Karin Neutel and Matthew Anderson); and Thecla's masculinity in the Acts of Thecla (Peter-Ben Smit). Ovidiu Creangă opens the volume with a critical appraisal of the current state of play in the field, while Martti Nissinen and Bjorn Krondorfer offer closing critical reflections that situate the book's topics within broader debates regarding masculinities in religious studies.
The Female Ruse: Women’s Deception and Divine Sanction in the Hebrew Bible
Published: Sep 2017
£25.00 – £60.00
From Eve to Esther, the Hebrew Bible is replete with gendered tales of trickery. A lie is uttered, a mask donned, a seduction staged, while redemption is propelled forward, guided by the divine hand. From the first 'female ruse' — Eve presenting the fruit of the tree of knowledge to Adam — humanity becomes embodied, engaged in history, moving from the Garden to exile, from wandering to homeland and redemption (and back again). Consider Rebekah dressing her beloved son in goatskins to steal the blessing from his blind father; Lot's daughters lying with their drunken father, and then conceiving the founding fathers of Ammon and Moab; Leah and Rachel, the mothers of the twelve tribes of Israel, duping Jacob on their wedding night; Tamar's seduction of Judah, her father-in-law, who then bears the progenitor of the Davidic line; Naomi sending Ruth to the threshing floor to seduce Boaz by night; Bathsheba invoking an oath that King David had supposedly made in order to forward Solomon, her son, as successor to the monarchy; and Queen Esther concealing her Jewish identity in the Persian imperial court. Over the course of nine chapters, the author traces these narratives of deception; in each case, God is in cahoots with these feminine agents in advancing the providential plan. A tension holds between the 'best laid plans' of men and the divine will as forwarded by women. Drawing on classic rabbinic sources and modern literary exegesis, the author exposes the conflict between the simple progression of genealogies and the process of selection through alliances of family and kin. Women are at the crux of that conflict, seemingly compelled to choose the indirect route while the deity appears to endorse their lie.
The Female Ruse: Women’s Deception and Divine Sanction in the Hebrew Bible
£25.00 – £60.00
From Eve to Esther, the Hebrew Bible is replete with gendered tales of trickery. A lie is uttered, a mask donned, a seduction staged, while redemption is propelled forward, guided by the divine hand. From the first 'female ruse' — Eve presenting the fruit of the tree of knowledge to Adam — humanity becomes embodied, engaged in history, moving from the Garden to exile, from wandering to homeland and redemption (and back again). Consider Rebekah dressing her beloved son in goatskins to steal the blessing from his blind father; Lot's daughters lying with their drunken father, and then conceiving the founding fathers of Ammon and Moab; Leah and Rachel, the mothers of the twelve tribes of Israel, duping Jacob on their wedding night; Tamar's seduction of Judah, her father-in-law, who then bears the progenitor of the Davidic line; Naomi sending Ruth to the threshing floor to seduce Boaz by night; Bathsheba invoking an oath that King David had supposedly made in order to forward Solomon, her son, as successor to the monarchy; and Queen Esther concealing her Jewish identity in the Persian imperial court. Over the course of nine chapters, the author traces these narratives of deception; in each case, God is in cahoots with these feminine agents in advancing the providential plan. A tension holds between the 'best laid plans' of men and the divine will as forwarded by women. Drawing on classic rabbinic sources and modern literary exegesis, the author exposes the conflict between the simple progression of genealogies and the process of selection through alliances of family and kin. Women are at the crux of that conflict, seemingly compelled to choose the indirect route while the deity appears to endorse their lie.
Journeys in the Songscape: Space and the Song of Songs
Published: Sep 2017
£20.00 – £60.00
The poetic world of the Song of Songs is a famously heady and distortive landscape, filled with bright sunlit rills, nocturnal cityscapes, and fecund bodies laid out like kingdoms. But what does the Song's use and abuse of spatial relationships tell us about its subject matter, and what do its strange panoramas tell us about literary space more broadly? Directly challenging recent methodological trends in biblical spatial studies, Journeys in the Songscape uses a range of innovative critical tools to explore, map and critique poetic space in the Song of Songs.
Taking the reader on a series of journeys across the Song's gendered, rural, urban and bodily spaces, Meredith argues that the worlds that spring up between the Song's lovers are all subtle reimaginings of the space between the biblical page and its own readers, and that at the heart of the Song is a (con)fusion of the dynamics of loving with the experience of reading. Love is at work in the Song, says Meredith, but it is not its subject so much as a sign under which collusions of power, textuality, space and subjectivity labour. The Song's world speaks not only to sexual relationships, then, but to the structure of language itself; textual spaces do not organize textual meaning but rather image its fundamental instability.
Journeys in the Songscape is a bold new literary treatment of the Song of Songs, but it is also a rethinking of what we mean by the term 'literary space', and represents a playful incitement to reconsider how critical tools are put to use in apprehending space as a literary construct.
Journeys in the Songscape: Space and the Song of Songs
£20.00 – £60.00
The poetic world of the Song of Songs is a famously heady and distortive landscape, filled with bright sunlit rills, nocturnal cityscapes, and fecund bodies laid out like kingdoms. But what does the Song's use and abuse of spatial relationships tell us about its subject matter, and what do its strange panoramas tell us about literary space more broadly? Directly challenging recent methodological trends in biblical spatial studies, Journeys in the Songscape uses a range of innovative critical tools to explore, map and critique poetic space in the Song of Songs.
Taking the reader on a series of journeys across the Song's gendered, rural, urban and bodily spaces, Meredith argues that the worlds that spring up between the Song's lovers are all subtle reimaginings of the space between the biblical page and its own readers, and that at the heart of the Song is a (con)fusion of the dynamics of loving with the experience of reading. Love is at work in the Song, says Meredith, but it is not its subject so much as a sign under which collusions of power, textuality, space and subjectivity labour. The Song's world speaks not only to sexual relationships, then, but to the structure of language itself; textual spaces do not organize textual meaning but rather image its fundamental instability.
Journeys in the Songscape is a bold new literary treatment of the Song of Songs, but it is also a rethinking of what we mean by the term 'literary space', and represents a playful incitement to reconsider how critical tools are put to use in apprehending space as a literary construct.
Habitat, Human, and Holy: An Eco-Rhetorical Reading of the Gospel of Matthew
Published: Sep 2017
£20.00 – £50.00
Texts are rhetorical; they have an effect; they shape the mind and emotions of the readers who engage the text. Readers, in their turn, attend to the rhetoric of a text through the interpretative lens they bring to their reading of the text at the same time as they are being shaped by its rhetoric. Elaine Wainwright's eco-rhetorical reading of the Gospel of Matthew explores this interplay of rhetoric and perspective.
An ecological perspective or hermeneutic is relatively new within biblical studies. It continues to be shaped and formed. Lorraine Code's call to 'ecological thinking' as a new 'social imaginary' informs the ecological perspective that Wainwright brings to this particular reading of the Gospel of Matthew. It is attentive to the interrelationships of all Earth constituents, and functions as a lens through which one can read the entire Gospel of Matthew. Such a perspective functions well with the particular rhetorical approach that guides this ecological reading. This approach is attentive to a complex weaving of material and 'other-than-human' as well as human features into the fabric of the text: hence the title Habitat, Human and Holy. It is their interaction in the text that constructs its rhetoric and it is this that engages the ecological reader.
The story of Jesus, Emmanu-el, as it unfolds in the carefully structured Gospel of Matthew, is here read using an ecological hermeneutic and a rhetorical way of reading. Significant new insights emerge at each step of the way.
Habitat, Human, and Holy: An Eco-Rhetorical Reading of the Gospel of Matthew
£20.00 – £50.00
Texts are rhetorical; they have an effect; they shape the mind and emotions of the readers who engage the text. Readers, in their turn, attend to the rhetoric of a text through the interpretative lens they bring to their reading of the text at the same time as they are being shaped by its rhetoric. Elaine Wainwright's eco-rhetorical reading of the Gospel of Matthew explores this interplay of rhetoric and perspective.
An ecological perspective or hermeneutic is relatively new within biblical studies. It continues to be shaped and formed. Lorraine Code's call to 'ecological thinking' as a new 'social imaginary' informs the ecological perspective that Wainwright brings to this particular reading of the Gospel of Matthew. It is attentive to the interrelationships of all Earth constituents, and functions as a lens through which one can read the entire Gospel of Matthew. Such a perspective functions well with the particular rhetorical approach that guides this ecological reading. This approach is attentive to a complex weaving of material and 'other-than-human' as well as human features into the fabric of the text: hence the title Habitat, Human and Holy. It is their interaction in the text that constructs its rhetoric and it is this that engages the ecological reader.
The story of Jesus, Emmanu-el, as it unfolds in the carefully structured Gospel of Matthew, is here read using an ecological hermeneutic and a rhetorical way of reading. Significant new insights emerge at each step of the way.
The Letter to the Romans: Paul among the Ecologists
Published: Sep 2017
£23.00 – £60.00
'What God has joined together, let no one put asunder' is a motto for this commentary. Against a prevailing theological tradition that God's compassion is for human beings only and not also for non-human creation and the earth, Tonstad raises his voice in protest. The 'sundering' omissions are so monumental that only a renewed reading of Romans from the ground up can hope to undo them.
If we read Romans through the eyes of Tonstad, Paul will be found to be speaking about the faithfulness of Christ and not only about faith in Christ; he will describe sin in societal terms and not only as a problem of individuals; his enigmatic 'I' in Romans 7 will tell the story of Eve and not only rehash his own biography; and Paul will give voice to non-human creation and the earth to a degree that is elsewhere heard in the Bible only in the Old Testament and, of course, hardly ever in the pulpit or the seminary.
The theology of Romans will turn out to be an inclusive theology of divine compassion rather than a theology of divine sovereignty, arbitrarily exercised. On the theological foundation of compassion, Paul outlines an ethical vision of compassion in human community, with regard to citizenship and government, and in the mixed fellowship of Jews and Gentiles in the house churches in Rome. Paul's ecological bona fides are inseparable from his theological vision and not an imposition from without; his call to mercy blends with the best and most urgent sentiments of contemporary ecologists.
In the striking reciprocity between theology and ecology in Romans, Paul puts on display what God has joined together, and, better still, what God has done to join together all that is asunder.
The Letter to the Romans: Paul among the Ecologists
£23.00 – £60.00
'What God has joined together, let no one put asunder' is a motto for this commentary. Against a prevailing theological tradition that God's compassion is for human beings only and not also for non-human creation and the earth, Tonstad raises his voice in protest. The 'sundering' omissions are so monumental that only a renewed reading of Romans from the ground up can hope to undo them.
If we read Romans through the eyes of Tonstad, Paul will be found to be speaking about the faithfulness of Christ and not only about faith in Christ; he will describe sin in societal terms and not only as a problem of individuals; his enigmatic 'I' in Romans 7 will tell the story of Eve and not only rehash his own biography; and Paul will give voice to non-human creation and the earth to a degree that is elsewhere heard in the Bible only in the Old Testament and, of course, hardly ever in the pulpit or the seminary.
The theology of Romans will turn out to be an inclusive theology of divine compassion rather than a theology of divine sovereignty, arbitrarily exercised. On the theological foundation of compassion, Paul outlines an ethical vision of compassion in human community, with regard to citizenship and government, and in the mixed fellowship of Jews and Gentiles in the house churches in Rome. Paul's ecological bona fides are inseparable from his theological vision and not an imposition from without; his call to mercy blends with the best and most urgent sentiments of contemporary ecologists.
In the striking reciprocity between theology and ecology in Romans, Paul puts on display what God has joined together, and, better still, what God has done to join together all that is asunder.
Persuading God: Rhetorical Studies of First-Person Psalms
Published: Sep 2017
£19.00 – £45.00
Written by a scholar of rhetoric, Persuading God demonstrates that the first-person psalms that make up over a third of the Book of Psalms were designed not simply to express the feelings of individual Israelites but to persuade God to act.
The book casts a new light on the roles of all the players in the situations in which the psalms were composed and performed: the person represented by the speaker on whose particular troubles the psalm is based, the spectators and opponents who are sometimes addressed directly by the speaker, the poet-musicians who craft the speaker's case and occasionally undermine it, and most of all, God as the direct addressee whose presumed openness to persuasion and willingness to intervene underlie the entire event.
The readings provide new explanations for many long-standing puzzles: how to deal with the long string of imprecations in Psalm 109, whether Psalm 4 is best read as protesting a false accusation or as countering apostasy, why so many verses in Psalm 62 begin with the exclamation ach , and, more generally, why so many first-person psalms seem to swing abruptly between despair and praise.
The book demonstrates the relevance of contemporary rhetorical theory to Hebrew Bible studies, including the work of ChaÌøm Perelman and Lucie Olbrechts-Tyteca, Kenneth Burke, and Mikhail Bakhtin. It also illuminates the state of rhetorical practice in the ancient Near East at the same time that rhetorical theories were first being codified and taught in archaic and classical Athens.
Persuading God: Rhetorical Studies of First-Person Psalms
£19.00 – £45.00
Written by a scholar of rhetoric, Persuading God demonstrates that the first-person psalms that make up over a third of the Book of Psalms were designed not simply to express the feelings of individual Israelites but to persuade God to act.
The book casts a new light on the roles of all the players in the situations in which the psalms were composed and performed: the person represented by the speaker on whose particular troubles the psalm is based, the spectators and opponents who are sometimes addressed directly by the speaker, the poet-musicians who craft the speaker's case and occasionally undermine it, and most of all, God as the direct addressee whose presumed openness to persuasion and willingness to intervene underlie the entire event.
The readings provide new explanations for many long-standing puzzles: how to deal with the long string of imprecations in Psalm 109, whether Psalm 4 is best read as protesting a false accusation or as countering apostasy, why so many verses in Psalm 62 begin with the exclamation ach , and, more generally, why so many first-person psalms seem to swing abruptly between despair and praise.
The book demonstrates the relevance of contemporary rhetorical theory to Hebrew Bible studies, including the work of ChaÌøm Perelman and Lucie Olbrechts-Tyteca, Kenneth Burke, and Mikhail Bakhtin. It also illuminates the state of rhetorical practice in the ancient Near East at the same time that rhetorical theories were first being codified and taught in archaic and classical Athens.
About Earth’s Child: An Ecological Listening to the Gospel of Luke
Published: Sep 2017
£20.00 – £60.00
How does sensitivity to current ecological and environmental issues impact on our hearing of the Gospels? About Earth's Child listens for the ecological sounds that are present in Luke's narrative symphony and offers a way for readers today to identify them.
Michael Trainor approaches Luke's Gospel with a fresh engagement while respecting the evangelist's own purposes in addressing the social and cultural concerns of first-century followers of Jesus. Hearing the Gospel from an ecological perspective allows us to see how Luke presents Jesus as 'Earth's Child'. In the Gospel's early chapters, Jesus is presented as born of Earth, wrapped with Earth's cloth and laid in Earth's manger. In the final chapters, he is affixed to Earth's wood and laid in Earth's receptacle from where he is resurrected and meets his disciples.
Between these opening and closing chapters a remarkable story of Earth unfolds. This concerns all Earth's members, human and non-human, organic and inanimate. It is about God, angels, demons, human beings, soil, seeds, mountains, waters, animals (even ravens, pigs and a couple of asses). Luke presents a fundamental truth about following Jesus: how one treats Earth and freely shares its fruits are central. An authentic disciple of Jesus is ecologically contemplative and environmentally respectful. About Earth's Child sparkles with surprising insights as Jesus' teaching and his meal and healing ministries take on new meaning for today's world faced with growing environmental challenges.
About Earth’s Child: An Ecological Listening to the Gospel of Luke
£20.00 – £60.00
How does sensitivity to current ecological and environmental issues impact on our hearing of the Gospels? About Earth's Child listens for the ecological sounds that are present in Luke's narrative symphony and offers a way for readers today to identify them.
Michael Trainor approaches Luke's Gospel with a fresh engagement while respecting the evangelist's own purposes in addressing the social and cultural concerns of first-century followers of Jesus. Hearing the Gospel from an ecological perspective allows us to see how Luke presents Jesus as 'Earth's Child'. In the Gospel's early chapters, Jesus is presented as born of Earth, wrapped with Earth's cloth and laid in Earth's manger. In the final chapters, he is affixed to Earth's wood and laid in Earth's receptacle from where he is resurrected and meets his disciples.
Between these opening and closing chapters a remarkable story of Earth unfolds. This concerns all Earth's members, human and non-human, organic and inanimate. It is about God, angels, demons, human beings, soil, seeds, mountains, waters, animals (even ravens, pigs and a couple of asses). Luke presents a fundamental truth about following Jesus: how one treats Earth and freely shares its fruits are central. An authentic disciple of Jesus is ecologically contemplative and environmentally respectful. About Earth's Child sparkles with surprising insights as Jesus' teaching and his meal and healing ministries take on new meaning for today's world faced with growing environmental challenges.
Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism 11 (2015)
Published: Aug 2016
£80.00
This is the eleventh volume of the hard-copy edition of a journal that has been published online (www.jgrchj.net) since 2000. Volume 1 was for 2000, Volume 2 was for 2001 —2005, Volume 3 was for 2006, Volume 4 was for 2007, Volume 5 was for 2008, Volume 6 was for 2009, Volume 7 was for 2010, Volume 8 was for 2011 —2012, Volume 9 was for 2013, Volume 10 was for 2014 and Volume 11 is for 2015. As they appear, the hard-copy editions will replace the online materials.
The scope of JGRChJ is the texts, language and cultures of the Greco-Roman world of early Christianity and Judaism. The papers published in JGRChJ are designed to pay special attention to the 'larger picture' of politics, culture, religion and language, engaging as well with modern theoretical approaches.
Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism 11 (2015)
£80.00
This is the eleventh volume of the hard-copy edition of a journal that has been published online (www.jgrchj.net) since 2000. Volume 1 was for 2000, Volume 2 was for 2001 —2005, Volume 3 was for 2006, Volume 4 was for 2007, Volume 5 was for 2008, Volume 6 was for 2009, Volume 7 was for 2010, Volume 8 was for 2011 —2012, Volume 9 was for 2013, Volume 10 was for 2014 and Volume 11 is for 2015. As they appear, the hard-copy editions will replace the online materials.
The scope of JGRChJ is the texts, language and cultures of the Greco-Roman world of early Christianity and Judaism. The papers published in JGRChJ are designed to pay special attention to the 'larger picture' of politics, culture, religion and language, engaging as well with modern theoretical approaches.
Obadiah
Published: July 2016
£15.00 – £35.00
Although Obadiah is the smallest book in the Hebrew Bible, its readers are confronted with a variety of challenges —linguistic, historical and hermeneutical. In the present volume the Book of Obadiah is approached from a variety of angles and reading strategies. These approaches sometimes concur, but often contradict one another.
Bob Becking discusses various grammatical and linguistic problems of the Hebrew text in translating the book for a post-secular audience. Historical questions are the province of Nadav Na'aman. What were the 'events' with which the text seems to cope? Literary-historical issues concern Marvin Sweeney, who sees the book as the end-result of a complex redaction history in which the text was read in connection with and confrontation to the other Minor Prophets.
Reading from particular positions is the theme of Gerrie Snyman, approaching the book in a South-African context, and asking, Who is vulnerable and who is not? Julia O'Brien takes a gender-specific approach asking, What does it mean that Edom is a brother who breaks the family code? Eric Ottenheijm traces the ways in which the Rabbis understood Obadiah.
With insights from newly developing fields, Nicholas Werse discusses the violent character of judgment in the book in the light of semiotics, and Bradford Anderson brings to the fore the spatial rhetoric in the book.
The authors of this volume offer their readings of the text in a non-exclusive way. No one claims to have found the one and only way to appreciate the message of the prophetic book. It is up to the readers of this volume —and of the Book of Obadiah —to decide how they will read the book in the changing circumstances of life.
Obadiah
£15.00 – £35.00
Although Obadiah is the smallest book in the Hebrew Bible, its readers are confronted with a variety of challenges —linguistic, historical and hermeneutical. In the present volume the Book of Obadiah is approached from a variety of angles and reading strategies. These approaches sometimes concur, but often contradict one another.
Bob Becking discusses various grammatical and linguistic problems of the Hebrew text in translating the book for a post-secular audience. Historical questions are the province of Nadav Na'aman. What were the 'events' with which the text seems to cope? Literary-historical issues concern Marvin Sweeney, who sees the book as the end-result of a complex redaction history in which the text was read in connection with and confrontation to the other Minor Prophets.
Reading from particular positions is the theme of Gerrie Snyman, approaching the book in a South-African context, and asking, Who is vulnerable and who is not? Julia O'Brien takes a gender-specific approach asking, What does it mean that Edom is a brother who breaks the family code? Eric Ottenheijm traces the ways in which the Rabbis understood Obadiah.
With insights from newly developing fields, Nicholas Werse discusses the violent character of judgment in the book in the light of semiotics, and Bradford Anderson brings to the fore the spatial rhetoric in the book.
The authors of this volume offer their readings of the text in a non-exclusive way. No one claims to have found the one and only way to appreciate the message of the prophetic book. It is up to the readers of this volume —and of the Book of Obadiah —to decide how they will read the book in the changing circumstances of life.
Learning Biblical Hebrew Interactively, I (Student Edition, Revised)
Published: July 2016
£26.00 – £40.00
The fruit of several years' research and development, field-tested by teachers without experience of conversation in Hebrew as a spoken language, Paul Overland's new Hebrew textbook is startlingly original and immediately accessible and attractive. Its foundation is the theory and practice of Second Language Acquisition (SLA), which orients grammar so as to empower the student's capacity for reading, hearing and expressing in Biblical Hebrew.
Learning Biblical Hebrew Interactively offers a set of activities structured on a serialized narrative inspired by the book of Jonah. Working through it, the student acquires facility in communicating in Hebrew by expressing opinions, accomplishing tasks, or asking others to do something. It is a hands-on, interactive learning experience, hugely various, enhanced by its 230 illustrations and photos, and numerous inserts headed 'Did you know that...?' featuring interesting aspects of Hebrew culture.
There are two volumes, which can be bought separately, and a version of the student edition that is designed for the instructor, with hints on how to use the textbook in a class setting.
Each lesson in the textbook is enhanced by digital resources, freely downloadable from LearningBiblicalHebrewInteractively.com.
Learning Biblical Hebrew Interactively, I (Student Edition, Revised)
£26.00 – £40.00
The fruit of several years' research and development, field-tested by teachers without experience of conversation in Hebrew as a spoken language, Paul Overland's new Hebrew textbook is startlingly original and immediately accessible and attractive. Its foundation is the theory and practice of Second Language Acquisition (SLA), which orients grammar so as to empower the student's capacity for reading, hearing and expressing in Biblical Hebrew.
Learning Biblical Hebrew Interactively offers a set of activities structured on a serialized narrative inspired by the book of Jonah. Working through it, the student acquires facility in communicating in Hebrew by expressing opinions, accomplishing tasks, or asking others to do something. It is a hands-on, interactive learning experience, hugely various, enhanced by its 230 illustrations and photos, and numerous inserts headed 'Did you know that...?' featuring interesting aspects of Hebrew culture.
There are two volumes, which can be bought separately, and a version of the student edition that is designed for the instructor, with hints on how to use the textbook in a class setting.
Each lesson in the textbook is enhanced by digital resources, freely downloadable from LearningBiblicalHebrewInteractively.com.
The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew, Volumes 1-9 Hardback
Published: Jun 2016
£50.00 – £150.00
The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew is a completely new and innovative dictionary.
Unlike previous dictionaries, which have been dictionaries of biblical Hebrew, this is the first dictionary of the classical Hebrew language to include the Bible, Dead Sea Scrolls, and all the other known Hebrew inscriptions and manuscripts.
This Dictionary covers the period from the earliest times to 200 CE. It lists and analyses every occurrences of each Hebrew word that occurs in texts of that period, with an English translation of every Hebrew word and phrase cited.
Among its special features are: a list of the non-biblical texts cited (especially the Dead Sea Scrolls), a word frequency index for each letter of the alphabet, a substantial bibliography (from Volume 2 onward) and an English-Hebrew index in each volume.
The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew, Volumes 1-9 Hardback
£50.00 – £150.00
The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew is a completely new and innovative dictionary.
Unlike previous dictionaries, which have been dictionaries of biblical Hebrew, this is the first dictionary of the classical Hebrew language to include the Bible, Dead Sea Scrolls, and all the other known Hebrew inscriptions and manuscripts.
This Dictionary covers the period from the earliest times to 200 CE. It lists and analyses every occurrences of each Hebrew word that occurs in texts of that period, with an English translation of every Hebrew word and phrase cited.
Among its special features are: a list of the non-biblical texts cited (especially the Dead Sea Scrolls), a word frequency index for each letter of the alphabet, a substantial bibliography (from Volume 2 onward) and an English-Hebrew index in each volume.
The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew, Volume 9: Index
Published: May 2016
£50.00 – £150.00
Volume IX offers a valuable enhancement of the 8-volume Dictionary of Classical Hebrew (1993 —2011). In DCH I —VIII, each volume had its own English —Hebrew Index, but this volume presents a much improved gathering together of all those indexes. The Index here contains every word used as a translation (gloss) in the Dictionary, that is, all the words printed in bold. In addition —a feature not seen before in Hebrew dictionaries —beneath each listed word are noted all the Hebrew words it translates, together with the volume and page reference of the relevant article.
The Index thus shows at a glance all the Hebrew words that are translated with the same English word, e.g. Arrogance 10 Hebrew words, Arrow 7, Assembly 10, Band 9, Basket 9, Bend 10, Branch 23, Break 21. So it becomes an index of synonyms, hard to parallel elsewhere in the scholarly literature.
Indexes have not been a common feature of twentieth-century Hebrew dictionaries, though they were quite frequent in older lexica, and it is time they were restored as a customary element in a lexicon. Browsing the Index will prove not only interesting but also useful.
The second element in this volume is the Word Frequency Table. This is a combination of the Word Frequency Tables in the various volumes of DCH . There, the lists of word frequencies were arranged under each letter of the alphabet. In the present publication, all the words in the Dictionary are combined in a single list arranged in order of frequency of occurrence.
Unlike all previous lists of occurrences of Hebrew words, the present list includes the occurrences not only in the Hebrew Bible but also in the whole scope of The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew, which is to say, Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Hebrew Inscriptions as well as the Hebrew Bible itself. For each word there is listed the number of occurrences in each of those four corpora, and the ranking position of a given word is determined by the total number of occurrences in all the classical Hebrew texts combined. For some sample pages of this Volume, click The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew, IX . See also The Concise Dictionary of Classical Hebrew, a one-volume version of The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew.
The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew, Volume 9: Index
£50.00 – £150.00
Volume IX offers a valuable enhancement of the 8-volume Dictionary of Classical Hebrew (1993 —2011). In DCH I —VIII, each volume had its own English —Hebrew Index, but this volume presents a much improved gathering together of all those indexes. The Index here contains every word used as a translation (gloss) in the Dictionary, that is, all the words printed in bold. In addition —a feature not seen before in Hebrew dictionaries —beneath each listed word are noted all the Hebrew words it translates, together with the volume and page reference of the relevant article.
The Index thus shows at a glance all the Hebrew words that are translated with the same English word, e.g. Arrogance 10 Hebrew words, Arrow 7, Assembly 10, Band 9, Basket 9, Bend 10, Branch 23, Break 21. So it becomes an index of synonyms, hard to parallel elsewhere in the scholarly literature.
Indexes have not been a common feature of twentieth-century Hebrew dictionaries, though they were quite frequent in older lexica, and it is time they were restored as a customary element in a lexicon. Browsing the Index will prove not only interesting but also useful.
The second element in this volume is the Word Frequency Table. This is a combination of the Word Frequency Tables in the various volumes of DCH . There, the lists of word frequencies were arranged under each letter of the alphabet. In the present publication, all the words in the Dictionary are combined in a single list arranged in order of frequency of occurrence.
Unlike all previous lists of occurrences of Hebrew words, the present list includes the occurrences not only in the Hebrew Bible but also in the whole scope of The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew, which is to say, Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Hebrew Inscriptions as well as the Hebrew Bible itself. For each word there is listed the number of occurrences in each of those four corpora, and the ranking position of a given word is determined by the total number of occurrences in all the classical Hebrew texts combined. For some sample pages of this Volume, click The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew, IX . See also The Concise Dictionary of Classical Hebrew, a one-volume version of The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew.
Megilloth Studies: The Shape of Contemporary Scholarship
Published: Feb 2016
£60.00
This volume brings together two years of papers read to the Megilloth Consultation Group at the Annual Meetings of the Society of Biblical Literature; it represents some of the most recent work being done by a group of international scholars on the collection of Hebrew Bible books known as the Megilloth.
Although the individual books of the Megilloth have received ample academic attention in contemporary scholarship, relatively little has been done to situate them under this broader rubric. To this end, the present volume addresses a range of issues associated with studying the five scrolls, such as the internal relationship between the books themselves, intertextual connections between the five scrolls and other portions of the Hebrew Bible, gender and ethnic concerns in the five scrolls, and the theological commitments and contours of the collection. Several of the papers and the volume itself also intentionally wrestle with the viability of the category 'Megilloth' as a meaningful term in academic studies of these writings.
In addition to papers on the Megilloth in general (Galvin, Stone, Fullerton Strollo), there are studies on Esther (Davis, Greenspoon, Avnery, Peters, three of them in relation to Ruth), Lamentations (Gruber and Yona, Flanders) and Qoheleth (Weeks).
Megilloth Studies: The Shape of Contemporary Scholarship
£60.00
This volume brings together two years of papers read to the Megilloth Consultation Group at the Annual Meetings of the Society of Biblical Literature; it represents some of the most recent work being done by a group of international scholars on the collection of Hebrew Bible books known as the Megilloth.
Although the individual books of the Megilloth have received ample academic attention in contemporary scholarship, relatively little has been done to situate them under this broader rubric. To this end, the present volume addresses a range of issues associated with studying the five scrolls, such as the internal relationship between the books themselves, intertextual connections between the five scrolls and other portions of the Hebrew Bible, gender and ethnic concerns in the five scrolls, and the theological commitments and contours of the collection. Several of the papers and the volume itself also intentionally wrestle with the viability of the category 'Megilloth' as a meaningful term in academic studies of these writings.
In addition to papers on the Megilloth in general (Galvin, Stone, Fullerton Strollo), there are studies on Esther (Davis, Greenspoon, Avnery, Peters, three of them in relation to Ruth), Lamentations (Gruber and Yona, Flanders) and Qoheleth (Weeks).
2 Timothy
Published: Jan 2016
£15.00 – £35.00
In the last 150 years 2 Timothy has been the object of much scholarly scrutiny, especially over the questions of its authorship and the historical situation it presupposes. Though a few scholars today accept Pauline authorship, most have supported the view that 2 Timothy is pseudonymous, written sometime after the death of Paul. In this commentary, Smith straddles the fine line between Pauline authorship and pseudonymity, proposing that Paul is the author but that Luke is a significant contributing amanuensis.
The most significant difference between this commentary and others is Smith's rejection of the common supposition that 2 Timothy is Paul's Farewell Speech or Last Testament. On the basis of his earlier work, Timothy's Task, Paul's Prospect, Smith understands 2 Timothy as a paraenetic letter written to Timothy encouraging him in his Ephesian ministry and asking him to join Paul in Rome. Paul's perspective in this letter is thus not one of resignation to death, nor does it express Paul's sense of passing on the baton to his younger colleague; rather it envisages his expectation of release from prison and his hope of new opportunities for ministry with Timothy, Luke and Mark.
Smith understands the problem of false teaching in Ephesus to be a real problem that Timothy is facing and not a fictional situation of a subsequent time. Smith carefully elucidates the difficult situation in the church at Ephesus and its effect on Timothy, together with Paul's kindly and thoughtful admonition given as a father to a son.
2 Timothy
£15.00 – £35.00
In the last 150 years 2 Timothy has been the object of much scholarly scrutiny, especially over the questions of its authorship and the historical situation it presupposes. Though a few scholars today accept Pauline authorship, most have supported the view that 2 Timothy is pseudonymous, written sometime after the death of Paul. In this commentary, Smith straddles the fine line between Pauline authorship and pseudonymity, proposing that Paul is the author but that Luke is a significant contributing amanuensis.
The most significant difference between this commentary and others is Smith's rejection of the common supposition that 2 Timothy is Paul's Farewell Speech or Last Testament. On the basis of his earlier work, Timothy's Task, Paul's Prospect, Smith understands 2 Timothy as a paraenetic letter written to Timothy encouraging him in his Ephesian ministry and asking him to join Paul in Rome. Paul's perspective in this letter is thus not one of resignation to death, nor does it express Paul's sense of passing on the baton to his younger colleague; rather it envisages his expectation of release from prison and his hope of new opportunities for ministry with Timothy, Luke and Mark.
Smith understands the problem of false teaching in Ephesus to be a real problem that Timothy is facing and not a fictional situation of a subsequent time. Smith carefully elucidates the difficult situation in the church at Ephesus and its effect on Timothy, together with Paul's kindly and thoughtful admonition given as a father to a son.
Visions of Life in Biblical Times: Essays in Honor of Meir Lubetski
Published: Oct 2015
£60.00
This important volume is in honour of the distinguished Semitist and epigrapher Meir Lubetski, of Baruch College, City University of New York. Lubetski has made the chief focus of his research the contribution of the East Mediterranean legacy —languages, literature and archaeological artifacts —to our understanding of the biblical world.
The wide-ranging collection of essays gathered here include, after a personal appreciation of the honoree by his children, papers by Paula Berggren on Shakespeare's Cains, Chaim Cohen on the 'third-man' charioteers, John Day on Noah's ark as made of reeds, Robert Deutsch on six new Hebrew seals, Joseph Fleishman on the law of the defamer (Deut. 22), Moshe Garsiel on the rivalry between Adonijah and Solomon, Claire Gottlieb on Genesis 1 in the twenty-first century, Martin Heide on a new ostracon, Richard Hess on the strange absence of Egyptian names from the book of Joshua, Regine Hunziker-Rodewald on a new Ammonite seal, Isaac Kalimi on the key methods of Targum Chronicles, André Lemaire on the place of Qumran in Jewish history, David Marcus on the Aramaic versions of the burning bush narrative, Robert Stieglitz on divine kingship at Ugarit, Peter van der Veen on a two-headed bronze bull figurine, and Ada Yardeni on legal texts from various locations in the Judean desert.
Visions of Life in Biblical Times: Essays in Honor of Meir Lubetski
£60.00
This important volume is in honour of the distinguished Semitist and epigrapher Meir Lubetski, of Baruch College, City University of New York. Lubetski has made the chief focus of his research the contribution of the East Mediterranean legacy —languages, literature and archaeological artifacts —to our understanding of the biblical world.
The wide-ranging collection of essays gathered here include, after a personal appreciation of the honoree by his children, papers by Paula Berggren on Shakespeare's Cains, Chaim Cohen on the 'third-man' charioteers, John Day on Noah's ark as made of reeds, Robert Deutsch on six new Hebrew seals, Joseph Fleishman on the law of the defamer (Deut. 22), Moshe Garsiel on the rivalry between Adonijah and Solomon, Claire Gottlieb on Genesis 1 in the twenty-first century, Martin Heide on a new ostracon, Richard Hess on the strange absence of Egyptian names from the book of Joshua, Regine Hunziker-Rodewald on a new Ammonite seal, Isaac Kalimi on the key methods of Targum Chronicles, André Lemaire on the place of Qumran in Jewish history, David Marcus on the Aramaic versions of the burning bush narrative, Robert Stieglitz on divine kingship at Ugarit, Peter van der Veen on a two-headed bronze bull figurine, and Ada Yardeni on legal texts from various locations in the Judean desert.
Teaching the Bible in the Liberal Arts Classroom, Volume 2
Published: Oct 2015
£22.50 – £50.00
Eugene V. Gallagher, Rosemary Park Professor of Religious Studies at Connecticut College, writes: 'In a context where the general value of the Humanities has increasingly come under question by those who see a college education as necessarily being directly tied to the first job that students will have after they graduate, an ability to make a vigorous case about the contribution of studying the Bible to any college student's education is crucial for any teacher'.
This second collection of essays edited by Jane Webster and Glenn Holland seeks not only to promote the role of biblical studies in an undergraduate liberal arts education, but also to suggest strategies and approaches for teaching the Bible in a range of academic situations. Combining the theoretical and the practical, this volume will be another useful source of guidance and support for teachers of biblical studies at any point in their professional careers.
Teaching the Bible in the Liberal Arts Classroom, Volume 2
£22.50 – £50.00
Eugene V. Gallagher, Rosemary Park Professor of Religious Studies at Connecticut College, writes: 'In a context where the general value of the Humanities has increasingly come under question by those who see a college education as necessarily being directly tied to the first job that students will have after they graduate, an ability to make a vigorous case about the contribution of studying the Bible to any college student's education is crucial for any teacher'.
This second collection of essays edited by Jane Webster and Glenn Holland seeks not only to promote the role of biblical studies in an undergraduate liberal arts education, but also to suggest strategies and approaches for teaching the Bible in a range of academic situations. Combining the theoretical and the practical, this volume will be another useful source of guidance and support for teachers of biblical studies at any point in their professional careers.
Simulating Aichele: Essays in Bible, Film, Culture and Theory
Published: Oct 2015
£55.00
Simulating Aichele pays tribute to the title of George Aichele's 2011 book, Simulating Jesus. In contemporary biblical scholarship, Aichele is a notable leader whose writings explore the problems of meaning and referentiality in the Bible and in biblical texts found in non-biblical contexts. His close readings of canonical texts alongside 'the fantastic' in film, television and literature reveal the relationships between texts and intertexts. Such juxtapositions expose gaps and liberate strange voices in the Bible and break the stranglehold of canonical ideologies. Aichele shows how the afterlives of biblical texts simultaneously produce present and past realities by simulating both. These afterlives not only pull ancient texts into the present but in the process also change the precursor text(s).
This Festschrift presents some of the afterlives of Aichele's research in Bible, film, culture and theory. Exercises in intertextuality and textual liberation include Yvonne Sherwood's reading of Jacob and Esau alongside a Sierra Leone twin story 'Kanu and the Book'; Richard Walsh's pairing of Jesus' final lament in Mark with Kafka's 'In the Penal Colony'; Tina Pippin's exploration of the afterlives of Jesus' baptism in Mark; Gary A. Phillips's ethical imagining of Martha as the Levinasian Other; and Scott S. Elliott's interpretation of 1 Corinthians 9 in light of Roland Barthes' 'Neutral'. Other contributors explore Bible and film. Robert Paul Seesengood and Jennifer L. Koosed review recent apocalyptic films; Fred W. Burnett analyses the greatest contemporary slacker, the Dude, from The Big Lebowski; and Erin Runions compares the panoptic desire for complete knowledge found in 1 Corinthians and A Scanner Darkly. Finally, Roland Boer looks at the unexpected afterlives of Hebrew and Christian scriptures in Lenin's speeches, and Stephen D. Moore offers a retrospective essay on postmodernism and biblical studies.
Simulating Aichele: Essays in Bible, Film, Culture and Theory
£55.00
Simulating Aichele pays tribute to the title of George Aichele's 2011 book, Simulating Jesus. In contemporary biblical scholarship, Aichele is a notable leader whose writings explore the problems of meaning and referentiality in the Bible and in biblical texts found in non-biblical contexts. His close readings of canonical texts alongside 'the fantastic' in film, television and literature reveal the relationships between texts and intertexts. Such juxtapositions expose gaps and liberate strange voices in the Bible and break the stranglehold of canonical ideologies. Aichele shows how the afterlives of biblical texts simultaneously produce present and past realities by simulating both. These afterlives not only pull ancient texts into the present but in the process also change the precursor text(s).
This Festschrift presents some of the afterlives of Aichele's research in Bible, film, culture and theory. Exercises in intertextuality and textual liberation include Yvonne Sherwood's reading of Jacob and Esau alongside a Sierra Leone twin story 'Kanu and the Book'; Richard Walsh's pairing of Jesus' final lament in Mark with Kafka's 'In the Penal Colony'; Tina Pippin's exploration of the afterlives of Jesus' baptism in Mark; Gary A. Phillips's ethical imagining of Martha as the Levinasian Other; and Scott S. Elliott's interpretation of 1 Corinthians 9 in light of Roland Barthes' 'Neutral'. Other contributors explore Bible and film. Robert Paul Seesengood and Jennifer L. Koosed review recent apocalyptic films; Fred W. Burnett analyses the greatest contemporary slacker, the Dude, from The Big Lebowski; and Erin Runions compares the panoptic desire for complete knowledge found in 1 Corinthians and A Scanner Darkly. Finally, Roland Boer looks at the unexpected afterlives of Hebrew and Christian scriptures in Lenin's speeches, and Stephen D. Moore offers a retrospective essay on postmodernism and biblical studies.
Biblical Reception 3 (2014)
Published: Oct 2015
£80.00
This is the third volume of the journal, Biblical Reception (BibRec), published in November 2013. When we founded the journal our policy was this: it was high time, we believed, for the new and burgeoning field of the reception of the Bible to have a publication medium of its own. What the biblical text has meant to its readers down the centuries should be as much the subject of scholarly attention as any 'original' meaning. Our journal was a substantial annual volume covering all kinds of use of the Bible — in art, literature, music, film and popular culture, as well as in the history of interpretation.
Editorial Board Diane Apostolos-Cappadona (Washington, DC), Alan Cooper (New York), James Crossley (Sheffield), Andrew Davies (Birmingham), Tamara C. Eskenazi (Los Angeles), Philip Esler (Gloucester), Susanne Gillmayr-Bucher (Linz), John Harvey (Aberystwyth), Christine Joynes (Oxford), Carol Newsom (Atlanta), Martin O'Kane (Lampeter), Tina Pippin (Decatur, GA), John F.A. Sawyer (Durham), Reinhold Zwick (Münster).
Biblical Reception 3 (2014)
£80.00
This is the third volume of the journal, Biblical Reception (BibRec), published in November 2013. When we founded the journal our policy was this: it was high time, we believed, for the new and burgeoning field of the reception of the Bible to have a publication medium of its own. What the biblical text has meant to its readers down the centuries should be as much the subject of scholarly attention as any 'original' meaning. Our journal was a substantial annual volume covering all kinds of use of the Bible — in art, literature, music, film and popular culture, as well as in the history of interpretation.
Editorial Board Diane Apostolos-Cappadona (Washington, DC), Alan Cooper (New York), James Crossley (Sheffield), Andrew Davies (Birmingham), Tamara C. Eskenazi (Los Angeles), Philip Esler (Gloucester), Susanne Gillmayr-Bucher (Linz), John Harvey (Aberystwyth), Christine Joynes (Oxford), Carol Newsom (Atlanta), Martin O'Kane (Lampeter), Tina Pippin (Decatur, GA), John F.A. Sawyer (Durham), Reinhold Zwick (Münster).
The Bible Retold by Jewish Artists, Writers, Composers and Filmmakers
Published: Oct 2015
£60.00
Helen Leneman and Barry Dov Walfish, both specialists in biblical reception history, have compiled an unusually rich collection of new essays by experts in their fields. This book is a pioneering attempt to portray and analyse the visions of twentieth- and twenty-first century Jewish artists working in different media —visual art, literature (novels, poetry and short stories), music (opera, oratorio and song), and film —who have retold biblical narratives through their art. Reading these essays together will bring a new appreciation and understanding of what makes the perspective of these visual artists, writers, composers and filmmakers on the Hebrew Bible uniquely Jewish.
All of these Jewish visions can be considered a form of modern midrash, as the artists imaginatively fill in gaps in the biblical narrative, bringing a modern sensibility to the meanings of the stories.
Under the heading 'Biblical Women', the stories of the matriarchs, Hagar, and other biblical women are re-imagined in the visual arts, poetry and music. Several further chapters focus on the story of the Aqedah (Binding of Isaac), as represented in the visual arts, literature and music. Other retellings of biblical narratives through short stories are then examined, while yet other chapters explore the books of Esther and Psalms as envisioned and retold in the visual arts, opera, literature and film.
These retellings, analysed and discussed by the authors of this ground-breaking volume, will stimulate the reader to view the texts in new ways or to confront their challenge to personal or traditional interpretations of those texts.
The Bible Retold by Jewish Artists, Writers, Composers and Filmmakers
£60.00
Helen Leneman and Barry Dov Walfish, both specialists in biblical reception history, have compiled an unusually rich collection of new essays by experts in their fields. This book is a pioneering attempt to portray and analyse the visions of twentieth- and twenty-first century Jewish artists working in different media —visual art, literature (novels, poetry and short stories), music (opera, oratorio and song), and film —who have retold biblical narratives through their art. Reading these essays together will bring a new appreciation and understanding of what makes the perspective of these visual artists, writers, composers and filmmakers on the Hebrew Bible uniquely Jewish.
All of these Jewish visions can be considered a form of modern midrash, as the artists imaginatively fill in gaps in the biblical narrative, bringing a modern sensibility to the meanings of the stories.
Under the heading 'Biblical Women', the stories of the matriarchs, Hagar, and other biblical women are re-imagined in the visual arts, poetry and music. Several further chapters focus on the story of the Aqedah (Binding of Isaac), as represented in the visual arts, literature and music. Other retellings of biblical narratives through short stories are then examined, while yet other chapters explore the books of Esther and Psalms as envisioned and retold in the visual arts, opera, literature and film.
These retellings, analysed and discussed by the authors of this ground-breaking volume, will stimulate the reader to view the texts in new ways or to confront their challenge to personal or traditional interpretations of those texts.
Biblical Rhetoric and Rhetorical Criticism
Published: Oct 2015
£20.00 – £80.00
This volume will prove a classic textbook on rhetorical criticism in the Bible, especially the Hebrew Bible. Following the lead of the famous Presidential Address to the Society of Biblical Literature in 1968 by James Muilenburg, 'Form Criticism and Beyond', Jack Lundbom has for over 40 years been developing and shaping the field with a stream of papers. 26 of them (three not previously published) are gathered into this volume.
Hebrew rhetoric has a long history, reaching back even into the early Israelite period. Recognition of rhetorical elements in the Bible can be seen in Hillel, Augustine, ibn Ezra, and Calvin, as well as among certain biblical scholars of the 18th and 19th centuries. But the revival of rhetoric and the modern method of rhetorical criticism is more recent, having begun in America among classical scholars in the early 1900s, and having been widely adopted by biblical scholars in the last third of the twentieth century. Biblical scholars today invariably have rhetorical criticism in their exegetical toolbox, but the field lacks such a comprehensive corpus of studies as the present volume supplies.
Reading the Bible with an eye to the rhetorical nature of its discourse —not just the style, but its structures and modes of argumentation —gives one a sharpened view of biblical figures, their legacy, and much else in the biblical text. One also gets new insight into the audiences for whom biblical messages were originally intended. Rhetorical criticism offers a ready yield for all those seeking a closer understanding of the biblical texts.
Biblical Rhetoric and Rhetorical Criticism
£20.00 – £80.00
This volume will prove a classic textbook on rhetorical criticism in the Bible, especially the Hebrew Bible. Following the lead of the famous Presidential Address to the Society of Biblical Literature in 1968 by James Muilenburg, 'Form Criticism and Beyond', Jack Lundbom has for over 40 years been developing and shaping the field with a stream of papers. 26 of them (three not previously published) are gathered into this volume.
Hebrew rhetoric has a long history, reaching back even into the early Israelite period. Recognition of rhetorical elements in the Bible can be seen in Hillel, Augustine, ibn Ezra, and Calvin, as well as among certain biblical scholars of the 18th and 19th centuries. But the revival of rhetoric and the modern method of rhetorical criticism is more recent, having begun in America among classical scholars in the early 1900s, and having been widely adopted by biblical scholars in the last third of the twentieth century. Biblical scholars today invariably have rhetorical criticism in their exegetical toolbox, but the field lacks such a comprehensive corpus of studies as the present volume supplies.
Reading the Bible with an eye to the rhetorical nature of its discourse —not just the style, but its structures and modes of argumentation —gives one a sharpened view of biblical figures, their legacy, and much else in the biblical text. One also gets new insight into the audiences for whom biblical messages were originally intended. Rhetorical criticism offers a ready yield for all those seeking a closer understanding of the biblical texts.
The World of the Child in the Hebrew Bible
Published: Oct 2015
£18.50 – £50.00
The question 'What is a child?' is not easily answered. To make us aware of the multiple factors that contribute to the social construction of childhood in the Hebrew Bible, Naomi Steinberg draws on ethno-historical evidence and incorporates the insights of contemporary social studies of childhood. Through close readings of Genesis 21, 1 Samuel 1 and Exodus 21.22-25, she argues that chronological age and biological immaturity do not determine the boundaries of childhood in biblical Israel.
The social constructions of childhood in the Hebrew Bible were based on what the child could do for the parent, not vice versa. Children were their parents' property and were used to fulfil their parents' desires and needs. Not all children had the same experiences of childhood, of course. For example, whether a child was born into a monogamous or polygamous family shaped the course of its future. Other relevant factors in the construction of the multiplicities of childhoods included gender, birth order, and the socio-political historical contexts of ancient Israel. Steinberg convincingly corrects the notion that childhood is a static category in the human life cycle, showing that meanings of childhood are not generic and cannot be carried over from one society to another.
This fascinating study, in which the author draws fruitfully on her personal cross-cultural experience of children's lives in Guatemala, exposes the reality that childhood in the Hebrew Bible was radically different from present-day childhood.
The World of the Child in the Hebrew Bible
£18.50 – £50.00
The question 'What is a child?' is not easily answered. To make us aware of the multiple factors that contribute to the social construction of childhood in the Hebrew Bible, Naomi Steinberg draws on ethno-historical evidence and incorporates the insights of contemporary social studies of childhood. Through close readings of Genesis 21, 1 Samuel 1 and Exodus 21.22-25, she argues that chronological age and biological immaturity do not determine the boundaries of childhood in biblical Israel.
The social constructions of childhood in the Hebrew Bible were based on what the child could do for the parent, not vice versa. Children were their parents' property and were used to fulfil their parents' desires and needs. Not all children had the same experiences of childhood, of course. For example, whether a child was born into a monogamous or polygamous family shaped the course of its future. Other relevant factors in the construction of the multiplicities of childhoods included gender, birth order, and the socio-political historical contexts of ancient Israel. Steinberg convincingly corrects the notion that childhood is a static category in the human life cycle, showing that meanings of childhood are not generic and cannot be carried over from one society to another.
This fascinating study, in which the author draws fruitfully on her personal cross-cultural experience of children's lives in Guatemala, exposes the reality that childhood in the Hebrew Bible was radically different from present-day childhood.
The Letter to the Romans: A Linguistic and Literary Commentary
Published: Oct 2015
£19.50 – £50.00
This substantial new commentary, expounding the letter paragraph by paragraph, is distinctive among commentaries on Romans in foregrounding a linguistic and literary approach. To comprehend the letter, Porter shows, we must always be aware of the letter-writing and linguistically based rhetorical conventions its author was deploying.
The commentary is organized around the five-part epistolary structure that Paul developed for this fundamental letter, a structure that gives shape to its logically unfolding theological argument. Recognizing this structure is vital for interpreting the traditional sections of the body of the letter, as well as for understanding the placement of the problematic chapters 9 —11 within Paul's thought.
One of the primary means of development Paul uses within the letter is dialogical interaction —what the ancients called diatribe —as a linguistic device for shaping and presenting his argument. Through the insistent questions and responses of the interaction, Paul opens up the major theological issues of the letter —human depravity, sin and works, justification and righteousness, reconciliation, life in the Spirit, and the role of Israel —and shapes the way his addressees should respond to them.
The Letter to the Romans: A Linguistic and Literary Commentary
£19.50 – £50.00
This substantial new commentary, expounding the letter paragraph by paragraph, is distinctive among commentaries on Romans in foregrounding a linguistic and literary approach. To comprehend the letter, Porter shows, we must always be aware of the letter-writing and linguistically based rhetorical conventions its author was deploying.
The commentary is organized around the five-part epistolary structure that Paul developed for this fundamental letter, a structure that gives shape to its logically unfolding theological argument. Recognizing this structure is vital for interpreting the traditional sections of the body of the letter, as well as for understanding the placement of the problematic chapters 9 —11 within Paul's thought.
One of the primary means of development Paul uses within the letter is dialogical interaction —what the ancients called diatribe —as a linguistic device for shaping and presenting his argument. Through the insistent questions and responses of the interaction, Paul opens up the major theological issues of the letter —human depravity, sin and works, justification and righteousness, reconciliation, life in the Spirit, and the role of Israel —and shapes the way his addressees should respond to them.
The Pausal System: Divisions in the Hebrew Biblical Text as Marked by Voweling and Stress Position. Edited by Raymond de Hoop and Paul Sanders
Published: Oct 2015
£45.00
In the Hebrew Bible, the 'pausal system' is a set of variations in voweling and stress position that marks the ends of units of various sizes. Pausal forms are already well known and have long been included in grammatical works.
However, it is rarely noticed that many pausal forms occur at unexpected positions. They may be marked with any disjunctive accent, or even with one of the conjunctive accents. The pausal forms represent an earlier division of the text and deserve special attention.
In addition to the pausal forms, the retraction of word stress (nesigah) and the use of the vowel qames on conjunctive waw also appear to mark the ends of units. All these indicators are included in this comprehensive study of the pausal system and in the accompanying list of terminal markers. The volume contains the first classified list of all the relevant forms in the Hebrew Bible.
The Pausal System: Divisions in the Hebrew Biblical Text as Marked by Voweling and Stress Position. Edited by Raymond de Hoop and Paul Sanders
£45.00
In the Hebrew Bible, the 'pausal system' is a set of variations in voweling and stress position that marks the ends of units of various sizes. Pausal forms are already well known and have long been included in grammatical works.
However, it is rarely noticed that many pausal forms occur at unexpected positions. They may be marked with any disjunctive accent, or even with one of the conjunctive accents. The pausal forms represent an earlier division of the text and deserve special attention.
In addition to the pausal forms, the retraction of word stress (nesigah) and the use of the vowel qames on conjunctive waw also appear to mark the ends of units. All these indicators are included in this comprehensive study of the pausal system and in the accompanying list of terminal markers. The volume contains the first classified list of all the relevant forms in the Hebrew Bible.
Sexuality, Ideology and the Bible: Antipodean Engagements
Published: Sep 2015
£60.00
What happens when explorations of sexuality, gender and the Bible go down under? This fascinating collection of essays, written by scholars located in the Antipodes, traverses the highly contested landscapes of sexuality, gender and biblical studies, revealing a myriad of sexual discourses voiced within both the biblical texts and their interpretative traditions. Recognizing that textual meaning is always shaped by the cultural and contextual baggage the reader brings to the interpretative task, contributors raise provocative questions about the meanings, identities and ideologies that surround biblical discourses of sexuality and gender, exploring how these have been and can be reshaped and reconceived.
Deane Galbraith examines the theological reflections of Augustine and Paul on Adam's 'perfect penis' in Eden while Roland Boer explores the earthy biblical vocabulary used to depict female genitalia. Christina Petterson, meanwhile, examines the Moravian Brethren's celebration of a Christ who bore on his body male and female genitalia. Travelling beyond the sexualized human body, Emily Colgan considers the problematic language of gender violence against the land that is voiced in Jeremiah. Elaine Wainwright blurs and queers the binary categories of human and non-human in the Sermon on the Mount. Yael Klangwisan continues this blurring of boundaries through her creative reading of Song of Songs.
Moving from the gendered body to the gendered voice, Alan Cadwallader probes Paul's rhetorical gender-bending in his 'masculinized' oral culture. Caroline Blyth and Teguh Wijaya Mulya empower Delilah to vocalize her queer potential in both the biblical narrative and popular culture. Gillian Townsley adds her own Kiwi voice to explore queer possibilities in Philippians 4.2-3 in the light of New Zealand's same-sex marriage legislation. The volume concludes with a queer reconsideration of the Antipodes themselves from the perspective of a northern-hemisphere biblical scholar, Hugh Pyper.
This compelling collection will make a substantive contribution to the bookshelves of scholars and interested readers in such areas as biblical studies, religion and gender-queer studies.
Sexuality, Ideology and the Bible: Antipodean Engagements
£60.00
What happens when explorations of sexuality, gender and the Bible go down under? This fascinating collection of essays, written by scholars located in the Antipodes, traverses the highly contested landscapes of sexuality, gender and biblical studies, revealing a myriad of sexual discourses voiced within both the biblical texts and their interpretative traditions. Recognizing that textual meaning is always shaped by the cultural and contextual baggage the reader brings to the interpretative task, contributors raise provocative questions about the meanings, identities and ideologies that surround biblical discourses of sexuality and gender, exploring how these have been and can be reshaped and reconceived.
Deane Galbraith examines the theological reflections of Augustine and Paul on Adam's 'perfect penis' in Eden while Roland Boer explores the earthy biblical vocabulary used to depict female genitalia. Christina Petterson, meanwhile, examines the Moravian Brethren's celebration of a Christ who bore on his body male and female genitalia. Travelling beyond the sexualized human body, Emily Colgan considers the problematic language of gender violence against the land that is voiced in Jeremiah. Elaine Wainwright blurs and queers the binary categories of human and non-human in the Sermon on the Mount. Yael Klangwisan continues this blurring of boundaries through her creative reading of Song of Songs.
Moving from the gendered body to the gendered voice, Alan Cadwallader probes Paul's rhetorical gender-bending in his 'masculinized' oral culture. Caroline Blyth and Teguh Wijaya Mulya empower Delilah to vocalize her queer potential in both the biblical narrative and popular culture. Gillian Townsley adds her own Kiwi voice to explore queer possibilities in Philippians 4.2-3 in the light of New Zealand's same-sex marriage legislation. The volume concludes with a queer reconsideration of the Antipodes themselves from the perspective of a northern-hemisphere biblical scholar, Hugh Pyper.
This compelling collection will make a substantive contribution to the bookshelves of scholars and interested readers in such areas as biblical studies, religion and gender-queer studies.
Authority and Violence in the Gideon and Abimelech Narratives: A Sociological and Literary Exploration of Judges 6-9
Published: Sep 2015
£55.00
Authority and violence exhibit a close and complex relationship in the social worlds depicted in biblical narratives as well as in ancient and modern societies. The perceived legitimacy or illegitimacy of authority and violence can hinge upon a number of factors. In the stories of Gideon and Abimelech in Judges 6 —9, lethal actions are depicted as justified, regrettable, or reproachful based, in part, on assumptions regarding kinship, honor, and justice. These narratives form an intriguing interlude within Judges as they directly broach, for the first time in the flow of biblical history, the 'reality' of dynastic kingship within Israel while telling a tale of deadly and divinely motivated reversals of power.
An interdisciplinary approach that blends social-scientific analysis driven by Pierre Bourdieu's concepts of social field, habitus, capital, and doxa with a close narrative analysis recommends new ways of understanding the biblical characters' motivations, skills, and social capital; the linguistic capital of the text's creators; and the social worlds from which the narratives emerged. By examining the narrated relations of power through a sociological lens, the study discerns and describes how political and religious power is attained, preserved, transmitted, resisted, endorsed, disguised, or divinized. Building upon this basis, concentration on narrated violence suggests how the stories might be purposed to endorse, legitimate, or resist authority in the ancient context. The study concludes with a synthesis of its results and a survey of scribalism in order to recommend historical settings for the origination of the narratives. The study demonstrates how the biblical text, as a cultural product, can both knowingly and unknowingly communicate information about a society's social relations, values, and concerns.
This is the second volume in the sub-series The Bible and Social Science.
Authority and Violence in the Gideon and Abimelech Narratives: A Sociological and Literary Exploration of Judges 6-9
£55.00
Authority and violence exhibit a close and complex relationship in the social worlds depicted in biblical narratives as well as in ancient and modern societies. The perceived legitimacy or illegitimacy of authority and violence can hinge upon a number of factors. In the stories of Gideon and Abimelech in Judges 6 —9, lethal actions are depicted as justified, regrettable, or reproachful based, in part, on assumptions regarding kinship, honor, and justice. These narratives form an intriguing interlude within Judges as they directly broach, for the first time in the flow of biblical history, the 'reality' of dynastic kingship within Israel while telling a tale of deadly and divinely motivated reversals of power.
An interdisciplinary approach that blends social-scientific analysis driven by Pierre Bourdieu's concepts of social field, habitus, capital, and doxa with a close narrative analysis recommends new ways of understanding the biblical characters' motivations, skills, and social capital; the linguistic capital of the text's creators; and the social worlds from which the narratives emerged. By examining the narrated relations of power through a sociological lens, the study discerns and describes how political and religious power is attained, preserved, transmitted, resisted, endorsed, disguised, or divinized. Building upon this basis, concentration on narrated violence suggests how the stories might be purposed to endorse, legitimate, or resist authority in the ancient context. The study concludes with a synthesis of its results and a survey of scribalism in order to recommend historical settings for the origination of the narratives. The study demonstrates how the biblical text, as a cultural product, can both knowingly and unknowingly communicate information about a society's social relations, values, and concerns.
This is the second volume in the sub-series The Bible and Social Science.
Guide to Biblical Chronology
Published: Sep 2015
£18.50
This Guide to Biblical Chronology aims to explain why different chronological proposals exist for the reigns of kings of Israel and Judah and how the conflicting chronological data preserved in the Books of Kings have come into being.
The first step is to reconstruct older chronological data so that synchronisms are in harmony with each other. Only then can the chronological data be related to extrabiblical documents; such a comparison reveals a good degree of correspondence. This means that the chronological records of the kings of Judah and Israel during the period between 930 and 586 BCE must have based on reliable annalistic records from royal archives.
After the destruction of Samaria, synchronic chronological presentations of the history of Judah and Israel were composed and the Deuteronomistic editors used them. They drew their own conclusions from the source material and created a chronology of their own, which sometimes led to the contradictions we can detect in the present form of the Hebrew Bible.
Another important result is that the 480-year period mentioned in 1 Kings 6 and the 300-year period in Judges 11 are also based on the pre-Deuteronomistic chronological tradition even though they are not based on archival material and are therefore unreliable figures.
The Guide to Biblical Chronology also deals with postbiblical Jewish chronology, showing that there were in existence two different and competing chronological systems. One was based on Daniel 9.24-27 and followed by Josephus, and the other was first advanced by Demetrius the Chronographer in the late third century BCE and was then followed in the Damascus Document from Qumran and in Second Baruch .
Guide to Biblical Chronology
£18.50
This Guide to Biblical Chronology aims to explain why different chronological proposals exist for the reigns of kings of Israel and Judah and how the conflicting chronological data preserved in the Books of Kings have come into being.
The first step is to reconstruct older chronological data so that synchronisms are in harmony with each other. Only then can the chronological data be related to extrabiblical documents; such a comparison reveals a good degree of correspondence. This means that the chronological records of the kings of Judah and Israel during the period between 930 and 586 BCE must have based on reliable annalistic records from royal archives.
After the destruction of Samaria, synchronic chronological presentations of the history of Judah and Israel were composed and the Deuteronomistic editors used them. They drew their own conclusions from the source material and created a chronology of their own, which sometimes led to the contradictions we can detect in the present form of the Hebrew Bible.
Another important result is that the 480-year period mentioned in 1 Kings 6 and the 300-year period in Judges 11 are also based on the pre-Deuteronomistic chronological tradition even though they are not based on archival material and are therefore unreliable figures.
The Guide to Biblical Chronology also deals with postbiblical Jewish chronology, showing that there were in existence two different and competing chronological systems. One was based on Daniel 9.24-27 and followed by Josephus, and the other was first advanced by Demetrius the Chronographer in the late third century BCE and was then followed in the Damascus Document from Qumran and in Second Baruch .
Voices of the Wilderness: An Ecological Reading of the Book of Numbers
Published: Sep 2015
£50.00
In the book of Numbers, the people of Israel are journeying to the so-called Promised Land, the land that flows with milk and honey. Getting there, though, takes them through another place, known to modern readers as 'the wilderness'. This setting gives the book its traditional title, In the Wilderness, and invites a reading of the material from the perspective of that arid and desolate habitat. This explicit identification of a biblical book with a place makes Numbers unique among the canonical books. Yet the wilderness is not a single place. It is a place of remarkable variety and surprising subtlety. Ultimately, the story is one of discontent: the wilderness is rejected as a place, with the promised land that lies ahead seen as a true home, the land of milk and honey, as contrasted with the meagre fare of the wilderness soils.
Despite this clear identification with place, Numbers has remained hitherto almost unexplored from the perspective of ecological hermeneutics. Rees attempts to fill this gap, exploring the ways in which the wilderness is rejected in the biblical book and reclaiming its voices. The soils of the wilderness, the foods of the wilderness, the animals of the wilderness, the waters of the wilderness, each rejected in the narrative at various points, are here foregrounded in order to identify the anthropocentrism at the heart of the story. What unfolds, from the opening narrative of the census onward to the final adjustments to land inheritance, is a near complete disregard in Numbers for the non-human creation.
Voices of the Wilderness: An Ecological Reading of the Book of Numbers
£50.00
In the book of Numbers, the people of Israel are journeying to the so-called Promised Land, the land that flows with milk and honey. Getting there, though, takes them through another place, known to modern readers as 'the wilderness'. This setting gives the book its traditional title, In the Wilderness, and invites a reading of the material from the perspective of that arid and desolate habitat. This explicit identification of a biblical book with a place makes Numbers unique among the canonical books. Yet the wilderness is not a single place. It is a place of remarkable variety and surprising subtlety. Ultimately, the story is one of discontent: the wilderness is rejected as a place, with the promised land that lies ahead seen as a true home, the land of milk and honey, as contrasted with the meagre fare of the wilderness soils.
Despite this clear identification with place, Numbers has remained hitherto almost unexplored from the perspective of ecological hermeneutics. Rees attempts to fill this gap, exploring the ways in which the wilderness is rejected in the biblical book and reclaiming its voices. The soils of the wilderness, the foods of the wilderness, the animals of the wilderness, the waters of the wilderness, each rejected in the narrative at various points, are here foregrounded in order to identify the anthropocentrism at the heart of the story. What unfolds, from the opening narrative of the census onward to the final adjustments to land inheritance, is a near complete disregard in Numbers for the non-human creation.
Solomon the Lover and the Shape of the Song of Songs
Published: Sep 2015
£50.00
Reading the Song of Songs perpetually raises the question, What is this love that has been sung about so evocatively to ever new generations? The exuberance of the poetry and the remarkable history of its reception make the understanding of what the poetry is all about the more urgent for the conscientious reader.
The shape of the Song and what this shape reveals of the poet's concerns are central for this study. Hauge's analysis discloses that a special arrangement of formally independent units, signalled by effects of repetition, is typical of its composition. The strophes are set out in a fivefold pattern containing three types of passage: narrative elements, addresses to the daughters of Jerusalem, and dialogues between the lovers.
The tension of the opening scenes dedicated to Solomon and his women, contrasted with a final scene where the king is the humble supplicant, reflects an underlying story of how Solomon the lover of many women was transformed into a lover of the One. The story is dedicated to the power of love, its character as an overwhelming force being even accented by implications of shame. Motifs of absence and separation suggest longing as the essence of love, the final image of the lover as the hart upon the fragrant mountains adding a tinge of sadness to the impression.
Themes from the Solomon tradition are important for the narrative strand. The formal shape and the cast of actors are deeply influenced by Proverbs 1 —7, not least when the poet plays havoc with venerable aspects of the wisdom tradition.
Solomon the Lover and the Shape of the Song of Songs
£50.00
Reading the Song of Songs perpetually raises the question, What is this love that has been sung about so evocatively to ever new generations? The exuberance of the poetry and the remarkable history of its reception make the understanding of what the poetry is all about the more urgent for the conscientious reader.
The shape of the Song and what this shape reveals of the poet's concerns are central for this study. Hauge's analysis discloses that a special arrangement of formally independent units, signalled by effects of repetition, is typical of its composition. The strophes are set out in a fivefold pattern containing three types of passage: narrative elements, addresses to the daughters of Jerusalem, and dialogues between the lovers.
The tension of the opening scenes dedicated to Solomon and his women, contrasted with a final scene where the king is the humble supplicant, reflects an underlying story of how Solomon the lover of many women was transformed into a lover of the One. The story is dedicated to the power of love, its character as an overwhelming force being even accented by implications of shame. Motifs of absence and separation suggest longing as the essence of love, the final image of the lover as the hart upon the fragrant mountains adding a tinge of sadness to the impression.
Themes from the Solomon tradition are important for the narrative strand. The formal shape and the cast of actors are deeply influenced by Proverbs 1 —7, not least when the poet plays havoc with venerable aspects of the wisdom tradition.
The Integrity of 2 Corinthians and Paul’s Aggravating Absence
Published: Sep 2015
£60.00
Is 2 Corinthians a single letter, or a composite of fragments? Does it have a single setting, or do its parts address successive stages in a developing crisis? This is perennial set of questions about this Pauline letter.
In this provocative study, Christopher D. Land steps back from the details that dominate most discussions of integrity. He analyses 2 Corinthians using a theoretically motivated procedure, avoiding the cherry-picking that plagues so many language-related arguments. Then, drawing upon this analysis, he segments 2 Corinthians into five parts. Examining the sorts of meanings employed in each segment, Land asks what is being talked about, what is being done, and who is taking part.
He distinguishes between the settings in which texts are produced and the situations construed by their language, and he affirms both the conventional nature of intra-textual variation and the principle that coherent texts construe coherent situations. In the end, Land argues that 2 Corinthians has the general appearance of being a single text, and that its specifics ought to be re-examined accordingly.
Irrespective of linguistics and literary integrity, scholars of all persuasions will be interested in the specifics. Among other things, Land argues that there is no single 'offender' underlying Paul's remarks in chaps. 2 and 7, but a plurality of misbehaving church members. Paul has been accused of holding the church responsible for problems caused by his prolonged absence; and other Christian missionaries are stoking the church's discontent, criticizing Paul's ineffectual leadership and advancing their own as superior. To confront this crisis, Paul must simultaneously placate his readers, reiterate his demand that they care for themselves in his absence, and persuade them not to abandon him for 'stronger' leadership.
The Integrity of 2 Corinthians and Paul’s Aggravating Absence
£60.00
Is 2 Corinthians a single letter, or a composite of fragments? Does it have a single setting, or do its parts address successive stages in a developing crisis? This is perennial set of questions about this Pauline letter.
In this provocative study, Christopher D. Land steps back from the details that dominate most discussions of integrity. He analyses 2 Corinthians using a theoretically motivated procedure, avoiding the cherry-picking that plagues so many language-related arguments. Then, drawing upon this analysis, he segments 2 Corinthians into five parts. Examining the sorts of meanings employed in each segment, Land asks what is being talked about, what is being done, and who is taking part.
He distinguishes between the settings in which texts are produced and the situations construed by their language, and he affirms both the conventional nature of intra-textual variation and the principle that coherent texts construe coherent situations. In the end, Land argues that 2 Corinthians has the general appearance of being a single text, and that its specifics ought to be re-examined accordingly.
Irrespective of linguistics and literary integrity, scholars of all persuasions will be interested in the specifics. Among other things, Land argues that there is no single 'offender' underlying Paul's remarks in chaps. 2 and 7, but a plurality of misbehaving church members. Paul has been accused of holding the church responsible for problems caused by his prolonged absence; and other Christian missionaries are stoking the church's discontent, criticizing Paul's ineffectual leadership and advancing their own as superior. To confront this crisis, Paul must simultaneously placate his readers, reiterate his demand that they care for themselves in his absence, and persuade them not to abandon him for 'stronger' leadership.
Adam, Eve, and the Devil: A New Beginning, Second Enlarged Edition
Published: Aug 2015
£22.50 – £60.00
In this book the authors develop an intriguing theory about the Canaanite origin of the biblical traditions concerning the origin of the cosmos and the creation of humankind. Adam, Eve, and the Devil tells a new story about human beginnings and at the same time proposes a fresh start for biblical research into primordial traditions.
A number of clay tablets from Ugarit, dating from the late thirteenth century BCE, throw new light, Korpel and de Moor argue, on the background of the first chapters of Genesis and the myth of Adam. In these tablets, El, the creator deity, and his wife Asherah lived in a vineyard or garden on the slopes of Mt Ararat, known in the Bible as the mountain where Noah's ark came to rest. The first sinner was not a human being, but an evil god called Horon who wanted to depose El. Horon was thrown down from the mountain of the gods, and in revenge he transformed the Tree of Life in the garden into a Tree of Death and enveloped the whole world in a poisonous fog. Adam was sent down to restore life on earth, but failed because Horon in the form of a huge serpent bit him. As a result Adam and his wife lost their immortality.
This myth found its way into the Bible, the Apocrypha and the Pseudepigraphical literature, though it was often transformed or treated critically. Adam, Eve, and the Devil traces the reception of the myth in its many forms, and also presents the oldest pictures of Adam and Eve ever identified (one of them on the front cover of the book). A second, enlarged edition is published in paperback in August, 2015.
Adam, Eve, and the Devil: A New Beginning, Second Enlarged Edition
£22.50 – £60.00
In this book the authors develop an intriguing theory about the Canaanite origin of the biblical traditions concerning the origin of the cosmos and the creation of humankind. Adam, Eve, and the Devil tells a new story about human beginnings and at the same time proposes a fresh start for biblical research into primordial traditions.
A number of clay tablets from Ugarit, dating from the late thirteenth century BCE, throw new light, Korpel and de Moor argue, on the background of the first chapters of Genesis and the myth of Adam. In these tablets, El, the creator deity, and his wife Asherah lived in a vineyard or garden on the slopes of Mt Ararat, known in the Bible as the mountain where Noah's ark came to rest. The first sinner was not a human being, but an evil god called Horon who wanted to depose El. Horon was thrown down from the mountain of the gods, and in revenge he transformed the Tree of Life in the garden into a Tree of Death and enveloped the whole world in a poisonous fog. Adam was sent down to restore life on earth, but failed because Horon in the form of a huge serpent bit him. As a result Adam and his wife lost their immortality.
This myth found its way into the Bible, the Apocrypha and the Pseudepigraphical literature, though it was often transformed or treated critically. Adam, Eve, and the Devil traces the reception of the myth in its many forms, and also presents the oldest pictures of Adam and Eve ever identified (one of them on the front cover of the book). A second, enlarged edition is published in paperback in August, 2015.
‘For She Has Heard’: The Standing Stone in Joshua 24 and the Development of a Covenant Symbol
Published: Aug 2015
£50.00
In this unusual and fascinating study, Elizabeth Berne DeGear draws on both biblical studies and psychoanalytic theory to interpret the role of the standing stone erected by Joshua in the sanctuary at Shechem.
The presence of a listening stone in the sanctuary distinguishes the ritual space in Joshua 24, yet this religious symbol has received little scholarly attention. DeGear begins with the question: What is this numinous feminine presence serving as witness to the people's covenantal relationship with their God? Comparing this stone's function with the function of other covenant stones in the Hebrew Bible and throughout the ancient Near East, DeGear illuminates both the power of the symbol and its dynamics in the people's religious development.
In psychoanalytic mode, DeGear goes on to show how humans create and use symbols differently at various positions along the path to maturity. Her study presents a new perspective on how covenant symbols in the Hebrew Bible function in the development of the communities using them. The present analysis of this one biblical symbol offers scholars and students of biblical and religious studies the tools to engage in psychologically informed consideration of covenant.
With its focus on sanctuary, symbol and psyche, DeGear's exploration of the stone extends from the world of ancient Israel to today's worship communities, where the Bible itself is used as a covenant symbol. What emerges is a picture of how the standing stone and other mediating symbols function in the religion of communities in the Bible and beyond.
‘For She Has Heard’: The Standing Stone in Joshua 24 and the Development of a Covenant Symbol
£50.00
In this unusual and fascinating study, Elizabeth Berne DeGear draws on both biblical studies and psychoanalytic theory to interpret the role of the standing stone erected by Joshua in the sanctuary at Shechem.
The presence of a listening stone in the sanctuary distinguishes the ritual space in Joshua 24, yet this religious symbol has received little scholarly attention. DeGear begins with the question: What is this numinous feminine presence serving as witness to the people's covenantal relationship with their God? Comparing this stone's function with the function of other covenant stones in the Hebrew Bible and throughout the ancient Near East, DeGear illuminates both the power of the symbol and its dynamics in the people's religious development.
In psychoanalytic mode, DeGear goes on to show how humans create and use symbols differently at various positions along the path to maturity. Her study presents a new perspective on how covenant symbols in the Hebrew Bible function in the development of the communities using them. The present analysis of this one biblical symbol offers scholars and students of biblical and religious studies the tools to engage in psychologically informed consideration of covenant.
With its focus on sanctuary, symbol and psyche, DeGear's exploration of the stone extends from the world of ancient Israel to today's worship communities, where the Bible itself is used as a covenant symbol. What emerges is a picture of how the standing stone and other mediating symbols function in the religion of communities in the Bible and beyond.
Ezra: A Commentary
Ezra: A Commentary