The Formation of Biblical Literature, Haifa, Dec 18th 2017

2011

Biblical Interpretation, 2018

After an appreciation of Macintosh, the volume presents twenty-three essays in five parts: the language and literature of the Pentateuch, historical books, prophets, writings, and the themes and resonances of biblical language and literature (namely, in biblical and rabbinic literature). Although the content could easily have become too disparate, the high representation of Genesis, Hosea, and Psalms, and the theological leanings of many of the chapters give the volume some coherence. Part 3, on the prophets, is especially enjoyable, with contributions ranging from the late Edward Ball's fascinating literary and linguistic study of Nahum 2.2 to Diana Lipton's refreshing reading of Jeremiah through the lens of Shakespeare's Cymbeline. Although the volume is understandably skewed towards British scholarship, the wide range of texts represented and the prestige of the authors demonstrate the lasting reach of Macintosh's contribution to the field. This variety of interests represented in the volume, combined with the background knowledge required to fully appreciate its contents, mean this book is best suited to Hebrew Bible scholars and interested graduate students.

Scottish Journal of Theology, 1997

Reading Acts, 2023

Israel’s Scriptures in Early Christian Writings collects forty-two essays on topics related to how early Christian writers used the Jewish scripture they inherited. As Henze and Lincicum explain in their introduction, the Scriptures of Israel “forms the cultural encyclopedia necessary to understand what Jesus and his earliest followers did and thought” (1). Not only did the writers of the New Testament interact extensively with Israel Scriptures, they “inherited strategies of scriptural interpretation from their Jewish predecessors” (1). This volume, therefore, expresses the state of the question and presses the field forward into new avenues of scholarship. In doing so, they stand on the shoulders of Krister Stendahl (School of Matthew, 1968) and Richard Hays (Echoes of Scripture in Paul, 1989). However, even though the authors of the New Testament are either “Jews or Judaphiles,” not all New Testament scriptural interpretations are easily illustrated in Jewish literature, nor can all types of scriptural interpretation in contemporary Judaism be illustrated in the New Testament.

Themelios , 2019

It is often said that “History is in the eye of beholder.” The reporting of history lends itself to subjectivity, ideological bents, and a narrow focus. In the last seventeen years, the European Seminar has wrestled with issues of historicity in ancient Israel. Their most recent contribution, The Hebrew Bible and History: Critical Readings, continues the Seminar’s work by providing a dialogue on writing a history of ancient Israel. The contributors span the theological spectrum so that their viewpoints provide a dialogue.

The following syllabus was used for an upper-level course on the Hebrew Bible at UC-Santa Barbara in the spring of 2017. The title (and level) suggested something other than an introduction, but since this is the only course in the catalog dedicated to the Hebrew Bible, I still had to assume little to no knowledge of biblical scholarship and the historical-critical method, and in many cases, even no familiarity with the Hebrew Bible at all. I decided that I will keep this in mind in my choice of texts, but at the same time change the focus from an introduction to aspects of " literature " and " religion " as the title anticipates.

SCRIPTURE Dating from the mid-third century BCE until the mid-second century CE, the biblical scrolls from the Judean Desert are very early in comparison with the medieval codices of MT. However, compared with the earliest copies of Hebrew Scripture, they are actually late. Whatever view one holds on the dates of the composition and final redaction of the books of Hebrew Scripture, it remains true to say that these activities preceded the copying of the Qumran scrolls by several centuries. Likewise, the composition and redaction of the biblical books preceded the OG translation by the same time span, as the LXX translation was produced between the beginning of the third century BCE and the end of the second century BCE. The realia of writing and rewriting ancient scrolls forms the topic of this chapter, treated here in conjunction with a seemingly remote issue, namely the literary analysis of the Hebrew Bible.