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Archive for 2025|Yearly archive page

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Covenant—Concepts of Berit, Diatheke, and Testamentum

In Ancient Near East, Christian A. Eberhart, covenant, Hebrew Bible, Levi Baker, Mohr Siebeck, New Testament, Wolfgang Kraus on August 12, 2025 at 5:06 pm
Cover of book: grey with blue writing

2025.08.04 | Christian A. Eberhart and Wolfgang Kraus, eds. Covenant—Concepts of Berit, Diatheke, and Testamentum. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 506. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2023.

Review by Levi Baker, William Tennent School of Theology.

Arising from a 2019 interdisciplinary conference at the Lanier Theological Library, this volume of twenty-eight essays explores various aspects of covenant across the social world and literature of the OT, NT, late antiquity, and beyond. The volume consists of an introduction and eight parts, and the editors promise to offer a “detailed, comprehensive, and thorough presentation of the tremendous range of covenantal concepts and their complexities in biblical and cognate literature throughout the ages” (p. 1). 

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The Apologists and Paul

In Bloomsbury, Jonathon Lookadoo, Patristic exegesis, Patristics, Paul on January 14, 2025 at 2:48 pm

2025.01.03 | Todd D. Still and David E. Wilhite. The Apologists and Paul. Pauline and Patristic Scholars in Debate. London: T&T Clark, 2024. Pp. xiv + 346. ISBN: 9780567715456.

Review by Jonathon Lookadoo, Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary, Seoul, Republic of Korea

Many thanks to T&T Clark for providing a review copy.

The Apologists and Paul provides a wide-ranging analysis of how Paul’s letters were employed by that loosely defined group of early Christian writers known as the apologists. This volume is the fourth in the series, Pauline and Patristic Scholars in Debate, all of which have been co-edited by Todd Still and David Wilhite. Earlier compilations took up the use of Paul by Tertullian (2013), the Apostolic Fathers (2017), and Irenaeus (2020). While the volumes have not appeared in the same chronological order as the early Christian authors and texts that they study, the respective contributions to the series are characterized by far-reaching coverage of the respective figures in the titles (the Apostolic Fathers, Irenaeus, and Tertullian) as well as depth in the probative explorations of how Paul was utilized by his later interpreters. The most recent book is no exception. Although the composition of some essays was delayed due to restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, the resulting collection is marked by breadth in its discussion of the apologists as well as depth in its attention to the details of how Paul was employed. Along the way, several essays shed light on many pre-requisites that must be understood to appreciate each respective apologist.

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The Lailashi Codex

In Hebrew Bible, Manuscript Studies, Manuscripts, Masoretic Pentateuch, Teófilo Correa, Textual Criticism, Thea GOMELAURI on January 3, 2025 at 2:19 pm

2025.01.02 | Thea Gomelauri (with a contribution by Joseph Ginsberg). The Lailashi Codex: The Crown of Georgian Jewry (Oxford, UK: Taylor Institution Library, 2023). 

Review by Teófilo Correa, Adventist International Institute of Advance Studies (AIIAS) 

The Lailashi Codex is an ancient Hebrew manuscript, considered the earliest nearly complete surviving medieval version of the Pentateuch (Ori Z. Soltes’ foreword). In light of its historical significance, Gomelauri offers a pioneering scholarly examination of the Lailashi Codex’s complex historical trajectory. The research chronicles the manuscript’s journey from a Jewish settlement in Svaneti, at the foot of the Caucasus Mountains, followed by its relocation to Lailashi village, and subsequent custodianship within the local Jewish community. The study further documents the codex’s requisition during the Soviet era and its ultimate repository at the National Centre of Manuscripts. 

In her analysis, Gomelauri elucidates the Lailashi Codex’s multifaceted importance, demonstrating its value beyond its liturgical function as a testament to the historical interconnection of Georgian and Jewish cultural traditions. The publication also reveals a notable finding in manuscript studies: identifying formerly missing folios of the Lailashi Codex by Joseph Ginsberg, currently preserved in the National Library of Israel collections.

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Antioch, Nicaea, and the Synthesis of Constantinople

In Ched Spellman, Christology, Dragos Andrei Giulea, Early Christianity, Fourth Century on January 1, 2025 at 4:05 pm

2025.01.01 | Dragos Andrei Giulea. Antioch, Nicaea, and the Synthesis of Constantinople: Revisiting Trajectories in the Fourth-Century Christological Debates. Studies in the History of Christian Traditions, 200. Brill, 2024. 309 pp.

Review by Ched Spellman, Cedarville University.

In this monograph, Dragoș Andrei Giulea undertakes an ambitious revisioning of the intellectual landscape of the fourth-century theological debates. Challenging traditional narratives and building on recent scholarship, Giulea maps the complex interplay of ideas that shaped this pivotal era in Christian thought. By positioning the Council of Constantinople (381 CE) as a culmination of earlier theological paradigms—specifically those emerging from Antioch (268 CE) and Nicaea (325 CE), Giulea offers a fresh perspective on the development of Trinitarian and Christological doctrines.

A key strength of Giulea’s work is its methodological precision. Giulea clarifies and shows the value of consistently employing careful definitions of notions like “theological grammar” and intellectual “trajectory.” Traditional analysis focused almost exclusively on theological claims as a way to navigate the teeming labyrinth of third and fourth century debates. Giulea builds on and sharpens recent research that accounts for a broader array of philosophical and social factors. In particular, Giulea focuses on specific technical terms, the patterns of usage among certain groups, and the metaphysical commitments that are embedded in a given pattern of use (i.e., a “grammar”). 

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