Reviews of

Archive for the ‘Abraham’ Category


Genesis (New Cambridge Bible Commentary)

In Abraham, Biblical Criticism, Bill T. ARNOLD, Cambridge University Press, Genesis, HB/OT, Hermeneutics, Kerry Lee on May 4, 2012 at 3:54 pm

2012.05.08 | Bill T. Arnold. Genesis. The New Cambridge Bible Commentary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009. xxii + 409 pages. (PB) £16.99. ISBN: 9780521000673. (HB) £50. ISBN: 9780521806077.

Reviewed by Kerry Lee, University of Edinburgh.

RBECS would like to thank CUP for kindly providing us with a review copy.

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Note to the reader: the following review is a good deal longer than what I would submit to an academic journal. In the process of reviewing this commentary, my own professional interest in the book of Genesis and in general hermeneutical method compelled me to address some issues in greater detail. Read the rest of this entry »


Krastu Banev, “The Idea of the Numinous in the 4th Century: Abraham, John Chrysostom, and Rudolf Otto in Dialogue”

In Abraham, Durham, Early Christianity, Justin A. Mihoc, Krastu BANEV, Numinous, Patristics, SEMINAR REPORTS on November 25, 2011 at 5:07 pm

This is a report on a paper presented by Dr Krastu Banev, Lecturer in Greek Patristics and Byzantine Studies in the Department of Theology and Religion at Durham University, at the Patristics Research Seminar at the Department of Theology and Religion, Durham University, 24th of November 2011.

The list of forthcoming papers in the Patristics Research Seminars at Durham University can be found here. You can follow RBECS on Facebook, here.

In this very inspiring paper, Dr Banev intended to show the similarities and differences between the idea of religious experience and the numinous employed by John Chrysostom (c. 347–407) and Rudolf Otto (1869–1937).

There is a gap in the scholarly record with regard to the treatment of the idea of ‘numinous dread’ (or the mysterium tremendum et fascinans, as Otto calls it).

Read the rest of this entry »


Nicholas Wyatt, “After Death Has Us Parted: Encounters Between the Living and the Dead in the Ancient Semitic World”

In Abraham, Edinburgh, HB/OT, Kerry Lee, Nicholas WYATT, Pentateuch, SEMINAR REPORTS on November 1, 2011 at 12:28 pm

A report on a paper given by Professor Nicholas Wyatt (Honorary Professorial Fellow, Professor Emeritus, University of Edinburgh) at the Biblical Studies Seminar at New College, the University of Edinburgh, 28 October 2011.

The list of forthcoming papers in the Biblical Studies Seminars at Edinburgh can be downloaded from here. You can find RBECS on facebook, here.

Professor Wyatt’s paper drew together disparate strands from first and second millennium BCE texts from across Mesopotamia and the Levant in order to identify common elements in their post-funerary practices, or ritual “Encounters Between the Living and the Dead.”

The bulk of the paper centered around investigating the eastern Mesopotamian practice of the kispum, a ritual feast wherein a deceased person, most especially but not exclusively a deceased king, was remembered and “fed.” Read the rest of this entry »


Benjamin Schliesser, “The Dialectics of Faith and Doubt in Paul”

In Abraham, Benjamin SCHLIESSER, Cambridge, Disputing, Doubt, Faith, Meddling, Paul, Romans, Samuli Siikavirta, SEMINAR REPORTS on October 13, 2011 at 12:21 pm

A report on a paper given by Dr Benjamin Schliesser (Zürich University) at the Senior New Testament Seminar of the Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge, 11 October 2011.

The list of forthcoming papers in the New Testament Seminars at Cambridge can be found here. You can also find us on facebook, here.

Dr Schliesser’s paper began with the realisation that he had made when writing his PhD thesis: the notion of doubt has not been dealt with much at all in Pauline scholarship. The doubt of Don Quixote, Descartes, Luther and the modern sceptic were all mentioned as examples that shape our present-day definition of the word “doubt”: uncertainty, hesitation, lack of confidence and wavering between two positions.

Most of the paper focused on Romans 4:20 and Paul’s use of διακρίνεσθαι therein. Dr Schliesser carefully showed the discrepancy between the classical/Hellenistic meaning of the verb (“to be separated or to be dissolved [into elements]”, “to come to a decision or to get it decided” or “to contend or to dispute”) and the way in which it is usually read in the New Testament (“to contend with oneself” or simply “to doubt”). Read the rest of this entry »