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Archive for the ‘Genesis’ Category


The Construction of Gender and Identity in Genesis

In Bloomsbury, Gender Studies, Genesis, HB/OT, Hebrew Bible, Karalina Matskevich, Lindsay Fraughton, T & T Clark on August 6, 2020 at 7:09 am

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2020.08.14 | Karalina Matskevich. The Construction of Gender and Identity in Genesis: The Subject and the Other. T&T Clark, 2019. ISBN: 9780567695512.

Review by Lindsay Fraughton, University of British Columbia.

From the Documentary Hypothesis to the construction of The Woman’s Bible, scholarly approaches to the Book of Genesis have shifted alongside academic and social movements. Structuralism, fathered in biblical studies by Claude Lévi-Strauss and furthered by scholars like Mieke Bal and Ellen van Wolde, lost traction in the 21st century (Matskevich 2019, 208). However, in her 2019 publication Construction of Gender and Identity in Genesis: The Subject and the Other, Karalina Matskevich revitalises interdisciplinary structuralist approaches to the book of Genesis, setting the groundwork for future studies of the same nature. Read the rest of this entry »


The Intertextual Reception of Genesis 1–3 in Irenaeus of Lyons

In Brill, Eric Covington, Genesis, Irenaeus of Lyons, Patristic exegesis, Patristics, Reception history, Stephen O. PRESLEY on January 13, 2016 at 11:15 am

presley

2016.01.02 | Stephen O. Presley. The Intertextual Reception of Genesis 1–3 in Irenaeus of Lyons (The Bible in Ancient Christianity; Leiden: Brill, 2015). Hardback. 267 pages + 34 pages bibliography & indices.

Review by Eric Covington, University of St Andrews.

Many thanks to Brill Publishers for providing a MyBook paperback inspection copy.

In The Intertextual Reception of Genesis 1–3 in Irenaeus of Lyons, Stephen O. Presley examines every reference to Gen 1–3 in Adversus Haereses (Against Heresies, abbreviated hereafter as Haer.) to demonstrate how Irenaeus interprets Genesis’ protological narratives within an intertextual network spanning the entire biblical canon.
Presley argues that Irenaeus’ intertextual exegesis is an outworking of his particular view of scriptural consonance informed by his doctrine of revelation and creation. Read the rest of this entry »


The Testing of God’s Sons: The Refining of Faith as a Biblical Theme

In B&H Academic, Genesis, Gregory S. SMITH, HB/OT, Kerry Lee, Linguistics, Pentateuch on September 3, 2014 at 8:29 pm

2014.9.15 | Gregory S. Smith. The Testing of God’s Sons: The Refining of Faith as a Biblical Theme. Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2014. pp. xviii + 222. ISBN: 9780805464184.

Review by Kerry Lee.

Many thanks to B&H Academic for providing a review copy.

The Testing of God’s Sons by Gregory S. Smith is primarily an exploration of the literary theme of “testing”, a theme that is especially important in Genesis but that, Smith also argues, is a unifying theme in the entire Pentateuch and even the entire Christian Bible. Additionally, to support his case, he engages in a limited semantic field analysis of common Hebrew terms that communicate the idea of testing. He argues that underlying the use of these terms is a metallurgical metaphor, and Smith finds that one particular term that is important to his literary analysis of the theme of testing in the Bible, Hebrew bāḥan, is connected to the idea of a “touchstone”, meaning the purpose of the testing is authentication (more than “refining” or “revealing”). Read the rest of this entry »

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Pentateuch, Hexateuch, or Enneateuch?: Identifying Literary Works in Genesis through Kings

In Biblical Criticism, Genesis, HB/OT, Hermeneutics, Intertextuality, Kerry Lee, Konrad SCHMID, Pentateuch, Scribal habits, Scripture, Septuagint, Society of Biblical Literature, Thomas B. DOZEMAN, Thomas RÖMER on June 11, 2012 at 5:07 pm

2012.06.12 | Thomas B. Dozeman, Thomas Römer, and Konrad Schmid, eds. Pentateuch, Hexateuch, or Enneateuch?: Identifying Literary Works in Genesis through Kings. Ancient Israel and its Literature 8. Atlanta: SBL, 2011. x + 313 pages. $39.95. ISBN: 9781589835429.

Reviewed by Kerry Lee, University of Edinburgh.

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

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Pentateuch, Hexateuch, or Enneateuch? is a collaboration between the Pentateuch and Deuteronomistic History Sections of SBL Read the rest of this entry »


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 »


These Are The Generations: Identity, Covenant, And The ‘Toledot’ Formula

In Bloomsbury, Genesis, HB/OT, Kerry Lee, Matthew A. THOMAS, Pentateuch on March 9, 2012 at 9:05 pm

2012.03.07 | Matthew A. Thomas. These Are The Generations: Identity, Covenant, And The ‘Toledot’ Formula. Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies 551. New York: T&T Clark, 2011. xviii + 153 pages. £65. ISBN: 9780567151414.

Reviewed by Kerry Lee, University of Edinburgh.

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In this published version of his PhD thesis, Matthew Thomas, who serves as adjunct professor at Fuller Theological Seminary and Azusa Pacific University, has engaged the problem of the relationship between the macro-structure of Genesis (and indeed, of the whole Pentateuch) and the toledot formulae, a long noted recurring feature with particular density in Genesis. Read the rest of this entry »


Markus Bockmuehl, “Jewish and Christian Origins of Creatio ex Nihilo”

In Dan Batovici, DSS, Genesis, Markus BOCKMUEHL, SEMINAR REPORTS, St Andrews on December 19, 2010 at 10:23 pm

This is a report on a paper presented by Markus Bockmuehl, Professor of Biblical and Early Christian Studies and Fellow in Theology at Keble College, Oxford, in the Theology Research Seminar at the School of Divinity, St Mary’s College, University of St Andrews, 15 December 2010.

The full list of this term’s papers in this seminar is available here.

The article coming out of this paper has now been published. See here.

The starting point of this paper is that it does not hold the idea of creation as a self-evident truth: the notion that all that exists was created by a supreme God constitutes a great intellectual device; obvious to some, but obvious nonsense for others.

As opposed to the Greek philosophy, the Jews and later the Christians were convinced that believers in the God of Israel and readers of the Scriptures do not have the luxury of evacuating the divinity or God from the creation. Read the rest of this entry »


Shane Berg, “Ben Sira, the Genesis Creation Accounts, and the Knowledge of God’s Will”

In Ben Sira, Durham, Genesis, Justin A. Mihoc, SEMINAR REPORTS, Shane BERG on November 5, 2010 at 4:40 pm

This is a report on a paper presented by Shane Berg, Assistant Professor in New Testament in the Department of Biblical Studies at Princeton Theological Seminary, in the New Testament Research Seminar at the Department of Theology and Religion, Durham University, 25 Oct 2010.

The list of forthcoming papers in the NT Research Seminars at Durham University can be found here.

In his paper, Shane Berg presented an interesting view on religious epistemology by analysing Ben Sira’s reading of the Creation account in B S 16:24-17:17 and the possibility of Law obedience in 15:11-20, and by comparing them with the theme of the knowledge of the Torah as found in 4Q417 l i 16-18 and 1QHa VII, 12-14.

Following Greg Schmidt Goering’s view [see Goering’s Wisdom’s Root Revealed: Ben Sira and the Election of Israel, JSJ Sup 139, (Leiden: Brill, 2009)], Berg opines that Ben Sira’s unique approach to wisdom represents a departure from natural reaction to the wisdom theology, through linking wisdom to the Torah. Read the rest of this entry »