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Archive for the ‘Jewish Backgrounds’ Category


Hebrews’ Cosmogonic Presuppositions

In Benjamin Rojas Yauri, cosmology, Hebrews, Jewish Backgrounds, Judson D. Greene, Wipf and Stock on January 23, 2023 at 6:03 pm
cover of book being reviewed

2023.01.02 | Benjamin Rojas Yauri. Hebrews’ Cosmogonic Presuppositions: Its First-Century Philosophical Context. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2022.

Review by Judson D. Greene, Cambridge University.

In this revised version of his PhD dissertation at Stellenbosch University under the supervision of Jeremy Punt, Benjamin Rojas Yauri endeavors to answer the question, “What are the relationships between Hebrews’ cosmogonic presuppositions and its first-century philosophical context?” (7). “Cosmogonic” means related to the origin of the universe (p. 1, n. 4) and a “presupposition” is “a thought tacitly assumed beforehand at the beginning of a line of argument,” which he states means the same thing as “beliefs” (p. 234, n. 2). In answer to his question, Rojas Yauri advances the thesis, “there is no relationship of dependence in presuppositions but only in the usage of some general vocabulary” (p. 266).

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Jesus the Jew in Christian Memory

In Barbara Meyer, Cambridge University Press, Historical Jesus, Jewish Backgrounds, Jonathan Rowlands, Memory, Philosophy on November 10, 2022 at 3:00 pm

2022.11.09 | Barbara U. Meyer. Jesus the Jew in Christian Memory: Theological and Philosophical Explorations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020. 

Review by Jonathan Rowlands, St. Mellitus College.

Barbara Meyer’s monograph is concerned with “the theological implications of Jesus’ Jewish identity as well philosophical questions raised by the ongoing presence of Jewishness within Christian ethical and dogmatic discourse” (p. 1). Jesus’ Jewishness, and its pursuant theological and philosophical implications, are apprehended by Meyer through the lens of memory. Memory, she writes, speaks of Jesus’ Jewishness “not [as] a new discovery,” but helps to capture what has been “present but dormant throughout Church history … often suppressed, neglected, and overlooked” (p. 2).

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Deciphering the Worlds of Hebrews

In Gabriella GELARDINI, Hebrews, Jewish Backgrounds, Jewish liturgy, Jonathon Lookadoo on December 29, 2021 at 3:49 pm
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2021.12.19 | Gabriella Gelardini. Deciphering the Worlds of Hebrews: Collected Essays. Supplements to Novum Testamentum 184. Leiden: Brill, 2021. pp. xii + 375. ISBN: 9789004460164.

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

The volume under review gathers fifteen essays from Gabriella Gelardini that were published from 2005–2019. Gelardini is Professor of Christianity, Religion, Worldview, and Ethics at Nord University and has previously published both a monograph and two edited volumes on Hebrews. The book is divided into three parts with each part comprised of five chapters. Fourteen of the essays in this volume were published previously, but many of them were published in disparate edited volumes. Twelve chapters are written in English, while three of the essays appear in German. The collection of these papers in one volume is thus warmly to be welcomed both for the ease with which the essays can now be read and for the way in which Gelardini’s research on Hebrews over a fifteen-year period can be explored.

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Reading the Gospel of John’s Christology as Jewish Messianism

In Benjamin E. Reynolds, Brill, Gabriele Boccaccini, Gospel of John, Jewish Backgrounds, John, Messianism, R. B. Jamieson on August 27, 2021 at 3:00 pm

2021.8.14 | Benjamin E. Reynolds and Gabriele Boccaccini (eds). Reading the Gospel of John’s Christology as Jewish Messianism: Royal, Prophetic, and Divine Messiahs. Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity 106; Leiden: Brill, 2018. ISBN: 978-9004349759.

Review by R. B. Jamieson, Capitol Hill Baptist Church.

Among the four canonical Gospels, the Christology of John is often taken to be the least Jewish because it is the most divine. The essays collected in this volume aim to show not only that John’s “messianology,” so to speak, is recognizably Jewish, but that even its divine claims for Jesus have at least some clear antecedents in Jewish messianic expectation. In this twofold aim the volume amply and admirably succeeds. 

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Composite Citations in Antiquity

In Bloomsbury, Composite Citations, Early Christianity, Graeco-Roman Backgrounds, Jewish Backgrounds, Quotations, R. Jarrett Van Tine, Sean A. ADAMS, Seth M. EHORN on May 16, 2018 at 6:00 pm

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2018.05.07 | Adams, Sean A. and Seth M. Ehorn, eds. Composite Citations in Antiquity: Jewish Graeco-Roman, and Early Christian Uses. Vol 1. London; New York: Bloomsbury, 2016.

Reviewed by R. Jarrett Van Tine, University of St. Andrews.

This work is the first of a two-volume set addressing the curious literary technique of composite citation (CC). Although CCs appear fairly regularly in the New Testament, a thorough understanding of the method has lagged since “there has been very little work focused on this citation technique within the broader Jewish, Graeco-Roman, and early Christian milieu” (p. 1).

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Hebrews in Contexts

In Brill, Bryan Dyer, Gabriella GELARDINI, Graeco-Roman Backgrounds, Harold W. ATTRIDGE, Hebrews, Jewish Backgrounds, New Testament, review, Spatial Theory on September 9, 2017 at 6:45 pm

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2017.09.19 | Gabriella Gelardini and Harold W. Attridge, eds. Hebrews in Contexts. Leiden: Brill, 2016. ISBN: 9789004311688.

Reviewed by Bryan Dyer, Baker Academic.

This collection of essays, edited by Gabriella Gelardini and Harold Attridge, brings together many of the fine papers that have been presented in the Hebrews section at the SBL annual meetings from 2005 to 2013. In their introduction, the editors place the volume within the increased attention that the epistle has received during those years. More specifically, this volume (and the Hebrews section over the years) attempts to place Hebrews within a variety of “contexts”—a term referring to historical context (Jewish, Greco-Roman) as well as hermeneutical approaches (spatial theory, canonical reading, history of interpretation). One key feature is that the editors (also the SBL co-chairs) sought out non-Hebrews scholars who are experts in fields with baring on Hebrews to bring their specialty to the text. As a result, the volume presents some fresh readings and approaches to the text that will be new to even seasoned Hebrews scholars. Read the rest of this entry »