2018.01.02 | Jörg Frey and John R. Levison, eds. The Holy Spirit, Inspiration, and the Cultures of Antiquity: Multidisciplinary Perspectives. Ekstasis 5. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2017.
Reviewed by Jesse D. Stone, University of St Andrews.
This volume gathers together essays produced as part of an interdisciplinary project on the historical roots of early Christian pneumatology (ECP) led by the editors, Jörg Frey and John “Jack” Levison.
2017.12.26 | Kelly J. Murphy and Justin Jeffcoat Schedtler (ed.) Apocalypses in Context: Apocalyptic Currents through History. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2016. Hardcover. Pp. ix + 510. ISBN: 9781451496239.
Review by Daniel Hawkins, Trinity Western University.
The scholarly discussion surrounding apocalyptic writings has seen nearly as much variety as the genre of apocalypse itself. Apocalypses in Context, a series of essays edited by Kelly J. Murphy and Justin Jeffcoat Schedtler, explores not only the question of the genre and definition of the apocalypse, but also traces apocalyptic literature and thought through history into the present to illustrate its prevalence and impact in modern society. Read the rest of this entry »
2015.10.19 | József Zsengellér. Rewritten Bible after Fifty Years: Texts, Terms, or Techniques? A Last Dialogue with Geza Vermes. JSJSup 166. Leiden: Brill, 2014. ISBN: 9789004268159.
Review by Pieter B. Hartog, KU Leuven.
Many thanks to Brill for providing a review copy.
Few terms have generated such lively debates as Geza Vermes’ “Rewritten Bible.”1 Two major impetuses have informed these debates. First, the recovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. These finds brought to light previously unknown writings which some scholars argued must be included in Vermes’ category. Classifying these writings under the header of “Rewritten Bible” had a double effect: on the one hand, the category broadened, as it could now also include halakhic (e.g., the Temple Scroll) and other writings; on the other, the category grew increasingly narrow, as the writings attributed to it became mainly those of Second Temple Judaism (Vermes had included later texts such as Sēfer ha-Yāšār).
2013.12.23 | Jonathan D. H. Norton. Contours in the Text: Textual Variation in the Writings of Paul, Josephus and the Yahad. Library of New Testament Studies 430; London: T&T Clark, 2011. xiii + 210 pages (PB). ISBN 9780567521996.
Review by Garrick V. Allen, University of St Andrews.
Many thanks to Bloomsbury for providing a review copy.
In this volume, Norton explores Paul’s reuse and awareness of multiple antecedent scriptural traditions in the textually pluriform environment of first century Palestine. His approach blends text-critical acumen and an awareness of exegetical issues in the contemporary discussion. His study “questions Paul’s awareness and encounter with textual plurality in Jewish scripture” (p. 1). Read the rest of this entry »
2013.03.02 | Ursula Schattner-Rieser, L’araméen des manuscrits de la mer Morte. I. Grammaire. Instruments pour l’étude des langues de l’Orient ancien 5 (IELOA). Lausanne: Éditions du Zèbre, 2004. SFR45 / €33.00. pp. 180. ISBN 1422–7436; 5; ISBN 2–940351–03–1.
Reviewed by Vasile Condrea, Durham University.
Many thanks go to Éditions du Zèbre for kindly providing us with a review copy.
This volume represents ‘l’ensemble des traits pertinents’ of a doctoral thesis written under the supervision of André Lemaire and Jean Margain at É.P.H.E.-Sorbonne/Paris. It has been previously reviewed by Ch. Grappe (RHPR 85 (2005), pp. 430-31), T. Muraoka (BO 63 (2006)), G. J. Brooke (JSNT 28 (2006), p. 142), E. Cook and E. Tigchelaar (JSJ 37 (2006), pp. 491-95), and T. Lim (ET 118 (2007), p. 249). Some reviews are more general (Brooke and Lim), while others present some critical remarks (Cook and Tigchelaar) with the addition that these ‘should not be taken to undermine this overall favorable assessment’ (Cook, p. 491). Read the rest of this entry »
A report on a paper given by Dr. David Kim (Visiting Research Fellow, University of Edinburgh) at the New College Biblical Studies Research Seminar, 3 February 2012. Dr. Kim received his PhD from the University of Sydney. His research has largely been centred around Coptic texts related to the New Testament and Christian origins. He is currently working on the Gospel of Judas.
The list of forthcoming papers in the Biblical Studies Seminars at Edinburgh can be downloaded from here. RBECS is also on facebook, here.
In his paper, Dr. Kim gathered together a wide range of evidence in order to call into question the scholarly opinion that the Qumran community consisted exclusively of celibate males. This evidence fell into three categories: evidence from Hellenistic Jewish writings, evidence from the Dead Sea Scrolls, and evidence from archaeology at Qumran.
Reading texts from Philo of Alexandria and Josephus, Dr. Kim pointed out that in describing Palestinian ascetic communities, especially the Essenes, both authors depict a mixed picture where marriage and the presence of women in the community was, on one hand, held with suspicion while, on the other hand, marriage was in many places accepted or even the norm. Read the rest of this entry »
2023.02.05 | Ekaputra Tupamahu. Contesting Languages: Heteroglossia and the Politics of Language in the Early Church. New York: Oxford University Press, 2023. Review by Isaac T. Soon, Crandall University, Moncton, NB. The author begins the book with three subjects that experience struggle at the site of language: Medea, the Corinthian community, and Tupamahau himself. From its first […]
2023.02.04 | Lori A. Baron. The Shema in John’s Gospel. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament. 2. Reihe, 574. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2022. Review by R. B. Jamieson, Capitol Hill Baptist Church, Washington, DC. What causes John’s Gospel to stand out when set against the backdrops of the Synoptic Gospels, the whole New Testament, and early Judaism? In The […]
2023.02.03 | Byron MacDougall, Philosophy at the Festival: The Festal Orations of Gregory of Nazianzus and the Classical Tradition. Mnemosyne Supplements 461; Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2022. Review by Robert G. T. Edwards; University of Göttingen. Gregory of Nazianzus’ seven Festal Orations, preached at Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, and Pentecost during his short-lived episcopacy in Constantinople from 379 […]
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’ […]
2023.01.01 | Wendy E. S. North, What John Knew and What John Wrote: A Study in John and the Synoptics (Lanham: Lexington Books/Fortress Academic, 2020). Review by Elizabeth Corsar; St Padarn’s Institute, Cardiff. In her monograph, what John knew and what John wrote, North successfully puts forward a positive case for John’s use of the Synoptic Gospels, […]
2022.12.13 | Matthias Klinghardt. The Oldest Gospel and the Formation of the Canonical Gospels. Biblical Tools and Studies 41; Leuven: Peeters, 2021. Review by Jordan Almanzar, Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts. Matthias Klinghardt’s study, The Oldest Gospel and the Formation of the Canonical Gospels, is a two-volume work in which he proposes Marcion’s Evangelion […]
2022.12.12 | Mar Pérez i Díaz, Mark, a Pauline Theologian: A Re-reading of the Traditions of Jesus in the Light of Paul’s Theology. WUNT II 521. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2020. Review by Gregg S. Morrison, Birmingham, Alabama. Petrine influence on the Gospel of Mark has been a well-attested assertion in Gospel studies for centuries, based primarily […]
2022.12.11 | David G. Horrell. Ethnicity and Inclusion: Religion, Race, and Whiteness in Constructions of Jewish and Christian Identities. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2020. Review by Jonathan Rowlands, St. Mellitus College In Ethnicity and Inclusion, Horrell examines the ways in which the contested categories of ethnicity, race, and religion coalesce in and arise from conceptions of the […]
2022.11.10 | Joseph Longarino, Pauline Theology and the Problem of Death. WUNT II/558 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2021). Review by Isaac T. Soon, Crandall University. This book is a revised version of the author’s dissertation, completed at Duke University under the supervision of Douglas Campbell in 2019. Longarino’s study focuses on a truly disregarded problem in Pauline theology: given […]
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 […]
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