Abstract
A
The latest volume of De Gruyter's magnum opus collating biblical scholarship and reception history continues in the style of its predecessors: an eclectic and wide-ranging mix of entries, some of which relate more or less directly to biblical topics and have few if any echoes in reception history, some of which seem to have more to do with postbiblical topics and relatively little to do with the Bible, and some of which plot the trajectories of topics from the Bible through generations of reception and a range of media. Something of the sense of this mix is captured by two successive entries, which are one of the shortest in the volume followed by what is surely the longest: ‘Gob’ is a mere two sentences describing the possible location of a site where David is said to have fought two battles with the Philistines (2 Sam. 21.18–19), and the bibliography supplied is longer than the article itself. ‘God’, on the other hand, runs from col. 382 to col. 436—27 pages—and has subheadings ranging over the Ancient Near East, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, Graeco-Roman Antiquity, New Testament, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Literature, Visual Arts, Music, and Film, and includes two illustrations. The subsequent and related entry, ‘God (Names and Epithets)’, is similarly extended (cols. 437–78, or 21 pages), and covers Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, New Testament, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Other Religions, Literature, and Film. A third entry on ‘Guarini, Guarino’, the seventeenth-century Italian architect of the Santissima Sindone chapel that houses the Turin Shroud, illustrates the postbiblical element in the volume. There is clearly a very wide definition at work here of what constitutes ‘biblical reception’, which may on occasion be questioned; on the other hand, there is much of interest in the articles, making this volume, like its predecessors, a veritable treasure-trove of information about all sorts of unexpected topics as well as the expected ones.
D.W. R
A
This is the second of four projected volumes providing the text and English translation of mediaeval commentaries on the Song of Songs (the first volume was reviewed in B.L. 2013, p. 130). The present volume is devoted to the two commentaries of Tanchum Yerushalmi (ca. 1220–1291). It begins by giving the Judaeo-Arabic text (following
A.C. H
B
For a review of this volume, see Section 5 (IV) above.
B
This volume publishes a 2012 conference between the University of Antwerp, the Hebrew University and Princeton University. An introductory essay (in English) by the editors surveys the history of reading Job as literature since the eighteenth century, gives a summary of the individual essays, and puts them in context. The other essays, also all in English, are the following: is the book of Job a tragedy? (A. Hirschfeld); Job the mourner (M. Halbertal); dramatic irony and double entendre in the book of Job (N. Meshel); reading pain in the book of Job (Y. Raz); Melville's Wall Street Job—the missing cry (I. Pardes); Kafka's other Job (V. Liska); Joban transformations of the wandering Jew in Joseph Roth's Hiob and Der Leviathan (G. Hasan-Rokem); Hebrew poems rewriting Job (R. Alter); the Bible on the Hebrew/Israeli stage: Hanoch Levin's The Torments of Job as a modern tragedy (F. Rokem); beyond theodicy? Joban themes in Philip Roth's Nemesis (Batnitzky). Unfortunately, there are no indexes.
L.L. G
B
This revised doctoral thesis (Louvain, supervisor André Wénin) is a literary study, with the unusual focus on the eldest son and two daughters of Saul. B.'s concern is to consider how they function in the narrative with regard to the conflict between Saul and David. Although no one particular theoretician of narrative analysis is followed, Robert Alter is particularly mentioned. The basis is primarily the Masoretic text, though it is proposed that the Septuagint text would make an interesting alternative narrative structure. B. finds that Jonathan and Michal have the narrative function of mediating the conflict between Saul and David and clarifying their individual positions. At certain times, the words of Jonathan make clear the theological meaning of both Saul's intrigues and David's destiny. Jonathan sometimes functions in effect as the foil to his father, opening the way to royal power for David that Saul wants to block. Michal serves to point up the unjustness of Saul's hostility toward David, and at the same time to be the means by which he enters the royal family. Although some have seen Michal as a rounded individual and Jonathan as one-dimensional, B. argues that both are presented in the text as complex characters. Merab, on the other hand, functions mainly to anticipate Michal and prepare the way for her. In a study such as this, it is not always easy to advance beyond a statement of the obvious, but a systematic study of the other characters in the narrative of the David–Saul struggle is a useful undertaking.
L.L. G
B
For a review of this volume, see Section 5 (II) above.
B
Close readings of biblical narrative are not hard to find—but the story of Jeremiah after the fall of Jerusalem has not attracted much attention for this kind of analysis. B. seeks to remedy that situation, offering a narratological study of this ‘underrated’ story. He divides the five chapters of biblical text into seven unequal parts, treating the relatively orderly story seriatim. B.'s first chapter treats Jer. 40.1–6; Nebuzaradan features prominently, and seems to hold a particular fascination for B. Hope, albeit shortlived, rises from the ashes with the appointment of Gedaliah (ch. 2; Jer. 40.7–16). Chapter 3 (Jer. 41.1–8) investigates the terse account of Gedaliah's assassination, while the tragedy and turmoil which unfolds (ch. 4; Jer. 41.9–15) resonates with stories of Israel's past, bringing intertexts to the fore. Chapter 5 (Jer. 41.16–42.22) sees Jeremiah—absent through much of the action—back on the scene as the future of the community hangs in the balance. B.'s two final chapters (attending to Jer. 43.1–13 and 44.1–30 respectively) follow the depleted remnant to Egypt, against the prophet's advice, with Jeremiah and Baruch in tow. B. nicely opens out the fissures in the narrative, and amply demonstrates the fascinating contours and enigmas present in this tautly told tale. oddly, B. resists justifying the frame for the boundaries of his text. B.'s theoretical underpinnings are present, but not in any obtrusive way. His conversation partners are mostly modern and almost exclusively anglophone. B. does not, I think, suggest that his intriguing reading represents the final word. Still, his thoughtful treatment will undoubtedly attract others to attend more closely to this neglected text.
D.J. R
C
C. aims to provide ‘a broad account of the poetic style of First Isaiah’ (p. 2), focusing solely on those texts plausibly attributable to Isaiah of Jerusalem himself (a full list of which appears on p. 18). This ‘broad account’ is developed over the following three chapters. ‘The Line in First Isaiah’ focuses on parallelism, rhythm, and syntax (favouring an emended version of M. O'Connor's system) as means by which individual lines can be determined in biblical poetic texts, and in Isaiah in particular. ‘Structure and Movement’ considers the multifarious means by which individual lines are joined into larger wholes. Since C. defines the individual poetic line as the single colon, rather than the bicolon, parallelism dominates the discussion of how single lines are typically joined into couplets, and less frequently into triplets, quatrains or larger groups. This is supplemented by a briefer discussion of how groups of lines are joined into poems. ‘Imagery and Metaphor’ focuses in particular on the roles of agricultural and animal imagery in First Isaiah's poems. Each of these three chapters is enriched by an extended discussion of a particular Isaianic poem (22.1b–14, 3.1–15 and 1.2–20 respectively). The book closes by attempting to draw out some of the ‘distinctive tendencies’ (p. 204) of this corpus (pp. 204–207). This study is a lucid affirmation of First Isaiah as a poet of the first rank. The affirmation could have been sounded more clearly by more sustained emphasis on what makes First Isaiah's poetry distinctive with respect to other (prophetic) poetry in the Hebrew Bible.
K.L. P
D
This book, which originated in a conference at the University of Notre Dame in 1998, does not aim for encyclopaedic coverage, but rather to introduce readers to the early Christian sources and to the interdisciplinary methods and perspectives currently being brought to bear on the study of early Christian psalm-saying. After the introduction there follow two scene-setting chapters: Brian E. Daley, SJ, ‘Finding the Right Key: The Aims and Strategies of Early Christian Interpretation of the Psalms’, charts the rise of psalm-saying and commentary during the first Christian centuries; while Gary A. Anderson in ‘King David and the Psalms of Imprecation’ demonstrates the hermeneutical conventions for determining correct readings, especially with reference to imprecation. Next, Ronald E. Heine reconstructs the chief elements of the prologue to Origen's Caesarean commentary in ‘Restringing Origen's Broken Harp: Some Suggestions Concerning the Prologue to the Caesarean Commentary on the Psalms’, while spiritual practice is the focus in Paul R. Kolbet, ‘Athanasius, the Psalms, and the Reformation of the Self’ and Luke Dysinger, OSB, ‘Evagrius Ponticus: The Psalter as a Handbook for the Christian Contemplative’. Three chapters then offer complementary perspectives on Psalm 45: Nonna Verna Harrison, ‘Gender Allegories in Basil of Caesarea's Homily on Psalm 45’; David G. Hunter, ‘The Virgin, the Bride, and the Church: Reading Psalm 45 in Ambrose, Jerome and Augustine’; and Ronald R. Cox, ‘A Sharp Pen versus Fragrant Myrrh: Comparing the Commentaries of Cyril of Alexandria and Theodore of Mopsuestia on Psalm 45’. John O'Keefe, in ‘Theodore's Unique Contribution to the Antiochene Exegetic Tradition: Questioning Traditional Scholarly Categories’, highlights distinctive aspects of Theodore's work, hence warning against interpreting Antiochene (or Alexandrian) material too monolithically. Distinguishing aspects of Augustinian Psalm interpretation emerge in Michael Cameron, ‘The Emergence of Totus Christus as Hermeneutical Center in Augustine's Enarrationes in Psalmos’, and Michael C. McCarthy, SJ, ‘An Ecclesiology of Groaning: Augustine, the Psalms, and the Making of Church’. Finally, a translation and commentary on a seventh-century work is furnished by Paul M. Blowers, ‘A Psalm “Unto the End”: Eschatology and Anthropology in Maximus the Confessor's Commentary on Psalm 59’. The end matter comprises an ‘Aid to Numbering Psalms in Early Christian Sources’, a bibliography, list of contributors, and Scripture and general indexes. Most of the contributors are Patristics scholars, yet there is much here to stimulate reflection on Psalms interpretation, as well as to illuminate a formative period of reception history.
R.S. W
E
This intellectually stirring and thematically diverse volume regarding the topic of descendency and/or ascendency of biblical literacy, is divided into three parts and encapsulates nine articles. The first batch, entitled ‘Located Literacies’, includes the following articles: Máire Byrne, ‘Biblical Literacy: The Irish Situation’; James G. Crossley, ‘What the Bible Really Means: Biblical Literacy’; and Iona Hine, ‘The Quest for Biblical Literacy: Curricula, Culture and Case Studies’. The second batch of articles is grouped under the title ‘Visual Literacies’: Matthew A. Collins, ‘Loss of the Bible and the Bible Is Lost: Biblical Literacy and Mainstream Television’; Amanda Dillon, ‘Streetwise about the Bible: Unexpected Allusions (to the Text) in Unusual Places’; Alan W. Hooker, ‘Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary: Eve as Redemptrix in Madonna's “Girl Gone Wild”’; and Robert J. Myles, ‘Biblical Literacy and The Simpsons’. The third batch, entitled ‘Popular Literacies’, includes the following articles: Caroline Blyth, ‘Lisbeth and Leviticus: Biblical Literacy and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’; and finally Christopher Meredith, ‘A Big Room for Poo: Eddie Izzard's Bible and the Literacy of Laughter’. The merit of these articles lies not simply in the details and interpretational accuracy with which some of the cultural media are presented, but also in the way in which they highlight, sometimes inadvertently, the unerasability of sundry topics, themes and metaphors gained from the Bible. This volume does not claim to be an all-encompassing handbook, which would have surveyed all possible art, film or any other genre-data related to the Bible. One awaits further volumes that would examine more such data from mainland Europe east and west, with a special focus even on the question of biblical literacy during the Communist era.
B.K. Z
E
This book originated in two SBL/EABS sessions that were held in Amsterdam in July 2012 and consists of 17 essays. Part 1 is an ‘Introduction’: Emma England and William John Lyons, ‘Explorations in the Reception of the Bible’. Part 2 (‘Reception History, Historical Criticism and Biblical Studies’) challenges the status quo of biblical studies: Susan Gillingham, ‘Biblical Studies on Holiday? A Personal View of Reception History’; James E. Harding, ‘What Is Reception History, and What Happens to You if You Do It?’; James G. Crossley, ‘The End of Reception History, a Grand Narrative for Biblical Studies and the Neoliberal Bible’; and Jonathan Morgan, ‘Visitors, Gatekeepers and Receptionists: Reflections on the Shape of Biblical Studies and the Role of Reception History’. Part 3 (‘Conceptualizing Reception History’) discusses some methodological issues and possibilities with several examples: Caroline Vander Stichele, ‘The Head of John and its Reception; or, How to Conceptualize “Reception History”’; Brennan Breed, ‘What Can a Text Do? Reception History as an Ethology of the Biblical Text’; Samuel Tongue, ‘The End of Biblical Interpretation—the Beginning of Reception History? Reading the Bible in the Spaces of Literature’; and Masiiwa Ragies Gunda, ‘Reception History of the Bible: Prospects of a New Frontier in African Biblical Studies’. Part 4 (‘Practical Implications, Difficulties and Solutions’) broadens the scope and demonstrates how reception-historical investigations can be conducted: Roland Boer, ‘Unlikely Bedfellows: Lenin, Calvin and Nick Cave’; Ian Boxall, ‘Tracing Patmos through the Centuries’; Emma England, ‘Digital Humanities and Reception History; or, the Joys and Horrors of Databases’; and Gerald O. West, ‘Layers of Reception of Jephthah's Daughter (Judges 11) among the AmaNazaretha: From the Early 1900s to Today’. Part 5 (‘Bible, Reception and Popular Music’) explores the reception of Jewish and Christian texts and traditions by select musicians (with the exception of the final essay which offers a methodological criticism of the current practice of reception history of popular music): Helen R. Jacobus, ‘The Story of Leonard's Cohen's “Who by Fire”, a Prayer in the Cairo Genizah, Babylonian Astrology and Related Rabbinical Texts’; William John Lyons, ‘“Time to Cut Him Down to Size?” A Critical Examination of Depeche Mode's Alternative “John of Patmos”’; Michael J. Gilmour, ‘“God”, “God Part II” and “God Part III”: Exploring the Anxiety of Influence in John Lennon, U2 and Larry Norman’; and Ibrahim Abraham, ‘High, Low and In-between: Reception History and the Sociology of Religion and Popular Music’. The sample projects are illuminating and exhibit exciting breadth and diversity, though not all essays offer insight. The theoretical discussion of what reception history is or should be in the academy would benefit greatly from more sustained engagement with advances in philosophy, literary theory, sociology, and so on. At any rate, this is an intriguing and timely collection of essays by contributors who want to push reception history to the fore in scholarship.
K. A
E
For a review of this volume, see Section 5 (II) above.
G
G. seeks to give a more systematic account than hitherto of the various ways in which the writers and editors of biblical texts use the effect of juxtaposing different narratives or forms of texts to convey meaning to their readers. This juxtaposition may be chronological, raising questions of cause and effect, but she also draws on the work of M. Bakhtin to analyse the three ways in which dialogue can be set up between texts that are not in chronological sequence: contradiction, corroboration and question/answer. Such analyses are synchronic, but G. goes beyond this to use diachronic analysis to detect instances where a later hand has changed an earlier placement of episodes, and then to reflect on what new take on the stories might arise from this change in juxtaposition. Her case study is the Elisha cycle which certainly offers many examples of odd narratives that seem detached from their context and also have parallels in the Elijah stories. G.'s analysis of the textual features that point to various forms of interaction between episodes is thorough and helpful and she offers a number of questions that should be borne in mind when approaching such narratives. The interpretations of the cycle that emerge from that analysis are less compelling, however, at least to this reader. G.'s work will certainly help readers to be rigorous in demonstrating affinities between texts. The crucial question of what these affinities signify, however, remains elusive.
H.S. P
G
G. states that although this book is written to deal ‘specifically with the issue of biblical cosmology and how the Bible has been interpreted differently in light of changes in our understanding of the cosmos [it] is really about reading the Bible faithfully’ (p. 11). In the first part G. discusses ‘Scripture and Cosmos in Cultural Context’, with chapters on ANE cosmologies, and cosmology and cosmogony in Scripture. He offers brief exegetical discussion of various texts, their genre and significance. In the second part G. discusses scriptural cosmology and its reception in dialogue with Aristotelian and Copernican cosmologies. Part 3 completes the discussion with chapters on ‘Cosmology and the Authority of Scripture’ and ‘The Authority of Scripture and the Issue of Science’. A good introductory overview of scriptural cosmology within its ANE context is given, as is an overview of the reception of Scripture until the Reformation era in the light of both Aristotelian and Copernican cosmology. There is, however, little discussion of or engagement with modern science. Darwinian evolution receives brief discussion, but figures such as Newton and Einstein are mentioned only in passing. Absent is discussion of many discoveries, theories or hypotheses of twentieth-century or contemporary cosmology, molecular biology or quantum physics, for instance, and engagement with recent authors on the relationship between science and theology is thin. The reader could expect more in these areas given the subtitle of the book. Having prepared the ground well, G. could have said more about reading Scripture faithfully in our scientific context.
D.S. E
K
This book is the published version of K.'s dissertation in which she investigates the theme of the threatened David in 1 Samuel 16–1 Kings 2 and its influence (Wirkungsgeschichte) upon the Early Modern period. In the first part, the hermeneutical and methodological questions most relevant to this study are raised and covered in full by the author. In the second part, the ambivalence of the character David, who is presented in the books of Samuel in both a positive and negative light, is accentuated by K.'s comprehensive exegetical work on the narratives. Through said work, K. extrapolates (1) the theme of endangerment to David's life and to his kingship; (2) the theme of divine punishment as threatening to David; and (3) the theme of a threatened David in its inner-biblical reception. In the third part, the theme of the threatened David as depicted in the Early Modern period is studied contextually by K. through such works as Benito Arias Montano's David; in ceiling paintings at Schloss Eggenberg near Graz; and through analysing certain Dutch and Flemish artwork (Rembrandt, Rubens, Boeckhorst) that focuses upon the prophets Nathan and Gad insofar as it pertains to David in the 2 Samuel 12 and 2 Samuel 24 narratives. This work is an ambitious project that handles the tension in methodology between biblical criticism and reception history with care and reason. Considering the influence of the ‘threatened’ David upon the past and the present, this work will prove to be an important addition to the field.
N. F
K
The main purpose of this book is to demonstrate ‘the impact of ecclesial division on the exegesis of Isaiah in the Church of England’ in the nineteenth century (p. 221). Thus the main chapters are devoted to Robert Payne Smith as a representative evangelical (he did not write a commentary, but contributed exegetical reflections in other forms), Bishop Christopher Wordsworth of the High Church party (with side glances at J.H. Newman and E.B. Pusey of the related but distinctive Oxford movement), and T.K. Cheyne as a representative of the Broad Church (though curiously without reference to his most influential works on Isaiah, his Introduction to the book of 1895 and his 1899 commentary on the Hebrew text). There is also a chapter on English Roman Catholic scholarship, despite the lack of any commentary or comparable work. The first chapter seeks to establish the characteristics of an Anglican hermeneutic, based on Cranmer, Whitgift and Hooker (again, nothing directly on Isaiah), and the second chapter picks out significant work in the intervening period by William Chillingworth, Nehemiah Rogers, Richard Kidder, Robert Lowth, and others. The obvious gap here is S.R. Driver, whose book on Isaiah (1888) and Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament (1891) surely did more for the appreciation of Isaiah in the Anglican Church than several others of those discussed here. The real problem, however, is that, despite the considerable learning on display, K. does not seem to me to succeed in marrying the two parts of his quest. Much of the discussion is at quite a high level of abstraction relating to approaches to the Bible as a whole and often the attention to Isaiah itself is absent or general. The book's subtitle is thus in danger of being misleading, however much may be learned here about differences in theology in nineteenth-century Anglicanism.
H.G.M. W
K
Among the lesser known works of Augustine is his homiletic commentary on the book of Psalms, the Enarrationes in Psalmos. In this work, the Church Father applies the traditional reading strategies of allegory and typology to the Psalms as he knew them from a Latin translation based on the Septuagint. After outlining Augustine's hermeneutical principles, K. presents the Latin text of a homily on Psalm 130 (
B. B
L
L.'s study focuses on a particular strand of the reception of the book of Job that culminates in an essay by Karl Barth. It seeks to trace the roots of Barth's particular take on the book and explore its significance for the scholarly study of Job. L. uses Bakhtin's concept of ‘Great Time’ as a framework for a hermeneutic that can take seriously what a text has come to mean in later readings as a component of its interpretation. Barth explicitly draws on the work of Søren Kierkegaard, especially his use of Job in the complex pseudonymous novel Repetition, and on Wilhelm Vischer's Christ-centred approach to the Old Testament. L. concludes that, as with many of his generation, Barth's reading of Kierkegaard fails to take into account Kierkegaard's complex use of pseudonymity. He argues that Vischer shares with Barth and Kierkegaard an allegorical approach to Scripture, despite their explicit disavowal of this. Barth and Vischer both regard the book of Job as pointing beyond itself to the figure of Christ as the one who can embody and thus contain the tensions between divine and human freedom in the book of Job. L. concludes that Barth's debt to his predecessors is both greater than and different from what his explicit remarks suggest. This may seem a rather arcane study to many biblical scholars, but reading it raises important questions about what we can hope to achieve as readers of an ancient text who are located in a very specific cultural time and space.
H.S. P
M
This is the third volume of Biblia Americana, providing a critical edition of Mather's extensive work covering a variety of questions on the books of Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel, Kings and Chronicles. Minkema provides a lengthy introduction to Mather's work, covering an overview of Mather on Joshua–Chronicles (pp. 3–18), prominent themes (pp. 19–53), and notes on the text and editorial principles (pp. 61–80). Some illustrations from the original work are provided. Minkema's introduction helpfully situates and introduces Mather's work in its historical and intellectual context, and identifies Mather's concerns and approach. The edited text is well laid out and critically annotated. This volume will be a welcome addition to the primary sources that are becoming more widely available with the growth of interest in the Bible's reception history. It is well produced, but it is, unfortunately, a rather pricey volume.
D.S. E
M
As its title suggests, this volume consists of illustrations of Gen. 1.1–6.8, the first weekly Torah portion in the annual cycle of Jewish Torah reading, drawn from printed Bibles produced between the last quarter of the fifteenth century and the end of the nineteenth century. What is slightly unexpected is that the volume consists of little else besides, apart from a one-page foreword explaining the system of numbering and a list of the sources from which the images are drawn. The latter are grouped as follows: ‘From creation to expulsion’ (5 images), ‘Creation’ (42), ‘Creation and Fall of Angels’ (3), ‘Six days of creation’ (13), ‘First Day’ (18), ‘Second Day’ (10), ‘Third Day’ (12), ‘Fourth Day’ (12), ‘Fifth Day’ (17), ‘Sixth Day’ (10), ‘Seventh Day’ (10), ‘Creation of Adam’ (23), ‘Creation of Eve’ (55), ‘Map of Eden’ (7), ‘Life in Eden’ (14), ‘Adam names the animals’ (10). While the foreword hints at a particular interest in the ‘Protestant’ illustrative tradition, and Dutch and German Bibles are best represented among the sources, no particular explanation is offered for excluding Bible illustrations produced before 1475 or after 1900, and the list of sources does include some Bibles produced within the Catholic tradition in this period. The reproduction of originally colour illustrations in black and white is an unfortunate but presumably inevitable concession to considerations of cost, and while one might wish that a commentary on the images was included in this volume rather than promised for another, this book serves the useful purpose of documenting the volume and diversity of Bible illustration over more than 400 years.
D.J. S
M
Readers wishing to explore ‘some different reading strategies’ for organized patterns of reading the complete Bible should find help in this first step in a piece of broad research, the eventual aim of which is to catalogue and analyse as many such strategies as possible. Five patterns are identified: two for virtual communities, one ‘complete’, one partial, and one of biblical anthologies, followed by three pages of conclusions. Sources examined include the Moravian lectionary, the Old Testament Losungen (1975–86), various Anglican lectionaries from the 1500s onwards, the Coptic lectionary and the Mormon Scriptures. The book bristles with minutiae, lists and tables. After ‘dipping’ rather than ‘reading’ this reviewer's reaction is that it is long on facts, medium on critique (mainly in the case of the Anglicans), and short on presentation, which is crucial for a work of this kind with so much detail to convey. As a book it is unattractive, with small type and a minimal understanding of layout. A major problem is that it is hard going, not so much due to content, nor even presentation, but because of the language. Some sentences are incomprehensible, certainly not English. Some words raise eyebrows: ‘medias’ (p. 3) might just pass, but ‘costume’ (p. 22) for ‘custom’ simply won't, and ‘the monotheism’ (sic) just jars. One or two of these in 300 pages may be overlooked, but so many, especially in the first few pages, shakes one's confidence in the whole. Hopefully the quality of the research makes up for some of the linguistic problems, but maybe this is a case where we have to wait for solvitur ambulando by the professionals who need it and have to use it.
A. G
N
In a slightly revised version of his (Wheaton College) doctoral dissertation, N. examines 28 episodes in 1 and 2 Samuel that involve deception. An introduction in which he espouses a ‘literary-synchronic approach’ (p. 11) is followed by a more general chapter in which he examines the vocabulary of deception and explores deception as it is depicted explicitly in the OT. His discussion of the phenomenon in Samuel occupies four chapters that in turn examine deceptions ‘intended to prevent death or harm’, ‘intended to cause death or harm’, ‘intended to benefit someone else’, and ‘intended to benefit the deceiver’. The concluding chapter confirms the impression already gained at several points throughout the preceding discussion that ‘deception is only prohibited when it brings unjust harm or disadvantage to another person’ (p. 194), while a very brief sketch the NT's treatment of the subject is taken to confirm that both parts of the Christian canon are at one with that conclusion. A bibliography and a Scripture index complete the volume, but there is no index of authors. N. has diligently brought together material that is relevant to his subject and offers much upon which readers might reflect. In each of the episodes he discusses, he first establishes then analyses the deception, whether it employs lies, ambiguous statements or non-verbal actions, and he has a particular interest in whether the deceiver/deception is characterized positively or negatively. Despite the avowed ‘literary-synchronic approach’ and numerous references to narratology, the biblical author's evaluation, and the like, the impression remains that N. regards the episodes depicted as having their basis in actual events. Perhaps those of us who take such approaches to the biblical texts should be more candid about such matters. Also, questions with respect to genre, dating and the tradition processes underlying the text, which involves so prolific a use of the deception motif, remain to be answered.
G.G. N
N
For a review of this volume, see Section 5 (III) above.
P
P. argues that Jacob's vision of the angels of God ascending and descending on the sullām (ladder, path, highway) functions as a key to understanding not only Jacob's dream, but the Patriarchal narratives as a whole. The point of departure in his literary approach to the story of Jacob's dream is that ‘the two readings are present within the work itself, and if readers find them, their understanding of the story will be enriched’ (p. 30). His focus is thus on the text, rather than on the author (or historical or source-critical issues) or the readers. Rather than choosing between dream theophany (containing a verbal message) or symbolic dream (a vision which needs to be interpreted), P. suggests that Jacob's dream is both. As a theophany the focus is on the sacred character of place. As a symbolic dream it deals with the way to and from that place. P.'s close reading focuses on the links between the component parts, which complement and interpret rather than contradict each other. Via an examination of the verbs ‘ālāh (ascending, going into Israel) and yārad (descending, leaving Israel), he seeks to demonstrate that the vertical movement of the angels up and down the ladder corresponds with the earthly (horizontal) movement of the Patriarchs to and from the Promised Land. This is a rich and careful study which contributes to the understanding of creativity in biblical narrative.
M. C
R
The Hebrew Bible says very little about Leah, the mother of six tribes including the royal tribe of Judah and the priestly tribe of Levi. R. confides that this book was his ‘personal search for Leah’ (p. 189), and so leads the reader through traditional midrash and modern commentary on that midrash in order to bring the ‘lost matriarch’ to life. Leah emerges as a long-suffering and generous character, at the expense of the favoured Rachel who, having been at first sympathetic to her older sister's plight of having no husband, eventually grows into an unattractive and selfish character. This fascinating little book shows the analysis and wit of the midrashic process, and makes one wonder how much else there is in the hinterland of the Hebrew Bible, beyond and around the written page.
M. B
S
S. provides excerpts of commentary covering the whole book of Genesis from seven biblical interpreters between the ninth and the fifteenth centuries in a range of interprettative styles and contexts. Most of these commentaries were previously unavailable in English translation. A good introduction is given to the interpreters, and to the context and significance of their readings. The excerpts, with brief notes, are from Remigius of Auxerre (Gen. 1–3), Rupert of Deutz (Gen. 4–8), Hildegard of Bingen (Gen. 9, 18, 23, 24), Andrew of Saint Victor (Gen. 9–30), Peter Comestor (Gen. 31–41), Nicholas of Lyra (Gen 42–46) and Denis the Carthusian (Gen. 47–50). The provision of continuous, substantial excerpts covering consecutive chapters by individual interpreters gives the reader a good feel for the concerns that particular interpreters of the era had with Genesis, and the way in which they read whole stories in the book. This is a strength of the editorial approach adopted in the series. The weakness, as S. acknowledges (p. 7), is that it does not allow the reader to compare different treatments of the same text, or give the reader much of a feel for whether mediaeval interpretations of a particular story are similar or diverse. This is occasionally dealt with in footnotes, but more systematic notes on the similarity or diversity of interpretations would be helpful. All in all, though, a welcome addition to the literature that reflects the contemporary interest in reception history. S. gives a good ‘sampler’ of the mediaeval interpretation of Genesis.
D.S. E
S
This monograph explores the fascinating topic of how silent film depicted select biblical narratives. S. proceeds chronologically through the material and detects both development and shared features. Each chapter analyses one or two key films. The chapter headings provide clues to the main issue. The second and the last chapter, for example, aptly describe how the desire for ‘spectacle’ was a driving force behind the filmatization of many biblical narratives, yet also, at least to a certain extent, its (temporary) downfall. The audience wanted to see the biblical miracles come to life, with the result that many films focused less on the narrative per se and instead emphasized the visual spectacle. As a result, the individual actors were seldom the stars; the locations and film sets filled that role. S. also highlights how the female characters were modified to fit the audience's desire for scantily clad women while, at the same time, the morals of the stories had to suit their conservative brand of Christianity. S. further discusses the ways that the film-makers adapted the plot lines to suit the silver screen. Some used the trope of analogy, juxtaposing the biblical narrative with a modern plot-line. In these cases, the analogy often served to connect the Hebrew narrative with the New Testament. Other film-makers introduced new characters into the narrative, in this way providing a love interest. S. covers a wide range of European and American films and his style of writing is engaging. To be recommended.
L.-S. T
S
While S. begins his study with methodological reflections on canonical, reader response and intertextual approaches to the Hebrew Bible, one might have wished for a more rigorous evaluation of the relationship and indeed tensions between such approaches. A second chapter discloses S.'s preference for and dependence on interpreters of a synchronic and theological bent including chiefly David Gunn, Jan Fokkelman and Robert Polzin. In a third chapter, S. argues that the question of loyalties (divine and human) in various episodes in 2 Samuel (especially ch. 15) sets the stage for 2 Sam. 16.5–14, in which S. finds David to be more sinister, Shimei more prophetic and Abishai more traditionally pious than has been previously assumed. While a failure to appreciate the involvement of David's house in the blood-letting carried out by the ‘sons of Zeruiah’ leads to missteps at various points, including especially the rehabilitation of Abishai, and while S.'s discussion of Shimei's prophetic qualities does overreach, he is to be commended for recognizing the likelihood that 2 Sam. 16.12 should be read (with the kethib) as indicating David's sin rather than the wrong done to him, and for noting that this is probably an admission of guilt in relation to the shedding of Saulide blood prior to the Gibeonite episode.
D.J. S
S
This fascinating monograph is effectively a collection of individual case studies which together help elucidate the diverse literary reception of the Bible. It takes over a dozen biblical stories (‘pretexts’) and examines the ways in which each has impacted upon and been reworked by other literary works (‘hypertexts’) through the ages. It thus forms a sequel to S.'s earlier volume, Reworking the Bible (2010; reviewed in B.L. 2011, p. 144), which adopted the same approach for 14 other biblical stories (e.g. Noah, Moses, Samson, Esther), hence the More of the title. The present volume, however, pays particular attention to the theme of spatiality and the role of folkloric material in literary reception. After a general introduction, chs. 1–13 consider in turn Adam and Eve, Melchizedek, Lot and his family, Joseph, Ruth, Saul, David and Bathsheba, Tobit, the Virgin Mary, the Wedding at Cana, the Good Samaritan, Doubting Thomas, and the Second Coming. Each constitutes a (necessarily selective) literary reception history of the pretext across prose, poetry and plays from earliest times down to the present day, and ends with a helpful bibliography of both primary and secondary works. Chapter 14 makes a convincing (albeit tentative) case for folkloric traditions as ‘intermediaries’ in the reworking process. Finally, ch. 15 analyses the hypertexts in relation to an expanded set of Genettian categories, while ch. 16 reconsiders their spatial dimensions (though, somewhat perplexingly, Cana is omitted and Lilith is discussed in place of Melchizedek!). Overall, an illuminating and informative guide to the literary afterlives of these biblical stories.
M.A. C
T
This innovative and highly interdisciplinary work aims to probe the ‘aesthetic and critical tensions inherent’ (back cover) in biblical interpretation and evident, according to T., in the way both confessional and non-confessional (critical) interest groups have ‘retold’ the Bible through their interpretative acts, from the Renaissance until today. T. is not after a correct method, which for him does not exist, but rather he probes into several interpretative approaches in terms of the various cultural, philosophical, aesthetic, political, etc. ‘needs’ (perspectives) that are ‘exercised upon the texts’ (p. 261) through them. T.'s work is thus profoundly hermeneutical and one of its main strengths is the non-judgmental way it treats all approaches, seeking to understand them for their particular worth, rather than agitating for one. Importantly, T. recognizes biblical interpretation as having always been both an art and a science searching for culturally conditioned meanings, and uses as a case in point the retellings of Jacob's wrestling-match in Gen. 32.22–32, in itself a metaphor for the complexity of the interpretative struggle. The main pleasure in reading this book comes from its comprehensiveness and the depth of knowledge it demonstrates in its appreciation of Europe's cultural and intellectual heritage. T. also catches something of the rarely appreciated winsomeness of working with biblical texts. T. does, however, expect a lot from his reader, particularly in terms of literary theory, and does not always strive for the ‘plainest English’ in his expression. This, though, takes nothing away from the importance of the work and all it accomplishes.
A. N
U
This book is an interdisciplinary study of Numbers 13, focusing on the genres of utopia, dystopia and science fiction from which U. fashions a utopian reading lens for interpreting biblical texts. The nature of utopias as non-existent worlds is examined, with the conclusion that they can be related to historical questions of authorial context or to calls to contemporary political action or to a number of other questions about texts. Complete relativity is countered by bringing the genre of science fiction to bear on utopias and dystopias. In setting out this methodological framework U. refers to theorists from the fields of sociology, cultural studies and literary materials as well as commenting on the work of biblical scholars such as Roland Boer (Novel Histories). Insights from this exploration are applied to reading Numbers 13 in reception history, taking William Bradford and Cotton Mather as examples of this process in their application of concepts of a promised land to the experiences of the New England pioneers from Europe. Reading the text as utopia morphs into a dystopian examination and then into a science fiction approach which reads the Giants as Cyborgs. The conclusion is that Numbers 13 provides an unusual form of utopia wherein there is a resemblance to a material place and invitation to speculation and action, but where both good and bad places are included as possible futures. The range of possible meanings to be drawn from a biblical text is highlighted when attention is drawn to reception history. This is a scholarly work in the field of biblical texts and modern genre criticism.
M.E. M
W
Following an introduction from the editors, the book divides into three parts, bringing together contributions from Borgesian, literary, and biblical scholars. Part 1 (‘Borges and the Jewish Bible’) comprises Edna Aizenberg, ‘Borges y la Ballena (Borges and the Whale): Or Borges and the Canon of Hebrew Literature’; P.J. Sabo, ‘Surpassing (the Love of) Women: Homosociality, Homosexuality, and the “Sacrifice” of Women in Borges and the Bible’; Rhiannon Graybill, ‘The Eldritch Scroll: Fantasies of the Found Book in Borges, Lovecraft, and 2 Kings’; Abigail Pelham, ‘Reader, Author, Character: A Confusion of Roles in the Borgesian Book of Job’; P. Jennifer Rohrer-Walsh, ‘The Artifice of Borges's Narrators’; Shlomy Mualem, ‘Borges and Kabbalistic Infinity: Ein Sof and the Holy Book’; and Evelyn Fishburn, ‘Religious Resonances in Borges's Fiction’. Part 2 (‘Borges and the Christian New Testament’) has Robert Paul Seesengood, ‘Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius and Q: The Psychological and Scholarly Labyrinths of Books which Don't Exist’; Elizabeth Struthers Malbon, ‘Reading Borges Re-writing Mark's Gospel in Light of Seeing Arcand Re-viewing Jesus of Nazareth’; Mac Williams, ‘Borges and Gnosticism: God Atones for (Having Created) Humanity in Borges's “Three Versions of Judas”’; Jay Twomey, ‘The Garden of Unificating Paths’; Gonzalo Salvador, ‘Adam and Christ: From Garden to Labyrinth’; Hannah M. Strømmen, ‘Books to Come: The Book of Sand and the Book of Revelation’; and Tina Pippin, ‘With Borges in the New Jerusalem’. Part 3 (‘Borges and Biblical Afterlives’) concludes the collection, with Richard Walsh, ‘The Secret (of the) Gospel according to Mark’; George Aichele, ‘The Book of Desire’; Hugh Pyper, ‘The Egg and the Peacock: Willis Barnstone's The Restored New Testament and the Idea of a Borgesian Bible’; James Crossley, ‘Borges's God, Jonathan Meades's Precursor’; and Anthony C. Swindell, ‘The Afterlife of Borges as a Component in the Afterlife of the Bible’. There is much in this volume that will stimulate and entertain readers, not least those who already have an interest in Borges. It is probably in the nature of such a venture that ultimately it advances Borgesian more than it does biblical scholarship, although insofar as these essays reflect upon biblical texts they are not without interest. The Bible certainly figures among the precursors Borges has created for himself, and these essays contribute towards the elucidation of the Bible's place among his precursors as well as of the creativity with which he has engaged it.
G.G. N
W
This is a revised version of a dissertation presented at Claremont Graduate University in 2010. It focuses on the various female characters with whom David interacts in 1 and 2 Samuel. These include Michal (1 Sam. 18.17–30; 19.11–17), Abigail (1 Sam. 25.1–44), Rizpah (2 Sam. 3.6–39), Bathsheba (2 Sam. 11.1–12.31), Tamar (2 Sam. 13.1–39), the wise woman of Tekoa (2 Sam. 14.1–24), and the ten concubines and the wise woman of Abel (2 Sam. 15.14–16; 16.15–23; 20.3, 15–22). The presence of these female characters (lacking in the account of David's reign in 1 Chron. 11–29) enables the reader to assess the ethical nature of David's character and the monarchical institution which he represents. W. demonstrates that none of David's encounters with women shows him in a particularly positive or favourable light; indeed, the reader is confronted with ‘a very unlikeable person who abuses his power to violate even those loyal to him’ (p. 5). Careful attention is paid to the plot and character development in the individual stories as well as to the interrelationship of themes and motifs in the composite narrative. This is a very readable and detailed study which makes an important contribution to the study of the narratives concerning David in the books of Samuel.
E.W. D