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Find out moreSee below for a selection of the latest books from Biblical studies & exegesis category. Presented with a red border are the Biblical studies & exegesis books that have been lovingly read and reviewed by the experts at Lovereading. With expert reading recommendations made by people with a passion for books and some unique features Lovereading will help you find great Biblical studies & exegesis books and those from many more genres to read that will keep you inspired and entertained. And it's all free!
There is general agreement in the field of Biblical studies that study of the formation of the Pentateuch is in disarray. David M. Carr turns to the Genesis Primeval History, Genesis 1-11, to offer models for the formation of Pentateuchal texts that may have traction within this fractious context. Building on two centuries of historical study of Genesis 1-11, this book provides new support for the older theory that the bulk of Genesis 1-11 was created out of a combination of two originally separate source strata: a Priestly source and an earlier non-Priestly source that was used to supplement the Priestly framework. Though this overall approach contradicts some recent attempts to replace such source models with theories of post-Priestly scribal expansion, Carr does find evidence of multiple layers of scribal revision in the non-P and P sources, from the expansion of an early independent non-Priestly primeval history with a flood narrative and related materials to a limited set of identifiable layers of Priestly material that culminate in the P-like redaction of the whole. This book synthesizes prior scholarship to show how both the P and non-Priestly strata of Genesis also emerged out of a complex interaction by Judean scribes with non-biblical literary traditions, particularly with Mesopotamian textual traditions about primeval origins. The Formation of Genesis 1-11 makes a significant contribution to scholarship on one of the most important texts in the Hebrew Bible and will influence models for the formation of the Hebrew Bible as a whole.
Sitting alongside the partner volumes Reading Job Intertextually (2012) and Reading Ecclesiastes Intertextually (2014) also published in the Library of Hebrew and Old testament Studies, this addition to the series continues the study of intertextuality in the Hebrew Bible. Dell and Kynes provide the first comprehensive treatment of intertextuality in Proverbs. Topics addressed include the intertextual resonances between Proverbs, and texts across the Hebrew canon, as well as texts throughout history, from the Dead Sea Scrolls to African and Chinese proverbial literature. The contributions, though comprehensive, do not provide clear-cut answers, but rather invite further study into connections between Proverbs and external texts, highlighting ideas and issues in relation to the extra texts discussed themselves. The volume gathers together scholars with specific expertise on the array of texts that intersect with Proverbs and these scholars in turn bring their own insights to the texts at hand. In particular the contributors have been encouraged to pursue the intertextual approach that best suits their topic, thereby offering readers a valuable collection of intertextual case studies that address a single biblical book.
(for internal use only - CHECK BEFORE USING IN PRINTED PUBLICITY): The figure of Jeremiah has captured the imagination of people from the sixth century B.C.E. until today. His passionate poetry, full of arresting images of lewdness and violence alongside expressions of tenderness and glimpses of transcendence, has nourished deep spirituality as well as radical politics. Some of his idioms are part of the common lore ( Can the leopard change his spots? and There is a balm in Gilead ). But it is Jeremiah as exemplar of the spiritual struggle of a faithful soul in its tumultuous life with God who has most powerfully influenced readers, especially for the past four centuries. In the culture of the modern West Jeremiah is a Promethean figure in his struggles with God, yet accessibly human in the expression of his emotions. An intimation of this figure inhabits the biblical book, but the complex character that Western culture now calls Jeremiah came into being slowly, with the building up of interpretations by faithful readers over the centuries. The Blackwell Commentary on Jeremiah would guide the reader through some of these interpretations with the aim of illuminating the deep influence that the book of Jeremiah and Western culture have played on each other. A unifying theme of the commentary would be the way in which the developing sense of the self in the West has shaped interpretation of Jeremiah, and reciprocally, the contribution that the interpretive history of the book of Jeremiah has made on the idea of the self. Emphasis on the self-conscious inner life of the prophet is apparent in translations and commentaries as well as artistic renderings and literary allusions, especially from the fifteenth century forward. Interpretive traditions increasingly tell the story of a prophet with a strong personality and deep inner life. The shift in emphasis from the prophet as bearer of the message of Yahweh to the prophet as spiritual giant wrestling with God is unmistakable over the long trajectory of reception history. Yet the influence also worked the other way, because the book of Jeremiah translated into English actually contributed to the emerging vocabulary of the self in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The commentary will highlight the various ways that Jeremiah has affected the cultures in which it was read. The main body of the commentary would be arranged in the order of the biblical book, but would follow the density of the interpretive tradition in its larger divisions. Part I Jeremiah 1 The Call Jeremiah 2-6 Poetic Oracles Jeremiah 7, The Temple Sermon Jeremiah 8-11 Poetic Oracles Jeremiah 12 The Confessions (including parts of chapters15, 17, 18 and 20) Jeremiah 13-20 Prophetic Signs (the loincloth, the drought, Jeremiah's celibacy, the potter, the smashed jar, Jeremiah in the stocks) Jeremiah 21-22 Against the kings Jeremiah 23 False Prophets Jeremiah 24 The Basket of Figs Jeremiah 25 The Cup of Wrath Part II Jeremiah 26 Jeremiah's Trial Jeremiah 27-28 The Book of Consolation (including the New Covenant) Jeremiah 32-33 The sign of the worthless real estate and promise of hope Jeremiah 34 The story of Zedekiah's deceit about slaves Jeremiah 35 The Rechabites Jeremiah 36 King Jehoiakim cuts and burns Jeremiah's scroll Jeremiah 37-39 Jeremiah and Zedekiah in Jerusalem's last days Jeremiah 40-44 Stories of the prophet after the fall of Jerusalem Jeremiah 45 Jeremiah's advice to Baruch Jeremiah 46-51 Oracles against the nations, especially Babylon Jeremiah 52 Narrative of the fall of Jerusalem
Paul Thomas chronicles a multi-level reception study of the Bible at both the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter in Kentucky, USA. Thomas explores the commercial presentation of biblical narratives and the reception of those narratives by the patrons of each attraction, focusing upon three topics; what do young Creationists believe, how they interpret their beliefs from the Bible, and what is the user experience at the museums? The volume begins by explaining how Answers in Genesis (AiG) use Bible passages to support young-Earth creationist arguments, allowing for the chance to consider the Bible via physical means. Thomas then examines how the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter visitors receive the Bible (as presented by AiG) and how this presentation informs visitors' understanding of the text, exploring concepts such as the most prominent displays of the two attractions, the larger context of museums and theme parks and the case studies of the Methuselah display and The Noah Interview. He concludes with the summary of the user experience generated by the attractions, analyzing the degree to which patrons accept, negotiate, or resist the interpretation of the Bible offered by AiG.
Philip A. Harland and Richard Last consider the economics of early Christian group life within its social, cultural and economic contexts, by drawing on extensive epigraphic and archaeological evidence. In exploring the informal associations, immigrant groups, and guilds that dotted the world of the early Christians, Harland and Last provide fresh perspective on the question of how Christian assemblies and Judean/Jewish gatherings gained necessary resources to pursue their social, religious, and additional aims. By considering both neglected archaeological discoveries and literary evidence, the authors analyse financial and material aspects of group life, both sources of income and various areas of expenditure. Harland and Last then turn to the use of material resources for mutual support of members in various groups, including the importance of burial and the practice of interest-free loans. Christian and Judean evidence is explored throughout this book, culminating in a discussion of texts detailing the internal financial life of Christian assemblies as seen in first and second century sources, including Paul, the Didache, Justin Martyr, and Tertullian. In shedding new light on early Christian financial organisation, this volume aids further understanding of how some Christian groups survived and developed in the Greco-Roman world.
Evan Hershman seeks to examine Mark's portrayal of Jesus as teacher in comparison with portrayals of teachers in contemporary Greco-Roman literature, and argues that the teaching motif in Mark is used in highly distinctive ways. He argues that careful study reveals Mark's use of the trope does not aim to expound a fully fleshed-out ethical agenda, but rather to emphasize Jesus's unique authority, incorporate conflicts with other claimants to authority into the Gospel narrative, and persuade the gospel audience to accept his Christological vision and its demands on their lives. Hershman develops these three related themes behind the motif of moral instruction, and offers suggestions for how this portrayal of Jesus fits with the historical and social context in which the Gospel was written. By analyzing not only teaching and authority throughout Mark, but also numerous Greek and Greco-Roman texts concerning teachers and learning, Hershman creates a new reading of significant Markan passages - such as the parables discourse and the temple incident - in light of a focus on the importance of Jesus's teachings to the plot of the Gospel.
William C. Pohl IV investigates ethical God-talk in the book of Job, by exploring the prominence of such theology, showing how each major section of the book highlights the theme of proper speech, and demonstrating that Job's internal rhetoric is the foundation for the book's external rhetoric. Pohl analyses each of Job's speeches for literary rhetorical situation, forms (i.e., genres), its rhetorical strategies; the rhetorical goals of each speech are identified in light of Job's exigency (or exigencies) and his use of strategies is explored in light of these goals. Pohl argues that Job faces two main exigencies: his suffering and the necessity of defending his protest prayer vis-a-vis his friends. Job seeks to alleviate his suffering with protest prayer, and to defend his prayers to the friends through argumentation. Following the internal rhetorical analysis, this study proceeds to examine the external rhetorical effect of the Elihu and Yahweh speeches vis-a-vis ethical God-talk. Pohl concludes that the book of Job shapes its readers to see protest prayer as an ethical, even encouraged, form of discourse in the midst of innocent suffering. Brief implications of this conclusion are outlined, identifying the book's rhetorical situation through the entextualized problem in the book. Pohl proposes a new exigency for the book of Job in which protest prayer was eschewed, and a tentative proposal for the book of Job's historical provenance is outlined.
