This collaboration between two scholars from different fields of religious studies draws on three comparative data sets to develop a new theory of purity and pollution in religion, arguing that a culture's beliefs about cosmological realms shapes its pollution ideas and its purification practices. The authors of this study refine Mary Douglas' foundational theory of pollution as "matter out of place," using a comparative approach to make the case that a culture's cosmology designates which materials in which places constitute pollution. By bringing together a historical comparison of Ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean religions, an ethnographic study of indigenous shamanism on Jeju Island, Korea, and the reception history of biblical rhetoric about pollution in Jewish and Christian cultures, the authors show that a cosmological account of purity works effectively across multiple disparate religious and cultural contexts. They conclude that cosmologies reinforce fears of pollution, and also that embodied experiences of purification help generate cosmological ideas. Providing an innovative insight into a key topic of ritual studies, this book will be of vital interest to scholars and graduate students in religion, biblical studies, and anthropology.

The biblical Priestly Blessing found in Numbers 6:24-26 left a deep imprint upon Jewish and Christian religious practice and tradition. The various ways in which the blessing was incorporated into the liturgical traditions, for example, are well documented in a variety of written sources from the past two thousand years. Rabbinic literature demonstrates that the blessing held a central place in early Jewish traditions, especially as part of the development of the Amidah and other liturgical prayers. Christian tradition also attests to a rich diversity of applications of the blessing in Byzantine and Medieval Christian practice. While the Priestly Blessing's development and significance in Judaism and early Christianity are well documented, considerably less known about its earliest history in the ancient world. The Priestly Blessing in Inscription and Scripture breaks new ground in the study of the origins and early history of the blessing by examining its appearance on two Iron Age amulets discovered at the site of Ketef Hinnom in Jerusalem. Jeremy Smoak provides a comprehensive description of the two amulets and compares the inscriptions on their surfaces with several Phoenician and Punic inscribed amulets. He argues that the blessing's language originated within a wider tradition of protective words, which were often inscribed on metal amulets as protection against evil. He contends that the Priestly writers of the biblical texts incorporated the specific words into the blessing's formulations precisely due to their wide popularity and appeal as protective words in the eastern Mediterranean world. This argument represents an important departure from earlier studies on the background of the blessing's language in the ancient Near East, and it sheds significant new light on the history of their use within early Judaism and Christianity.

Rowe examines David and Jonathan's friendship in the context of what ancient readers would have understood as the 'natural' loyalty to their families. Rowe focuses on the conflicting moral goods between which the men choose, seeking to understand the dynamics of the narrative consonant with ancient society. Rowe discusses theoretical issues of interpretation and summarises how Bakhtin's theory of heteroglossic voices can be utilised to understand the narrative. He deliberates over the key aspects of family life in the world described by the Old Testament, surveys approaches to the study of the family among anthropologists and, finally, states how anthropology can inform the interpretation of the biblical text. Starting from the concept of 'hegemonic masculinity', Rowe examines how men in general are presented positively, and then shows how Jonathan, David and Saul measure up to these standards. Rowe concludes that although Jonathan was disloyal to his family, something that implied readers would have censured, the books of Samuel present this disloyalty as honourable, thus making a theological point about fidelity to the house of David.

The first book-length comparative and interdisciplinary treatment of divine envy and vengeance in the biblical and classical worlds.

Understand the Prophets Like Never Before with Amazing Insights from One of Today's Foremost Old Testament Scholars For many Christians reading the Old Testament, trying to understand Israel's prophets is like listening to just one side of a phone conversation--you only get half the idea of it. You hear the answer, but how do you know what question the prophet is answering? In The Lost Letters to the Twelve Prophets, John Goldingay uncovers the questions behind the prophets' answers that make their meaning and relevance intelligible to us. Written as a series of imaginary letters to the twelve Minor Prophets, The Lost Letters to the Twelve Prophets asks the kinds of questions that Hosea, Micah, Zechariah, and others were answering. The letters make clear the issues these prophets of Israel were dealing with or deliver the news they were responding to in their Old Testament writings. For example, To Hosea: Why did you marry someone you knew might be unfaithful? To Joel: It looks as if a locust epidemic is on the way: what should we do? To Amos: What should we do about the war crimes of peoples around us? To Obadiah: The Edomites have occupied our land and pushed us out: what's up with that? To Jonah: When is God going to fulfill his undertaking to destroy Nineveh? To Micah: Will God always be angry with us as a people? To Nahum: When is God going to fulfill his undertaking to destroy Nineveh? To Habakkuk: When is God going to do something about injustice in Judah? To Zephaniah: What do you mean by "the day of the Lord"? To Haggai: When is God going to fulfill his promises about rebuilding the temple? To Zechariah: Should Jeshua be High Priest when he has been in an unclean land? To Malachi: Why does serving God seem pointless? These and other questions help readers peer behind the veil of Minor Prophets' utterances and unlock their significance for today's Christians. Each chapter: begins with a brief paragraph of background about the prophet recounts questions or reports that have been addressed to the prophet in the form of a letter sums up message of the prophet responding to that question offers a brief comment or explanation after each passage The Lost Letters to the Twelve Prophets offers an imaginative, fun, and engaging way for students, pastors, and all serious Bible readers get a better grip on what is happening in these often misunderstood biblical books and get more out of their Bible reading and study.

Abasciano builds upon his forthcoming LNTS volume Paul's Use of the Old Testament in Romans 9.1-9, continuing the project begun in that volume and its intertextual methodology. This method incorporates into a thorough traditional exegesis a comprehensive analysis of Paul's use of Scripture against the background of interpretive traditions surrounding the texts alluded to, with great emphasis placed on analyzing the original contexts of Paul's citations and allusions. Such an intertextual exegesis is conducted in Romans 9:10-33 with an awareness of the broader unit of chapters 9-11 especially, and also the epistle as a whole. Conclusions for the meaning of these passages and their theological significance are drawn. LNTS and SSEJC.

Paul Hedley Jones presents a coherent reading of 1 Kings 13 that is attentive to literary, historical and theological concerns. Beginning with a summary and evaluation of Karl Barth's overtly theological exposition of the chapter - as set out in his Church Dogmatics - Jones explores how this analysis was received and critiqued by Barth's academic peers, who focused on very different questions, priorities and methods. By highlighting substantive material in the text for further investigation, Jones sheds light on a range of hermeneutical issues that support exegetical work unseen, and additionally provides a wider scope of opinion into the conversation by reviewing the work of other scholars whose methods and priorities also diverge from those of Barth and his contemporaries. After evaluating four additional in-depth readings of 1 Kings 13, Jones presents a more theoretical discussion about perceived dichotomies in biblical studies that tend to surface regularly in methodological debates. This volume culminates with Jones' original exposition of the chapter, which offers an interpretation that reads 1 Kings 13 as a narrative analogy, where the figure of Josiah functions as a hermeneutical key to understanding the dynamics of the story.

The book of Jeremiah poses a challenge to biblical scholarship in terms of its literary composition and textual fluidity. This study offers an innovative approach to the problem by focusing on an instructive case study. Building on the critical recognition that the prophecy contained in Jer 10:1-16 is a composite text, this study systematically discusses the various literary strands discernible in the prophecy: satirical depictions of idolatry, an Aramaic citation, and hymnic passages. A chapter is devoted to each strand, revealing its compositional development-from the earliest recoverable stages down to its late reception. A range of pertinent evidence-culled from the literary, text-critical, and linguistic realms-is examined and sets within broader perspectives, with an eye open to cultural history and the development of theological outlook. The investigation of a particular text has important implications for the textual and compositional history of Jeremiah as a whole. Rather than settling for the common opinion that Jeremiah developed in two main stages, reflected in the MT and LXX respectively, a nuanced supplementary model is advocated, which better accords with the complexity of the available evidence.

From the early days of the church to the present, the Old Testament Law has been a subject of much confusion, debate, and outright theological division. And with good reason: the way Christians understand the Law has massive implications for their individual lives and for the life of the church. To sort through the numerous interpretations and approaches to this thorny issue, we need to start with a solid knowledge of the Law itself. Richard Averbeck provides a comprehensive, accessible discussion of how the Law fits into the arc of the Bible and its relevance to the church today. Beginning with the way God intended the Law to work in its original historical and cultural context, he then explores the New Testament perspective on the Law. Averbeck identifies three biblical theological theses: the Law is good, the Law is weak, and the Law is a unified whole. Rejecting common partitions between categories of law, he makes the case that the whole Law applies to the Christian. Our task is to discern how it applies in the light of Christ. The Old Testament Law for the Life of the Church invites readers to consider how all of Scripture is illuminating and useful for God's people. The church, as the new temple, has much to learn from the Law and about what it means for our doctrine and practice.

This book focuses on the expressions used to describe Job's body in pain and on the reactions of his friends to explore the moral and social world reflected in the language and the values that their speeches betray. A key contribution of this monograph is to highlight how the perspective of illness as retribution is powerfully refuted in Job's speeches and, in particular, to show how this is achieved through comedy. Comedy in Job is a powerful weapon used to expose and ridicule the idea of retribution. Rejecting the approach of retrospective diagnosis, this monograph carefully analyses the expression of pain in Job focusing specifically on somatic language used in the deity attack metaphors, in the deity surveillance metaphors and in the language connected to the body and social status. These metaphors are analysed in a comparative way using research from medical anthropology and sociology which focuses on illness narratives and expressions of pain. Job's Body and the Dramatised Comedy of Moralising will be of interest to anyone working on the Book of Job, as well as those with an interest in suffering and pain in the Hebrew Bible more broadly.

While recent Old Testament scholarship has seen a steady rise in the prominence of narrative approaches to the text, little such work has been done on the book of Joshua. This book offers a narrative treatment of the conquest accounts, with specific attention given to the characterization of Joshua. The method employed is eclectic, including poetic analysis, structural study, delimitation criticism, comparative literary analysis, and intertextual reading. Joshua's characterization has received inadequate scholarly attention to date, largely because he is seen as a pale character, a mere stereotype in the biblical history. This two-dimensional reading often leads to the conclusion that Joshua is meant to represent another character in the history. But this approach neglects the many aspects of Joshua's character that are unique, and does not address the text's presentation of his flaws. On the other hand, some scholars have recently suggested that Joshua's character is significantly flawed. This reading is similarly untenable, as those features of Joshua's leadership that it portrays as faulty are in fact condoned, not condemned, by the text itself. Close examination of the conquest narratives suggests that Joshua's character is both complex and reliable. To the degree that Joshua functions as a paradigm in the subsequent histories, this paradigm must be conceived more broadly than it has been in the past. He is not merely a royal, prophetic, or priestly figure, but exercises, and often exemplifies, the many different types of leadership that feature in the former prophets. >

Telling Terror in Judges 19 explores the value of performing a 'reparative reading' of the terror-filled story of the Levite's pilegesh (commonly referred to as the Levite's concubine) in Judges 19, and how such a reparative reading can be brought to bear upon elements of modern rape culture. Historically, the story has been used as a morality tale to warn young women about what constitutes appropriate behaviour. More recently, (mainly male) commentators have tended to write the woman out of the story, by making claims about its purpose and theme which bear no relation to her suffering. In response to this, feminist critics have attempted to write the woman back into the story, generally using the hermeneutics of suspicion. This book begins by surveying some of the traditional commentators, and the three great feminist commentators of the text (Bal, Exum and Trible). It then offers a reparative reading by attending to the pilegesh's surprising prominence, her moral and marital agency, and her speaking voice. In the final chapter, there is a detailed comparison of the story with elements of modern rape culture.

"Psalmenexegese und Psalterexegese" has become the new trend in the exegesis of the psalms. In its broad scope, this trend includes a method of combining a detailed exegesis of the selected individual psalms with the research to discover the rationale for their particular placement in the book of the Psalter. Following this method and doing the synchronic analysis, this research work first carries out the in-depth exegesis of Pss 33, 34, and 35. Then it applies the principles of concatenation and lectio continua to the results derived from the exegesis. This study establishes that there are sufficient thematic, structural, and lexical connections between these psalms to call them a "Psalm-Triad". This triad narrates a lucid story of in the context of the first book of the Psalter.

The book represents the collection of the papers presented at the 2004 SBL sessions for the section, Social-Scientific Studies of the Second Temple period, the purpose of which was to create understanding about current historiography as it relates to biblical studies and ancient Israel amidst diverging academic trends. Papers and responses sought to avoid polemics while concurrently bringing to clarification methodological practices of prominent historians in an effort to move beyond hortatory polemics. Those writing papers were asked to specify their own methodology and the assumptions and philosophy underlying their methodology in an effort to create understanding for the audience. Respondents to the papers met two requests - to summarize the methodology of the paper and to respond to the methodology, philosophy, and presuppositions of the historian.

The social and intellectual context of the material in the book of Proverbs has given rise to several proposals concerning the nature of the constituent compendia within the document as well as the function of the discourse as a whole. In light of the problems inherent in an investigation of the nature and function of Proverbs, the present study focuses on the social dimensions of the document within its distinct, literary context. That is, the study attempts to examine the nature and function of the sapiential material within its new performance context, viz., the discursive context, the Sitz im Buch. This form of analysis moves beyond the investigation of individual aphorisms to provide a concrete context through which to view the various components of the discourse as well as the discourse as a whole. In the main, the study explores the formal, discursive, and thematic features of the constituent collections within the book of Proverbs in order to identify the nature and function of the work. More specifically, the study highlights the fundamental features of the book's discourse setting, the thematic development of the material, the ethos of the individual collections and their role within Proverbs in order to ascertain the degree to which the document may be considered a courtly piece.

This book explores the conjuncture of human agency and divine volition in the biblical narrative - sometimes referred to as "double causality." A commonly held view has it that the biblical narrative shows human action to be determined by divine will. Yet, when reading the biblical narrative we are inclined to hold the actors accountable for their deeds. The book, then, challenges the common assumptions about the sweeping nature of divine causality in the biblical narrative and seeks to do justice to the roles played by the human actors in the drama. God's causing a person to act in a particular way, as He does when He hardens Pharaoh's heart, is the exception rather than the rule. On the whole, the biblical heroes act on their own; their personal initiatives and strivings are what move the story forward. How does it happen, then, that events, remarkably, conspire to realize God's plan? The study enlists concepts and theories developed within the framework of contemporary analytic philosophy, featured against the background of classical and contemporary bible commentary. In addressing the biblical narrative through these perspectives, this book holds appeal for scholars of a variety of disciplines - bible studies, philosophy, religion and philosophical theology - as well as for those who simply delight in reading the Bible.

The first to systematically compare biblical, Ancient Near Eastern and Greek creation accounts and to show that Genesis 1-3 is heavily indebted to Plato's Timaeus and other cosmogonies by Greek natural philosophers.

Psalm 29, a sacred text in Jewish and Christian Bibles, has been understood in a variety of ways through time and in different traditions. This volume presents a sample of the use and meaning derived from a single biblical text. From the earliest translations to contemporary African Independent Churches, this psalm has been an integral part of synagogue and church, but what it has meant and how it is used is a fascinating journey through human culture. Not only the understanding of the written word, but also the liturgical use and the musical adaptations of a biblical text are considered here. This is a book for anyone- scholar, student, or laity - with an interest in the Bible in its many contexts.

Ezekiel is one of the best-structured books in the Old Testament. It is commonly recognized that the strongly interrelated vision accounts (Ez 1:1-3:15; 8-11; 37:1-14; 40-48) contribute greatly to this impression of unity. However, there is a marked lacuna in publications focusing on the vision accounts in Ezekiel as an interconnected text corpus. The present study combines redaction-critical analysis with literary methods that are typically used in a synchronic approach. Drawing on the paradigm of Fortschreibung, it is the first to present a united redaction history that takes into account the growing interconnections and dependencies between the vision accounts. Building on these results, the second part follows the development of selected themes, such as the relationships between characters, the roles of intermediate figures and anthropological and theological implications, throughout the stages of redaction. The study thus represents an important step towards an understanding of the complex redaction history of the book of Ezekiel, and indeed of its theology. The combination of diachronic and synchronic methods makes it relevant for scholars of both directions and is itself a methodological statement.

The emergence of monotheism in the Old Testament is closely related to the theodicy question. It is based on doubts about God's power, kindness, and wisdom that haunted the Israelites in exile in Babylon. Deutero-Isaiah answers in the form of a "communal theodicy" by confessing YHWH as the only God. Through his universal work in creation and history, the effectiveness of the prophetic word, his saving intervention through Cyrus and his personal nearness, YHWH proves his uniqueness. In connection with monotheism, the theodicy motif shapes the collection and editing of the historical and prophetic books. The author draws parallels to the "individual theodicy" in the books of Job and Psalms, as well as to the "universal theodicy" in the Prehistory.

In Making Men, Stephen M. Wilson identifies and elaborates on a theme in the Hebrew Bible that has largely gone unnoticed by scholars: the transition of a male adolescent from boyhood to manhood. Beyond identifying the coming-of-age theme in different biblical texts, the project also describes how the theme is employed by biblical narrators and redactors to highlight broader messages and transitions in various historical narratives. It also considers how these stories provide insight into the varying representations of biblical masculinity. Five case studies of male coming-of-age are identified: David in 1 Samuel 17; Solomon in 1 Kings 1-2; an alternative tale of Solomon's maturation in 1 Kings 3; Moses in Exodus 2; and Samuel in 1 Samuel 3. Additionally, two narratives showing the failure to transition to manhood are considered: the story of Jether in Judges 8, and Samson in Judges 13-16. In each case study, the narrator's techniques for highlighting the maturation theme are identified, as are the ways that the narrator employs the theme point to other significant plot points or narrative transitions. These seven case studies are also compared based on the image of masculinity that they present. Two narratives-those of Samuel's and Solomon's maturations-depart from the standard image, each in the same way: both depict a masculinity free of violence and the need for the constant, forceful defense of manhood and honor. Since these two texts have often been ascribed to the same author, the Deuteronomistic Historian, the study suggests that he may be offering a new view of masculinity more suited to his historical context.

Roy L. Heller looks at the prophets Elijah and Elisha in the books of Kings charting a two-fold characterization that portrays these prophetic figures in both positive and negative lights. In the narratives of Kings Elijah and Elisha often parallel other prophetic figures from Israel's history: they perform miraculous signs, they speak in the name of God, and they pronounce judgments upon the nation of Israel for its idolatrous worship. There are, however, other stories which have troubled readers and scholars alike: Elijah's cowardly running from the threats of Jezebel, his self-pitying complaint to God that he was the only true Israelite left, and Elisha's cursing a group of little boys who, in turn, are slaughtered by two female bears. Scholars have traditionally ignored or belittled the negative stories of the prophets, seeing them as either late additions to the biblical text or as minor, unimportant stories that can easily be dismissed. Heller, however, argues that the dual characterization of Elijah and Elisha reflects an ambivalent attitude that the narrator of Kings has toward prophecy as a whole, an attitude that is reflected in the book of Deuteronomy itself. This forces readers of the biblical text to pose the question; "how may Israel best know and follow God?" The stories of Elijah and Elisha make the answer clear: the words and lives of the prophets are a possible way for God to reveal how Israel is to live, but those words and lives must always be considered with a degree of suspicion and must always be evaluated in light of the clear and straightforward teaching of Deuteronomy.

The origin and integrity of the Biblical text are described with gematria and equidistant letter spacing requiring Divine inspiration. There should therefore be no conflict between the Bible and established Science. Key conflicts perceived by the secular world are evaluated in detail. The fine tuning of the Earth and Universe enabling humankind to survive and flourish are summarised, and the supreme perfections of design in humanity, in nature and Universe described. General Relativity since the Big Bank is used to resolve a timescale matching the events of the Six Days of Genesis terminating in the recent special creation of humankind.

The representation of sexual trafficking in the book of Esther has parallels with the cultural memories, histories, and materialized pain of African(a) girls and women across time and space, from the Persian Empire, to subsequent slave trade routes and beyond. Trafficking Hadassah illuminates that Africana female bodies have been and continue to be colonized and sexualized, exploited for profit and pleasure, causing adverse physical, mental, sexual, socio-cultural, and spiritual consequences for the girls and women concerned. It focuses on sexual trafficking both in the biblical book of Esther and during the transatlantic slave trade to demonstrate how gender and racism intersect with other forms of oppression, including legal oppression, which results in the sexual trafficking of African(a) females. It examines both the conditions and mechanisms by which the trafficking of the virgin girls (who are collectively identified) are legitimated and normalized in the book of Esther, alongside contemporary histories of Africana females. This important book examines ideologies and stereotypes that are used to justify the abuse in both contexts, challenges the complicity of biblical readers and interpreters in violence against girls and women, and illustrates how attention to the nameless, faceless African girls in the text is impacted by the #MeToo and #SayHerName social movements. This book will be of particular interest to those studying the Bible, religion, gender, theology, and sex trafficking. It is also an important book for those in the related fields of Africana Studies, Trauma Studies, Post-Colonial Studies, Diaspora Studies, Critical Race Studies, as well as to the general reader.