Protestant reformers found the prophet and biblical prophecy to be exceptionally effective for framing their reforming work under the authority of Scripturefor the true prophet speaks the Word of God alone and calls the people, their worship, and their beliefs and practices back to the Word of God. The Reformation of Prophecy uses the prophet and biblical prophecy as a powerful lens through which to view many aspects of the reformers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. G. Sujin Pak argues that these prophetic concepts served the substantial purposes of articulating a theology of the priesthood of all believers, a biblical model of the pastoral office, a biblical vision of the reform of worship, and biblical processes for discerning right interpretation of Scripture. Pak demonstrates the ways in which understandings of the prophet and biblical prophecy contributed to the formation of distinct confessional identities. She goes on to demonstrate the waning of explicit prophetic terminology, particularly among the next generation of Protestant leadership. Eventually, she shows, the Protestant reformers concluded that the figure of the prophet carried with it as many problems as it did benefits, though they continued to give much time and attention to the exegesis of biblical prophetic writings.

Isaiah 24-27 has been an enduring mystery and a hotly contested text for biblical scholars. Early scholarship linked its references to the dead rising to the New Testament. These theories have remained influential even as common opinion moderated over the course of the twentieth century. In this volume, Christopher B. Hays situates Isaiah 24-27 within its historical and cultural contexts. He methodically demonstrates that it is not apocalyptic; that its imagery of divine feasting and conquering death have ancient cognates; and that its Hebrew language does not reflect a late composition date. He also shows how the passage celebrates the receding of Assyrian power from Judah, and especially from the citadel at Ramat Rahel near Jerusalem, in the late seventh century. This was the time of King Josiah and his scribes, who saw a political opportunity and issued a peace overture to the former northern kingdom. Using comparative, archaeological, linguistic, and literary tools, Hays' volume changes the study of Isaiah, arguing for a different historical setting than that of traditional scholarship.

Offers an in depth comparative look at the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Primeval History, which allows students to view the Genesis within its Near Eastern context. Offers a fresh model for approaching this comparative task, which has at times been stifled by religious dogmatism, on the one hand, or disciplinary insularity on the other. Written in a lucid style with explanation of all key terms and themes, this book is suitable for students with no background in the subjects.

Lo and Behold! is for everyone who has ever wondered what makes the Bible one of the world's greatest and most enduring works of literary genius. From the first awe-inspiring story of creation to the extraordinary antics of the book of Jonah, this volume offers an intriguing journey through some of the Bible's most significant and memorable narratives. Trevor Dennis entertains as well as enlightens, and enables the reader to experience the richness of texture and depth of meaning that lie beneath the surface of our English translations.

With critical scholarship and theological sensitivity, Walter Brueggemann traces the people of God through the books of Samuel as they shift from marginalized tribalism to oppressive monarchy. He carefully opens the literature of the books, sketching a narrative filled with historical realism but also bursting with an awareness that more than human action is being presented.

Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching is a distinctive resource for those who interpret the Bible in the church. Planned and written specifically for teaching and preaching needs, this critically acclaimed biblical commentary is a major contribution to scholarship and ministry.

This book addresses intertextual connections between Lamentations and texts in each division of the Hebrew Bible, along with texts throughout history. Sources examined range from the Dead Sea Scrolls to modern Shoah literature, allowing the volume's impact to reach beyond Lamentations to each of the 'intertexts' the chapters address. By bringing together scholars with expertise on this diverse array of texts, the volume offers a wide range of exegetical insight. It also enables the reader to appreciate the varying intertextual approaches currently employed in Biblical Studies, ranging from abstract theory to rigid method. By applying these to a focused analysis of Lamentations, this book will facilitate greater insight on both Lamentations and current methodological research.

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.

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.

Voices of Marginality is theoretically grounded in the theology of the diaspora, which according to Fernando F. Segovia has been forged in the migratory experience of American Hispanics. This theological perspective views Judean exiles (587 B.C.E.) and contemporary Mexican migrants as part of a recurring diasporic human experience. The present analysis «reads across from the exile and return envisioned in the poetry of Second Isaiah (40-55) to the corridos (ballads) about Mexican immigration to the United States. More specifically, the diasporic categories of exile and return in Second Isaiah inform our reading of exile and return in the Mexican immigrant corridos. Conversely, the rhetorical ability of these corridos to transmit a collective Mexican identity for immigrants in the United States provides a compelling lens for understanding the images of exile and return in Second Isaiah. Ultimately, both literary productions reflect voices of marginality.

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.

Where is God when the world falls apart, when he doesn't seem to care? Ezekiel brought God's word to his people at the lowest point in their history, suffering the trauma of exile. But with exile comes the opportunity to renew their faith and hope in God himself. Although God had judged his people, he would also restore them and dwell with them forever - promises which find their ultimate fulfilment in Christ. Antony Billington's six-session guide, with his astute mini-features, skilful questions, and timely notes, will help you explore how Ezekiel's message of challenge and comfort speaks today, enabling you to live in the light of God's presence, Monday through Sunday - whatever you're facing.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

Yitzhak Berger advances a distinctive and markedly original interpretation of the biblical book of Jonah that resolves many of the ambiguities in the text. Berger contends that the Jonah text pulls from many inner-biblical connections, especially ones relating to the Garden of Eden. These connections provide a foundation for Berger's reading of the story, which attributes multiple layers of meaning to this carefully crafted biblical book. Focusing on Jonah's futile quest and his profoundly troubled response to God's view of the sins of humanity, Berger shows how the book paints Jonah as a pacifist no less than as a moralist.

The Old Testament is full of many remarkable stories that pose a challenge to our modern understanding. In this collection of essays, Rudolf Frieling demonstrates his unique gift for delving deeper into the meaning of the Old Testament stories, presenting them from a fresh perspective that makes them more comprehensible to today's readers. In this insightful book Frieling: -- Explores the accounts of the creation of the human being in Genesis. -- Demonstrates the ongoing power of the Psalms. -- Shows how the events of the Old Testament are a preparation for the coming of Christ. Frieling's commanding grasp of the original Hebrew and close attention to detail brings to life the rich imagery of these accounts and songs, making this a unique guide to the wisdom of the Old Testament.

This book explores the early Jewish understanding of divine knowledge as divine presence, which is embodied in major biblical exemplars, such as Adam, Enoch, Jacob, and Moses. The study treats the concept of divine knowledge as the embodied divine presence in its full historical and interpretive complexity by tracing the theme through a broad variety of ancient Near Eastern and Jewish sources, including Mesopotamian traditions of cultic statues, creational narratives of the Hebrew Bible, and later Jewish mystical testimonies. Orlov demonstrates that some biblical and pseudepigraphical accounts postulate that the theophany expresses the unique, corporeal nature of the deity that cannot be fully grasped or conveyed in some other non-corporeal symbolism, medium, or language. The divine presence requires another presence in order to be transmitted. To be communicated properly and in its full measure, the divine iconic knowledge must be "written" on a new living "body" which can hold the ineffable presence of God through a newly acquired ontology. Embodiment of Divine Knowledge in Early Judaism will provide an invaluable research to students and scholars in a wide range of areas within Jewish, Near Eastern, and Biblical Studies, as well as those studying religious elements of anthropology, philosophy, sociology, psychology, and gender studies. Through the study of Jewish mediatorial figures, this book also elucidates the roots of early Christological developments, making it attractive to Christian audiences.

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. >

Originally published in 1995, The Antievolution Pamphlets of Harry Rimmer is the sixth volume in the series, Creationism in Twentieth Century America. The volume brings together original sources from the prominent evangelist and pastor Harry Rimmer. The consortium of pamphlets in this volume detail Rimmer's antievolutionist sentiments, a notion which characterized his early writings. The pamphlets detail Rimmer's rhetoric on evolution and science from the early part of the 20th century as he travelled across America to disseminate his writings. The works in this volume address Rimmer's polemic on the danger posed by modern science and the consequential disassociation with religion. While Rimmer did not discount science itself, he argued for, what he termed, 'true science', claiming that modern science was based only in scientific opinion and not fact. As a self-proclaimed scientist, these writings take a unique view of the relationship between religion and science from this period through Rimmer's dual nature as both scientist and pastor. This volume will be of great interest to historians of natural history, science and religion.

Originally published in 1995, The Early Writings of Harold W. Clark and Frank Lewis Marsh is the eighth volume in the Creationism in Twentieth Century America series, reissued in 2019. The book is a collection of original writings by the prominent creationist Harold W. Clark, and the biologist, educator and young Earth creationist Frank Lewis Marsh. Although both were significant figures in the anti-evolutionist movement of the early 20th century, unlike other members of the movement, both Marsh and Clarke were trained scientists studying under eminent evolutionists of the time. Both writers struggled to reconcile new scientific understandings of geology, botany and palaeontology, supported by Darwin's theory of evolution, with their own creationist beliefs in genesis and flood theory. Both scientists as such began to develop their own theories of evolution that remained in line with creationist beliefs. This compact and unique collection includes the writings of Marsh and Clark from this period, featuring some of their well-known works on the subject including 'Back to Creation' and 'Fundamental Biology'. This volume of original sources will be of interest to academics of religion, natural history and historians of the 19th century.

Originally published in 1995, Creation and Evolution in the Early American Scientific Affiliation is the tenth volume in the series, Creationism in Twentieth Century America, reissued in 2021. The volume comprises of original primary sources from the American Science Affiliation, a group formed following an invitation from the president of the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, in answer to the perceived need for an academic society for American Evangelical Scientists to explicate the relationship between science and faith. The society confronted the debate between creation and evolution head on, leaving a paper trail documenting their thoughts and struggles. This diverse and expansive collection includes 53 selections that appeared during the organisation's first two decades and focuses on the encounter between science and American evangelicalism in the twentieth century, in particular the debates surrounding the ever-increasing preference for evolutionary theory. The collection will be of especial interest to natural historians, and theologians as well as academics of philosophy, and history.