One of the most consistent features of Christian life has been the extensive use of the biblical texts in sermons; to evangelise, to educate, to edify, to exhort, and even to terrify those who heard them. Yet, surprisingly little scholarly attention has focused on the dynamics at work as these texts were taken by preachers and transformed into the largely aural experience encountered by their audience. Pre-formed and performed thus, scripture was communicated and made relevant through the use of the sermonic form to audiences inhabiting a broad range of socio-historical settings, including those whose social status or illiteracy might otherwise have completely precluded any access to biblical texts. In this volume, case-studies of biblical reception within and through preaching have been taken from two millennia of homilies, with each being examined to see how the text-preacher-audience dynamic has influenced the interpretation, understanding and impact of the Bible. Examples include Paul, Origen, Chrysostom, Augustine, Hildegard of Bingen, Jonathan Edwards, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Aimee Semple McPherson and Chris Brain.

Joseph of Arimathea: A Study in Reception History examines the extensive and convoluted afterlives of a minor biblical character who nevertheless plays a major role in three pivotal scenes in the passion of Jesus Christ as presented by the four canonical Gospels: the request to Pilate for the body, the descent from the cross, and the burial of Jesus' corpse. Characterised in subtly different ways by each Evangelist, these sparse biblical Josephs were expanded, expounded, translated, harmonised, and extended by early literary sources and developed thematically by the artistic traditions of the Renaissance. In the Medieval Period, Joseph arrived, by 'fortuitous' accident, in the British Isles, becoming an iconic figure for English nationalists (through the Glastonbury tradition) and for British Imperialists (through Parry's musical setting of Blake's Jerusalem). Twentieth-century developments in church life, film, literature, spiritualism, and studies of the historical Joseph round out what such a minor character can accomplish, given a sufficient richness in original texts and the right opportunities afforded by later cultural developments. In Joseph of Arimathea's case, certain aspects proved highly adaptable, especially the sharp contrast provided by his portrayal as a bold active figure in the Gospel of Mark and as a fearful passive character in the Gospel of John, the attractiveness of his wealth and nobility to those who considered themselves of similar (or much higher) status, and the opportunities provided by his swift appearance and departure from the most important event in Christianity's foundational documents.

The richly varied collection of 15 essays in this volume showcase the afterlife of the Book of Revelation. It is a biblical book that has left its mark in many fields of intellectual endeavour: literature, film, music, philosophy, political theology, and religious ideology. It is perhaps paradoxical that this book, which promises God's punishment upon anyone expanding on its contents, has nevertheless accumulated to itself over two millennia vast amounts of commentary, exposition, and appropriation. Offered at the close of the 'Blair/Bush years', this volume also exposes and highlights the often deeply ironic resonances generated while studying the reception history of Revelation during a period when the book has both significant public currency and a potentially terrifying global impact. Contents. Decoding, Reception History, Poetry: Three Hermeneutical Approaches to the Apocalypse (Jonathan Roberts); Self-Authorization in Christina Rossetti's The Face of the Deep (Jo Carruthers); Revelation, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (Alison Jack); Revelation and Film (Melanie J. Wright); The Apocalypse according to Johnny Cash (William John Lyons); The Johannine Apocalypse and the Risk of Knowledge (James E. Harding); Revelation, Violence, and War (Heikki Raisanen); The Reception of Revelation, c. 1250-1700 (Anke Holdenried); A Seventeenth-Century Particular Baptist on Revelation 20.1-7 (Simon Woodman); The Book of Revelation, the Branch Davidians and Apocalyptic (Self-)destruction? (Kenneth Newport); Ecological Readings of the Apocalypse of John in Contemporary America (Michael S. Northcott); Feminist Reception of the Book of Revelation (Hanna Stenstrom); Revelation as Form and Content in the Works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (Jorunn Okland)

Fifty years after the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls there have been many advances in the field of Qumran Studies. Yet much work remains undone. In particular the study of the scrolls has continued to follow long established historical critical methods while largely falling to incorporate recent advances in literary, ideological and sociological approaches. The essays collected here are the result of the Bristol Colloquium on the Dead Sea Scrolls held in September 2003. Here, ten scholars working in a diversity of areas demonstrate how these recent advances in scholarship increase our knowledge of the scrolls, their historical context, and their impact on modern critical scholarship. The contributors consider a wide range of approaches, ranging across discussions in sociology, anthropology, literary studies, post-colonialism and ideological criticism. These essays will help to take Qumran Studies forward in new and creative ways. This is volume 52 in the Library of Second Temple Studies series (formerly the Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha Supplement series).

Previous attempts to critique the canonical approach of Brevard Childs have remained largely theoretical in nature. One of the weakness of canonical criticism, then, is its failure to have generated new readings of extended biblical passages. Reviewing the hermeneutics and the praxis of Childs's approach, Lyons then turns to the Sodom narrative (Gen 18-19) as a test of a practical exegesis according to Childs' principles, and then to reflect critically upon the reading experience generated. Surprisingly, the canonical reading produced is a wholly new one, centred around the complex, irreducible - even contradictory - request of Abraham for Yahweh to do justice (18:23-25).

How do we begin to carry out such a vast task-the examination of three millennia of diverse uses and influences of the biblical texts? Where can the interested scholar find information on methods and techniques applicable to the many and varied ways in which these have happened? Through a series of examples of reception history practitioners at work and of their reflections this volume sets the agenda for biblical reception, as it begins to chart the near-infinite series of complex interpretive 'events' that have been generated by the journey of the biblical texts down through the centuries. The chapters consider aspects as diverse as political and economic factors, cultural location, the discipline of biblical studies, and the impact of scholarly preconceptions, upon reception history. Topics covered include biblical figures and concepts, contemporary music, paintings, children's Bibles, and interpreters as diverse as Calvin, Lenin, and Nick Cave.

How do we begin to carry out such a vast task-the examination of three millennia of diverse uses and influences of the biblical texts? Where can the interested scholar find information on methods and techniques applicable to the many and varied ways in which these have happened? Through a series of examples of reception history practitioners at work and of their reflections this volume sets the agenda for biblical reception, as it begins to chart the near-infinite series of complex interpretive 'events' that have been generated by the journey of the biblical texts down through the centuries. The chapters consider aspects as diverse as political and economic factors, cultural location, the discipline of Biblical Studies, and the impact of scholarly preconceptions, upon reception history. Topics covered include biblical figures and concepts, contemporary music, paintings, children's Bibles, and interpreters as diverse as Calvin, Lenin, and Nick Cave.