The T & T Clark Blog

Professorial Inaugural Lecture by Dom Henry Wansbrough: Liverpool Hope 7th March

Dom Henry Wansbrough

Liverpool Hope University have announced the Professorial inaugural lecture of Dom Henry Wansbrough, who has been appointed Alexander Jones Professor of Biblical Studies. It is taking place on Wednesday 7th March at 5.30pm and the title of the lecture is 'Was Jesus a Pharisee?'

Fr Henry is the former Master of St. Benet's Hall in Oxford, was for many years the only English member of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, and is the General Editor of the New Jerusalem Bible. He is a Benedictine monk of Ampleforth Abbey.

He is also one of T&T Clark's most valued authors. His bestselling book 'The Use and Abuse of the Bible' was published to great acclaim in 2010 - reprinting twice within its first year - and his new book 'The Sunday Word' has just come out under the Burns and Oates imprint. This book provides short commentaries on the Sunday Readings (and major feasts/solemnities) together with questions for personal reflection, and an introduction on the shape of the Lectionary. It will be a must for Lectio Divina and scripture study groups in both Roman Catholic and Anglican traditions.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor says in his foreword to the book; 'In these commentaries the background and chape of every passage is opened up and shared with us. This is a great achievement by Henry Wansbrough and we should all be grateful to him'

and Prof Richard Burridge, Dean of KCL, says; 'Beautifully written and drawing upon a lifetime of Biblical scholarship, Dom Henry Wansbrough's explanations of the Bible readings Sunday by Sunday are as informative as they are a delight!'

We congratulate Fr Henry on his Professorial appointment, and hope that the inaugural lecture will be a tremendous success.

New releases for the LHBOTS this month...

Brotherhood and Inheritance: A Canonical Reading of the Esau and Edom Traditions by Bradford A. Anderson was published in the UK yesterday. This study offers a canonical reading of the Esau and Edom traditions, examining the portrayal of Esau and Edom in Genesis, Deuteronomy, and the prophetic material. First, it is argued that the depiction of Esau and his descendants in Genesis and Deuteronomy is, on the whole, positive. Second, it is put forward that Edom is portrayed negatively by the prophets for violating their kin, and for disrespecting the divine apportioning of the lands. Finally, it is suggested that these traditions have resonance with one another based on recurring literary and theological motifs, heuristically framed as brotherhood and inheritance.

This month will also see the publication of Ecclesiastes and Scepticism. In this work, Stuart Weeks emphasises observation and empiricism as a key influence on human behaviour; the work excludes any consideration of tradition or revelation. Scholars often view the apparent scepticism of Ecclesiastes in terms of a reaction against the more confident assertions found in works like Proverbs, and the book does indeed seem to deny the possibility of humans shaping their future or changing their fate through informed action. What appears to concern the work’s protagonist, whose monologue occupies most of its length, is not any scepticism about God’s activity or consistency, but rather the problems that arise from a human inability to discern divine action or purpose.

Approaches to the 'Chosen Place' by Rannfrid I. Thelle comes out on the same day (23.02.12). Through a reading of key texts, this book provides a new, textually grounded, perspective of the “chosen place”, which has been held captive by scholarly assumptions when being viewed through the optic of the DH hypothesis. Deuteronomy’s command to restrict cultic practice to one “chosen place” has occupied a central position in scholars’ understandings of the book and their reconstruction of Israelite political and religious history. The debates about the date of Deuteronomy, its proposed connections to “Josiah’s reform”, and, most profoundly, the “Deuteronomistic History (DH) hypothesis” have dominated study of the idea of “chosen place”. These debates have, to a large extent, determined how we read Deuteronomy and the Former Prophets in general.

The Senses of Scripture by Yael Avrahami discusses the experience and understanding of the senses in the culture represented in the Hebrew Bible. The work reveals the essence of biblical epistemology - the ways in which ancient Israelites thought about and used their sensorium. The theoretical introduction demonstrates that scholars need to liberate themselves from the Western bias that holds a pentasensory paradigm and prioritises the sense of sight. The discussion of the biblical material demonstrates that biblical scholars should follow a similar path. Through examination of associative and contextual patters the author reaches a septasensory model, including sight, hearing, speech, kinaesthesia, touch, taste, and smell. It is further demonstrated that the senses, according to the HB, are a divinely created physical experience, which symbolised human ability to act in a sovereign manner in the world.

'The Big Questions'

Newly minted professor (and T&T Clark author) Francesca Stavrakopoulou was on the BBC's 'The Big Questions', broadcast yesterday. Iplayer link here for those in the UK. The programme debated the existence of God. I haven't watched all of it, because my internet is a bit slow for such things at work (and, errr, because I'm at work). But the bit I did watch disappointed me a little because the theist arguments I heard seemed very simple, and to come from a wholly uneducated perspective. This was particularly the case when they were talking about an uncaused cause, or an unmoved mover, which even Nicky Campbell seemed to know something about - God (if he exists - I don't know cos I didn't watch the whole show) bless wikipedia. People clearly hadn't really grasped their Aquinas, and had I been there I'd have recommended that they consult several T&T Clark publications for help... notably our Aquinas Reader's Guide.

It was whilst some chap with the poetically significant name Adam, described as a 'Muslim Thinker', was getting himself tangled up that Francesca chipped in with the point that looking at creation as a single event doesn't entirely fit with the biblical account... which suggests an ongoing process of creation. One might even say 'Creation, Un-creation, Re-creation' (as Joe Blenkinsopp eloquently outlines in his book by this title). Of course, the biblical account does suggest an ongoing process of creation, a process of constant creation... (in addition of course to a 'beginning point') in which humanity has a part to play. This notion is present throughout the biblical text, and certainly in Christian theology. Sadly no-one on the theist front bench in 'The Big Questions' (at least not in the bit I watched) seemed to know this and some of them might need to read this, whereas certainly all of them could have done with a copy of this. They were all far more concerned with saying that the big bang doesn't disprove God. Of course, the Big Bang doesn't... so I'm not sure why they were all so preoccupied with it, but it seemed set to remain the battle ground de choix.

I gave up, as did my internet connection... when the old altruism debate (sometimes people are lovely for no apparent reason = God) was wheeled out in the most basic of terms. Of course there is rich fruit here and it is within this line of enquiry that I find my own belief, but sadly it wasn't put across well by the theist front bench.

Anyway, it was all good fun... and nice to have these debates on the telly I suppose. The best thing of all, however, is the way the programme is desribed on iplayer:

'Nicky Campbell debates evidence for the existence of God in Warrington'

I've never been to Warrington, so I wouldn't know.

New Releases from the LHBOTS series

God of Faithfulness (vol. 538)- A Festschrift dedicated to J. Gordon McConville on the occasion of his 60th birthday.

Pre-Exilic Israel, the Hebrew Bible, and Archaeology (vol. 549)- A methodological study on how to relate written evidence with non-inscriptional archaeological evidence, with special reference to pre-exilic Israel.

Days of Our Years (464) - This study is an investigation into the lexical meanings of Hebrew terms for the human life cycle in the Old Testament.

Did God have a wife?

In BBC 2’s recent serial ‘The Bible’s Buried Secrets’ Francesca Stavrakopoulou claims that the original Jewish religion was not mono-theistic. Evidence suggests that there was a female figure too, the goddess Asherah, and that God, in fact, did have ‘a wife’. This female goddess was then edited out of the bible to create the image of Judaism as a strictly mono-theistic faith.

However, the idea of a female figure in early Judaism is not new. In her 2003 publication ‘The Great High Priest’, Old Testament scholar Margaret Barker wrote a chapter on a female figure in the Jerusalem Temple, known as ‘The Queen of Heaven’, or ‘Mother of the Lord’.

“The Lady in the Temple is mentioned in Jeremiah and Isaiah, but there are traces in other Old Testament writings too”, states Barker. Unlike Stavrakopoulou, who describes herself as an atheist, Margaret Barker writes from a decidedly Christian perspective. A former president of the British Society for Old Testament Study, she has published 14 books on the links between the ancient Jewish Temple and early Christian liturgy.

For Barker, the Lady in the Temple was never completely forgotten, but survived in oral traditions and extra-canonical writings. It is this memory which fed into the veneration of the Virgin Mary in early Christianity, when the Lady became known by her ancient title again: ‘The Mother of the Lord’.

Margaret Barker’s book ‘The Great High Priest’ was first published in 2003 and is available from T&T Clark. Her most recent book ‘Temple Themes in Christian Worship’ was published in 2008. Her forthcoming book ‘The Mother of the Lord’ will be published by T&T Clark in 2012.

Francesca Stavrakopoulou’s book ‘Religious Diversity in Ancient Israel and Judah’ (2010) is also available from T&T Clark.

Dr. Margaret Barker is an independent Old Testament scholar, a former President of the Society for Old Testament Study, co-founder of the Temple Studies Group and author of 14 books in this field. The Archbishop of Canterbury created her a Lambeth Doctor of Divinity for her research. Barker is also one of a small team of experts assessing the hoard of ancient sealed books, recently found in Jordan.

Professor Henning Graf Reventlow: 21 September 1929 - 9 September 2010

It's bittersweet to have just received advance copies of Henning Graf Reventlow and Yair Hoffman's long-awaited edited collection The Decalogue in Jewish and Christian Tradition. Sadly, Professor Reventlow passed away while this book was at press. I never met him in person, but our communications over email were always pleasant and I got the impression that he cared deeply for his work, echoed here, a review from 2007:

http://www.bookreviews.org/pdf/5508_5803.pdf

Countdown to SBL, November 20-23, Atlanta, Georgia, booth 1301

Hello All - wanted to whet your appetite with some recent releases in our LHBOTS series (and get you to stop by our booth!):

September 2010:

- Ethical and Unethical in the Old Testament: God and Humans in Dialogue, edited by Katharine Dell

- Traditions at Odds: The Reception of the Pentateuch in Biblical and Second Temple Period Literature, by John H. Choi

October 2010:

- The Historian and the Bible: Essays in Honour of Lester L. Grabbe, edited by Philip R. Davies and Diana V. Edelman

- Land of our Fathers: The Roles of Ancestor Veneration in Biblical Land Claims, by Francesca Stavrakopoulou

‘Creation, Un-creation, Re-creation’

 I am not sure if we’ve mentioned this before but we are publishing a new discursive commentary on Genesis 1-11 written by Professor Joseph Blenkinsopp. His discussion stems from the conviction that, from a biblical point of view, creation cannot be restricted to a single event, nor to two versions of an event (as depicted in Genesis 1-3) but, rather, must take in the whole period of creation arranged in the sequence: creation - uncreation - recreation (as can be derived from Genesis 1-11).

This volume is not going to be available until the beginning of next year, but it is only few months away. I have been asking people to write reviews of this book and received amazing responses! Please, see below:

‘This is an unusual commentary, written by one of the leading biblical scholars of our time, but with the light touch and freshness of a novelist. In something of a tour de force he works meticulously through the text, dealing in exemplary fashion with all the traditional linguistic and historical critical questions raised by modern scholarship, but always keeping an eye on the story-line. Everywhere the meaning is illuminated, gaps in the narrative filled in and the reader’s curiosity addressed, by the use of literary parallels, culled, with enviable ease, not only from other parts of the Bible and the ancient near east, but also from rabbinic, patristic and mediaeval literature, and the works of Homer, Hesiod, Plato, Shakespeare, Donne, Cowper, Nietzsche, Karl Barth and many others. An enthralling Epilogue: Towards a biblical theology of creation traces the main themes of Genesis 1-11 through Deutero-Isaiah, Paul and the Gospels, and concludes, not as the Christian Bible does with a new heaven and a new earth, but with the mysterious “dark side of creation” and in particular a reference by Jesus to Noah’s flood “in terms which are prosaic, chilling and psychologically credible in the light of the many lesser catastrophes which have been the human lot since then” (Luke 17:26-7).’ - John F. A. Sawyer, University of Perugia, Italy. 

Ecological Hermeneutics: edited by Horrell, Hunt, Southgate, Stavrakopoulou

I have just received advance copies from the printer of 'Ecological Hermeneutics' a new book as part of Exeter's wider project in this area (there are a couple of other books from it, one's with Equinox I think).

This book is aimed at scholars, and a student audience, and at moving in systematic way towards developing a sound ecological hermeneutical approach. I think it will do well on courses as more and more institutions begin to consider this sort of approach. If anyone is teaching a course for which this might be useful do ask for an inspection widget of the full book.

Some top names in there - Francis Watson, John Barton, Richard Bauckham, John Rogerson

You can preview the book with the widget within this post.

Lamentations ICC

Exciting news. We have just received the typescript of Robin Salter's finished commentary on Lamentations, which will be the next volume to be published in the International Critical Commentary series.

It is wonderful to have a new volume in the pipline, as it has been a few years since the last Old Testament volume published.

We hope to have the volume ready in time for SBL in Atlanta.