This commentary has classroom use written all over it, so putting Paul M. Joyce's Ezekiel: A Commentary into paperback was a no-brainer. At $49.95, this edition will certainly be more attainable to students, who are struggling to get through this most complex and controversial book of the prophets. Here's what some have already said:
"Paul Joyce's commentary on Ezekiel is warmly commended. It is unique in the way that it concentrates on Ezekiel's theology, thereby bringing his thought to life."
[The Imp I didn't see]
Anna and I have just returned from a wonderful SOTS (linked with EABS and OTW) in Lincoln. Despite the heavy rain it was a good conference for proposals and book sales, and the papers that I attended all held things to interest. Axel Knauf's paper on the 'End of History' (?), which opened the SOTS programme being particularly good. Although, alas, I did not understand the German quotations he made. Bob Becking spoke on 'David from Evidence to Archaeology', which was very interesting, but I could have done with a bit more on ideology.
It was good to catch up with authors and to meet with new possible authors. Some good proposals might come from this conference - more on that anon.
There was just time on the last day to brave the rain and rush up to the cathedral. Extremely impressive vaulting, and nice to see the base of the shrine which held the head of little St Hugh of Lincoln. However the building as a whole felt strangely soul-less for some reason. Perhaps it was the rain? Unfortunately I failed to spot the famous ‘imp’ as we had to rush back for our train. Next time.
Upon returning to London I took advantage of the late opening of the Henry VIII exhibition at the British Library. It is quite astonishing, and I strongly urge anyone who has an interest in the Reformation to see it. Most wonderful to see was Henry’s Defensor Fidei medal, just a few yards away from the Act of Supremacy. However seeing the exhibition one does get the very definite feeling that Henry was not merely intent on getting a pretty new wife and a male heir in his desire to divorce Catherine of Aragon (although of course that had something to do with it!), but convinced that he was being punished for Leviticus 18.16 and thus needed to be free from divine condemnation.
The following day I had another brief moment of holiday in Oxford, doing some reading myself, and had a cup of tea with Sister Benedicta Ward, whose new book on Anselm of Canterbury is published by SPCK. Sr Benedicta is of course the author of our OCT book on the Venerable Bede.
The new Temple Studies Group met for their second symposium on Saturday, most appropriately at London's Temple Church. The subject of the day was "Temple Music". Here is the paper Margaret Barker gave at the symposium. Enjoy!
Margaret Barker on Temple Music
Music was an important element in temple worship, but it was also controversial. There was something about temple music that was not acceptable to those who changed the ways of the temple in the seventh century BCE, the time of King Josiah. Piecing together the other elements that were purged or discouraged, a picture emerges of the role of music in the temple which is consistent over many centuries, a role that passed into the Church. .
There are two accounts of the temple in the Old Testament, both compiled after the time of Josiah, and both drawing on ancient source material. One account, in the books of Samuel and Kings, was written by a group who based themselves on the characteristic teachings of Deuteronomy, a puritanical group who thought that both temple and monarchy were a departure from their people’s desert origins; and the other account, in the books of Chronicles-Ezra and Nehemiah, was written by a priestly group who favoured both monarchy and temple.
When the Deuteronomists described David bringing the ark to Jerusalem (2 Sam.6), they mentioned musicians in the procession - but no names were given - and said that the ark was set in its tent, David offered sacrifices and blessed the people, and there was a feast. The priestly account, however, (1 Chron.15-16) describes in detail a procession of named Levites singing, accompanied by named musicians playing cymbals, harps, and lyres, and by named priests blowing trumpets. Did they possess, centuries after the event, records of temple musicians?
I am personally very excited to announce the release of Jeremy Schipper's important LHBOTS Disability Studies and the Hebrew Bible: Figuring Mephibosheth in the David Story in paperback. For the last few years, Schipper has been on the cutting edge of considering the intersection of disability studies and biblical studies and we are very happy to make his important work more easily available to both the scholar and student. He has also received some stellar endorsements for this book:
"Jeremy Schipper has written an exceedingly important, thoughtful, disciplined book that will concern anyone who notices the toxic “social constructions” that go on in our society. His study is acute in its attention to the biblical text while at the same time it carefully probes contemporary disability theory. Schipper offers a model for interpretation and a summons to engagement."
-Walter Brueggemann, Professor Emeritus of Old Testament, Columbia Theological Seminary
"There is nothing tame about minor biblical characters or about this exceptional book. Such an analysis does more than complicate the ideologies of disability and kingship; it forever changes the way you read the Deuteronomistic History."
-Gina Hens-Piazza, Professor of Biblical Studies, Jesuit School of Theology at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA
"This is a remarkable book that is destined to set new standards for the study of disability in the Bible."
-Dr. Hector Avalos, Professor of Religious Studies, Iowa State University
Professor Schipper has also written a guest post for our Authors Circle, which I am sure you will enjoy:
A few years have passed since I wrote Disability Studies and the Hebrew Bible. I am flattered at the reception that it has received since its original publication in 2006 and am very happy to see it in paperback this year. Regarding the books of Samuel and Kings, biblical scholarship has shown how certain motifs and themes (Zion, kingship, covenant, family, and so on) do more than just describe particular institutions and conceptions. Instead, these themes and motifs help to articulate, interpret and organize Israelite identity. Along these lines, Disability Studies and the Hebrew Bible shows that when the Hebrew Bible addresses disability it usually does more than just describe or diagnose a particular physical, mental or emotional trait. Rather, when read alongside images of Zion and kingship, disability provides a frequent, but often overlooked, means of articulating, interpreting, and organizing Israelite identity. My book uses the story of Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s disabled son (2 Samuel 4, 9, 16, 19) to show how disability functions as a means of social or ideological commentary rather than an objective and clear depiction of the everyday experience of disability in the ancient world. A close study of Mephibosheth as a point of entry into these larger set of issues surrounding disability imagery allowed me to emphasize the complicated and nuanced manner in which the Hebrew Bible represents disability.
Continue reading ""Disability Studies and the Hebrew Bible" LHBOTS PB Released" »
We have received the manuscript for Margaret Barkers new book on "Creation - The Biblical Vision".
In Margaret's own words, her book is an attempt to outline what the first Christians could have known about Creation, thinking as they did within the framework of Temple Theology, and set this alongside some striking parallels in today’s environment discourse.
Here is an excerpt from the third chapter:
"The biblical view of creation is rarely questioned, not in the sense that people have never taken issue with the seven day scheme, but in the sense that the seven day scheme, as usually understood, is assumed to be the biblical view. We are asking the question: How might Jesus and the first Christians have understood the creation? and already we have seen that their understanding of Genesis was a sophisticated and far from literal reading of the text.
Material available in the time of Jesus and from the era of the early church shows that they saw creation as one intricately woven system that could be destroyed by human action. In this chapter we shall recover something of that picture; most of the evidence has been well known for a long time, but it has been read differently.
Continue reading "Margaret Barker on the Biblical Vision of Creation" »
Just released is Jeremiah W. Cataldo's LHBOTS, A Theocratic Yehud?: Issues of Government in a Persian Province. I met Professor Cataldo at our very well-attended LHBOTS mixer at SBL last year and we eagerly look forward to more great scholarship from him. He is Visiting Assistant Professor of History and Classics at Grand Valley State University.
Please enjoy his contribution to our Authors Circle!
The Question That Became a Title
Why the question of theocracy? The catalyst for this question was two-fold: on one hand, I had become increasingly frustrated by the lack of any real, substantive definition of the term. On the other, I had become increasingly unsatisfied with what seemed to be a general tendency in scholarship to rely upon the Persian-period biblical texts (especially Ezra-Nehemiah) as accurate portrayals of an entire, complex provincial society. To accept that Yehud was a theocracy based almost entirely on the testimony of such texts is to drastically and cavalierly reduce the analyzable context of Yehud. After all, the biblical texts from the Persian period are quite reductive in nature. They offer not objective historiography but describe a geographic, but also apparently religious, space wherein only one “true” society could exist. That society, of course, was comprised solely of exiled Judeans, otherwise the golah community--one whose membership was both codified and enforced (even violently, in Nehemiah).
Continue reading "[LHBOTS] "A Theocratic Yehud?" released [Authors Circle]" »
The latest Review of Biblical Literature newsletter includes reviews of three of our books:
Paul Fullmer, Resurrection in Mark's Literary-Historical Perspective (Library of New Testament Studies, 2007):
‘Fullmer’s research challenges a long-standing scholarly assumption that “resurrection” is sui generic, unfamiliar to Greco-Roman readers. Fullmer has collected a great deal of interesting material from ancient literature on the resurrection motif … He has made a persuasive case that ancient readers would not have considered the crucifixion, tomb, and resurrection narratives peculiar or sui generic.’ Pheme Perkins, Professor of New Testament at Boston College of Arts & Sciences
Maarten J. J. Menken & Steve Moyise (eds), Deuteronomy in the New Testament (The New Testament and the Scriptures of Israel, a sub series of The Library of New Testament Studies, 2007):
‘The work in this volume is methodologically sophisticated and demonstrates that recently acquired knowledge of the hermeneutics of scriptural text-referencing is being put
to good use. … It was a pleasure to read, and I look forward with anticipation to other volumes in the series.’ Michael A. Lyons, Assistant Professor of Old Testament at Simpson University, USA
‘…these essays provide a helpful assessment of the degree and significance of individual authors’ engagements with Deuteronomy …This is a helpful collection of essays that should assist in the evaluation of a number of issues in New Testament scholarship, not least the vexing questions pertaining to the reception of the law in early Christian theology and praxis. … The editors and authors deserve our gratitude. We look forward to the next volume on the Minor Prophets in the New Testament.’ David Lincicum, Phd student University of Oxford
Stephen Barton (ed.), Idolatry: False Worship in the Bible, Early Judaism, and Christianity (2007):
‘…this book can definitely be recommended to everyone interested in the phenomenon idolatry. […] The scholars involved in the (publication) project are specialists in their essay topics.’ Thomas J. Kraus (unable to find affiliation)
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