Sarianna Metso's The Serekh Texts (published last year in the Library of Second Temple Studies sub-series Companion to the Qumran Scrolls) has been recently been reviewed in the Review of Biblical Literature:
‘Sarianna Metso’s The Serekh Texts is an important contribution to scholarship on this group of Dead Sea Scrolls manuscripts […] It is a comprehensive introduction to particular Qumran texts and relevant scholarship. [...] This is a very valuable introduction to the Serekh texts that goes far beyond the basics. Metso, clearly in strong command of the primary and secondary sources, has succeeded admirably in her treatment of the texts and her proposal to explain their function in the life of the Qumran community. As such, the final chapter provides a substantive and compelling conclusion to the book as a whole. This volume should be required reading for anyone undertaking serious work on this corpus and on the Dead Sea Scrolls in general.’ - Eric F. Mason (Judson University, Illinois), RBL, August 2008
RBL have also reviewed Richard Liong-Seng Phua's Idolatry and Authority: A Study of 1 Corinthians 8.1-11.1 in the Light of the Jewish Diaspora (published in the Library of New Testament Studies series in 2005):
‘What Phua certainly accomplishes here is to throw light on a more varied Jewish Diaspora landscape pertaining to idolatry than has been traditionally embraced. His survey reminds us of the many cultural compromises and accommodations the marginalised people of society, and such were Jews, would have to have made daily. [...] Certainly Phuaq’s contribution here will be to have many scholars recheck their own assumptions regarding the ethnicity of the “strong” and “weak” in Corinth, the factor of accommodation to idolatry by Diaspora Jews, and the Pauline view regarding connections between pagan idolatry and objective demonic entities. All scholars interested in these fascinating chapters of 1 Corinthians will want to consider these factors and how confident any of us can be in understanding the complications faced by early followers of Jesus as they tried to integrate their faith into their cultural contexts.’ - Scott E. McClelland (Westmont College, San Francisco, California), RBL, August 2008
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