Criticism and exegesis of sacred texts Books

Book SynopsisThis eighth volume in the Documenta Q series is concerned with the reconstruction of the Q text behind Luke 12:33-34 par. Matt 6:19-21. Storing up Treasures in Heaven takes up important wisdom themes such as the proper disposition of wealth, the importance of prioritizing one's thoughts and concerns, and the means to gaining eternal - not temporal - rewards. Parallels are found in literature as early and diverse as the Gospels of Mark, John, and Thomas, the Epistle of James, and Justin's Apology. The International Q Project's presentation of the critical text of Q 12:33-34, together with the exhaustive history of research on which it is based, will considerably enhance research in the Sayings Gospel Q, the historical Jesus, and the ethical concerns of early Jesus movements.

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Book SynopsisComposed by Grigor Magistros, an 11th-century Armenian princely savant and friend of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine IX Monomachus (reigned 1042-55), the Magnalia Dei is a summation of the Bible in epic verse. Written on one of the author's visits to Constantinople, it resulted from an encounter there with a Moslem intellectual by the name of Manazi - none other than Abu Nasr al-Manazi, vizier and emissary of the Abbasid Caliphate, theologian and poet, who frequently visited Constantinople in quest of Greek scientific manuscripts. During their discussion on the Bible and the Qur'an, a stock Islamic argument emerged: that the Qur'an is superior to the Christian Scriptures on account of its beautiful, inimitable verse. The epic is Magistros's response.The Magnalia Dei is the earliest literary epic in medieval Armenian, and one of the most informative compositions within the genre of biblically inspired verse narratives in Christian literature.

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Book SynopsisThis volume, Understanding what One Reads II: The Gospels and Paul (2003-2011), supplements the volume with the same main title which contains New Testament Essays from 1992-2002 and appeared in 2003. It continues the attempt (described in the preceding volume) to collect Professor Lambrecht's shorter writings into volumes that would be more accessible. The present volume brings together 35 studies, some rather brief, others more expanded. The first 34 are "bookended" by the cover illustration and the final article, which reflects on how Dei Verbum has functioned through forty years in attempting to understand what one reads in Scripture. As elsewhere in previous studies, Professor Lambrecht examines the relation between Q and Mark; he more than once reacts against a too easy reference to intertextuality which is methodologically not justified. He always carefully analyzes the line of thought (and the literal sense) in a number of passages, asking the question "How does the New Testament author reason and argue?". The majority of the articles in this volume have been published in journals or festschrifts. Most of the studies are strictly scientific; a few however have been written as conferences or essays for a nonspecialized Christian public. As the reader will observe, quite often a brief article is a reply to a recent publication. It is hoped that this collection of dispersed published studies and unpublished material will be appreciated by colleagues and students alike.

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Book SynopsisHow do the halakhic texts from Qumran as well as those Biblical Dead Sea Scrolls, which attest to legal texts of the Hebrew Bible, lead to a new interpretation and understanding of the Pentateuchal law collections and other legal texts in the Hebrew Bible and how do they help to illuminate the reception history of the Torah? These are the central questions of this book. The book consists of three parts: Part I: The Legal Texts from Qumran and the Hebrew Bible, Part II: The Legal Texts from Qumran and Second Temple Judaism and Part III: The Legal Texts from Qumran and Rabbinic Judaism. The volume contains an "Introduction" by Armin Lange and Kristin De Troyer and articles by Sidnie White Crawford ("The Qumran Pentateuch Scrolls: Their Literary Growth and Textual History"), Innocent Himbaza ("The Rite of the Blood on the Altar and the Hierarchy of Sacrifices: Qumran Texts, Septuagint and Mishnah as Witnesses to a Law in Evolution"), Michaela Bauks ("Jephtas Gelubde und die Unabwendbarkeit seiner Einlosung"), Loren T. Stuckenbruck ("The Pentateuch and Biblical Interpretation in the Enoch Literature from the Second Century BCE"), Eckhard Otto ("Temple Scroll and Pentateuch: A Priestly Debate about the Interpretation of the Torah"), Simone M. Paganini ("Die deuteronomistische Fassung des Konigsgesetzes und ihre Interpretation innerhalb der Tempelrolle: Rechtshermeneutische Beobachtungen"), Bernhard Dolna ("The Hidden and the Revealed Torah in Philo and Qumran"), Lawrence H. Schiffman ("Light from the Qumran Scrolls on Rabbinic Literature "), Gunter Stemberger ("Mishnah and Dead Sea Scrolls - a Reflection on Continuity and Change") and Hannah K. Harrington ("Examining Rabbinic Halakhah through the Lens of Qumran").

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Book SynopsisWhile wisdom was highly valued in the Hellenistic world, there is only one place in the New Testament that discusses the gospel in terms of wisdom: 1 Corinthians 1-4. Yet, instead of entering into a conciliating dialogue on wisdom, Paul confronts his readers with a conflict over wisdom. This study argues that the roots for this conflict are found in Scripture, especially in the prophetic books of Isaiah and Jeremiah, as the quotations indicate. Significant literary and theological relationships are brought to light by means of an intertextual approach.

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Book SynopsisThe discoveries of the Dead Sea, as we are used to call them, have changed the scholarly landscape of textual criticism to a considerable, if not enormous, extent. The state of the art with respect to both the textual development and the interpretation of the literary and theological form of individual biblical books has been seriously challenged. It appears as if no single book can escape from reinterpretation from this perspective. One of the collections of texts that can serve as an outstanding example on which the Dead Sea Scrolls have shed new light, can be found in the so-called Historical Books. Against that background, and in co-operation with the Louvain Centre for Septuagint Studies and Textual Criticism (CSSTC) of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (BE) and the Universidad de Alcala (ES), the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (ES) has organised an international expert symposium on the theme: 'After Qumran: old and new editions of biblical texts - the Historical Books' (31 May ' 2 June 2010). This volume presents the proceedings of this highly enriching symposium.

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Book SynopsisThe purpose of this eclectic critical edition of the ancient Armenian text of the Acts of the Apostles is to provide the earliest attainable text of Acts found in the extant Armenian manuscripts. It is meant to assist the Institute for New Testament Textual Research at the University of Munster in Munster, Germany, in preparing Volume II of the Editio Critica Maior, a complete and accurate critical edition of the Greek text of Acts. In the past, scholars have used the text of Acts in Zohrapian for text critical purposes. It is now clear that Zohrapian's text represents the text of Acts from the Cilician Period. Our edition represents the pre-Cilician text of Acts. The text of Acts presents a challenge for New Testament textual critics. The Greek manuscripts, early versions, and patristic sources fall into two groups, the Alexandrian text-type and the Western text-type. The Armenian text is most closely aligned with the Alexandrian text-type. Agreement with the Western text is very weak.

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Book SynopsisThis commentary attempts to understand and explain the book of Joshua on its own value and not as part of a larger literary creation as those theories are largely disputed. It includes the insights of modern scholarship, but also does not turn a blind eye on earlier interpretations of the book. Joshua is arguably the most important biblical book when it comes to questions of Historical Geography of ancient Israel. Here this aspect is taken into account more than in some other modern commentaries; this can also be related to the fact that the author is a biblical scholar who lives in Israel having worked in the fields of Archeology and Historical Geography.

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Book SynopsisAlbert Pietersma has long been known as a champion of rigorous methodology. The present volume brings together under one cover his key papers on the critical study of the Septuagint. Together they present an evolving hermeneutic of translation that promises to reconcile descriptive analysis of the text (which aims at explanation) with the task of interpretation (which aims at understanding). The division of the volume into three parts corresponds roughly to three distinct stages in Pietersma's published work. The text critical studies of Part I lay the foundations for the exegetical investigations of Part II, which in turn open onto the hermeneutic discussion of more recent years, represented in Part III. The bulk of the material deals with the Greek Psalter, which has been a primary focus for Pietersma. This gives the contents of the volume a high-degree of thematic unity; it will no doubt prove invaluable for those currently working on the Psalter. At the same time, the breadth of Pietersma's scholarship, and the significance of the methodological and hermeneutic issues he addresses, will make the book an important resource for all biblical scholars and students of early Judaism and Christianity, especially those working on the Hebrew-Greek translations of antiquity.

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Book SynopsisFrom 3 until 5 December 2009 an international colloquium was organised at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies (KU Leuven) which intended to highlight and discuss the impact of the Society of Jesus on the development of cultural, scientific and political life in the Low Countries. The colloquium not only aimed to bring together specialists in the various fields of Jesuitica research, but also organised a meeting between the people committed to scientific research, and those who disclose archives and other information sources enabling new research. Some of the finest scholars in Jesuit studies presented the results of their research in a number of lectures. The current volume contains a selection of these lectures, dealing with a broad spectrum of subjects, from Jesuit spirituality to the Jesuit contribution to the science of law, political thought and the visual arts, to education, mathematics and architecture. Attention is paid to the role of the Jesuits in the development of the printing press, their relation with Louvain's Faculty of Theology and their position in the Jansenist controversies, as well as to their expansion abroad, in the Missio Hollandica, in South Wales and in the mission to China. Furthermore, the book includes a number of presentations from the workshops, specifically concerning archives and databases related to the history of the Jesuits in the Low Countries.

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Book SynopsisThe present volume addresses the surprising lack of scholarly discussion of the use and meaning of the terms, "Bible" and "biblical." It highlights not only the differing, contrasting, and even opposing ways in which the terms "Bible" and "biblical" are used in scholarly discourse but engages scholars from various countries with different religious orientations and from different schools of thought in reflections on the terms at hand from their particular perspectives. The contributions highlight the key differences between Jewish and Christian understandings of Bible and canon. Bible and biblical are theological concepts, not historical or linguistic ones. The language of "Bible" and "biblical" is appropriate and indeed necessary in theological discourses but should be avoided in historical, archaeological, or linguistic contexts.

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Book SynopsisTheologizing in the Corinthian Conflict is a collection of twenty exegetical studies on 2 Corinthians. Most of the texts were originally presented as papers during the annual meetings of the European Association of Biblical Studies. Some of the literary-critical issues of 2 Corinthians are touched upon in several contributions. Other essays focus on a variety of theological and interpretive questions: hermeneutics, the narrative and social world, revelation terminology, Paul’s theology of God and Christ, the understanding of the Spirit, the letter and the Spirit, conflict and reconciliation, poverty and wealth, debt theology and the collection, identity formation, synagogue beatings, parental beneficence, new creation and righteousness of God, dying for and being raised for, life after death, eschatology and new covenant, mysticism. In their diversity, the contributions of this book have in common that they are concerned with theological topics in exegetical perspective using a variety of approaches and methodologies. The goal of this book is not to reconstruct the theology of Paul, but to gain a deeper understanding of Paul’s theologizing in the Corinthian context of conflict and reconciliation. Theologizing in the Corinthian Conflict is a collection of twenty exegetical studies on 2 Corinthians. Most of the texts were originally presented as papers during the annual meetings of the European Association of Biblical Studies. Some of the literary-critical issues of 2 Corinthians are touched upon in several contributions. Other essays focus on a variety of theological and interpretive questions: hermeneutics, the narrative and social world, revelation terminology, Paul’s theology of God and Christ, the understanding of the Spirit, the letter and the Spirit, conflict and reconciliation, poverty and wealth, debt theology and the collection, identity formation, synagogue beatings, parental beneficence, new creation and righteousness of God, dying for and being raised for, life after death, eschatology and new covenant, mysticism. In their diversity, the contributions of this book have in common that they are concerned with theological topics in exegetical perspective using a variety of approaches and methodologies. The goal of this book is not to reconstruct the theology of Paul, but to gain a deeper understanding of Paul’s theologizing in the Corinthian context of conflict and reconciliation.

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Book SynopsisThis book traces the convergence of two biblical texts, Akedah (Genesis 22) and the Fourth Servant Song (Isaiah 53) in early Jewish and Christian writings. The passages share verbal and conceptual resonances, including the suffering of a righteous individual, divine complicity in an unjust death, unresisting compliance, notions of cultic sacrifice, exaltation and reward. Given their intertextual links, the two passages have been associated together in some ancient texts, within contexts of suffering righteousness and sacrifice. This book labels the apparent convergence of the primary texts as the Akedah Servant complex, and it develops a dialogic intertextual approach to determine the presence of the complex in selected passages: Stage I/ pre-70CE Jewish writings; Stage II/ New Testament; Stage III /post-70CE (rabbinic and patristic) texts. This study indicates that the linking of Isaiah 53 and Genesis 22 is a long-standing tradition which resulted in shaping an early Christian model of atone

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Book SynopsisRecent scholarship has become increasingly aware of the significance of the apocryphal gospels for the transmission and interpretation of the Jesus tradition in the first three or four centuries. Against this background the 60th Colloquium Biblicum Lovaniense was devoted to these texts and their role and status in the formation of the New Testament Canon. The present volume contains the proceedings of the conference. Some of its contributions deal with well-known apocryphal gospels as, e.g., the Gospels of Thomas, Mary, Peter or Judas. Other essays treat thematic aspects, such as the influence of Platonic tradition, the way Jesus is presented in these gospels, or his dialogues with his (male and female) disciples. Important facets of the present volume are also early traditions about Jesus, e.g., in the so-called Infancy Gospels or in texts on the Mary. The volume thus gives an extensive overview of important areas of current research on the apocryphal gospels within early Christian theology.

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Book SynopsisEcclesiastes, Qoheleth in Hebrew, is a fascinating book. It was written in the Hellenistic Period (3rd-2nd Cent. B.C.) and is one of the latest books in the Old Testament. The author is in search of an answer to the problem he poses in 1:3, "What profit is there for humans from all their toil at which they toil under the sun?". The answer is: "None". Therefore, Ecclesiastes begins and ends his book with a statement that everything is absurd. He does not try to explain away this reality, but he presents enjoyment of life as the best, though not the perfect, solution. He has been called an atheist, a pessimist, a sceptic, an Epicurean, but also an optimist, a believing or god-fearing man. He is certainly a nonconformist, and the best characterization is that he is a sceptic or even an agnostic, who undermines all sorts of certainties. He asks many questions but gives few answers. But all this is meant for the best: he speaks honestly with a feeling of compassion with tormented humankind. His book often sounds very modern.

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Book SynopsisJames Watts uses rhetorical analysis for this detailed exposition of Leviticus 1-10. In dialogue with a wide variety of contemporary scholarship on Leviticus, this commentary also engages the history of the book’s interpretation and the history of Jewish and Christian ritual practices. Leviticus’s rhetoric aimed to persuade ancient Israelites to make offerings to God. It legitimized the monopoly of Aaronide priests over Israel’s offerings and over determining correct ritual practice. The priests in turn established the Torah containing Leviticus as the authoritative text of Israel’s religion. Rhetorical analysis of Leviticus thus leads to new insights into the role of priests in raising the Pentateuch to the status of scripture and in shaping the biblical canon. It also calls attention to the role of ritual rhetoric in the polities of later Jewish and Christian groups, despite the fact that neither religion makes animal offerings as Leviticus 1-10 mandates.

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Book SynopsisThe volume contains the papers presented at the 2012 meeting of the Colloquium Oecumenicum Paulinum in Rome. Two essays provide detailed exegetical coverage of the text of the whole of 2 Thessalonians. In addition, there is discussion of more general issues concerning Pauline authorship in the Pauline corpus of letters. The essays throw new light on the way in which this small, and often marginalized, letter might relate to 1 Thessalonians and to the rest of the Pauline corpus. The rest of the volume treats some key texts in the study of Pauline eschatology, and raises many issues in this important aspect of Pauline theology. The volume will be important for all those engaged with study of Paul and the Pauline letters as well as those interested in eschatology and apocalyptic ideas within early Christianity.

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Book SynopsisBiblical Tamar (Genesis 38) is an important and enigmatic figure. The enigma stems from the dichotomy between Tamar's daring, unconventional behavior and her elevation to prominence in the Bible and later Jewish traditions. Despite her transgressive behavior, Tamar, who tricks Judah, is praised by him; she ultimately becomes King David's ancestress and a heroine to later commentators. Indeed, Tamar is raised to the level of a saint in ancient liturgical poetry, acquiring cosmic significance in mystical traditions, and serving as a representative of the disenfranchised in modern feminist interpretation. This study traces the transformation of Tamar, beginning with the earliest interpreters such as the Targum, Philo, Pseudepigrapha, early Midrash and Talmud. It proceeds with the classic medieval commentators, the Hasidic writings, and feminist interpreters of the modern period. The work includes an introduction to each of these genres of Jewish literature in which Tamar appears. The panoramic perspective of interpretive traditions shows how commentators articulate their own communities' moral lessons and religious ideals, with Tamar as an exemplar.

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Book SynopsisThis volume looks carefully at the peculiar Johannine usage of the noun hilasmos in 1 John 2:2 and 4:10. Outside of 1 John, hilasmos is not used elsewhere in the NT. Moreover, other issues in and around the immediate contexts of the hilasmos-concept in 1 John have not been the subject of thorough discussion among NT scholars. As a result, many important issues in 1 John often stand in the shadow of the Fourth Gospel, and thus have been neglected and become secondary to those in the Gospel. Precisely, 1 John 2:1-2 and 4:7-10 have hitherto received neither close attention nor an in-depth study. To shed some light onto the shadow under the umbrella of the Johannine literature, this study will undertake an exegetical investigation of 1 John 2:1-2 and 4:7-10.

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Book SynopsisThe book contains a preface by the Three (editors) and has five sections—all befitting the recipient of this Festschrift with her interest in Septuagint and Textual Criticism. The first part of the book, entitled The Septuagint. Origins and Translations contains articles on what a translator is and does (such as the contribution from Benjamin G. Wright and Joachim Schaper) or how LXXGenesis functions as the first translation of Scripture (Emanuel Tov) and contains numerous articles on idioms and accuracy (John A.L. Lee), on lexical variation (Arie van der Kooij) and on renderings of nouns (Bénédicte Lemmelijn), verbs (Anssi Voitila), tenses (Raimund Wirth), semi-prepositions (Raija Sollamo), particles (Michael N. van der Meer) or lexical expressions and themes such as the “end of times” (Staffan Olofsson) or `labouring women (Takamitsu Muraoka), etc. In the second part, entitled The Septuagint and the Versions. Textual Criticism and Text History, the books that are focused on are Samuel and Kings (with contributions by Jan Joosten, Philippe Hugo, Zipora Talshir, Siegfried Kreuzer, Andrés Piquer Otero, Pablo Torijano Morales, Juha Pakkala, Christian Seppanen) and Joshua (with contributions by Seppo Sipilä and Julio Trebolle Barrera). Then, there are also studies on textual issues and text history of Isaiah (Anna Kharanauli), Ezechiel (Johan Lust), Job (Claude Cox), Ecclesiastes (Peter J. Gentry) and Minor Prophets (Hans Ausloos). The third part of this volume is entitled The Septuagint in New Testament and Christian Use and contains two contributions on textual links between LXX and the New Testament (contributions by Tuukka Kauhanen and Georg A. Walser) and patristic texts (contributions by Reinhart Ceulemans and Katrin Hauspie). A fourth part of the volume is devoted to The Septuagint in Jewish Tradition (with contributions on how the Tabernacle Account was received in Hellenistic Judaism by Alison Salvesen and `Seeking “the Septuagint” in a Scroll Dependent World' by Robert A. Kraft). The final part of the volume is dedicated to The Hebrew Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls. It opens with an attempt by Martti Nissinen to answer the question: `Since when do Prophets Write?’ Then, there is the contribution by George J. Brooke who offers a variant on the issue of variant editions, albeit from the perspective of the scrolls. Eugene Ulrich explores the fine balance between intentional variants and isolated insertions in 4QSama and the MT. Sarianna Metso offers an article on the Leviticus traditions at Qumran and Jutta Jokiranta offers a reflection on `the stranger’ in the Hebrew Bible and the Dead Sea. The contribution by Hanne von Weissenberg forms a nice inclusion with the opening contribution by Benjamin G. Wright as it too focuses on Authority.

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Book SynopsisHebrew Esther tells the story of a woman who assumes responsibility to save her people from attempted genocide. Old Greek and Alpha Text Esther are examples of Jewish apologetic and polemic literature that addressed Greek and Latin perceptions of Jewish xenophobia and misanthropy. However, in spite of the fact that Hebrew Esther gives an account of a woman’s leading role in the prevention of the genocide of the Jews of Persia, and the fact that the authors of the Greek versions reinterpreted the Hebrew for the purpose of addressing anti-Semitic sentiment in the Greco-Roman world, the story of Esther is the object of significant anti-Semitic and feminist critique. In contrast to most past and current scholarship, this work uses a combination of critical methods to question both forms of critique, and contrasts Hebrew Esther’s character and actions with her character and actions portrayed in the two Greek versions.

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Book SynopsisFokkelman states, “The Bible does not contain one single instance of small talk.” This thesis examines relational dialogue between the Deity and human individuals in Genesis by separating the conversations from narrative through lines that most often inform biblical analysis. I am interested in snapshots of character developed in intimate conversations, when `face to face’ dialogue is allowed to take center stage. These conversations then become surprising and unexpected. In them the Deity talks with the first human to commit murder, not his regarded brother; recognizes a foreign slave as a unique and valued individual yet rebukes the chosen matriarch; potential heirs are dismissed and a legitimate successor only promised. All the while humans argue, cry, wrestle, laugh, express a limited worldview, while demanding a response from their Deity. These conversations challenge our opinion of a distant Deity and push the reader to redefine their understanding of the Divine/Human relationship.

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Book SynopsisThe twelfth volume in the series Documenta Q is concerned with the reconstruction of the Q text behind Luke 13:34-35 par. Matt 23:37-39. Q 13:34-35 is a particularly difficult pericope to position in Q. The International Q Project's presentation of the critical text of Q 13:34-35, together with the exhaustive history of research on which it is based, will enhance considerably research in the Sayings Gospel Q, the historical Jesus, Jewish-Christian relations, and New Testament theology. The database and evaluations are expanded and much-revised versions of those presented and discussed at the meeting of the International Q Project in Rattenbach, Germany, 1994. Just prior to the bibliography at the conclusion of the volume, the resultant critical text of Q 13:34-35 is printed. This Greek text is followed by English, German, and French translations (Lukan chapter and verse numeration is used as a convenience and a mere convention).

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Book SynopsisThe contribution of this commentary to the understanding of the book of Zechariah is mainly in four areas. The first is close attention to philological detail, with a special focus on textual criticism, lexical semantics, and literary wordplay. A second area of interest is in the history of interpretation of the book, and takes into account a wide range of exegetical material, from rabbinic and patristic times to the present. A third area of interest is in intertextuality. Many passages become fully intelligible only when they are understood as alluding to earlier Scripture. Finally, the commentary has an interest in Christian theological interpretation. The commentary is also remarkable in that it breaks with the traditional division of the book into two parts, and argues that it consists instead of three independent and quite different parts, each of which is attributable to the prophet after whom the book is named.

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Book SynopsisThis volume contains the papers of the second meeting of the international scholarly network "The Hermeneutic of Judaism, Christianity and Islam," held in Aix-en-Provence (September 25-27, 2008). Drawing on Gérard Genette's theory of the five different types of "transtextuality" (Palimpsestes, Paris 1982) - intertextuality, paratextuality, metatextuality, hypertextuality, and architextuality - , the volume discusses the practices of metatextuality as diverse as commentaries, hypomnemata, pesharim, targumim, Talmud, allegoresis, glosses, scholia, catenae, questions-and-responses (erotapocriseis), prophetic extracts, hypotheses, homilies, integumenta and involucra, Keys to Dreams, translations, and transliterations in the ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern cultures. Presented with an introduction designed to expand and re-contextualize this issue, the eighteen communications discuss common strategies of metatextuality in Greek and Jewish culture as well as its various manifestations in the Septuagint and other Jewish texts, in the literature of the Ancient Near East and Egypt, in the Greco-Roman world, and in the late antique and medieval literature.

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Book SynopsisThe present volume is intended as a special present on the occasion of Professor Marc Vervenne’s retirement from the Faculty of Theology of the Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven). It intends to honour Marc Vervenne as an academic scholar, deeply engaged in the research of Ancient Hebrew literature. The book opens by the editors’ presentation of Marc Vervenne’s scientific biography and bibliography. Thereafter, and against the background of his own main interests in textual criticism, redaction criticism and linguistic-grammatical research, predominantly on texts of the Pentateuch, this volume equally presents a selection of contributions in those three domains. In admiration, respect and true friendship for Marc Vervenne, more than thirty colleagues from all over the world have contributed to this volume. In the first part, `The Pentateuch in Texts, Themes, and Methods’, scholars focus on Pentateuch texts from a multiplicity of methods and perspectives: historical research, historical-critical exegesis, literary criticism, redaction-criticism, themes and theology, reception history and narrative criticism. The second part, entitled `Textual Criticism’, deals with text-critical approaches of the text, on the basis of different textual witnesses with their own respective redaction and theology; it also discusses the close relationship and methodological intertwinement of textual and literary criticism in the current scholarly debate. In the third and final part, several perspectives on `Hebrew Language and Linguistics’ are offered against the background of Marc Vervenne’s interest in grammar and linguistics. The title of this volume reflects his first love for the book of Exodus and especially the Sea Narrative, which guided his whole career. The present volume is intended as a special present on the occasion of Professor Marc Vervenne’s retirement from the Faculty of Theology of the Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven). It intends to honour Marc Vervenne as an academic scholar, deeply engaged in the research of Ancient Hebrew literature. The book opens by the editors’ presentation of Marc Vervenne’s scientific biography and bibliography. Thereafter, and against the background of his own main interests in textual criticism, redaction criticism and linguistic-grammatical research, predominantly on texts of the Pentateuch, this volume equally presents a selection of contributions in those three domains. In admiration, respect and true friendship for Marc Vervenne, more than thirty colleagues from all over the world have contributed to this volume. In the first part, `The Pentateuch in Texts, Themes, and Methods’, scholars focus on Pentateuch texts from a multiplicity of methods and perspectives: historical research, historical-critical exegesis, literary criticism, redaction-criticism, themes and theology, reception history and narrative criticism. The second part, entitled `Textual Criticism’, deals with text-critical approaches of the text, on the basis of different textual witnesses with their own respective redaction and theology; it also discusses the close relationship and methodological intertwinement of textual and literary criticism in the current scholarly debate. In the third and final part, several perspectives on `Hebrew Language and Linguistics’ are offered against the background of Marc Vervenne’s interest in grammar and linguistics. The title of this volume reflects his first love for the book of Exodus and especially the Sea Narrative, which guided his whole career.

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Book SynopsisThis book provides the first full-length literary and form-critical study of Aaron, a central yet long-neglected biblical figure. Utilizing a range of methodologies, it carefully examines key Pentateuchal texts which present Aaron in multiple ways. From his appearance as prophet and co-worker with Moses in Exodus 7-11, through his duplicitous behavior in the Golden Calf incident of Exodus 32-34, his priestly ordination and activity in Leviticus 9-11, his interaction with Miriam and Moses in Numbers 12, his challenge and triumph in Numbers 16-17, to the notice of his inadequacy and death in Deuteronomy 9-10, Aaron emerges as a vital yet variable character in the biblical narratives. The author offers original conclusions on Aaron’s depictions by the biblical authors, the dating and historical settings of the texts where he appears, the relation of characterization to ideology and context, and how literary studies can produce fresh and fruitful insights in the future.

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Book SynopsisOld Testament Pseudepigrapha and the Scriptures contains the papers of the Colloquium Biblicum Lovaniense 2012, which focused on a series of contemporary questions in Pseudepigrapha research. The papers discuss the relationship of Old Testament Pseudepigrapha to scriptures, both in a technical sense (how did authors rewrite or interpret Scripture) and in a literary sense (how and why did authors expand or extend earlier scriptures). Many papers cover the phenomenon of pseudepigraphy, giving explanations ranging from pious forgery through various kinds of literary devices to authorial self-effacement. Some contributions discuss the historically fluid boundaries between canonical and pseudepigraphic texts, and the production and use of Old Testament pseudepigrapha in early Christianity. The volume contains papers on texts like Jubilees, the Genesis Apocryphon, other Dead Sea Scrolls texts, the Sibylline Oracles, Baruch, the Testament of Abraham, 4 Ezra, Jannes and Jambres, the Latin Vision of Ezra, the Life of Adam and Eve, the Story of Melchizedek, and the Story of Zosimus, as well as detailed studies on aspects of other texts like, e.g., 2 Baruch and the Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum.

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Book SynopsisThe synoptic Gospels record a remarkable story about an anonymous woman – the `Haemorrhoissa’ in further tradition – suffering from incessant uterine bleeding who, without Jesus’ intention or knowledge, was healed by his power (Mark 5:24b-34parr). The Haemorrhoissa motif had an important place in early Christianity, and from its earliest manifestation as synoptic narrative it developed into a multifarious motif embedded in a variety of contexts. One of its most remarkable developments was its transformation into the Veronica motif, the roots of which thus lie in early Christianity. This historical-anthropological investigation of the early Christian Haemorrhoissa motif hence is driven by two primary research questions. The first: why was the early Christian Haemorrhoissa motif so richly represented and did it develop so multifariously? The second: what did the early Christian constellation of the Haemorrhoissa motif contribute to the genesis of the vera icon and its constitution as image paradigm and, intrinsically linked to this, as anthropological paradigm?

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Book SynopsisThis third volume of Understanding What One Reads includes forty-two studies of the New Testament. The three volumes cover 1992-2003 (I); 2003-2011 (II) and 2011-2014 (III). Though for the most part the content of this third volume falls under the category of responses to recent scholarly books or articles, some conference papers directed toward more general audience are included. In this volume Professor Lambrecht continues his defense of the thesis of Mark's dependence on Q. In addition, a major subdivision reflects on Paul. At the end of this third book there is provided a canonical list of his English articles written between 1992-2014 from Collected Studies on Pauline Literature and the Book on Revelation (Rome, 2001) as well as those in the three volumes of Understanding What One Reads. These additional features will facilitate endeavors to follow the chronological development of Professor Lambrecht's thought.

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Book SynopsisThis volume comprises a collection of papers by Michael E. Stone, written over a period of 35 years. Stone is a leading scholar in two different fields of research, the Jewish literature of the Second Temple period including the Dead Sea Scrolls, and Armenian Studies. So this collection includes essays relating to the origins and nature of the Apocryphal literature and its relationship with the Dead Sea Scrolls, as well as more specific studies devoted to themes that have interested Stone throughout his career, including Messianism, 4 Ezra, Adam and Eve, and Aramaic Levi Document. His Armenian interests have embraced the Armenian Biblical text, Armenian pilgrimage to and presence in the Holy Land and Armenian paleography and epigraphy. Papers included in the volumes, some of which were originally published in obscure venues, touch on all these themes. This volume comprises a collection of papers by Michael E. Stone, written over a period of 35 years. Stone is a leading scholar in two different fields of research, the Jewish literature of the Second Temple period including the Dead Sea Scrolls, and Armenian Studies. So this collection includes essays relating to the origins and nature of the Apocryphal literature and its relationship with the Dead Sea Scrolls, as well as more specific studies devoted to themes that have interested Stone throughout his career, including Messianism, 4 Ezra, Adam and Eve, and Aramaic Levi Document. His Armenian interests have embraced the Armenian Biblical text, Armenian pilgrimage to and presence in the Holy Land and Armenian paleography and epigraphy. Papers included in the volumes, some of which were originally published in obscure venues, touch on all these themes.

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Book SynopsisThe redactional history of the book of Nehemiah is a hotly debated topic within scholarship. While a general consensus both attributes Neh. 1:1-2:20; 4:1-7:5; and 13:4-31 to the Nehemiah Memoir and postulates the influence of ancient Near Eastern royal inscriptions, previous scholarship lacks a systematic examination of Persian-period royal inscriptions in discussing the redactional history of Nehemiah. This present book examines Persian-period inscriptions from Judah’s neighbors, Babylonia and Egypt, and identifies a propaganda model in which Persian kings are supported by the local deities and are heirs to the local dynasties. This propaganda model resembles depictions of Artaxerxes in sections of Nehemiah often attributed to the Memoir. Challenging a recent trend attributing religious references to Hellenistic redactions, this study finds that references in Nehemiah to divine authorization of Artaxerxes akin to the royal propaganda model in Persian-period texts from Babylon and Egypt most likely date to the Persian-period Nehemiah Memoir due to a shared literary context.

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Book SynopsisHow does the Evangelist utilize the Descent/Ascent Leitmotif to shape the telling of Jesus’ story, and what is he conveying by incorporating this round trip language? The argument of this book is that the Descent/Ascent Leitmotif, which includes the language of not only descending and ascending, but also coming, going, and being sent, performs a significant literary and christological function in the Gospel of John. The Evangelist’s Descent/Ascent Leitmotif becomes the Gospel’s organizing principle, drawing together this constellation of verbs and a number of christological themes, including Jesus’ origin, identity, relationship to God, authority, signs and works, life, and glory. Using a thematic structural method, this book illustrates the transforming influence of the Leitmotif on these themes from which John’s Christology emerges. Additionally, this book examines the spatial dimensions and christological importance of the vertical and horizontal depictions of Jesus’ divine round trip.

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Book SynopsisReprenant à frais nouveaux la question de la formation du livre de Job, J. Vermeylen en propose une analyse approfondie. Selon lui, à partir d'une vieille légende de l'époque royale le livre a connu quatre éditions successives, situées entre le Ve et le IIe siècle. Chacune d'elles développe sa propre théologie et sa propre vision de la détresse de Job. Mais, contrairement à une lecture sapientiale et individualisante largement répandue, aucune ne cherche à mener une réflexion de type théologique ou philosophique sur le problème du mal en général ou sur celui de la souffrance du juste innocent. Bien plutôt, les rédacteurs successifs du livre ont cherché à répondre à une situation socio-historique concrète d'une communauté en butte à l'opposition et cela à des fins de propagande: chaque fois, il s'agit de convaincre les lecteurs de se rallier à un nouveau régime politique et de montrer que Dieu, en lutte permanente contre les forces du chaos, ne veut pas la souffrance inutile de ses fidèles.

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Book SynopsisThe present volume contains the proceedings of the Second International Colloquium of the Leuven Centre for the Study of the Gospels which dealt with the major source- and redaction-critical issues that are at stake in explaining the composition and theology of the Gospel of Mark. Though a "classical" question, the issue seems to have lost some of its momentum in recent years, but the papers and the discussion they brought about demonstrate that it remains a crucial aspect and foundation for any type of research on the gospels. Contributors were asked to study the ways Mark has composed his gospel on the basis of various sources and traditions, which at times he used quite freely, putting his own mark on part of this source material, and even combined with such sections he probably created himself. The overall picture is that of an author who is constantly in dialogue with the Christian tradition he had received, while also actively contributing to its further development for some of the central topics of Christian theology. Contributions by H.T. Fleddermann, P. Foster, J.S. Kloppenborg, J. Marcus, M.J.J. Menken, U. Poplutz, C.M. Tuckett, A. Wucherpfennig, R. Zimmermann.

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Book SynopsisThese papers of the 62nd Colloquium Biblicum Lovaniense (July 16-18, 2013) illustrate that the Apostle Paul is an excellent example for the cultural exchange so typical of the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire during the early imperial age. He was a Jew from Tarsus and regarded himself, according to his own words, as Hebrew descended from Hebrews, and as Pharisee according to the way of interpreting the Law. However, he wrote his letters in Greek, showing acquaintance not only with the Greek translations of the Law and the Prophets, but also with contemporary Greek philosophical concepts, rhetorical style and e.g. the tradition of Euripides' tragedies. He lived and worked in several Roman colonies and absorbed Romanized concepts, metaphors and a vision of reaching from the eastern frontier of the Empire to Spain in the West. Influenced by different intellectual worlds, Paul stood at the crossroads of cultural interaction.

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Book SynopsisAlthough 'Theologies of the Old Testament' continue to proliferate, most of these do not interact with the many recent studies of Israelite religion that have appeared. Drawing on archaeology and other ancient Near Eastern material, these studies present a reconstruction of religious life in ancient Israel that ought to be of some importance for the theological interpretation of the biblical text. This collection of essays integrates reconstructions of ancient Israelite religious practice into theologically-oriented interpretation of the Old Testament. In essays ranging from discussion of Sumerian hymns to early Iron Age incense burners, respected biblical scholars and archaeologists provide new insights into the biblical theology of the Christian Bible.

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Book SynopsisThe volume contains the revised papers of an interdisciplinary conference held at the University of Goettingen in May 2012, which focused on ancient and medieval receptions of the Book of Isaiah in their interconnectedness. Among Jews and Christians, Isaiah was the most frequently transmitted, most often employed, and most variously interpreted of the prophetic books. In early and classic Islam, moreover, Isaianic traditions carried considerable weight as well. In fact, the Book of Isaiah was appropriated in diverse cultural contexts by many distinct yet interrelated groups and communities. The process of interpretation - and the delineation of the interpreter's identity that was bound up with it - involved both differentiation from others as well as sharing of convictions, methods and traditions with them. By bringing together studies of Jewish, Christian and Islamic interactions with this book and undertaking a comparative analysis of their findings, the volume opens up important new perspectives for research.

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Book SynopsisProf. Em. Dr. Luc Dequeker (KU Leuven, Faculties of Arts and Theology) presents in this volume previously published articles and three new contributions concerning Jerusalem and the Jewish Temple. The first part concerns the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the restoration of the Temple after the Babylonian Exile. The second part deals with the cultural split in Jerusalem's temple milieu during the 'Maccabean' period. Two studies here deal with the site of the Syrian Aqra near the Temple and the site of the Royal Necropolis in the newly created 'City of David' on the Western Hill. The third part discusses the presentation in Jewish visual arts of the hoped for restoration of the Temple by the Messiah. The fourth part concerns the expectation of the New Jerusalem in Christian belief as reflected in the Book of Revelation and on the Ghent Altarpiece of Jan van Eyck.

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