The Old Testament Hebrew Scriptures in Five Minutes; Guillaume; Edelman

Edited by

Philippe Guillaume [+–]

University of Berne

Philippe Guillaume is Lecturer at the University of Berne. His latest publications are A History of Biblical Israel co-authored with Ernst Axel Knauf (Equinox, 2016) and Deuteronomy in the Making, Studies in the Production of Debarim, edited with Diana Edelman, Benedetta Rossi and Kåre Berge (De Gruyter, 2021).

Diana V. Edelman [+–]

University of Oslo

Diana V. Edelman is Professor Emerita of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament in the Faculty of Theology at the University of Oslo. Her own research focuses on the history, archaeology, and literature of the southern Levant, the development of early forms of Judaisms, and ancient Near Eastern literature viewed from the perspective of social memory. She has thirteen seasons of excavation experience in Israel. While her research tends to focus on the Iron Age and Persian period, she is interested in earlier and later periods and a wide range of topics. Current interests include local responses to imperialism, royal ideology, the development of technology and agriculture, everyday life, issues involving religion and ritual, burial and afterlife beliefs, diaspora studies, migration studies, frontier studies, social memory, ancient economies, and ancient political organization. Her numerous publications include 17 authored or edited books, 44 chapters in edited volumes, 14 articles in refereed journals, 58 dictionary and encyclopedia articles, and 128 book reviews (as of 2/2015).

Each of the eighty-three short contributions in this volume is written by an expert on the topic. Each deals with the essentials anyone entering the fascinating world of biblical scholarship needs to master. Concise and jargon-free chapters present the nature of the biblical texts and the different methodologies that have been developed to understand it. In addition, major issues that standard introductions tend to dodge are considered in a balanced way, providing the pros and cons for each position.

Series: Religion in 5 Minutes

Preface

Preface xiii-xiv

Diana V. Edelman,Philippe Guillaume

University of Oslo

University of Berne

Part One: General Matters

1. How Does One Read the Bible from a Scholarly Perspective? [+–] 3-5

Diana V. Edelman

University of Oslo

Biblical studies is a multidisciplinary field that does not require personal faith to practice. Its methodologies are based on logic and make no truth claims. The Bible can be investigated in its ancient Near Eastern context or in its reception through time, including today.

2. What Is Religion? [+–] 6-8

David McConeghy

David McConeghy holds a PhD in religious studies from the University of California, Santa
Barbara. For a decade he taught religious ethics, world religions, and American religious history at colleges in California and Massachusetts. He now works as a freelance software developer in Greater Boston. He published “Narrating the USA’s Religious Pluralism: Escaping World Religions through Media” in After World Religions, Edited by Christopher R. Cotter and David G. Robertson (London: Routledge, 2016).

Religion once described what Romans did to appease their gods. By the nineteenth century, “religion” became a catchall term to identify, compare and denigrate Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and others.

3. Can One Be Religious in a Scientific World? [+–] 9-13

Adrien Chauvet

University of Sheffield

Adrien Chauvet holds a Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD) in Biophysics from Purdue University, USA, and is currently a lecturer in Physical Chemistry at the University of Sheffield. His research includes the interplay between science and religion. His Scientifically Religious: Using Science to Rationalize Faith (Markfield: Kube Publishing, 2023) is about to be published.

Science is often believed to be superior to religion because it works. It works within a scientific paradigm that values numerical application, material benefits and novelty over generosity, compassion and tradition. Science and religion have their own logic and are complementary.

4. Do All Religions Have Sacred Books? [+–] 14-16

Russell T. McCutcheon

University of Alabama

Russell T. McCutcheon is University Research Professor and, for 18 years, was the Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama. He has written on problems in the academic labor market throughout his 30-year career and helped to design and run Alabama’s skills-based M.A. in religion in culture. Among his recent work is the edited resource for instructors, Teaching in Religious Studies and Beyond (Bloomsbury 2024).

Judaism has Hebrew Scriptures, Christianity the Bible, and Islam the Qur’an. Others either do not have writings or have a sacred text that was sometimes produced by an outsider. All these writings greatly differ in their contents and functions.

5. Why Multiple Biblical Canons? [+–] 17-21

Jean-Claude Loba Mkole

University of the Free State, South Africa

Jean-Claude Loba Mkole holds a Doctorate from the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium). He is a Lay Dominican from Sainte Catherine of Siena Fraternity, Nairobi (Kenya), where he works as a global translation advisor with the United Bible Societies. He is also a Research Fellow at the University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa. His research includes Bible translation studies and intercultural hermeneutics. He has published “Biblical Canons in Church Traditions and Translations,” The Bible Translator 67 (2016): 108–19; Bible and Orality in Africa: Interdisciplinary Approaches, Edited by Albert Ngengi Mundele, Emanuel Wabandu, and Jean-Claude Mkole OP (Nairobi: Biblical Centre for Africa and Madagascar, 2021); “Jesus: The Apex of
Biblical Canons,” HTS Theological Studies 78/4 (2022): 1–9.

A biblical canon is a list of the books that are considered authoritative and binding in a given Samaritan, Jewish, or Christian community. The number of books in each community’s Bible varies greatly, from five to seventy-six or more.

6. What Is Biblical Exegesis? [+–] 22-25

Pauline A. Viviano

Loyola University Chicago

Pauline A. Viviano is an Associate Professor Emerita of Theology at Loyola University Chicago where she taught for thirty-five years. She holds a Masters in Philosophy and a doctorate in Biblical Languages and Literature from St. Louis University. Besides articles in academic and popular journals, she has written popular commentaries on the Books of Genesis in the Collegeville Bible Commentary series (1984) and more recently on the Books of Jeremiah and Baruch for the New Collegeville Commentary series (2013) and a commentary on the Book of Joshua for the Paulist Press Biblical Commentary (2018).

Exegesis was once understood as the way biblical texts were critically interpreted. Today, meaning results from the complex interaction between the author, the text, and the reader.

Part Two: Authorship, Audiences, Organization

7. Who Wrote the Hebrew Bible? [+–] 29-33

Diana V. Edelman

University of Oslo

The anonymous biblical books were written by master scribes. How these scribes were educated remains unknown, but analogies with surrounding cultures provide hints. Master scribes drew on oral traditions, palace and temple archives, which they combined to create the first edition of the books we have today. Further additions and changes were made subsequently to keep them current.

8. Why Are There Anonymous, Pseudonymous, and Fictitious Texts in the Bible? [+–] 34-38

Philippe Guillaume

University of Berne

Did Moses write Genesis? Baruch the scribe may have written down Jeremiah’s words, but who was the Hosea to whom the Hosea scroll is ascribed? The writers of biblical books did not sign them but enhanced the authority of their work by ascribing them to fictitious authors.

9. Who Are the Audiences of the Bible? [+–] 39-42

Jason M. Silverman

Jason M. Silverman earned a PhD from Trinity College Dublin. His research includes
communication and social history in the Persian Empire and the Bible in Film. He authored
“Pseudepigraphy, Anonymity, and Auteur Theory,” Religion and the Arts 15.4 (2011): 520–555.

Communication requires an audience. The way an audience engages with the biblical texts varies according to its purpose and context, which often differ greatly from the background in which and purpose for which the texts were produced.

10. What Does “Tanak” Stand For? [+–] 43-46

Elaine Adler Goodfriend

Elaine Adler Goodfriend holds a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Studies from U.C. Berkeley. She writes about biblical and Jewish law. Her recent publications include “The Qatlanit (“Killer Wife”) in Jewish Law: A Survey of Sources,” in Women in Judaism: A Multidisciplinary E-Journal, 17 (2020), and “Why is the Torah Divided into Five Books?,” at https://thetorah.com/why-is-the-torahdivided-into-five-books, May, 2018.

The collection of texts Jewish tradition refers to as the “Tanak” amounts to twenty-four or up to thirty-nine scrolls, depending on how they are counted, though the Tanak is only a selection of the literary production of ancient Israel.

11. What Are the Pentateuch, Hexateuch, and Enneateuch? [+–] 47-52

Jean-Louis Ska

Pontifical Biblical Institute

Jean Louis Ska earned a Doctorate in biblical exegesis from the Pontifical Biblical Institute (Rome). He is now emeritus in the same Institute. His research includes studies on the Pentateuch and Old Testament narratives. He has published Introduction to the Reading of the Pentateuch (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2006); A Basic Guide to the Old Testament (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist, 2018); and “Plot and Story in Genesis-Exodus and Joshua-Judges,” in Book-Seams in the Hexateuch. I: The Literary Transitions between the Books of Genesis/Exodus and Joshua/Judges, Edited by
Christoph Berner and Harald Samuel (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2018), 401–410.

The death of Moses grants a distinctive quality to the five books of the Pentateuch. The deaths of Joshua and Eleazar, both of whom are appointed by Moses, sets off the six books of the Hexateuch from the others. The nine books of the Enneateuch offer another approach to the first part of the Hebrew Bible.

12. Is There a “Book of the Twelve” or Are There Twelve Booklets of Minor Prophets? [+–] 53-57

Elena Di Pede

University of Lorraine

Elena Di Pede holds a Doctorate in Theology from the University of Louvain in Belgium. She
teaches Old Testament exegesis and biblical languages at the University of Lorraine in Metz,
France. Her research includes the prophetic books, especially Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos, and the Twelve as a book, about which she has edited and published a number of articles in French.

After Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel comes a fourth prophetic book, the Minor Prophets (Hosea to Malachi). Should these twelve booklets be read separately, or do they reflect a reading of Israel’s past as sin, punishment and restoration? Are both options applicable?

Part Three: Genres in the Hebrew Bible

13. How Do We Determine Biblical Genres? [+–] 61-65

Diana V. Edelman

University of Oslo

The genres we use today do not correspond to those used by the scribes in ancient Israel and Judah, although there is some overlap. As a result, modern readers might not pick up on ancient literary conventions and ancient audience expectations.

14. Are There Myths in the Hebrew Bible? [+–] 66-71

James Linville

University of Lethbridge

James Linville received a Ph.D. in Hebrew and Old Testament from the University of Edinburgh and is currently an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Lethbridge in Lethbridge, Canada. He has written on myth in the Hebrew Bible’s prophetic and historiographical writings, e.g., “On the Authority of Dead Kings,” in Deuteronomy-Kings as Emerging Authoritative Books: A Conversation, Edited by Diana Edelman (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2014) 203–222; “Myth of the Exilic Return: Myth Theory and the Exile as an Eternal Reality in the Prophets,” in Concept of Exile in Ancient Israel and its Contexts, Edited by Christoph Levin and Ehud Ben Zvi (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2010) 295–309.

Scholars have long resisted the idea that the Old Testament transmits myths. However one define myth, we have come to appreciate the way the Hebrew Bible integrates mythological compositions to build a world of meaning of its own.

15. Is There Apocalyptic Literature in the Hebrew Bible? [+–] 72-76

Emmanouil Gkinidis

Emmanouil Gkinidis holds a Doctorate of Philosophy from the Democritus University of Thrace (Greece). His research includes apocalyptic rhetoric and discourse. He has published “Role Models as Moral Means of Persuasion in Apocalyptic Literature,” Marburg Journal of Religion 21 (2019): 1–17; and “‘To the Top of the
World’: Ascending Mountains in Apocalyptic Literature,” Marburg Journal of Religion 21 (2019): 1–7.

The final book of the Bible, Revelation, is but one of the books with apocalyptic material. Apocalyptic language is a powerful rhetoric device that helped shape monotheistic religions in the Greco-Roman period and continues to do so today.

16. What Are Psalms Doing in the Hebrew Bible? [+–] 77-82

Bernard Gosse

Bernard Gosse earned a doctorate from the Sorbonne in Paris. He has published dozens of articles on the psalms, the latest in English being “Deuteronomy’s Influence on the Formation of the Psalter,” in Deuteronomy Outside the Box, edited by Diana V. Edelman and Philippe Guillaume; Sheffield: Equinox, 2023), forthcoming. He also has authored David and Abraham: Persian Period Traditions (Paris: Gabalda, 2010).

The 150 poems designated as Psalms make tedious reading until one becomes familiar with the techniques used to enhance the Psalter’s message, which represents a second Pentateuch.

17. Wisdom: Where Is It Found? [+–] 83-87

Michael C. Legaspi

Michael C. Legaspi holds a PhD from Harvard University. His research includes the history of biblical scholarship and the concept of wisdom in ancient thought. He has published The Death of Scripture and the Rise of Biblical Studies (Oxford University Press, 2010) and Wisdom in Classical and Biblical Tradition (Oxford University Press, 2018).

Wisdom in the Hebrew Bible is more than a virtue. It embodies what corresponds to the cosmos. More than the static order of the universe, Lady Wisdom is the first divine creation and is everywhere at work. Wisdom invites its readers to the fear of the Lord and to success.

18. What Is the Purpose of Proverbs? [+–] 88-92

Sonny Zaluchu

Indonesia Baptist Theological Seminary

Sonny Zaluchu holds a Doctorate (PhD) from the Indonesia Baptist Theological Seminary,
Semarang. He is a lecturer in the doctoral program at Indonesia Baptist Theological Seminary and a visiting professor of Old Testament at several seminaries in Indonesia. His research includes themes in Old Testament Studies, and Religion and Society. With Jacob D. Engel, he has published, “When Do Religion and Science Meet in Uncertainty?,” Verbum et Ecclesia 43 (2022): 1–7.

Proverbs is one of the wisdom books of the Hebrew Bible. With some 800 short poetic sentences, Proverbs warns that knowledge is not enough for a successful life and that full wisdom is beyond human reach.

19. Is the Book of Job a Theodicy? [+–] 93-96

Philippe Guillaume

University of Berne

The world is unfair, even for Job, the perfect hero of the biblical book named after him. The divine speeches that vindicate and silence Job explain that God is, indeed, all powerful but not necessarily just and fair.

20. Why Are There so Many Genealogies in the Bible? [+–] 97-102

Dexter Callender, Jr.

The University of Miami

Dexter E. Callender Jr. holds a Doctorate (PhD) from Harvard University. His research investigates myth theory and cognitive approaches to the Hebrew Bible. He has published Adam in Myth and History: Ancient Israelite Perspectives on the Primal Human (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2000) and Myth and Scripture: Contemporary Perspectives on Religion, Language and Imagination (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2014).

Are sixth cousins still family? As much as mules boast that their ancestors are horses (never donkeys), the genealogies in the Hebrew Bible construct identities. For better or worse, these forbidding lists of ancestors are powerful tools for ongoing production of self- and social definition.

Part Four: Dating the Bible and the Bible as History

21. Preexilic, Exilic, and Postexilic: Can We Date the Books of the Hebrew Bible? [+–] 105-109

Diana V. Edelman

University of Oslo

We cannot date any book of the Hebrew Bible definitively because they are all written anonymously. Knowing all books have later additions and many drew on earlier traditions, we need to know to what we are attaching a date and context of composition. Also, should we adopt the internal biblical dating scheme or apply an external, modern one?

22. How Did Scribes Periodize the Past in the Hebrew Bible? [+–] 110-113

Diana V. Edelman

University of Oslo

All cultures schematize the past. There are multiple periodization schemes within the Hebrew Bible. Its collection of books is not formulated using the principles of modern historiography, even though it deals with the past and memory.

23. What Was the Minimalist versus Maximalist Debate? [+–] 114-119

Emanuel Pfoh

CONICET & University of Helsinki

Emanuel Pfoh, Ph.D., is a researcher at the National Research Council (CONICET), Argentina, and at the Centre of Excellence “Ancient Near Eastern Empires”, University of Helsinki, Finland. His publications include The Emergence of Israel in Ancient Palestine: Historical and Anthropological Perspectives (Equinox, 2009), Anthropology and the Bible: Critical Perspectives (edited for Gorgias Press, 2010), The Politics of Israel’s Past: The Bible, Archaeology and Nation-Building (co-edited with Keith W. Whitelam for Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2013), and T&T Clark Handbook of Anthropology and the Hebrew Bible (edited for Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2022). His research interests are the historical and political anthropology of Syria–Palestine in the Late Bronze Age, the history of Israel and Palestine in the first millennium BCE and the politics of biblical scholarship.

Biblical scholarship in the 1990s pitted those who held on to the historicity of the Genesis patriarchs against those they derogatorily dubbed “minimalists.” The latter argued on the basis of solid evidence that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were invented to craft biblical Israel, an almost undisputed point today.

24. Why Are There Two Versions of Israel’s Past in the Hebrew Bible? [+–] 120-125

Rodney Duke

Appalachian State University

Rodney Duke holds a PhD in Old Testament from the University of Emory. Besides Chronicles, his research interests include narrative theology and the use of the Hebrew Scriptures in the New Testament. He is the author of “The Ethical Appeal of the Chronicler,” in Rhetoric, Ethic, and Moral Persuasion in Biblical Discourse: Essays from the 2002 Heidelberg Conference, Edited by Thomas H. Olbricht and Anders Eriksson (London: T&T Clark International, 2005), 33–51; “Chronicles, 1 & 2,” in Dictionary of the Old Testament: Historical Books, Edited by Bill T. Arnold and Hugh G. M. Williamson (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2005), 161–181; and “The Strategic Use of Enthymeme and Example in the Argumentation of the Books of Chronicles,” in Rhetorical Argumentation in Biblical Texts: Essays from the Lund 2000 Conference, Edited by Anders Eriksson, Thomas H. Olbricht, and Walter Übelacker. Emory Studies for Early Christianity (Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 2002), 127–140.

The royal era of ancient Israel is reported in two sets of books: on the one hand, Kings; on the other hand, Chronicles followed by Ezra and Nehemiah. Despite much overlap, each set conveys a specific message.

25. Is There Such a Thing as a “Deuteronomistic History”? [+–] 126-130

Philippe Guillaume

University of Berne

Biblical commentaries often mention the Deuteronomistic History, though such a designation is nowhere to be found in the Bible. This so-called history was invented in the wake of debates in Nazi Germany. Using it today is misleading.

26. Did the Hebrews Conquer Canaan? [+–] 131-136

Erin Darby

University of Tennessee

Erin Darby holds a Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD) in Religion from Duke University, USA, and is currently an associate professor in Religious Studies and the Faculty Director of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships at the University of Tennessee. Her research includes the Hebrew Bible, iconography, and ancient religion, and she serves as the co-director for the ‘Ayn Gharandal Archaeological Project. She has published Interpreting Judean Pillar Figurines: Gender and Empire in Judean Apotropaic Ritual FAT II 69.(Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2014); “What is Primary vs. Secondary Use” and “How is Archaeology Used to Support Nationalism,” in The Five-Minute Archaeologist in the Southern Levant, Edited by Cynthia Schafer-Elliott (London: Equinox, 2016),
86–88, 235–238. She served as the co-editor with Izaak J. de Hulster of Iron Age Terracotta Figurines from the Southern Levant in Context, CHANE 125. (Leiden: Brill, 2022).

The Canaanites whom, according to the Book of Joshua, the Hebrews conquered reflect a diffuse Levantine reality of the Late Bronze age. Ancient Israel arose within the Canaanite world as part of the response to the collapse of imperial rule.

27. Was Josiah’s Scroll Lost and Found Twice? [+–] 137-141

Diana V. Edelman

University of Oslo

The historical reliability of the finding of a scroll in the temple during repairs under King Josiah is debated. The scribes who wrote Kings and Chronicles seem to conceive of the nature of the scroll differently, and the scribes who wrote Ezra and Nehemiah imply the scroll had gone to Babylonia with exiles and returned when the temple was rebuilt.

Part Five: The Hebrew Bible and Archaeology

28. Can Archaeology Prove the Truth of Biblical Texts? [+–] 145-148

Tammi J. Schneider

Claremont Graduate University

Tammi J. Schneider received her PhD in Ancient History (including the fields of archaeology, history, and languages of the Bible and Mesopotamia) from the University of Pennsylvania and holds the Danforth Chair in Religion at Claremont Graduate University. She has 28 years of archaeological experience in Israel, serving as staff in various capacities or directing excavations at the sites of Tel Miqne/Ekron, Tel Safi, Tel Harassim, Tel el-Far‘a (South), and Akko. She has published Bible and Archaeology: Where Have We Been and Where Are We Going? (Occasional Papers #49, The Institute for Antiquity and Christianity, The Claremont Graduate School, 2006) and “Jezebel: A Phoenician Princess Gone Bad?” in Partners with God: Theological and Critical Readings of the Bible in Honor of Marvin. A. Sweeney, Edited by Shelley Birdsong (Claremont: Claremont Press, 2017), pp. 123–132.

If the Bible is true, the statements it transmits must accord with facts and ancient realities that archaeology can help us recover. The interpretation of archaeological finds is, however, as difficult as the interpretation of biblical texts. Seeking proof in archaeology is missing what the Bible actually is.

29. How Should We Read the “Archaeological Evidence?” [+–] 149-152

Raz Kletter

University of Helsinki

Raz Kletter is since 2009 Docent for Near Eastern Archaeology at Helsinki University. After postdoctoral studies (Oxford UK, 1996), he worked in the IAA as Deputy of Finds Department, Senior Archaeologist, and Head of Scientific Processing (1990–2007). He directed and published many excavations in Israel/Palestine. Major excavation reports include Yavneh, The “Temple Hill” Repository Pit (two volumes, 2010, 2015); and Rishon le-Zion, the Middle Bronze Age Cemeteries (2018, Vols. 1a-b). Kletter is an authority of coroplastic art and religion (The Judean Pillar Figurines and the Archaeology of Asherah, Oxford 1996); economy (Economic Keystones, Sheffield 1998); and history of archaeology (Just Past? The Making of Israeli Archaeology, London 2006; and Archaeology, Heritage and Ethics in the Western Wall Plaza, London 2019).

The different conclusions drawn from the limited excavations of the site of Shiloh reveal how changing political circumstances impinge on the interpretation of archaeological “facts.” The provide a warning for Bible-readers who rarely have the expertise to analyze the available data by themselves.

30. How is Archaeology Used to Support Nationalism? [+–] 153-156

Erin Darby

University of Tennessee

Archaeological finds are used across the world to build national consciousness and aspirations upon facts from the ground. Museums and archaeological parks monumentalize certain remains at the expense of others, to uphold national narratives and silence others.

31. Is It Ethical to Excavate in Contested Areas? [+–] 157-160

Laura Wright

Luther College

Unless militarily necessary, the damage of cultural heritage is prohibited by international conventions. In the West Bank and in other contested areas, archaeology is a tool settlers use to control the political landscape, while locals view archaeology as part of the occupier’s system.

32. How Do You Define Cultic Context? [+–] 161-164

Jonathan S. Greer

Grand Valley State University

Jonathan Greer is an archaeologist and biblical scholar. He earned his Ph.D. from the Pennsylvania State University. His research interests include ancient Israelite religion, sacrifice, and feasting. He is Visiting Professor of Archaeology at Grand Valley State University and Associate Director of excavations at Tel Dan, Israel. He has published a number of works on the relationship of the Bible to the ancient world, e.g. “Feasting and Festivals.” Pages 299–320 in The T&T Clark Handbook to Food in the Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel, Edited by Janling Fu, Cynthia Shafer-Elliott, and Carol Meyers (London: Bloomsbury, 2012); “Drinking the Dregs of the Divine: Daniel 5 and the
Motif of “King and Cup” in its Ancient Near Eastern Context.” Journal of Near Eastern Studies 79.1 (2020): 99–112; “‘The ‘Priestly Portion’ in the Hebrew Bible: Its Ancient Near Eastern Context and Its Implications for the Composition of P.” Journal of Biblical Literature 138 (2019): 263–84; “The Zooarchaeology of Israelite Religion: Methods and Practice,” Religions 10.4, 254 (2019): 1–19; and Dinner at Dan: Biblical and Archaeological Evidence for Sacred Feasts at Iron Age II Tel Dan and Their Significance (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2013).

Compared to the rich repertoire of temple and religious artifacts in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and elsewhere, the Levant has yielded few cultic remains. Many of these, e.g. pillar figurines, were even retrieved from domestic contexts. Bones constitute important markers of the sacrificial activities described in the Hebrew Bible.

Part Six: Translation and Transmission

33. The Septuagint: Why Was the Hebrew Bible Translated into Greek? [+–] 167-171

Ellen De Doncker

Ellen De Doncker, Aspirante F.R.S.-FNRS, is completing a PhD in biblical studies (promoter Prof. H. Ausloos) at the Catholic University of Louvain (Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium), and is a member of the Centre for Septuagint Studies and Textual Criticism (CSSTC). Her research interests include Septuagint, translation technique, modern and ancient Judaism, and material studies. She is the author of “The Lexeme panîm and its Greek Rendering in Exodus 33: Between Grammaticalized Idiom and Playfulness,” BABELAO Electronic Journal for Ancient and Oriental Studies 11 (2023); and with Anne Létourneau and Olivier Roy-Turgeon, “A Parade of Adornments (Isa 3:18–23):
Daughters Zion in the Light of Gender and Material Culture Studies,” Open Theology 8 (2022): 445–459.

The translations of the Hebrew scriptures in Greek reveal an ongoing process of interpretation and the subsequent evolution of biblical texts in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. Moving away from using the Greek to reconstruct a supposedly original Hebrew text, current research is developing ways to recover the influence of Ptolemaic and Seleucid environments.

34. What Do the Dead Sea Scrolls Reveal about the Biblical Text? [+–] 172-175

Sidnie White Crawford

University of Nebraska- Lincoln

Sidnie White Crawford holds a PhD in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from Harvard University and is Professor emerita in Hebrew Bible at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her research interests include textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible and the Qumran Dead Sea Scrolls. She has published The Text of the Pentateuch: Textual Criticism and the Dead Sea Scrolls (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2021), and Scribes and Scrolls at Qumran (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2019).

The scrolls recovered in the twentieth century from caves along the western shores of the Dead Sea are much older than the earliest available complete Hebrew codices. Despite their often-fragmentary state, these scrolls teach a great deal about the pre-canonic history of biblical texts.

35. Was Philo of Alexandria the Earliest Biblical Commentator? [+–] 176-180

Maria Sokolskaya

Maria Sokolskaya holds a Doctorate in Theology from the University of Berne. Her research includes the Septuagint, the Letter of Aristeas, and Philo of Alexandria. She has published Die griechische Bibel in Alexandrien: Ihre Legende und die exegetische Praxis im hellenistischen Judentum (Leiden: Brill, 2022); “Meals in the Works of Philo of Alexandria,” in T&T Clark Handbook to Early Christian Meals in the Greco-Roman World, Edited by Soham Al-Suadi and Peter Ben-Smit (London: Bloomsbury, 2019), 9–18; “Was Demetrius of Phalerum the Founder of the Alexandrian Library?” in Alexandria: Hub of the Hellenistic World, Edited by Benjamin Schliesser, Jan Rüggemeier, Thomas J. Kraus, and Jörg Frey (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2021), 81–95.

A contemporary of Saul of Tarsus, Philo of Alexandria was as versed in Greek philosophy as Saul/Paul. Philo’s literary output was first transmitted by Christians, particularly his multiple-meaning exegesis, though it reflects a genuine Jewish tradition of biblical interpretation.

36. What Is Old Testament Theology? [+–] 181-185

Pauline A. Viviano

Loyola University Chicago

Christianity grew out of Judaism, and Christians regarded the Old Testament as a sacred collection. They first developed a theology explaining the nature of God and of Christ. New theologies (covenant, God’s work in history) arose in the twentieth century, followed by ever new theologies today.

37. What Is Rabbinic Interpretation? [+–] 186-189

Zev Farber

Shalom Hartman Institute

Zev Farber holds a PhD in Jewish Religious Cultures from Emory University and has advanced rabbinical ordination from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School. He is the Senior Editor of TheTorah.com and is a Research Fellow at the Kogod Center of the Shalom Hartman Institute. He has published Images of Joshua in the Bible and Their Reception (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2016).

Contrary to Christians readers who mined the Hebrew Bible for references to Christ, rabbinic Judaism developed midrash, a tradition of reading based on the internal coherence of the texts and the relevance of all their details, resulting in the Palestinian and Babylonian Talmuds and other collections of rabbinic works.

38. Who Were and Are the Samaritans? [+–] 190-195

Benedikt Hensel

Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg

Benedikt Hensel is Full-Professor of Hebrew Bible at the Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg (Germany). 2019-2021 positions as Interim Professor of Hebrew Bible and Biblical Archaeology at the universities of Mainz (Germany) and Zurich (Switzerland). He holds a PhD (2011) and Habilitation (2016) in Hebrew Bible Studies and Archaeology from the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz. He is specialized in the religious history, archaeology and literary history of Israel, Judah, and Transjordan. His main fields of work are related to the Persian and early Hellenistic periods as well as to the Neo-Assyrian period. He conducted research on the Ancient Samaritans (as Principal Investigator 2013-2016; Mainz) and on the Pentateuchal traditions and their historical backgrounds (2017-2020, Zurich). Visiting scholar at the Universities of Haifa (2015), Tel Aviv (2018) and Montpelier (2018).

Today one of the smallest religious minorities in the world, the Samaritans were once a thriving branch of Judaism centered on Mount Gerizim rather than Jerusalem. As such, the Samaritans are not a sectarian split-off but a genuine denomination of Israel.

Part Seven: Themes

39. How Do the Moon, Month, and Sabbath Regulate Biblical Calendars? [+–] 199-203

Philippe Guillaume

University of Berne

Ever since humans began to grow crops, they had to keep up with the seasons and sow at the right time. The Bible employs different calendrical systems, one of which is surprisingly accurate.

40. Does the Hebrew Bible Apply Holiness to Space or to Time? [+–] 204-207

Philippe Guillaume

University of Berne

Despite the amount of space granted to Jerusalem in the Hebrew Bible—though not in the Torah—we never find that God that sanctifies space. Instead, the Bible sanctifies time.

41. Which Numbers Can Be Symbolic in the Hebrew Bible? [+–] 208-213

Elaine Adler Goodfriend

Numbers can convey qualitative and quantitative values. In the Bible, numbers bear symbolic meaning beyond their face value. This is the case for seven, for multiples of seven, and for three, five, ten, twelve, seventeen and forty.

42. Did Giants, Nephilim, and Other Creatures Ruin the World? [+–] 214-218

Elena L. Dugan

Elena L. Dugan earned a Doctorate in Religion from Princeton University. She researches the apocalyptic literature and manuscript traditions of early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, with a particular focus on the history of Enoch. She has published: “Enochic Biography and the Manuscript History of 1 Enoch: The Codex Panopolitanus Book of the Watchers.” Journal of Biblical Literature 140 (2021): 113–138; “On Making Manuscripts, Genre, and the Boundaries of Ancient Jewish Literature.” Metatron 1 (2021): 1–9; and The Apocalypse of the Birds: Enoch and the Jewish War in the First Century CE (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2023).

Who was really to blame for the Flood that wiped the land in the days of Noah? Genesis 6 is ambiguous, but Enoch—quoted in Jude 1:14—is clear. Humans took the blame for others, as is still often the case today.

43. What Does the Hebrew Bible Say about Angels and Demons? [+–] 219-223

Elisa Uusimaki

Aarhus University

Elisa Uusimäki works on the literary and cultural history of Judaism in antiquity, serving as an associate professor at Aarhus University. She also holds the title of docent at the University of Helsinki. Uusimäki has published on topics such as wisdom, ethics and exemplarity, early biblical interpretation, travel in antiquity, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and Hellenistic Judaism.

There is little distinction between good angels and evil demons in the Hebrew Bible, where all spiritual beings serve God’s purposes. The late Second Temple era saw an increasing interest in angels and developed a hierarchy of angelic beings.

44. Why Were the Ancestors De-divinized? [+–] 224-228

Diana V. Edelman

University of Oslo

During the existence of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, dead ancestors appear to have been considered divine beings who could intercede with more powerful gods on behalf of living relatives. This practice changed over time, when Yhwh became understood as the sole deity who could be petitioned directly by the living in household cult.

45. Heaven, Hell, or She’ol? [+–] 229-233

Diana V. Edelman

University of Oslo

In the Hebrew Bible, when one dies, having led a good or evil life, one ends up in the city of the dead, known as She’ol. It once had been the domain of the deity Mot or of the goddess She’ol, but it came to be associated exclusively with Yhwh once monolatry became the norm.

46. Did the Hebrews Believe in an Afterlife? [+–] 234-237

Jan Åge Sigvartsen

Jan A. Sigvartsen holds a Doctorate of Philosophy from Andrews University. He has published Afterlife and Resurrection Beliefs in the Apocrypha and Apocalyptic Literature (Jewish and Christian Texts 29; London: T&T Clark, 2019) and Afterlife and Resurrection Beliefs in the Pseudepigrapha (Jewish and Christian Texts 30; London: T&T Clark, 2019).

The Hebrew Bible displays little interest in the afterlife, but it evokes practices that tended to be frowned upon by the writers. These practices demonstrate a belief in a form of continuation of life after death.

47. How Did Yhwh Became One? [+–] 238-242

James S. Anderson

University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, Texas

James S. Anderson is a Licensed Professional Counselor in Texas and serves as Adjunct Professor of Religious Studies at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, TX. His books include Monotheism and Yahweh’s Appropriation of Baal (T&T Clark, 2015), Manifesting Peace: 12 Principles for Cultivating Peace, Healing & Wellness Distilled from the World’s Spiritual Traditions and Psychology (Wipf and Stock, 2019) and Extolling Yeshua (Wipf and Stock, 2019).

Only a good dozen passages in the entire Hebrew Bible clearly deny the existence of gods besides Yhwh. Monotheism was a slow process that eventually gave birth to intermediary entities to compensate for the inevitable distancing of the only God from worshippers.

48. Israel in Twelve Tribes: Ideal or Real? [+–] 243-247

Andrew Tobolowsky

William & Mary

Andrew Tobolowsky received his Ph.D. from Brown University in 2015. His research has often focused on the history of the tradition of the twelve tribes, as in The Sons of Jacob and the Sons of Herakles (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2017) and The Myth of the Twelve Tribes of Israel (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022).

To what extent does the fact that the twelve tribes of Israel are so important to many biblical writers prove that these tribes were actually important in the early history of Israel? The various tribal lists paint a complex picture of early Israelite realities that were highly relevant after the fall of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah.

49. Is “Torah” Law or Teaching? [+–] 248-252

Megan B. Turton

Whitley College

Megan B. Turton is a Lecturer in Hebrew Bible and Language at Whitley College, the University of Divinity, Melbourne. With a previous degree in law, her research focuses on the books of Exodus and Deuteronomy, biblical and ancient Near Eastern law, and the legal texts of the late Second Temple period. Her doctoral dissertation, “Continuity or Contrast? The Character and Extent of Legal versus Narrative Textual Variation in the Hebrew Manuscripts of Exodus 19–24,” completed through the University of Sydney, will be published in the Mohr Siebeck series, Forschungen zum Alten Testament. It investigates the character and extent of textual fluidity in the laws and narratives of Exodus 19–24, and evaluates the implications of textual diversity for understanding the
character, purpose, and function of biblical law.

The first five books of the Bible comprise the Torah, but “torah” is present throughout the Hebrew Bible as teachings, instructions, laws, commandments and norms that extend well beyond the different biblical legal collections.

50. Where Is the Magic? [+–] 253-258

Shawna Dolansky

Shawna Dolansky holds a Doctorate of History (Ph.D.) from the University of California at San Diego. Her research interests include ancient Israelite religion and historiography, with a focus on understanding constructions of gender and portrayals of women in the ancient world. She has published Now You See It, Now You Don’t: Biblical Perspectives on the Relationship Between Religion and Magic (Winona Lake, IN Eisenbrauns, 2008), in addition to numerous articles and essays in print and online.

Both the biblical and archaeological records show that the ancient Israelite world view was rife with belief in magic. Moses, Aaron, Samuel, Elijah, Elisha, and Jesus all perform magical feats and miracles. Why, then, are the practitioners of magical arts to be stoned to death?

51. Were the Biblical Prophets Diviners? [+–] 259-263

Philippe Guillaume

University of Berne

Like everyone else, the Israelites sought guidance from God before making major decisions. The biblical prophets differ from the seers, visionaries, and ecstatics known from neighboring cultures by the way their words were turned into books.

52. What is a Covenant? [+–] 264-267

Diana V. Edelman

University of Oslo

Two terms, berit and ‘edut, are used in the Hebrew Bible to describe a formal agreement sealed by an oath. Both designate the terms and conditions of such an agreement, which, in the case of the agreement entered into at Mt Sinai/Horeb between Israel and its deity, were carried inside an ark or wooden chest. Both terms can designate a vassal treaty or a contract for royal service.

Part Eight: Issues

53. Can Religious Texts Serve as Legitimate Explanations of the Origin of the Universe and Terrestrial Life in a Scientific World? [+–] 271-275

Fabien Revol

Catholic University of Lyon

Fabien Revol holds a DPhil from the Catholic University of Lyon and a Sacred Theology Doctorate from the Jesuit Faculties of Centre Sevres, in Paris. He works as a teacher and researcher at the Catholic University of Lyon. His research includes creation in dialogue with science and religion, and integral ecology. He has published: “Theology of Continuous Creation,” Theology and Science, 19.3 (2021): 287–299; “The Concept of Continuous Creation Part I: History and Contemporary Use,” Zygon 55 (2020): 229–250; “The Concept of Continuous Creation Part II: Continuous Creation: Toward a Renewed and Actualized Concept,” Zygon 55 (2020): 251–274.

As there is no inconvertible proof that God exists and initiated the process that resulted in the universe and life on earth, what is the relevance of the biblical creation stories? The belief that each one of us is created in the image of God implies a responsibility to preserve creation from chaos.

54. Does the Hebrew Bible Endorse Genocide? [+–] 276-280

James S. Anderson

University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, Texas

Yhwh’s commands to utterly destroy the Canaanites fit the definition of the crime of genocide in a 1948 United Nations convention. This is reason enough to conclude that such a deity is not worthy of worship. If not, this crucial issue must be faced squarely.

55. Is the Hebrew Bible Patriarchal? [+–] 281-285

Philippe Guillaume

University of Berne

“Patriarchal” has become a pet designation of the biblical portrait of the model family. Yet, feminist biblical scholars have been arguing for over a decade that wives in the biblical world were not the property of their husbands.

56. Are There Polemics (Even) in the Hebrew Bible? [+–] 286-290

Diana V. Edelman

University of Oslo

The scribes who created the books of the Hebrew Bible used four types of polemics to convey competing views on contested issues: explicit, implicit, hidden, and seemingly hidden.

57. Is the Hebrew Bible “Pro-Choice” or “Pro-Life”? [+–] 291-294

Athalya Brenner

Athalya Brenner holds a Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD) from the University of Manchester (UK) and a honorary PhD from the University of Bonn (Germany). She has published widely on Feminist Readings, including “Aromatics and Perfumes in the Song of Songs’, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 25 (1983): 75–81; The Intercourse of Knowledge: On Gendering Desire and ‘Sexuality’ in the Hebrew Bible (Leiden: Brill 2016), 52–89; and “Women Regulate their Fertility: Proactive and Reactive Aspects,” in The Woman in the Pith Helmet. A Tribute to Archaeologist Norma Franklin, Edited by Jennie Ebeling and Philippe Guillaume (Atlanta: Lockwood, 2020), 165–76.

If Rachel and Leah knew how to use a mandrake root to help them to “be fruitful and multiply,” such knowledge implies that they also knew how to prevent fertility. The Bible is not entirely mute about contraception and abortion.

58. How Does the Hebrew Bible Deal with Ecological Issues? [+–] 295-300

Jonathan K. Kavusa

University of Pretoria

Dr Jonathan K. Kavusa holds a PhD from the University of South Africa. He currently
serves as an Associate Researcher with the University of Pretoria and also is the
President and Legal Representative of the Baptist Church in Central Africa (www.cbca-
kanisa.org). His publications include “Ecological Hermeneutics and the Interpretation of
Biblical Texts Yesterday, Today and Onwards: Critical Reflection and Assessment,” Old
Testament Essays 32 (2019): 229–255 ( http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/2312-
3621/2019/v32n1a13 ); Water and Water-Related Phenomena in the Old Testament
Wisdom Literature: An Eco-theological Investigation (London: Bloomsbury, 2020); and
“Creation as a Cosmic Temple: Reading Genesis 1:1–2:4a in light of Willie van Heerden’s
Ecological Insights,” Journal for Semitics 30 (2021): 1–23 ( https://doi.org/10.25159/2663-
6573/8761).

Were Nasr and White correct to situate the root of the present ecological crisis in the way Western Christians have read the Old Testament? The different answers advanced so far are not equally convincing, but there are good reasons not to succumb to eco-anxiety.

59. Does (or How Does) the Old Testament Deal with LGBTQIA Issues? [+–] 301-305

Rhiannon Graybill

University of Richmond

Rhiannon Graybill is Marcus M. and Carole M. Weinstein and Gilbert M. and Fannie S. Rosenthal Chair of Jewish Studies and Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Richmond. She is a scholar of the Hebrew Bible whose work brings together biblical texts and contemporary critical and cultural theory. Her research interests include prophecy, gender and sexuality, horror theory, speculative fiction, and the Bible as literature. She is the author of Are We Not Men? Unstable Masculinity in the Hebrew Prophets (Oxford, 2016) and Texts after Terror: Rape, Sexual Violence, and the Hebrew Bible (Oxford, 2021). She has also co-edited three books: Rape Culture and Religious Studies: Critical and Pedagogical Engagements (with Cooper Minister and Beatrice Lawrence, Lexington Books, 2019), The Bible, Gender, and Sexuality: Critical Readings (with Lynn R. Huber, Bloomsbury / T. & T. Clark, 2020), and “Who Knows What We’d Make of It, If We Ever Got Our Hands on It?”: The Bible and Margaret Atwood (with Peter J. Sabo, Gorgias Press, 2020). Her current projects include the Anchor Yale Bible Commentary on Jonah(with Steven L. McKenzie and John Kaltner) and an edited volume entitled Lee Edelman and the Queer Study of Religion (with Kent L. Brintnall and Linn Tonstad).

The Hebrew Bible explicitly prohibits male-male anal intercourse but not lesbianism nor the range of sexual orientations the LGBTQIA acronym covers.

Part Nine: Selected Biblical Figures

60. Is Abraham/Ibrahim an Ecumenical Figure? [+–] 309-313

Carol Bakhos

University of California, Los Angeles

Carol Bakhos is Associate Professor of Late Antique Judaism in the department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is the author of Ishmael on the Border: Rabbinic Portrayals of the First Arab (2006), and editor of Judaism in its Hellenistic Context (2005), Current Trends in the Study of Midrash (2006), and co-editor of The Talmud in its Iranian Context (2010). She is currently working on a monograph on comparative Jewish, Christian and Muslim exegesis.

Considered the first monotheist, Abraham is a major figure in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In each, he plays different roles well beyond the Hebrew Bible’s limited data on Abraham’s career.

61. Why Is Melchizedek So Mysterious? [+–] 314-317

Panagiotis Kampouris

Panagiotis Kampouris holds a PhD in Theology from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. His research interests include Old Testament, Jewish and Christian apocalypticism and mysticism, and the ancient Near East. He is the author of “The Priesthood of Melchizedek in Biblical and Extra-biblical Sources and its Relevance to the Ancient Near Eastern Divine Kingship.” Studies in Theology of the School of Humanities, Hellenic Open University 11 (2020): 123–144; “Heavenly Ascents in the Jewish Apocalyptic: The Examples of Enoch (1 Enoch 17–36; 2 Enoch 3–22) and Abraham (Testament of Abraham 10–15).” Nea Sion 95 (2018): 193–216; and “Voces magicae. The Importance of the Invocations of Divine Names in the Prayer of Jacob.” Studies in Theology of the School of Humanities, Hellenic Open University 9 (2018): 197–217.

Based on a couple of verses in Genesis, the figure of Melchizedek evolved into the founder of an eternal priesthood, a precursor of Christ, a prophet, and an angelic personality.

62. Joseph: Does His Ability to Interpret Dreams Represent Actual Divinatory Practice? [+–] 318-322

Scott B. Noegel

University of Washington

Scott B. Noegel received his Ph.D. in 1995 from Cornell University. He has authored more than a hundred publications on diverse topics related to the ancient world, including Nocturnal Ciphers: The Allusive Language of Dreams in the Ancient Near East (New Haven: American Oriental Society, 2007) and “Wordplay” in Ancient Near Eastern Texts (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2021).

The way Joseph deals with the dreams of his cellmates is similar to Mesopotamian and late Egyptian manuals for the interpretation of dreams, a practice the Bible does not list among prohibited divinatory practices.

63. Moses: How Many Faces? [+–] 323-328

Benedetta Rossi

Pontifical Biblical Institute

Benedetta Rossi is Associate Professor of Old Testament Exegesis at Pontifical Biblical Institute (Rome). Her research interests are Prophecy and the book of Jeremiah; Deuteronomy, its composition and production; the relation between Pentateuch and Prophetic Literature. She also focuses on Cultural Hegemony and the production of sacred texts in the Second Temple period. Her recent publications are articles and book chapters on Deuteronomy, Jeremiah, and prophetic books. She recently coedited with Diana Edelman, Kåre Berge and Philippe Guillaume the volume Deuteronomy in the Making: Studies in the Production of Debarim (De Gruyter: 2021).

The biblical portrayal of Moses reflects many features typical of ancient Near Eastern sovereigns, in addition to his being depicted as a master scribe and the forefather of a scribal guild.

64. Ruth: Whore or Matriarch? [+–] 329-332

Philippe Guillaume

University of Berne

How self-sacrificing is Ruth’s decision to follow Naomi? Naomi pimps Ruth, and Boaz does not marry Ruth for nothing. Each actor takes care of his and her own interest. In this sense, the Ruth booklet offers a model of reciprocal exploitation for survival.

65. King David: Famous or Infamous? [+–] 333-338

Baruch Halpern

University of Georgia

Baruch Halpern holds a Doctorate of philosophy from Harvard University in Near Eastern
Languages & Civilizations. His research includes ancient historiography and continuity and rupture in social and cultural history. Among his publications are The Constitution of the Monarchy in Israel (Chico, CA: Scholars, 1981); The First Historians: The Hebrew Bible and History (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988; reprint University Park PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1996); David’s Secret Demons: Messiah, Murderer, Traitor, King (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003); and “The United Monarchy: David between Saul and Solomon,” in The Old Testament in Archaeology and History, Edited by Jennie Ebeling, J. Edward Wright, Mark Elliot and Paul V. M.
Flesher (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2017), 337–362.

After God and Moses, King David casts the longest shadow in the Hebrew Bible and in the archaeological record. Politically, David constructed a new monarchic administration that remained governed by a shame culture in which affronts among the elite were questions of honor.

66. Jezebel: Does She Deserve Her Bad Reputation? [+–] 339-342

Kristin Joachimsen

Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society

View Website

Kristin Joachimsen is Professor of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament at MF-Norwegian School of Theology, Religion, and Society. She is the author of Identities in Transition: The Pursuit of Isa. 52:13-53:12 (Brill 2011). Her current research focuses on prophetic and poetic literature, as well as the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. Theoretically, she elaborates on topics like historiography, identity, cultural imagination, and perspectives taken from postcolonial and gender studies. She is the initiator and PI of the interdisciplinary research project Perception and Reception of Persia (PERSIAS).

Using the trope of the dangerous foreign woman, Jezebel’s story is part of a larger discussion of Israel’s relation to its neighbors and the worship of deities other than Yhwh.

67. How Many Isaiahs? [+–] 343-347

Ehud Ben Zvi

University of Alberta

View Website

Ehud Ben Zvi is a Professor Emeritus in the department of History and Classics at the University of Alberta. He has written extensively on Social Memory in Ancient Israel and the latter’s past-shaping texts, esp. prophetic literature, ‘historical’ books and particularly Chronicles. For list of publications see https://sites.ualberta.ca/~ebenzvi/ebz-publications.html

In a world in which Isaiah is a key site of memory that brings together multiple crucial narratives and characters, there is little room for a Deutero- or Trito-Isaiah, whom scholars have long identified in the Book of Isaiah.

68. Jeremiah: Why Is He So Well Remembered? [+–] 348-352

Benedetta Rossi

Pontifical Biblical Institute

Jeremiah, the longest book in the Hebrew Bible, is also the one that devotes the most space to the figure of the prophet. It is bound up with the events that led to the end of the kingdom of Judah, but the major differences between the Hebrew and Greek text indicate that the Jeremiah scroll was still evolving in the last centuries of the common era.

69. Jonah: How to Survive in the Belly of Hell? [+–] 353-357

Philippe Guillaume

University of Berne

Jonah, the prophet as much as the book, is a total misfit in the Hebrew Bible. Tamed and misread, Jonah became a favorite figure in children’s Bibles, where God cares for little sheep. Adults have much to gain from rereading Jonah carefully in the text.

70. Is Satan in the Hebrew Scriptures? [+–] 358-361

E. Macarena Garcia Garcia

E. Macarena García García holds a PhD in Religious Studies from Complutense University in Madrid. Her research includes Jewish Apocalyptic literature, focusing on the problem of evil and its protagonists. She has published “Who Tempted the Woman? Variations of the Edenic Episode in Jewish Apocalyptic Literature,” Collectanea Christiana Orientalia 18 (2021): 75–94.

Prince of evil, lord of demons and spirits, Satan became the ultimate cause of human disgrace. Not so in the Hebrew Scriptures, where the satan is God’s faithful servant that humans cannot blame for their own failures.

71. Was Qohelet Fighting Depression? [+–] 362-366

Steinar Skarpnes

Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society (PhD student)

Steinar Skarpnes is Phd student of Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, MF- Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society, and is working on a thesis on memories of Hezekiah in the Chronicles.

All is vanity, a puff of smoke that fades away. Is Qohelet arguing that the glass is half full or that it is half empty? Exposing the human tendency to seek escape in illusions, Qohelet recommends a willingness to accept the passing nature of existence by enjoying mundane gifts here and now.

Part Ten: Methods and Approaches

72. Synchronic versus Diachronic Readings: Why Choose? [+–] 369-372

Diana V. Edelman

University of Oslo

Two approaches to reading the biblical texts are diachronic and synchronic. Each has different underlying presuppositions about how the texts were produced and also differ in their usefulness for answering questions about compositional techniques and devices, the employment of sources, ideology, later additions, and the construction of meaning.

73. What Is Source Criticism? [+–] 373-377

Kåre Berge

Faculty of Theology, University of Oslo

Kåre Berge is Professor emeritus and guest researcher at the Faculty of Theology, University of Oslo. His studies cover the Pentateuch, especially Genesis, Exodus and Deuteronomy, focusing on cultural memory, politics of identity, didacticism, and symbolization of power-relations. In particular, “Dynamics of Power and the Re-invention of ‘Israel’ in Persian Empire Judah.” Pages 293–321 in Levantine Entanglements. Edited by T. Stordalen and Ø.S. LaBianca. Sheffield: Equinox, 2021; and “Cities in Deuteronomy: Imperial Ideology, Resilience, and the Imagination of Yahwistic Religion.” Pages 77–96 in Deuteronomy in the Making. Edited by D. Edelman, B. Rossi, K. Berge, P. Guillaume. BZAW 533; Berlin: W. de Gruyter, 2021.

Source criticism has lost much significance in biblical scholarship as repetitions and contradictions are now viewed as stylistic features that do not necessarily reflect different writers, theological schools, or times of writing.

74. What Is “P” – Source or Editor? [+–] 378-382

Philippe Guillaume

University of Berne

The “P” acronym is one remnant of the old JEDP system of Pentateuchal sources, thanks to a particular style that makes its identification fairly reliable. P begins in Genesis 1, but the main issue today is where it ends.

75. What Is Historical Criticism? [+–] 383-387

Michael C. Legaspi

The recognition that the Bible is a book belonging to distant peoples in bygone times has led to the idea that this distance is the chief obstacle to understanding the Bible correctly. Despite the rise of critical theory after World War II, historical criticism still represents the mainstream of biblical studies.

76. What Are Redaction and Text Criticism? [+–] 388-393

Kåre Berge

Faculty of Theology, University of Oslo

Despite the present popularity of synchronic readings, academic biblical scholarship continues to consider most biblical texts as the product of a complex process of expansion, revision, and reshaping. Redaction criticism holds that such a process is possible to reconstruct, though to what extent is debatable.

77. What Are Literary and Form Criticism? [+–] 394-398

Kåre Berge

Faculty of Theology, University of Oslo

The “world” that interests literary critics is the imaginative world created by the text, not the world in which the writer lived. Form criticism tends to leave aside pre-textual interests and focuses on the text itself—its form, structure, and possible genres.

78. What Is Ideological Criticism of the Hebrew Bible? [+–] 399-402

Patton Taylor

Patton Taylor holds a Doctorate (PhD) from the University of Sheffield (UK). He has published Knowing God’s Ways: a User’s Guide to the Old Testament (Bletchley, UK: Scripture Union, 1991) and “Esther, Ideological Criticism, and the Theology of Liberation,” Irish Biblical Studies 29 (2011): 100–15.

Bible readers typically find themselves succumbing to the ideology of the text. Ideological criticism searches for cracks and fissures in the text, revealed by weaknesses in the argument, inconsistencies and contradictions, that can pinpoint glimpses of a silenced counter-ideology and of later additions.

79. How Are Memory Studies Applied to the Study of the Hebrew Bible? [+–] 403-408

Ehud Ben Zvi

University of Alberta

View Website

Memory studies are a relatively new approach to biblical texts that investigates the memories groups share for their social maintenance and continuity. When people read a text that teaches them about their own past, they encounter their heroes, villains, and missed opportunities. In all these cases, they learn to “hear” what these characters say and how they talk to each other and their inner thoughts.

80. How Is Social Anthropology Used to Understand the Hebrew Bible? [+–] 409-413

Emanuel Pfoh

CONICET & University of Helsinki

A key issue of social anthropology is its emphasis on detecting cultural diversity. The recognition of cultural diversity reveals the process of othering at work in the Bible. Not only is Israel presented as having to be entirely other than Canaan, but the Israel of the Bible also ignores most of the social components that constituted the actual Israel within which the Bible arose.

81. How Are Gender Approaches Used in the Study of the Hebrew Bible? [+–] 414-418

Rhiannon Graybill

University of Richmond

The Hebrew Bible is an influential text in contemporary debates over sex, gender, and sexuality. At the same time, the Bible’s own ideas about gender and sexuality are often very different from our own modern conceptions. Gender approaches help us understand and appreciate ancient biblical texts, their diverse histories of interpretation, and their contemporary significance.

82. What Is Post-Colonial Studies and How Is It Applied to the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament? [+–] 419-423

Sonia Wong

The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Sonia Wong holds a PhD in Religious Studies from Vanderbilt University. Her research includes the postcolonial-psychoanalytic criticism of the Deuteronomistic (Hi)Story, cross-textual hermeneutics, and feminist criticism. Her publications include The Solomonic Fantasy of the Imperialized Yehudites (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, forthcoming) and “Signifying the Empire against the Empire or Doing Historical Criticism with Postcolonial Theories,” in Heilige Schriften in der Kritik: XVII. Europäischer Kongress fur Theologie (5.–8. September 2021 in Zurich). Edited by Konrad Schmid (Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 2022), 125–142.

Biblical texts were produced within imperial contexts that conditioned the practices of the writers. Postcolonial critics analyze ethnicity, identity, hybridity, exile, diaspora, displacement, homecoming, transculturation, and othering, making postcolonialism an indispensable tool for unraveling the imperial ideologies and resistance to such ideologies in the Hebrew Bible.

83. What Is Reception Criticism and How Is It Practiced in Hebrew Bible Scholarship? [+–] 424-428

Erin Runions

Pomona College

Erin Runions is the Nancy J. Lyon Professor of Biblical History and Literature in the Department of Religious Studies at Pomona College in California. Her publications include: “Rebel Trash, Bad Objects, Prison Hell: Isaiah 66 and the Affect of Discard,” Postscripts: A Journal of Sacred Texts and Contemporary Worlds, 13.1 (2022): 27–62; The Babylon Complex: Theopolitical Fantasies of War, Sex and Sovereignty (New York: Fordham University Press, 2014); and How Hysterical: Identification and Resistance in the Bible and Film (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2003).

Genesis 3 does not mention an original sin. Eve is not solely responsible for the expulsion from the garden. If so, where do these ideas come from? How are they amplified in art, literature, music, film, and advertising? Reception criticism shows how the Bible still holds sway in a secular world and how biblical texts continue to amplify systems of power. It unearths counter-readings.

End Matter

Scripture Index 429-443

Diana V. Edelman,Philippe Guillaume

University of Oslo

University of Berne

Subject Index 445-448

Diana V. Edelman,Philippe Guillaume

University of Oslo

University of Berne

Reviews

“Five Minutes” might suggest superficiality but in fact, though indeed most chapters might be read in five minutes, the concepts and problems they discuss easily lead to far longer contemplation. This is a thoroughly academic volume, though it spares the reader such things as footnotes and long citations of scholarly authorities. The book comprises eighty-three chapters, which are divided into ten sections dealing with a plethora of topics, from authorship, dating, methods of interpretation, and archaeology to translation, major characters, major themes, and the Bible in political and social disputes. Each chapter is written by an expert, whose scholarly background and other publications are briefly appended to their respective chapters. The scholarship is international and diverse in every respect, and each chapter also concludes with suggestions for further reading.
This book could well serve within a course introducing the Bible and biblical study to undergraduates. Its final chapters on gender–, postcolonial–, and reception criticism bring the volume well into the era of postmodern biblical scholarship.
The Bible Today

Related Journal

Related Interest: Biblical Studies Collection

Search Equinox

Subjects
Archaeology & History

Journals

Critical and Cultural Studies

Gender Studies

Food Studies/Cookery

Journals

Linguistics & Communication

Journals

Spanish & Arabic

Writing & Composition

Performing Arts

Film Studies

Music

Journals – Music

Classical & Contemporary

Popular Music

Jazz & Blues

Traditional & Non-Western

Religion & Philosophy

Journals

Buddhist Studies

Islamic Studies

Ivan Illich

Religion

Books and Journals in Humanities, Social Science and Performing Arts

The Old Testament Hebrew Scriptures in Five Minutes

Philippe Guillaume [+–]

University of Berne

Diana V. Edelman [+–]

University of Oslo

Table of Contents

Reviews

Related Journal

Related Interest: Biblical Studies Collection

Search Equinox

Subjects