New perspectives on Israelite warfare for biblical studies, military studies, and social theory

Contributors investigate what constituted a symbol in war, what rituals were performed and their purpose, how symbols and rituals functioned in and between wars and battles, what effects symbols and rituals had on insiders and outsiders, what ways symbols and rituals functioned as instruments of war, and what roles rituals and symbols played in the production and use of texts.

Features:

• Thirteen essays examine war in textual, historical, and social contexts
• Texts from the Hebrew Bible are read in light of ancient Near Eastern texts and archaeology
• Interdisciplinary studies make use of contemporary ritual and social theory

Essential reading for scholars and students in wisdom studies

This collection of essays explores questions that challenge the traditional notion of a wisdom tradition among the Israelite literati, such as: Is the wisdom literature a genre or mode of literature or do we need new terminology? Who were the tradents? Is there such a thing as a “wisdom scribe” and what would that look like? Did the scribes who composed wisdom literature also have a hand in producing the other “traditions,” such as the priestly, prophetic, and apocalyptic, as well as other non-sapiential works? Were Israelite sages open to non-sapiential forms of knowledge in their conceptualization of wisdom?

Features:

• Recent genre theory in distinction from traditional form criticism
• Ancient Near Eastern comparative material
• A balanced collection that includes essays that seriously challenge and affirm the consensus view, as well as those that reconfigure it

This volume presents the original texts and annotated translations of a collection of Mesopotamian wisdom compositions and related texts of the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1500–1200 B.C.E.) found at the ancient Near Eastern sites of Hattuša, Emar, and Ugarit. These wisdom compositions constitute the missing link between the great Sumerian wisdom corpus and early Akkadian wisdom literature of the Old Babylonian period, on the one hand, and the wisdom compositions of the first millennium B.C.E., on the other. Included here are works such as the Ballad of Early Rulers, Hear the Advice, and The Date-Palm and the Tamarisk, as well as proverb collections from Ugarit and Hattuša. A detailed introduction provides an assessment of the place of wisdom literature in the ancient curriculum and library collections.

Early Iranians believed evil had to have a source outside of God, which led to the concept of an entity as powerful and utterly evil as God is potent and good. These two forces, good and evil, which have always vied for superiority, needed helpers in this struggle. According to the Zoroastrians, every entity had to take sides, from the cosmic level to the microcosmic self.

One of the results of this battle was that certain humans were thought to side with evil. Who were these allies of that great Evil Spirit? Women were inordinately singled out. Male healers were forbidden to deal with female health disorders because of the fear of the polluting power of feminine blood. Female healers, midwives, and shamans were among those who were accused of collaborating with the Evil Spirit, because they healed women. Men who worked to prepare the dead were also suspected of secret evil. Evil even showed up as animals such as frogs, snakes, and bugs of all sorts, which scuttled to the command of their wicked masters.

This first comprehensive study of the concept of evil in early Iran uncovers details of the Iranian struggle against witchcraft, sorcery, and other "evils," beginning with their earliest texts.

Celebrate 125 years of women's history in the Society of Biblical Literature.

Fourteen years after eight male biblical scholars met in Philip Schaff's study to create the Society of Biblical Literature and Exegesis, the Society admitted its first woman, Anna Ely Rhoads, in 1894. Since Rhoads joined, the careers and lives of women in SBL have changed radically from those earliest members, whose careers were largely tied to the careers of their fathers or spouses and to institutions concerned with the education of young women. Current members now serve on editorial boards and committees; women present papers and publish books; they teach and mentor students. Leading women biblical scholars from around the world reflect on their experiences studying the Bible academically in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. This volume is a valuable tool for scholars and students interested in the lives and experiences of women in academic fields, the history of the SBL, and developments in the academic study of the Bible.

Features

• An essay on the history of women in the SBL, tracing some of the struggles and accomplishments of the Society's earliest members
• More than twenty-five autobiographical reflections from former SBL presidents, Council members, editors, and active members
• Reflections from members who specialize in a variety of subdisciplines, representing a range of academic and alternative academic careers

A thorough study of the socio-economic and literary contexts of women in the Deuteronomistic History

Mercedes L. García Bachmann examines the key texts in the Deuteronomistic History that mention women in service occupations: slaves and dependents, cooks, wet nurses, childcare givers, prostitutes, and scribes. The mostly anonymous women who performed this work for others are sometimes mentioned only in a single verse. Consequently, they often are as unrecognized in modern scholarship as they seem in the biblical text. García Bachmann shows that these women were honored not in relation to matters such as sexual purity or marital faithfulness but on account of the valuable service that they provided.

• A close examination of unnamed women
• A review of previous work in feminist, ancient Near Eastern, biblical, and social-scientific studies
• Extensive coverage of Hebrew terms used for women workers

A groundbreaking look at the relationship between two sacred texts

The Book of Mormon’s narrative privileges Isaiah over other sources, provocatively interpreting and at times inventively reworking the biblical text. Joseph M. Spencer sees within the Book of Mormon a programmatic investigation regarding the meaning and relevance of the Book of Isaiah in a world increasingly removed from the context of the times that produced it. Working from the crossroads of reception studies and Mormon studies, Spencer investigates and clarifies the Book of Mormon’s questions about the vitality of Isaiah’s prophetic project. Spencer’s analysis focuses on the Book of Mormon’s three interactions with the prophet: the character of Abinadi; the resurrected Jesus Christ; and the nation-founding figure of Nephi. Working from the Book of Mormon as it was dictated, Spencer details its vital and overlooked place in Isaiah’s reception while recognizing the interpretation of Isaiah as an organizing force behind the Book of Mormon.

The Word of Truth, Sealed by the Spirit is a collection of seven essays pertaining to the topic of biblical inspiration and truth. Two chapters provide a critical analysis of the Pontifical Biblical Commission’s 2014 document The Inspiration and Truth of Sacred Scripture and reflect upon its relevance and outcome. Five chapters respond to a particular aspect of this document by investigating a hermeneutical or exegetical question in order to advance the dialogue on the questions of biblical inspiration and truth. This book is intended not only for Catholic seminary and university professors and students but also Protestant scholars and students, as well as catechized lay people of all Christian denominations. Luis Sánchez-Navarro, DCJM, writes on the importance of understanding the relationship between revelation, biblical inspiration, and truth for both biblical interpretation and for Christian living. Michael Magee provides a critical analysis of the PBC document by situating it within the recent history of the Church’s attempts to clarify the theology of biblical inspiration and truth. Matthew C. Genung studies Exodus 19 in its context, showing that the Bible itself indicates that its nature as emended Scripture pertains to its inspired character. Anthony Pagliarini writes about the Book of Ezekiel as inspired Scripture given the non-fulfillment of Ezekiel’s prophetic vision of the restored Temple. Aaron Pidel, SJ, analyzes Joseph Ratzinger’s writings on hermeneutics and biblical theology, to propose a reliable methodology for determining the historicity of conflicting biblical reports. Marcin Kowalski, analyzing 1 Corinthians 11:2–16, addresses the question of the inspired character of a text at variance with changing gender roles in society. Kelly Anderson evaluates biblical texts depicting an inner-trinitarian dialogue in order to shed light on the relationship of inspired Scripture to the eternal dialogue of God.

Celebrate the career of an inspirational scholar and teacher concerned with revealing voices from the margins

This volume of essays honors Susan Niditch, author of War in the Hebrew Bible: A Study in the Ethics of Violence (1993), “My Brother Esau Is a Hairy Man”: Hair and Identity in Ancient Israel (2008), and most recently, The Responsive Self: Personal Religion in Biblical Literature of the Neo-Babylonian and Persian Periods (forthcoming), among other influential publications. Essays touch on topics such as folklore, mythology, and oral history, Israelite religion, ancient Judaism, warfare, violence, and gender.

Features:

• Essays from nineteen scholars, all experts in their fields
• Exploration of texts from Mesopotamia, the Hebrew Bible, and the New Testament
• Bibliography of Niditch's scholarly contributions

An international collection of ecumenical, gender-sensitive interpretations

The latest volume in the Bible and Women series seeks to provide an ecumenical, gender-sensitive interpretation and reception history of the Writings and later wisdom traditions including Ben Sira and the Wisdom of Solomon. Articles trace the living conditions of women, examine the presentation of female figures in the Israelite wisdom tradition, discuss women and gender relations in single books, and explore narratives about great female protagonists, such as Ruth, Esther, and Susanna, who prove their wit and strength in situations of conflict.

Features:

• Essays by scholars from five European countries, Israel, and the United States
• An introduction and fourteen essays focused on women and gender relations
• Coverage of power relations and ideologies within the texts and in current interpretations.

The Apocalypse or Book of Revelation is one of the most frequently discussed books of the biblical canon and arguably one of the most difficult to interpret. This volume contains three texts as examples of late ancient Christian interpretation of its intriguing visions. It also includes a comprehensive introduction to each text by its respective translator. Brief Explanations of the Apocalypse by Cassiodorus (c. 580), translated by Francis X. Gumerlock from Latin and published in English for the first time in this volume, served as an introduction to the Book of Revelation for Cassiodorus’s students at the Vivarium, a monastery in southern Italy. Cassiodorus divided the Apocalypse into 33 sections, corresponding to the age of Jesus at his Passion, and expressed his belief that John’s visions were revelations of the end of the world, including the Second Coming of Christ for judgment, the defeat of the Antichrist, the general resurrection, and the arrival of the heavenly Kingdom. Testimonies of Gregory the Great on the Apocalypse, translated from Latin by Mark DelCogliano and also published here for the first time in English, is a collection of 55 excerpts on the Apocalypse from the writings of St. Gregory the Great (d. 604) compiled by an anonymous author. Drawn mainly from Gregory’s Moralia, but also from his Book on Pastoral Care and homilies, the excerpts, which are arranged from Revelation 1.4 to 22.17, illustrate Gregory’s grammatical exegesis of the Apocalypse, his interpretation of various figures in the Apocalypse, and his attempt to reconcile certain passages in the Apocalypse with seemingly contradictory texts from other parts of Scripture. The anonymous Greek Scholia on the Apocalypse contains 39 exegetical notes on chapters 1-14 of the Apocalypse, which reveal influences of Origen and Didymus the Blind, among others. The notes provide “spiritual” interpretations of the various passages and give attention to the interpretation of certain words that appear in the Book of Revelation. This new translation from the Greek by T. C. Schmidt utilizes all the Greek editions. Furthermore, its introductory matter contains updates on the Scholia from the latest scholarship and compares each scholion with interpretations found in various patristic authors, mainly of Alexandrian heritage.