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New from the Bible and Women Series

This collection of essays deals with aspects of women and gender relations in early Judaism (during the Persian, Greek, and Roman empires). Some essays focus on specific writings: the Greek (Septuagint) version of Esther, Judith, Joseph and Aseneth, and the Letter of Jeremiah. Others explore how certain biblical texts are reinterpreted: Eve in the Life of Adam and Eve, the mixing of the sons of God with the daughters of men from Genesis 6:1–4, the Egyptian princess at the birth of Moses, and how Josephus retells biblical stories. The third group of essays explore specific social contexts: Philo's views of women in the Roman empire, the Sectarian Dead Sea Scrolls, and women philosophers of the Therapeutae in Egyptian Alexandria.

Features

• An International team of contributors from Europe and North America
• A breadth of materials covered, including many lesser-known early Jewish writings
• Focus is on a gendered perspective and gender specific questions

There is broad support today for the idea that biblical scholarship ought to be informed by the faith of the Church and serve the life of the Church. In a word, it should be ecclesial. There is far less agreement, however, when one asks how this goal is to be achieved and what ecclesial exegesis ought to look like. In 1988, Joseph Ratzinger put forth his “Method C” proposal, calling for the development of a new exegetical and hermeneutical synthesis. This would be neither a retreat to the patristic-medieval approach (Method A) nor the continued hegemony of the historical-critical approach (Method B). The latter must be purified of its positivism through a transformational encounter with the former, so that the gifts of both might be released for the life of the Church. Such a synthesis, Ratzinger claimed, would require the philosophical, theological, exegetical, and hermeneutical work of “at least a whole generation” of scholars. Gregory Vall has devoted over thirty years to the development of ecclesial exegesis, and the present volume represents the mature fruit of his labor. Over against those who treat Dei Verbum as Vatican II’s endorsement of the historical-critical method, he demonstrates that the dogmatic constitution actually points to something very much like Ratzinger’s Method C. Employing a dialogic movement between the inductive-exegetical and the deductive-dogmatic, Vall offers nine studies that bring to the surface issues such as the relationship between Old Testament and New Testament, literal sense and spiritual sense, and Scripture and Tradition. While Vall brings theological knowledge and hermeneutical skill to the quest for Method C, he also provides a great deal of valuable exegesis of both testaments. Ecclesial Exegesis is not simply another book of theory. It demonstrates how Method C can be done.

The Bible is likely the most-edited book in history, yet the task of editing the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts of the Bible is fraught with difficulties. The dearth of Hebrew manuscripts of the Jewish Scriptures and the substantial differences among those witnesses creates difficulties in determining which text ought to be printed as the text of the Jewish Scriptures. For the New Testament, it is not the dearth of manuscripts but the overwhelming number of manuscripts—almost six thousand Greek manuscripts and many more in other languages—that presents challenges for sorting and analyzing such a large, multivariant data set. This volume, representing experts in the editing of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, discusses both current achievements and future challenges in creating modern editions of the biblical texts in their original languages. The contributors are Kristin De Troyer, Michael W. Holmes, John S. Kloppenborg, Sarianna Metso, Judith H. Newman, Holger Strutwolf, Eibert Tigchelaar, David Trobisch, Eugene Ulrich, John Van Seters, Klaus Wachtel, and Ryan Wettlaufer.

Editorial Techniques in the Hebrew Bible: Toward a Refined Literary Criticism presents and applies a model for understanding and reconstructing the diachronic development of the Hebrew Bible through historical criticism (or the historical-critical method). Reinhard Müller and Juha Pakkala refine the methodologies of literary and redaction criticism through a systematic investigation of the evidence of additions, omissions, replacements, and transpositions that are documented by divergent ancient textual traditions. At stake is not only historical criticism but also the Hebrew Bible as a historical source, for historical criticism has been and continues to be the only method to unwind those scribal changes that left no traces in textual variants.

In Embracing the Nonhuman in the Gospel of Mark, Dong Hyeon Jeong approaches the Gospel of Mark through the lens of nonhuman studies with an eye toward ecological consciousness. Drawing on the fields of nonhuman studies and postcolonial ecocriticism, Jeong disrupts nthropocentric readings of Mark by engaging animality, vegetality, and animacy theories in light of (colonized) ethnicity. His intersectional reading of Mark highlights the importance of engaging nonhuman biblical interpretation while being sensitive to the issue of racism arising from animalizing the other. By doing so, this book reimagines the Markan Jesus as the colonized messiah who embraces the nonhuman. Jeong encourages readers to consider the interconnectedness of humans, animals, and the environment, while also addressing issues of power, oppression, and marginalization.

A new perspective on essential aspects of Esther’s plot and characters for students and scholars

Empire and Gender in LXX Esther foregrounds and highlights empire as the central lens in this provocative new reading of Esther. This book provides a unique synchronic reading of LXX Esther with the Additions, allowing the presence and negotiation of imperial power to be further illuminated throughout the story’s plot. Stone explores and demonstrates how performances of gender are inextricably intertwined with the exertion and negotiation of imperial power portrayed in LXX Esther and offers examples of connections to the range of imperial power experienced by Jewish people during the late Second Temple period.

Features:

• An exploration of the tenets and methodology of imperial-critical approaches
• Focused attention to the final form of LXX Esther
• Construction of early audiences for LXX Esther in first-century BCE Ptolemaic Alexandria and Hasmonean Judea

Cutting edge reflections on biblical text formation

Empirical models based on ancient Near Eastern literature and variations between different textual traditions have been used to lend credibility to the identification of the sources behind biblical literature and the different editorial layers. In this volume, empirical models are used to critique the exaggerated results of identifying sources and editorial layers by demonstrating that, even though much of ancient literature had such complex literary histories, our methods are often inadequate for the task of precisely identifying sources and editorial layers. The contributors are Maxine L. Grossman, Bénédicte Lemmelijn, Alan Lenzi, Sara J. Milstein, Raymond F. Person Jr., Robert Rezetko, Stefan Schorch, Julio Trebolle Barrera, Ian Young, and Joseph A. Weaks.

Features:

• Evidence that many ancient texts are composite texts with complex literary histories
• Ten essays and an introduction cover texts from Mesopotamia, the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and the Dead Sea Scrolls

Essential research for students and scholars of Second Temple Judaism and the New Testament

Since Richard Laurence published the first English translation of 1 Enoch in 1821, its importance for an understanding of early Christianity has been generally recognized. The present volume is the first book of essays contributed by international specialists in Second Temple Judaism devoted to the significance of traditions found in 1 Enoch for the interpretation of the Synoptic Gospels in the New Testament. Areas covered by the contributions include demonology, Christology, angelology, cosmology, birth narratives, forgiveness of sins, veneration, wisdom, and priestly tradition. The contributors are Joseph L. Angel, Daniel Assefa, Leslie Baynes, Gabriele Boccaccini, Kelley Coblentz Bautch, Henryk Drawnel, André Gagné, Lester L. Grabbe, Daniel M. Gurtner, Andrei A. Orlov, Anders Klostergaard Petersen, Amy E. Richter, Loren T. Stuckenbruck, Benjamin Wold, and Archie T. Wright.

Features:

• Multiple approaches to thinking about the relationship between 1 Enoch and the Synoptic Gospels
• Exploration of the common socio-cultural and religious framework within which the traditions concerning Enoch and Jesus developed
• Articles presented at the Seventh Enoch Seminar in 2013

Everyone’s Apocalypse attempts to respond to the request of Dei Verbum 22 that “Easy access to Sacred Scripture should be provided for all the faithful.” In this easy-to-read introduction for beginners, modern scholarship and the Church’s tradition meet to help readers understand and pray through this demanding part of God’s Word. Following Ugo Vanni’s proved structure, the two parts of the Apocalypse (chapters 1–3 and 4–22) are presented in seven chapters. The opening two chapters show John’s vision of the Risen Jesus as Son of Man and his words to the seven churches of Asia Minor. Chapter three presents the vital section, full of worship, of the throne vision of God as creator and of Jesus, slaughtered and risen, as redeemer. The opening of the seven seals by the Lamb, the four horsemen, the Risen Jesus, the destruction wrought by the seven trumpets, the three signs of the Woman, the Dragon, and the seven angels with the seven bowls of wrath are dealt with in the next three chapters. The final chapter outlines the climax of the book. Harlot Babylon, the evil city, is judged and falls and, following the intervention of the bridegroom Lamb and the removal of God’s enemies, the marriage of the Lamb reaches its fulfillment when the prepared wife becomes the possessed bride. In the imagery of this text, the kingdom has come. Uniquely, this book reads the entire Apocalypse in a nuptial manner. This is a love story. Jesus, the lover, following the pattern of Jewish marriage in the first century, helps his espoused wife, the seven churches, to persevere in their nuptial response of love to him, their first love. After coming through the tribulation, they finally become his beloved, possessed Bride, filled with glory. This eschatological union of love is humankind’s destiny.

A new perspective on editorial activity in the Hebrew Bible for research and teaching

Evidence of Editing lays out the case for substantial and frequent editorial activity within the Hebrew Bible. The authors show how editors omitted, expanded, rewrote, and compiled both smaller and larger phrases and passages to address religious and political change. The book refines the exegetical method of literary and redaction criticism, and its results have important consequences for the future use of the Hebrew Bible in historical and theological studies.

Features:

• Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic examples of editorial activity
• Clear explanations of the distinctions between textual, literary, and redaction criticism
• Fifteen chapters attesting to continual editorial activity in the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings

The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers series of the 19th century rendered into English many of Jerome’s treatises and letters while bypassing his biblical commentaries as well as some of his most important exegetical letters. This omission, which was not helpful to scholarship, was probably due to the great length of these works. Although the problem was partly remedied by some new English translations of the 20th century, the present volume fills a significant lacuna by translating into English the Scriptural exegesis that Jerome conveyed in his relatively unknown epistles, many of which were composed in response to queries he had received from various correspondents. Many of these letters are presented here for the first time in English. Based on the Hilberg edition, this volume contains new translations, introduced and annotated, of Jerome’s Epistles 18-21, 25-30, 34-37, 42, 53, 55-56, 59, 64-65, 72-74, 78, 85, 106, 112, 119-121, 129, 130, and 140. Two newly translated letters from the famous exchange with Augustine over the meaning of Galatians 2:11-14 are included (Epp. 56 and 112), as well as a new rendering of Ep. 130 to Demetrias (which technically is not an “exegetical” letter but does present important information about the Pelagian controversy). Overall, this collection hopes to serve as a useful introduction to Jerome’s approach to biblical interpretation, of both the Old and the New Testament. Some letters focus on the historical meaning of Pauline and Gospel texts, while others contain allegorical expositions of Old Testament passages. Jerome’s competence as a Hebrew scholar will become evident to the reader of this volume as well as his thorough acquaintance with the antecedent Greek and Latin Christian exegetical traditions.

This collection of essays continues the investigation of religious experience in early Judaism and early Christianity begun in Experientia, Volume 1, by addressing one of the traditional objections to the study of experience in antiquity. The authors address the relationship between the surviving evidence, which is textual, and the religious experiences that precede or ensue from those texts. Drawing on insights from anthropology, sociology, social memory theory, neuroscience, and cognitive science, they explore a range of religious phenomena including worship, the act of public reading, ritual, ecstasy, mystical ascent, and the transformation of gender and of emotions. Through careful and theoretically informed work, the authors demonstrate the possibility of moving from written documents to assess the lived experiences that are linked to them. The contributors are István Czachesz, Frances Flannery, Robin Griffith-Jones, Angela Kim Harkins, Bert Jan Lietaert Peerbolte, John R. Levison, Carol A. Newsom, Rollin A. Ramsaran, Colleen Shantz, Leif E. Vaage, and Rodney A. Werline.

A new, sociorhetorical interpretation of the Letter to Philemon

Exploring Philemon shows how this letter entered the world of the ancient Mediterranean and the early church with a dramatic and powerful rhetorical force by analyzing the range of textures interwoven with each other to produce a profound effect on an early Christian (Philemon) and on the church that met in his home. It demonstrates that many striking and subtle features work together to present a rhetorical argument that the new Christian society must be one of freedom, brotherhood, and partnership not just for the powerful, but for all.

Features:

• An analysis of the visual imagery of the letter
• Application of up-to-date rhetorical, sensory-aesthetic, and intertextual interpretive methods
• Use of Social and cultural, ideological, and theological strategies

A multi-faceted commentary that breathes fresh insight into Paul's letter

In Second Corinthians, Paul responds to reports of the Corinthian congregation questioning his competency as a divinely sent messenger. Through apologetic demegoria and the use of graphic imagery related to triumphal processions, siege warfare, and emissary travels and negotiation, Paul defends his constancy, persona, and speaking abilities as he extends the offer of clemency and reconciliation to his auditors. Oropeza combines rhetorical pictures (rhetography) with interpretative layers (literary features, intertextuality, socio-cultural, ideological, and sacred textures) to arrive at the rhetorical impact of Paul's message for ancient Mediterranean discourse.

Features:

• A visual, sensory, and imaginative interpretation of the scripture
• A comprehensive commentary
• An avant-garde approach to biblical interpretation

In scholarly study of the New Testament and early Christian rhetoric, one key element is often overlooked: the sublime. To address this omission, contributors to this volume explore how the awe-inspiring, dislocating, and sometimes horrifying language that characterizes sublime rhetoric exerts cognitive, emotional, and physiological force on its audiences, transporting them to new realities as they go along. The essays lay a foundation for scholars and students to identify and interpret sublime rhetoric in biblical literature. Contributors include Murray J. Evans, Alan P. R. Gregory, Christopher T. Holmes, Roy R. Jeal, Harry O. Maier, Erika Mae Olbricht, Thomas H. Olbricht†, Vernon K. Robbins, and Jonathan Thiessen.

The Exposition of the Apocalypse by Tyconius of Carthage (fl. 380) was pivotal in the history of interpretation of the Book of Revelation. While expositors of the second and third centuries viewed the Apocalypse of John, or Book of Revelation, as mainly about the time of Antichrist and the end of the world, in the late fourth century Tyconius interpreted John’s visions as figurative of the struggles facing the Church throughout the entire period between the Incarnation and the Second Coming of Christ. Tyconius’s “ecclesiastical” reading of the Apocalypse was highly regarded by early medieval commentators like Caesarius of Arles, Primasius of Hadrumetum, Bede, and Beatus of Liebana, who often quoted from Tyconius’s Exposition in their own Apocalypse commentaries. Unfortunately no complete manuscript of the Exposition by Tyconius has survived. A number of recent scholars, however, believed that a large portion of his Exposition could be reconstructed from citations of it in the aforementioned early medieval writers; and this task was undertaken by Monsignor Roger Gryson. Gryson’s edition, a reconstruction of the Expositio Apocalypseos of Tyconius, was published in 2011 in Corpus Christianorum Series Latina. The present translation of that reconstructed text, with introduction and notes, exhibits Tyconius’s unique non-apocalyptic approach to the Book of Revelation. It also shows that throughout the Exposition Tyconius made use of interpretive rules that he had laid out in an earlier work on hermeneutics, the Book of Rules, strongly suggesting that Tyconius wrote his Exposition as a companion to his Book of Rules. Thus, the Exposition served as an exemplar of how those rules would apply to interpretation of even the most intriguing of biblical texts, the Apocalypse.