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279 books match the query 'Biblical Criticism & Interpretation' and 9 start with h

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Hidden Critique of Solomon in the Hebrew Bible

Pekka Särkiö

SBL Press, 2025

The period of Israel’s united kingdom under King Solomon is portrayed in 1 Kings 3–11 as ideal in order to arouse hope for the restoration of Israelite kingship. Conversely, postexilic writers were faced with traditions that blamed the division of the united kingdom on Solomon’s sins. Pekka Särkiö explores how the writers of the Hebrew Bible used scribal tools and creativity to weave these disparate perspectives together with a subtle, hidden critique that stretches through the Torah, Prophets, and Writings. This in-depth study reveals the expressions, themes, and structures that evoke Solomon’s foreign wives, his excessive wealth, his respect for other gods, his pride, and his elevation to a venerated character. The resulting texts allow the coexistence of hope for the future and the concerns of northern survivors who blamed Solomon for the exile and the divided kingdom.

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Hidden Truths from Eden

Esoteric Readings of Genesis 1-3

Caroline Vander Stichele

SBL Press, 2014

Examine a rich history of spiritual interpretations from antiquity to the present

Since the sixteenth century CE, the field of biblical studies has focused on the literal meaning of texts. This collection seeks to rectify this oversight by integrating the study of esoteric readings into academic discourse. Case studies focusing on the first three chapters of Genesis cover different periods and methods from early Christian discourse through zoharic, kabbalistic and alchemical literature to modern and post-postmodern approaches.

Features:

Discussions, comparisons, and analyses of esoteric appropriations of Genesis 1–3
Essays on creation myths, gender, fate and free will, the concepts of knowledge, wisdom, and gnosis
Repsonses to papers that provide a range of view points

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History of Biblical Interpretation, Volume 1

From the Old Testament to Origen

Henning Graf Reventlow

SBL Press, 2009

From the very beginning, Holy Scripture has always been interpreted Scripture, and its interpretation determined the development and the history of both early Judaism and the first centuries of the Christian church. In this volume, the first of four on the History of Biblical Interpretation, readers will discover how the earliest interpreters of the Bible made the Scriptures come alive for their times—within the contexts and under the influences of Hellenism, Stoicism, and Platonism, as well as the interpretive methods developed in Alexandria. Particular attention is paid to innerbiblical interpretation (within the Hebrew Bible itself and in the New Testament’s reading of the Hebrew Bible), as well as to the interpretive practices reflected in the translation of the Septuagint and the writings of Qumran, Philo, the early rabbis, the apostolic fathers Barnabas and Clement, and early Christian leaders such as Justin Martyr, Marcion, Irenaeus, and Origen.

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History of Biblical Interpretation, Volume 2

From Late Antiquity to the End of the Middle Ages

Henning Graf Reventlow

SBL Press, 2010

Volume 2 of History of Biblical Interpretation deals with the most extensive period under examination in this four-volume set. It begins in Asia Minor in the late fourth century with Bishop Theodore of Mopsuestia, the founder of a school of interpretation that sought to accentuate the literal meaning of the Bible and thereby stood out from the tradition of antiquity. It ends with another outsider, a thousand years later in England, who by the presuppositions of his thought stood at the end of an era: John Wyclif. In between these two interpreters, this volume presents the history of biblical interpretation from late antiquity until the end of the Middle Ages by examining the lives, works, and interpretive practices of Didymus the Blind, Jerome, Ambrose, Augustine, Gregory the Great, Isidore of Seville, the Venerable Bede, Alcuin, John Scotus Eriugena, Abelard, Rupert of Deutz, Hugo of St. Victor, Joachim of Fiore, Thomas Aquinas, Bonaventure, Rashi, Abraham ibn Ezra, and Nicolas of Lyra.

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History of Biblical Interpretation, Volume 3

Rennaissance, Reformation, Humanism

Henning Graf Reventlow

SBL Press, 2009

Volume 3 of History of Biblical Interpretation deals with an era—Renaissance, Reformation, and humanism—characterized by major changes, such as the rediscovery of the writings of antiquity and the newly invented art of printing. These developments created the context for one of the most important periods in the history of biblical interpretation, one that combined both philological insights made possible by the now-accessible ancient texts with new theological impulses and movements. As representative of this period, this volume examines the lives and teaching of Johann Reuchlin, Erasmus, Martin Luther, Philipp Melanchthon, John Calvin, Thomas Müntzer, Hugo Grotius, and a host of other influential exegetes.

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History of Biblical Interpretation, Volume 4

From the Englightenment to the Twentieth Century

Henning Graf Reventlow

SBL Press, 2010

As in the first three volumes of History of Biblical Interpretation, From the Enlightenment to the Twentieth Century surveys the lives and works of significant theologians and lay people, politicians and philosophers, in order to portray the characteristic attitudes of the era. It discusses the philosophers and politicians Hobbes, Locke, and Spinoza and the writers Lessing and Herder. Biblical criticism per se begins with the controversy over the original Hebrew text of the Old Testament and extends into Enlightenment ethics, myth, and miracle stories. Early representatives include Richard Simon and Hermann Samuel Reimarus, followed by Johann Salomo Semler, Johann Jakob Griesbach, Johann Gottfried Eichhorn, and Philipp Jacob Spener. Biblical scholars such as Wilhelm Martin Leberecht de Wette, Ferdinand Christian Baur, Heinrich Julius Holtzmann, Julius Wellhausen, Hermann Gunkel, Wilhelm Bousset, Karl Barth, and Rudolf Bultmann round out the volume and bring readers to the twentieth century.

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Hosea’s God

A Metaphorical Theology

Mason D. Lancaster

SBL Press, 2023

The book of Hosea is a labyrinth of juxtaposed images for God and God’s people, with such disparate metaphors as God the devouring lion and God the reviving dew. In Hosea’s God: A Metaphorical Theology, Mason D. Lancaster demonstrates that recent advances in metaphor theory help untangle these divergent portrayals of God. He analyzes fifteen metaphor clusters in Hosea 4–14 individually, then discerns patterns and reversals between the clusters. Finally, respecting the ancient value for emphasizing individual aspects of a depiction over a homogenized picture of the whole, the book identifies five characteristics of God prominent among the metaphors of Hosea. Based on this analysis, Lancaster asserts that Hosea’s metaphorical depiction of Yahweh ultimately derives from the primacy of Yahweh’s fidelity to Israel.

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How John Works

Storytelling in the Fourth Gospel

Douglas Estes

SBL Press, 2016

Essential classroom resource for New Testament courses

In this book, a group of international scholars go in detail to explain how the author of the Gospel of John uses a variety of narrative strategies to best tell his story. More than a commentary, this book offers a glimpse at the way an ancient author created and used narrative features such as genre, character, style, persuasion, and even time and space to shape a dramatic story of the life of Jesus.

Features:

An introduction to the Fourth Gospel through its narrative features and dynamics
Fifteen features of story design that comprise the Gospel of John
Short, targeted essays about how John works that can be used as starting points for the study of other Gospels/texts

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