A Commentary on Pseudo-Philo's Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum


Book Description

This book offers a dramatically new translation of "Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum," a commentary that deals extensively with LAB's place in ancient biblical exegesis, and an introduction that treats the major problems associated with LAB (e.g. date, original language, manuscript tradition, exegetical techniques).




Outside the Old Testament


Book Description

The writings collected in this volume belong to the "Pseudepigrapha", a term used to describe material connected to official Biblical books, personalities, or themes, but not included in the Hebrew or Greek Old Testament canon on which the modern Bible is based. Twelve works concerning prominent Old Testament figures are featured.







The Book of Genesis


Book Description

Drawing on the latest in Genesis scholarship, this volume offers twenty-nine essays on a wide range of topics related to Genesis, written by leading experts in the field. Topics include its formation, reception, textual history and translation, themes, theologies, and place within Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.




Galatians


Book Description

Galatians is one of the earliest of the Pauline letters and is therefore among the first documents written by Christians in the first century. Paul’s letter to the Galatians deals with the first real controversy in the early church: the status of Jews and gentiles in this present age and the application of the Law of Moses to gentiles. Paul argues passionately that gentiles are not “converting” to Judaism and therefore should not be expected to keep the Law. Gentiles who accept Jesus as Savior are “free in Christ,” not under the bondage of the Law. Galatians also deals with an important pastoral issue in the early church as well. If gentiles are not “under the Law,” are they free to behave any way they like? Does Paul’s gospel mean that gentiles can continue to live like pagans and still be right with God? For Paul, the believer’s status as an adopted child of God enables them to serve God freely as dearly loved children. Galatians: Freedom through God's Grace is commentary for laypeople, Bible teachers, and pastors who want to grasp how the original readers of Galatians would have understood Paul’s letter and how this important ancient letter speaks to Christians living in similar situations in the twenty-first century.




Israel in the Wilderness


Book Description

This collection of essays examines how stories from the biblical narrative of "Israel in the Wilderness" (Exodus 16-Deuteronomy 34) were interpreted by later Jewish and Christian writers (ca. 400 BCE-500 CE). Stories such as those about manna and water from a rock, the Golden Calf incident, Koraha (TM)s rebellion, and the death of Moses provided later Jewish and Christian writers with a treasure trove of material for reflection and interpretation. Whereas individual essays investigate how particular literary works, such as Ben Sira, Qumran documents, New Testament writings, the Apostolic Fathers, and Targums, appropriated the biblical text, taken together the essays form an exercise in uncovering the hermeneutical imagination of interpreters during formative periods of Jewish and Christian thought. This volume will be valuable to those interested in ancient Judaism and early Christianity, the history of interpretation of the Hebrew Bible, and the hermeneutical appropriation of sacred texts.




Old Testament Pseudepigrapha


Book Description

This work stands among the most important publications in biblical studies over the past twenty-five years. Richard Bauckham, James Davila, and Alexander Panayotov’s new two-volume collection of Old Testament pseudepigrapha contains many previously unpublished and newly translated texts, complementing James Charlesworth’s Old Testament Pseudepigrapha and other earlier collections. Including virtually all known surviving pseudepigrapha written before the rise of Islam, this volume, among other things, presents the sacred legends and spiritual reflections of numerous long-dead authors whose works were lost, neglected, or suppressed for many centuries. Excellent English translations along with authoritative yet accessible introductions bring those ancient documents to life for readers today.




Scripture Re-envisioned: Christophanic Exegesis and the Making of a Christian Bible


Book Description

Scripture Re-envisioned discusses the christological exegesis of biblical theophanies and argues its crucial importance for the appropriation of the Hebrew Bible as the Christian Old Testament. The Emmaus episode in Luke 24 and its history of interpretation serve as the methodological and hermeneutical prolegomenon to the early Christian exegesis of theophanies. Subsequent chapters discuss the reception history of Genesis 18; Exodus 3 and 33; Psalm 98/99 and 131/132; Isaiah 6; Habakkuk 3:2 (LXX); Daniel 3 and 7. Bucur shows that the earliest, most widespread and enduring reading of these biblical texts, namely their interpretation as "christophanies"— manifestations of the Logos-to-be-incarnate—constitutes a robust and versatile exegetical tradition, which lent itself to doctrinal reflection, apologetics, polemics, liturgical anamnesis and doxology




The Jewish Temple


Book Description

Robert Hayward offers a careful analysis of surviving accounts of the Temple and its service. All the central texts are provided in translation, with a detailed commentary. While descriptions of the Temple and its service are available, discussions of the meaning of these things are less easily found. This study clearly illustrates how the Temple was seen as a meeting point between heaven and earth, its service being an earthly representation of heavenly reality. Jews regarded the Temple service therefore as having significance for the whole created world. The Jewish Temple offers a valuable collection of materials both for those looking for an introduction to the topic and for the scholar interested in grasping the meanings beyond those texts.




Pseudo-Philo


Book Description

This is a literary and theological study of the Biblical Antiquities of Pseudo-Philo--a long, well-written reinterpretation of the Hebrew Bible written by a Palestinian Jew of the first century C.E. Using the methodologies of redaction and literary criticism, Murphy provides an analysis of the whole of the Biblical Antiquities. After a chapter-by-chapter analysis, Murphy addresses several topics more generally--major characters, major themes, and the historical context of the work. Full concordances to the Latin text are provided to assist future research on Pseudo-Philo. This book will prove an important resource for students of Jewish interpretation of the Bible at the end of the Second Temple period. It also sheds light on Jewish thought of the period regarding covenant, leadership in Israel, women in Israel, relations with Gentiles, divine providence, divine retribution, eschatology, and many other subjects. Furnishing a broad interpretive context for future work on the Biblical Antiquities, this study gives students of the Bible access to an important literary and religious product of first-century Judaism.