Category Archives: RBL

Bulkeley’s Hypertext Bible Commentary in RBL

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I haven’t been posting the regular updates to the Review of Biblical Literature lately, but I certainly wanted to note the one that was just came today because it has a review of blogger Tim Bulkeley‘s Amos: Hypertext Bible Commentary by fellow Edmontonian Ehud Ben Zvi.

The review is quite positive, though Ehud does note some way that the commentary could be improved. Here is his conclusion:

We all owe a debt of gratitude to Tim Bulkeley for all his work in this important project. I see this Amos commentary as a version 1.0 that will, I hope, lead to further and better versions in which many of the problems mentioned here will be solved. I am aware that even this version represents an improvement over previous versions (notice, e.g., the wise removal of the term “postmodern� from the title of the series; cf. http://bible.gen.nz/), and I confidently hope that this process will continue and even accelerate.

I want to echo Ehud’s sentiments. Good work, Tim!


Blog Cited in RBL Review

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Bob Buller, the Editorial director for the Society of Biblical Literature, emailed me Sunday to let me know that one of my blog posts was cited in a book review for the Review of Biblical Literature. This is what Bob wrote:

While preparing the next batch of RBL reviews for publication this morning, I encountered what I believe is a first: a reviewer cited for further reading a blog entry from a biblical studies blog. It was your part 3 of the discussion of the LXX psalm superscriptions. I hope that this will become more common, since a number of the blogs offer excellent discussions, but you are the first (to my knowledge).

This is kind of neat, IMHO.

The citation is to my post “The LXX Psalm Superscriptions (Part 3) – Liturgical Notices and the Psalms for the Days of the Week” and may be found in Eileen Schuller‘s review of Peter L. Trudinger, The Psalms of the Tamid Service: A Liturgical Text from the Second Temple (Leiden: Brill, 2004; Buy from Amazon.ca | Buy from Amazon.com). The review — which is very good –  may be found here.


Ben Zvi in Latest RBL (18 July 2006)

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BenZvi_Hosea.jpgI have not been posting the weekly Review of Biblical Literature publications lately, but I did want to note a rather thorough and positive review of a recent book by one of my colleagues from the University of Alberta in the 18 July edition:

Ehud Ben Zvi, Hosea (FOTL; Eerdmans, 2006).
Read the review by Laurie Braaten.
Buy from Amazon.ca | Buy from Amazon.com

Here is an excerpt from the review:

Over the centuries, the task of making sense of the book of Hosea has not only been difficult but has also has sparked much controversy in the interpretive communities. Ben Zvi has made an enormous contribution to Hosea studies and the understanding of this enigmatic prophetic book. His readings of Hosea are arguably cutting edge and deserve the careful attention of those who wish to keep current in Hosea studies and recent methods of interpretation. I found here much to employ in my future work. Likewise, as the methods Ben Zvi advocates are further refined by the academy, his work will undoubtedly be viewed as an enduring contribution to this endeavor.


Hebrew Bible Related Reviews from RBL (20 February 2006)

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This week’s Review of Biblical Literature includes a few interesting reviews. Of particular interest to me is the review of Kofoed’s Text and History, which is quite positive (perhaps too positive; it would be interesting to read a review by someone more skeptical of reconstructing Israel’s history from biblical texts). There are also a couple of good reviews of Dever’s Did God Have a Wife? (see here for a previous post on Dever’s book).

Hebrew Bible/Old Testament

  • Dever, William G. Did God Have a Wife?: Archaeology and Folk Religion in Ancient Israel. Reviewed by Yairah Amit and Bob Becking
  • Kofoed, Jens Bruun. Text and History: Historiography and the Study of the Biblical Text. Reviewed by Michael Licona
  • Meyers, Carol. Households and Holiness: The Religious Culture of Israelite Women. Reviewed by Linda Schearing
  • Wagner, Andreas. Prophetie als Theologie: Die so spricht Jahwe-Formeln und das Grundverständnis alttestamentlicher Prophetie. Reviewed by Wolfgang Hüllstrung

Biblical Theology

  • Reventlow, Henning Graf and Yair Hoffman, eds. The Problem of Evil and Its Symbolism in Jewish and Christian Tradition. Reviewed by Tobias Nicklas
  • Spina, Frank Anthony. The Faith of the Outsider: Exclusion and Inclusion in the Biblical Story. Reviewed by Amos Frisch

Hebrew Bible Related Reviews from RBL (6 February 2006)

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This week’s Review of Biblical Literature is kind of sparse. Judging from the reviews I read, I’m not sure there will be much I will run out and buy! (How’s that for a ringing endorsement!). There are a couple more positive reviews of Brueggemann’s Theology of the Old Testament and Fretheim’s work looks like it is worth a gander. My interest was piqued in Min’s The Levitical Authorship of Ezra-Nehemiah due to my work in Chronicles, though from reading Grabbe’s review a inter-library loan will suffice. I should also note that philo-blogger Torrey Seland’s book is reviewed.

Hebrew Bible/Old Testament

  • Brueggemann, Walter. Theology of the Old Testament: Testimony, Dispute, Advocacy. Reviewed by Thomas Kraus and Mark Mcentire
  • Fretheim, Terrence E. God and World in the Old Testament: A Relational Theology of Creation. Reviewed by Robin Gallaher
  • Min, Kyung-jin. The Levitical Authorship of Ezra-Nehemiah. Reviewed by Lester Grabbe
  • Wright, Jacob L. Rebuilding Identity: The Nehemiah Memoir and Its Earliest Readers. Reviewed by Tamara Eskenazi

Other

  • Seland, Torrey. Strangers in the Light: Philonic Perspectives on Christian Identity in 1 Peter. Reviewed by Fika Van Rensburg
  • Court, John M., ed. Biblical Interpretation: The Meanings of Scripture — Past and Present. Reviewed by Stephen Moyise