Introduction and General

Abstract

Introduction and General Christopher T. Begg, John Thomas Willis, J. Harold Ellens, Gerald A. Klingbeil, Andrew E. Steinmann, Isaac M. Alderman, and Todd R. Hanneken 2023. Anna Angelini et al. (compilers), Bulletin de Bibliographie biblique [BiBIL] 24 (2016). Pp. xii + 774. Paper ISSN 1421-2994. This comprehensive bibliography of current books and articles on the Bible (OT and NT) in its various dimensions is organized under the following seven main headings (each of which has its component subheadings): (1) Study of the Bible as a Whole; (2) Old Testament; (3) Books of the Old Testament; (4) New Testament Milieu; (5) New Testament; (6) Books of the New Testament; and (7) Ancient Christianity. It lists as well studies of particular topics ("vedettes libres"), and of Hebrew and Greek words. In some cases, summaries of a given book or article are included, along with indications where the item may be found on-line.—C.T.B. 2024. William P. Brown, A Handbook to Old Testament Exegesis (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2017). Pp. xv + 363. Paper $35. ISBN 978-0-664-25993-8. B.'s handbook opens with a segment called "preface and place" that provides an orientation to its presentation of various exegetical perspectives and approaches. It then continues with four major parts, each of these consisting of one or more chapters, with an "interlude" (chap. 14, "From Text to Table," between the 2nd and 3rd parts). Part I: Getting Started comprises three chapters: (1) A Hermeneutical Adventure; (2) Self-Exegesis; and (3) First Impressions. Part II: Analytical Approaches features 10 chapters: (4) Translation; (5) Text-critical Analysis; (6) Stylistic Analysis I: Poetry; (7) Stylistic Analysis II: Narrative; (8) Structural Analysis; (9) Compositional Analysis; (10) Comparative Analysis; (11) Literary Analysis; (12) Historical Analysis; and (13) Canonical Analysis. Part III: Readings in Place comprises: (15) Science; (16) Ecology; (17) Gender I; (18) Gender II; (19) Empire; (20) Minority; (21) Disability; and (22) Theology. Part IV: Communication is made up a single chapter: (23) Retelling the Text. The volume's end-matter includes [End Page 661] a glossary of exegetical terms, and indexes of Scripture and other ancient sources and of subjects and names.—C.T.B. 2025. Douglas S. Earl, Reading Old Testament Narrative as Christian Scripture (JTISup 17; Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2017). Pp. xiv + 369. Paper $39.95. ISBN 078-1-57406-758-2. E. sets out a fresh perspective on understanding what is involved in reading OT narrative as Christian Scripture. In so doing, he considers various narratives as examples that model different challenges in the form of exegetical, ethical, historical, metaphysical, and theological difficulties. Using these examples, he explores the significance of interpretative approaches focused on, e.g., authorial intention, history of composition, canonical context, reception history, and reading context in conjunction with spiritual, literary, structuralist, existential, historical-critical, and ethical-critical approaches. On this basis, E. shows that Christian interpretation of Scripture as Scripture is an inherently ad hoc enterprise, understood as a rule-governed practice in L. Wittgenstein's sense: an established, goal-directed activity for which no method, hermeneutical principle, or critical perspective discovers "meaning" or generates good interpretation. Good interpretation rather involves exploration of various construals of "the world of the text" using "hermeneutics of tradition" and "critique of ideology" (P. Ricoeur). The interpreter's task is to discern faithful readings and develop their significance in a given intellectual or cultural context. The interpretation of Scripture and its appropriation is further seen to involve wisdom in forming judgments on a case-by-case basis, something that is learned through examples and experience, on what constitutes good interpretation and use. E. likewise shows how traditional hermeneutics and contemporary critical resources suggest that history, ethics, and theology can rarely be "read off" OT narrative, but also how Christians can appropriate ethically and historically problematic books such as Joshua, faithfully adopt a "minimalist" approach to 1 and 2 Samuel, and embrace a Trinitarian reading of Genesis 1. The volume comprises a Prologue and an Epilogue ("Reading Old Testament Narrative as Christian Scripture as a Task Best Left Jagged") that frame a series of nine chapters: Genesis 34: Analysis of Why an Old...