The Biblical World. Second edition. Edited by Katharine J. Dell

Abstract

The second edition of The Biblical World is an extensive and enlightening collection of essays covering a wide variety of topics in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles ranging from content, history, and archaeology to social context, religious concepts, and interpretation. This updated edition offers a birds-eye view into the world of the Bible that is both rich in content and accessible to interested readers and seasoned academics of the Scriptures. The second edition consists of essays both from old and new authors and follows the layout of the first edition with some notable changes. The volume is now divided into six parts, beginning with an overview of the content of the Scriptures as well as some key materials, such as the Dead Sea Scrolls (George J. Brooke). The next section has been re-entitled as ‘The Canon’, which focuses on different types of biblical literature while ‘Part III: Documents’ reviews the wider cultural and linguistic world of the ANE including myths and inscriptions as well as texts and versions of the Scriptures. Part IV addresses historical concerns such as archaeology and key periods in Israel’s history including the New Testament era. Part V has been expanded to include ‘Religious Ideas’ from the first edition under the larger heading of ‘Institutions’. The section now covers a host of topics including religion in Israel before and during the exile (C. A. Strine), social life in the first churches (Justin J. Meggitt), and salvation in both Jewish (Norman Solomon) and Christian (Paul Foster) thought. A notable change is the absence of a unit on ‘Biblical Figures’ from the first edition. While interpretations of the role and identity of Jesus (Catrin H. Williams), Paul (David G. Horrell), and the patriarchs and matriarchs (J. Cheryl Exum) are addressed in other parts of the volume, essays on Moses (John Van Seters) and David and Solomon (Gwilym Jones) have not been repeated, which some may find regrettable. Even in a volume of over a thousand pages one cannot address every possible issue, however, and in the absence of some, new topics have been added. These include an expanded version of the newly entitled ‘Part VI: Biblical interpretation past and present’ which addresses hermeneutical concerns.