The Writings

Abstract

The Writings Christopher T. Begg, Richard A. Taylor, Fred W. Guyette, and Mathias Winckler 973. [Gregory the Great: Moral Reflections on the Book of Job] Gregory the Great (tr. Brian Kearns, OCSO), Moral Reflections on the Book of Job, Vol. 6, Books 28–35 (Cistercian Studies 261; Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2022). Pp. 574. $59.95. ISBN 978-0-87907-261-2 (vol. 6). With this volume, the sixth in a series, the five previous installments of which appeared during the course of the years 2014–2019, K. brings to conclusion a truly monumental scholarly project: his "one-man" English translation of Gregory the Great's multifaceted and long-influential Moralia in Job (which in the Latin critical edition comes to a total of 1,880 pages!). This final volume covers Books 28–35 of Gregory's opus, which themselves treat Job 38:1–42:17. As he did for the preceding volumes in the series, Mark DelCogliano provides an introduction to the portion of Gregory's work featured in this volume. The volume concludes with K.'s afterword, which offers reflections on his extended engagement with Gregory and his oeuvre and a comprehensive Scripture index for all six volumes. Given its dimensions, one might venture the relatively safe prediction that K.'s rendering is not likely to be superseded for the foreseeable future among English-language readers. In any case, it represents a welcome resource for anyone interested in Gregory and the interpretive history of the Book of Job.—C.T.B. 974. [The Sequence of Psalms 33–34–35] Edwin Rodrigues, Psalm of Praise for the Rescue of the Throat: Concatenation and lectio continua of Pss 33–34–35 (ÖBS 54; Berlin/Bern/Brussels/New York/Oxford/Warsaw/Vienna: Peter Lang, 2022). Pp. 459. $93.95. ISBN 978-3-631-86374-9. R.'s monograph, the published version of his 2021 dissertation done at the Sankt Georgen Hochschule, Frankfurt, Germany, under the direction of Dieter Böhler, S.J., picks up on a prevailing interest of contemporary Psalms scholarship, i.e., the "concatenation," at the micro and macro levels, of individual psalms, the reasons behind their linkage and the joint message that emerges from their being arranged as they are. More specifically, R. focuses on the sequence of the three psalms, 33–34–35, to each of which he devotes an extensive chapter that addresses, e.g, the given psalm's text, structure, genre, and vocabulary. These three psalms represent different genres: Psalm 33 is a sapiential hymn, Psalm 34 a thanksgiving song, and Psalm 35 an individual lament. Nevertheless, the three psalms share a number of terms in common as well as a common overarching theme, i.e., Yhwh's rescue of those in distress (the term "throat" in R.'s title is his rendering of the term npš, "life," which recurs in each composition). These commonalities help to explain why a compiler chose to group the three psalms in the sequence in which we now find them, thereby constituting a psalmic "triad" within Book 1 of the Psalter (Psalms 1–41), which, taken as a whole, presents a multifaceted "praise" (thlh) of Yhwh as the rescuer of individuals and the people as a whole.—C.T.B. 975. [Ecclesiastes] John Goldingay, Ecclesiastes (The Bible in God's World; Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2021). Pp. xvi + 321. $55. ISBN 978-1-7252-7316-0. The Bible in God's World Commentary series seeks "to provide clear interpretation of biblical texts for students, scholars, preachers, and pastors." G.'s commentary on Ecclesiastes accomplishes this goal in admirable fashion. A brief introduction of thirty-two pages summarizes the historical background of Ecclesiastes, treats the composition and [End Page 350] authorship of the book, its text, theology, and contemporary relevance, and provides an outline of the book. G. attributes authorship of the book to an unknown Jewish thinker (male or female) of the Second Temple period, perhaps around 200 b.c.e. On matters of textual criticism, G. seldom departs from the MT. His translation of the Hebrew text can be characterized as literal and word-for-word, "so that someone who does...