Biblical Narrative Research Articles

The Virgin Mary's Book at the Annunciation: Reading, Interpretation, and Devotion in Medieval England

The Virgin Mary's Book at the Annunciation: Reading, Interpretation, and Devotion in Medieval England

Understanding Covenants and Communities: Jews and Latter-day Saints in Dialogue

Understanding Covenants and Communities: Jews and Latter-day Saints in Dialogue

God in Motion: A Critical Exploration of the Open Theism Debate, ManuelSchmid, Baylor University Press, 2021 (ISBN 978‐1‐4813‐1408‐4), viii + 208 pp., hb $24.99

God in Motion: A Critical Exploration of the Open Theism Debate, ManuelSchmid, Baylor University Press, 2021 (ISBN 978‐1‐4813‐1408‐4), viii + 208 pp., hb $24.99

Свет и цвет в библейском богословии

Visualisation of verbal languaging, both speech and written texts, goes back to the very dawn of culture and might well be traced back to ancient texts including the Bible. It is well known that fundamental biblical imagery together with related concepts form the basis of European art, culture, and mentality. The very possibility to visualise words draws on the met-aphorical dimension of language and enriches our understanding of both speech and texts. Imagery has its place in biblical exegesis; without it our interpretation of biblical narratives and poetry would be incomplete or even inadequate. This article explores some instruments of figurative expression of theological concepts in the Bible, namely, how lightand colourin the biblical narrative help to visualise the image of God. Contextual analysis shows that the notion of ‘light’in the Bible is almost always associated with divinity. Being God’s first creation, lightin the Bible becomes an important sign of His immanence in the world. Time and again God’s presence is marked with luminous or fiery objects. The word̓ôr (‘light’in Hebrew) is used as an attribute, epithet or even the very name of God.

Transmatriation? Avishag the Shunammite in Three Contemporary Israeli Novels

Abstract: While numerous postbiblical authors consider the major figures in the Davidic dynasty, others have turned their attention to the more peripheral characters in the David cycle. The three Israeli novels discussed in this article—Yael Lotan's Avishag (2002), Avraham Burg's Avishag (2011), and Eva Etzioni-Halevy's But the King Did Not Know Her (2014)—focus on Avishag the Shunammite. Although all draw on the same biblical text, each develops it in a particular direction. Lotan's Avishag embodies both political and feminist features, developing from a young maiden into a royal secret agent. Burg's reading is a political one: he remains loyal to the patriarchal point of view by choosing a male narrator; hence his Avishag is still a relatively minor character. Etzioni-Halevy's novel falls into the category of feminist historical/biblical romance. Her protagonist, Avishag, positioned as a romance heroine, develops from a passive maiden into a mature woman who seeks to determine her own fate. Moreover, since Avishag's character in the biblical narrative is mentioned in the middle of the inheritance struggle between David's sons Adonijah and Solomon, each of the novelists uses it as a springboard for rereading the Davidian story through a different prism. By choosing different narrators, different languages (English, pseudo-biblical Hebrew, and contemporary Hebrew), and slightly different genres, each of the authors adapts the biblical story to enhance a different reading of the Bible, making the ancient story accessible and fresh to contemporary readers as an "old vessel filled with new wine."

Ребро кентавра: образ китовраса в визуальной структуре городского пространства

The article provides a semantic analysis of the theme of kitovras (centaur) in Russian medieval fine art. The author argues that in the system of relief decorations of Russian medi-eval cathedrals in Vladimir, the centaur is associated with the Jerusalemite kings David and Solomon and serves to accentuate the theme of a wise and righteous ruler. The study of kitovras images in Russian medieval art, traces the origins of this character back to apocry-phal literature or even further to ancient mythology, Talmudic tradition and biblical nar-ratives, which merged into a ‘Russian centaur’. The earliest kitovras images are found in Novgorod region in the 11th century. The typology of centaur images in Rus’, as well as the study of possible contexts for the use of these images in church decoration and in everyday life, make it possible to systematize the semantic and axiological connotations evoked by this figure of a man-beast. These connotations are associated with the ideas of (1) natural savagery, (2) demonic character, (3) duplicity, (4) wisdom, (5) architectural skills, (6) moral perfection, (7) saving pedagogy, (8) protection from evil and, finally, (9) religiously sanctioned author-ity. Since all these connotations are associated with the same character, the kitovras should be understood as a polyvalent symbol that reveals to viewers one or another of its aspects depending on a viewer’s semiotic code and on the visual and narrative contexts in which it is integrated. Russian churches open their facades into the surrounding urban environment and thereby saturate it with certain meanings, conveyed both by the outline of the churches and by their exterior decoration. Any figure, any scene and any character represented on external surfaces of the churches directly contributes to the semantics of the urban space, to its ideo-logical and cultural program, and functions as a means of informing both confessional and local identity. Such is also the function of kitovras images in the semantic structure of tradi-tional Russian cities.

Four Yiddish songs – one melody

This article discusses four early modern Yiddish booklets containing songs that were to be sung to the same melody: one concerns the expulsion of the Jews from Vienna in 1670 (n.p., n.d.); the second describes two Jews who were executed for theft in Prostějov in 1684 and refused the offer to convert in return for a pardon (Wilmhersdorf 1684); the third depicts the effects of a plague epidemic on the Jewish community of Prague in 1713 (1st edition n.p., n.d., 2nd edition Amsterdam 1714); and the fourth (two editions, both n.p., n.d.) is a rhymed prayer, asking God to eliminate all misfortunes and evil decrees, including an ongoing plague epidemic, apparently composed in Prague in 1680. According to all four, the melody to be used when singing them was niggun akeda, a melody strongly associated with the Binding of Isaac (Gen. 22). It was originally used in the synagogue to accompany liturgical poems relating the biblical narrative and other cases of Jewish martyrdom. In addition to contextualizing the four texts within Yiddish literature, this article explores the relationship between text and melody in general, and the particular significance of niggun akeda.

Re-Generation: The Missional Imperative of Christian Schooling

We live in a time where the Christian church and our Christian faith have been pushed to society's peripherals. Operating in environments that are increasingly secular, where consumerism abounds, it can be easy to define Christian schooling in almost oppositional terms. There is another way. What if those of us involved in Christian schooling were to reimagine Christian education through a shared missional lens grounded in the foundation of the Missio Dei (God's Mission)? The potential of the missional lens for Christian schooling is considerable. It grounds the Christian school movement, and the identity of the teacher, in the larger biblical narrative. Additionally, with each generation invited to engage in mission in a way that is contextual, it allows for a multiplicity of ways to participate in the outworking of God's mission within the context and setting in which each school has been placed.

The Golden Calf between Bible and Qur’an: Scripture, Polemic, and Exegesis from Late Antiquity to Islam. By Michael E. Pregill

This book examines the Golden Calf episode and its interpretation from ancient Israel to the emergence of Islam as a case study for re-evaluating the relationship between Bible and Qur’an. It includes an introduction, a methodological chapter, three sections including seven more chapters, and a conclusion. The introduction defines the Qur’an as part of the biblical tradition of the late first millennium CE, having emerged through active and conscious processes of early Islamic identity-building, and presenting its audience with new interpretations of biblical narratives. The proposed methodology is, therefore, a critical historical analysis of the qur’anic calf episode through the history of its interpretation and reinterpretation by Jews, Christians, and Muslims in the longue durée. Chapter 1 depicts the historical and methodological framework. While illustrating the story’s polemical importance for Christians and Muslims as a means of justifying their self-presentation as true Israel, it also highlights the differences between the calf narrations in the Qur’an (Q 2:51–54, 7:148–153, 20:82–97) and in the Bible (Exod. 32, Deut. 9, Ps. 106). Pregill considers the qur’anic calf narrative as corresponding directly with the biblical text; he rejects the scholarly view that the Qur’an mainly reflects midrashic re-narrations of the Bible. Moreover, he considers the Qur’an and Islamic literature as legitimate participants in the biblical tradition. However, the emphasis on the textual fluidity of the Bible and rabbinic tradition during the emergence of the Qur’an (28–29) is questioned by the book’s apparent perception of the millennium-long exegetical tradition being examined as relating to a rather stable version of Exodus 32, similar to the Masoretic text (324–25).

MENYOAL IDENTITAS PEREMPUAN Analisa Identitas Sosial Perempuan Sirofenisia Dalam Mrk 7:24-30

<p><strong>Abstract</strong>: Every narrative in the Bible has not only theological insight but also social-communal aspect. Thus, the biblical narrative contains inspiration for today's social life. One such narrative is the story of the Syrophoenician woman in Mark 7:24-30. This article studies the identity of Syrophoenician woman in the light of Social Identity Theory. This research is important because it is not common to investigate the identity of women with scientific social theory in the narrative of the Bible. By this research, we get an explanation of the identity of the Syrophoenician woman and her struggles as a woman and the mother of a daughter who is possessed by a demon. Syrophoenician woman is regainner respectable identity, namely domestic (family) affairs. Moreover, she has also gives an example for other women to be brave crossing geographical, political, cultural, and ethnic boundaries for salvation.</p><p><strong>Key words </strong>Syrophoenician Woman, Social Identity Theory, Jewish, Mediterranian, Social Identity</p>

Peter Comestor’s Historia Scholastica: Pursuing the veritas historiae Through the Works of Josephus

Petrus Comestor’s Historia Scholastica is a broad biblical rewriting composed ca. 1160 in the milieu of the cathedral school of Paris and the abbey of St. Victor. Also known as the ‘popular Bible’, it was considered a pivotal biblical manual until the mid-16th century, as the over 800 extant manuscripts show. For his wide-raging work, Comestor uses a variegated pool of sources, among which one of the most important is Flavius Josephus, known to Comestor through its Latin translation. The use of Josephus in the Historia is unique in its extent and has received some scholarly attention, but further research ought to be made. This article highlights how Comestor not only uses the Jewish Antiquities to fill in the gaps in the biblical narrative, for example integrating the account of the Binding of Isaac with indirect speech between father and son extrapolated from the Antiquities, but also compares them with the Vulgate and the Septuagint, granting them the same authority to establish the historical truth of biblical history. Passages from the Historia Genesis and Exodi are analyzed to show how Comestor goes out of his way to reconcile Josephus’ account and the Vulgate, showing the remarkable authority which the Jewish historian has in his eyes.

THE CHARACTER OF DAVID IN JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM: WARRIOR, POET, PROPHET AND KING. Edited by MarzenaZawanowska and MateuszWilk. Themes in Biblical Narrative, 29. Leiden/Boston: Koninklijke Brill NV, 2021. Pp. xxiii + 633; plates. $250.00.

Religious Studies ReviewVolume 48, Issue 4 p. 559-559 Short Reviews of Recent Publications: Comparative Studies / Methodology and Theory THE CHARACTER OF DAVID IN JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM: WARRIOR, POET, PROPHET AND KING. Edited by Marzena Zawanowska and Mateusz Wilk. Themes in Biblical Narrative, 29. Leiden/Boston: Koninklijke Brill NV, 2021. Pp. xxiii + 633; plates. $250.00. First published: 30 January 2023 https://doi.org/10.1111/rsr.16168Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume48, Issue4December 2022Pages 559-559 RelatedInformation

Down with This Sort of Thing: Seth Heringer and the End of the Historical-Critical Method

Down with This Sort of Thing: Seth Heringer and the End of the Historical-Critical Method

Notas sobre Neemias e a ideia de “tributação excessiva” na Yehud persa

Abstract This article aims at providing a brief overview of the historiographic writings on Achaemenid taxation, showing how the thesis of overtaxation influenced our understanding of Neh. 5 and Persian Yehud in the 5th century BCE. It describes how it was once widely accepted that overtaxation led to social and economic instability in many peripheral areas of the Achaemenid Empire, including Yehud. According to traditional scholarship, the narrative of Neh. 5 described how the local governor acted to mitigate this crisis by granting temporary tax and debt relief to small farmers. The author then moves to discuss how recent scholars questioned that long-established view, highlighting the biblical source’s rhetorical nature and the logical inconsistencies of the economic explanations used to describe this putative crisis. Finally, this article faces the question of a supposed economic calamity arising in Yehud under Persian hegemony and provides some clues to reevaluate the biblical narrative, particularly in light of recent studies concerning the Persian Empire’s economy and taxation. It supports to some extent the reading of Neh. 5 in an Achaemenid historical context.

Narrative ecotopics in English biblical discourse: A study of the Old and New Testaments

Objective: This paper addresses the Old and New Testaments viewed from the econarrative perspective in environmental and social contexts.
 Method: The method applied combines the techniques of conceptual, semantic, thematic, and narrative analyses in the authors' original interpretation.
 Results and discussion: It examines biblical narrations via four discourse-forming concepts – GOD, NATURE, MAN, and SOCIETY, various combinations of which shape a set of narrative ecotopics focused on the concept of MAN. Such ecotopics as "Man and nature in their interaction", "Man and family relations", "Man in society", "Man's path to God" reveal the relationships between man, nature, God, family, and society as well as man's responsibility before God. Their ecological component is marked by verbocentric ecodescriptors actualized in narrative schemes.
 Material: This study zeroes in on the narrative ecotopic "Man's path to God" with its subtopic "the way through sacrifice", presented in the stories of Abraham in Genesis and Hannah in 1 Samuel from the Old Testament as compared to the story of Jesus in 1 Peter, 1 John, and the Gospel of John from the New Testament.
 Conclusions: In the Old Testament the path to God through sacrifice in ecologically charged narrations reflects the readiness of man to sacrifice his/her most valuable thing to prove their faithfulness and faith. In the New Testament Jesus' sacrifice involves the whole humankind, thanks to His sufferings for their sinless life.

Personal Jesus: Reflections on God’s Call

This essay argues that contemporary conceptions of “calling” do not properly reckon with the concept’s biblical and historical foundations. In popular culture, where celebrities and social media influencers wield power, religious language is often extracted from faith traditions without regard for the tradition’s identity or communal nature. Calling, in this manner, has become a cultural catch-phrase devoid of vocational meaning. For many young, American Christians, including those taught by the authors, calling primarily bears a psychosocial meaning: calling signifies personal or economic fulfillment. Even students who are zealous for their faith tend to read the concept of “calling” within cultural norms rather than the biblical narratives or the Christian tradition’s theological insights. The authors present the biblical examples of Moses and Saul (or Paul) to critique contemporary cultural assumptions about calling. They argue that calling is and ought to be a process that is thoroughly dialogical (with God and community), embraces challenges rather than seeking personal stability, and foregrounds the simple act of following Christ’s call and example in daily life.

Aljamiado retellings of the Hebrew Bible

Stories from the Hebrew Bible were popular among the Iberian Peninsula’s Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Beginning in the fourteenth century, Muslims and Moriscos retold these stories in Aljamiado texts in Spanish or Aragonese written in Arabic characters. These fictionalised retellings drew on vernacular language and literary forms common to Christians and Muslims, and are a lens through which to study the cultural life of late Spanish Islam in its negotiation with the dominant Christian culture. The vernacular language and culture shared by Moriscos and Christians was a powerful medium for creating fictional Biblical storyworlds, mental models of the reality represented by the Biblical narratives. These retellings both exalt Islamic beliefs, traditions, rituals, and doctrines in the face of social marginalization and persecution, while at the same time validating their experience as speakers of Spanish and Aragonese and as participants in a vernacular culture shared between Moriscos and Christians.

:Metal Finds and Coins: Final Publications from the Danish-German Jerash Northwest Quarter Project II

:<i>Metal Finds and Coins: Final Publications from the Danish-German Jerash Northwest Quarter Project II</i>

Historical Grammatical Analysis of Exodus 33:1-6 as a response to Contemporary Interpretations of Ornaments

Exodus 33:1-6 stands as one of the Old Testament texts that have been used by some scholars and believers as a biblical basis to prohibit the use of ornaments and other fashion-related discourse. It has been argued tenaciously that ornaments are unbiblical, sinful and devilish with special emphasis on certain experiences from the patriarchal period of the Old Testament. Certain believers who are not using some of these ornaments like earrings, necklaces, rings or bracelets etc. see themselves as more holy and godly than those who do use them. The correct biblical position about ornaments has puzzled humanity for ages. However, the context, culture, antecedents and language used in the biblical narratives have not been carefully studied from the socio-linguistic perspective. Therefore, this work investigated the basic understanding of and rationale for ornaments. It also examined Christian attitudes to ornaments in the contemporary era, and draw implications for Christians and preachers alike. This study employed an exegetical method of biblical interpretation that utilizes discourse analysis also known as text-linguistic approach in order to bring out the nearest meaning to the author’s autograph of the pericope. The study revealed that the declaration of Yahweh to the Israelite to put off their ornament was not a complete prohibition to the use of ornaments. The instruction was situational or circumstantial and should be taken as such. Therefore, against existing beliefs that ornaments are demonic and sinful, the study revealed that, this is indeed a fallacy.

The Antiquities of Jordan in the Reports of Foreign Explorers and Travelers (The Stage Before the Establishment of the Emirate of Jordan in 1921 AD)

This article studies the foreign explorers and travelers who documented the archaeological heritage of Jordan during the 18th and 19th centuries in their travel reports. The article begins with a summary of the historical and social conditions of Jordan at the time, when Jordan was part of the Ottoman state. The article examines the foreign explorers in three sub-periods:&#x0D; &#x0D; From the end of the Crusader period in the aftermath of the Battle of Hittin in 1187 up to Napoleon’s military expedition to Egypt in 1798.&#x0D; From Napoleon’s military expedition in 1798 up to the establishment of the Western learned societies interested in the antiquities of Palestine, starting with the British Palestine Exploration Fund in 1865.&#x0D; From the establishment of the Palestine Exploration Fund in 1865 up to the establishment of the Emirate of Jordan in 1921.&#x0D; &#x0D; The reports of the travelers and explorers concentrated on sites and regions mentioned in the biblical narratives