I find the lists of other bloggers fascinating. Here is a first cumulative list of books and authors that have turned people on to reading the Hebrew Bible with fresh eyes. It makes me proud to be a part of the community of biblical bloggers. We are a community of readers, benefitting from many of same resources, reading the text with the same deep curiosity and openness to new discoveries.
Karyn Traphagen’s list includes
(I summarize): “(1) Mark Smith’s work on
the Baal Cycle introduced me to the world of Ugaritic and all it has to offer; his
books (such as The
Early History of God) piqued my appetite to understand the cultures
surrounding ancient Israel and the text of Scripture. (2) Christo van der
Merwe’s A Biblical
Hebrew Reference Grammar. This book gave me a good foundation and also
challenged me to think through the description of BH grammar by looking at the
data myself. (3) The
Art of Biblical Narrative (Robert Alter) and Narrative
Art in the Bible (Shimon Bar-Efrat) both helped move me from an
atomistic reading of Scripture and lifted my head up to see the discourse level
and the art of Hebrew story-telling. (4) Sinai
& Zion: An Entry into the Jewish Bible (Jon D. Levenson): “[M]yth
does not mean ‘untruth’ or ‘falsehood,’ in spite of such usage in ordinary
discourse” - That’s just one gem.”
Ken Brown’s list:
1.
A
Tale of Two Cities by Charles
Dickens. I know this is an odd way to start, but this story of hope and
sacrifice, which treats scripture not as a repository of facts but as a story
to live into has profoundly influenced my thinking ever since.
2.
Paul
and Palestinian Judaism by
E.P. Sanders. My first introduction both to the New Perspective on Paul, and to
a charitable reading of Judaism, I don’t entirely buy his interpretation of
either, but I’ve never seen them the same either.
3.
The
Art of Biblical Narrative by
Robert Alter. Simply brilliant introduction to reading the Bible as literature.
My first experience of it was heightened by the unintentionally humorous notes
some fundamentalist had left in the margins.
4.
The
Gate of Heaven: The History and Symbolism of the Temple in Jerusalem by Margaret Barker. The book that ignighted my love for
the mythology and symbolism of the Temple. It’s about as speculative as
scholarly writing gets, but draws fascinating connections all over the place.
5.
Sinai
and Zion: An Entry into the Jewish Bible and The Death and Resurrection of the Beloved Son:
The Transformation of Child Sacrifice in Judaism and Christianity by
Jon D. Levenson. I couldn’t decide–just read them!
Ken’s first choice, I think, nails it. At
this point, I think the first question to ask would-be students of the Bible
is: Have you read Dickens or Dostoevsky? Elie Wiesel, Flannery O’Connor, or Augustine’s
Confessions? If not, don’t even bother to read the Bible. You won’t
understand the first thing about it. Either one recognizes that the Bible tells
a story to live by, or one has misconstrued its genre entirely.
In the comments to Ken’s list, Drew Tatusko offers
his own: Poet & Peasant and Through Peasant Eyes by Kenneth
Bailey; Jesus in the Gospels by Rudolph Schnackenburg; Von Rad’s Commentary
on Genesis. “I have [to go back to it] at least once a year every
year. Still THE work to begin a good reading of the text”; Karl Barth’s Romans
[the 1918 one, of course]; Phyllis Trible’s Texts of Terror.
Is it possible to get an education in Hebrew
Bible without ever reading Mark S. Smith, Robert Alter, Jon Levenson, Gerhard
von Rad, and Phyllis Trible? It should not be possible to do so.
I’ve run out of time. It’s Annual Conference time
for Wisconsin United Methodists. The Family Church, a new church plant my wife Paola
has sweated blood to get going, was chartered a couple of weeks ago. The
occasion will be celebrated by the 1000 attendees. The joy is enormous.
Comments on other lists, and my list, will
come in a subsequent post.
Comments