Ancient Hebrew Poetry

A Conference on the Pentateuch in May at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

    The academic study of the Pentateuch appears to be in the throes of a losing battle with the forces of entropy. Once upon a time, there was wide agreement about JEDP. No more. Will Humpty-Dumpty ever be put back together again?

Standing up to Bloom and Bakhtin: The Virtues and Vices of Strong Readings

    Joseph Kelly is exploring the task of writing biblical theology. John Anderson, James Spinti, and I have joined the conversation. I agree with Kelly and Anderson that the discipline of biblical theology, variously construed, is livelier and more interesting than ever before. Like other subdisciplines of biblical studies (biblical archaeology; the history of the religion of Israel; source criticism), the discipline of biblical theology is no longer dominated by European and North American Protestants. It now benefits greatly from the contribution of scholars who inscribe their work in overlapping and sometimes opposing “projects of salvation.” To be sure, it is sometimes clear that a scholar’s opus is first and foremost an act of self-medication rather than the expression of a commitment to tikkun_olam.

Anti-Jewish Bias in Today’s University

    Two facets only of Jewish experience command the attention of the generality of media-literate individuals in the West: the Holocaust and the state of Israel. In the minds of a large number of people, a perverse equation is the end-result. Without remainder the identity of the Jewish people is associated with death and torture by the Nazis, and death and torture of the Palestinians by the state of Israel. Add to that a third facet, the wondering that dwells in the heart of many Christians and non-Christians, why did they crucify Jesus, what did he do to deserve that, and a situation is created in which a little knowledge is truly a dangerous thing.

Why biblical literature resists translation

    My friend Wayne Leman over at Better Bibles encouraged me not long ago to describe the theoretical foundations that undergird my take on Bible translation, since I often find myself at loggerheads with the Better Bibles board of directors, to a man well-trained in linguistics, to a man enamored with translations committed to clarity and naturalness of expression, whereas I prefer translations committed above all to reproducing the wording and register of the original, translating metaphors with metaphors, and sounding strange wherever the thought and language of the source text is strange relative to our cultural matrix.

A Bibliographic Essay on Inner-Biblical Exegesis

Numerous components of the Hebrew Bible, if one takes the time to make a point-by-point comparison with other components of the Hebrew Bible, or a cross-comparison among attested variant editions of one and the same textual bloc, turn out to witness to successive revisions of a base text. An introduction to the study of these revisions, with a plethora of worked examples, has yet to be written. In the meantime, a number of studies might be recommended. The point of departure I wish to highlight here is a bibliographic essay on inner-biblical exegesis by Bernard Levinson, pages 95-181 in Legal Revision and Religious Renewal in Ancient Israel (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008; paperback ed., 2010).

The Decalogue and the cross-generational transfer of desert

In his foray into the topic of the Ten Commandments in history and tradition seen from the vantage point of inner-biblical exegesis, Bernard Levinson zeroes in on the question of moral agency. It is hard to think of a more fundamental topic at the interface of law and theology. Levinson understands Ezekiel 18 to amount to a covert repudiation of the doctrine of cross-generational transfer of the consequences of human behavior as it finds expression in the Decalogue at Exod 20:5-6.¹ A brilliant thesis, one I hope receives a wide hearing.

Point and Counterpoint: The Meaning of Canon

So far as I can see, Bernard Levinson’s definition of canon (see below) is correct as far as it goes. In this post, I nonetheless counterpoint his assertions.

The Interpretation of Conflict and the Conflict of Interpretations in the Bible

Does it take a philosopher to note that the Bible is a complexio oppositorum,¹ the locus of conflits des interprétations et interprétation des conflits²? Perhaps it only takes an honest reader.

Spotlight on Bernard Levinson

Bernard Levinson understands biblical law in terms of its own history. In the process, he illumines the history of the canon and the history of the religion of Israel. He is a meticulous scholar, as meticulous as they come; he is also a generous scholar, a bridge-builder. At the same time, he does not shy away from controversy. We learn through controversy, which means we can learn from Levinson if we agree with him and even if we disagree with him. Anyone who delights in the fine detail of Torah and wonders at Torah's ability to shape the life of nations and communities will find Levinson a joy to read.