Ancient Hebrew Poetry

A Lutheran converts to Judaism – and brings her childhood Bible with her

    C. A. Blomquist’s journey into the Jewish faith began as a Lutheran child. She could not have known it then.  As an adult who has embraced Judaism, she has this to say:

Catherine Bell's trichotomy

    Catherine Bell’s trichotomy of (1) ritual performers; (2) their clientele; and (3) critical scholars of ritual and ritual performance helps explain why (3) critical scholars of biblical literature; (2) rank-and-file members of synagogues and churches; (1) and clergy give different answers to the same question: What does this text mean?

Questions form communities

    That phrase, so far as I know, was coined by Hebrew scholar Richard Benton. Moreover, as soon as new questions are asked, new communities form. That, despite the journalistic title of a piece describing a lecture by the aforementioned scholar, is Benton’s further insight.

Reflections on the Audience of the Book of Genesis

    Tim Bulkeley of the 5 minute Bible and sans blogue is teaching a course on the book of Genesis. Tim is simultaneously blogging and podcasting on the subject. For example, he has podcasts on Genesis as an edited text, on humour in the book of Genesis, and the audience of the book of Genesis.

Judaism and Christianity in Antiquity

    One of the great achievements of scholarship of the last one hundred years has been the progressive recovery of a startling variety of Judaisms and Christianities with specific examples of the latter correctly defined as varieties of Judaism no less than as varieties of Christianity.

Jews Reading the New Testament

    Is that just another way of saying, “Jews behaving badly”? Not according to Amy-Jill Levine, the co-editor, along with Marc Zvi Brettler, of The Jewish Annotated New Testament (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011). “The more I study New Testament,” Dr. Levine told the New York Times, “the better Jew I become.”