The studies that make up this book explore in what ways Israel's sacred tradition developed into canonical scripture and in what ways this sacred tradition was interpreted in early Judaism and Christianity. This collection will stimulate continuing investigation into the growth and interpretation of scripture in the context of the Jewish and Christian communities of faith, and will serve well as a reader for graduate courses with its focus on early exegesis and intertextuality.

The methodological approach employed in this research utilizes the hermeneutics of comparative midrash combined with aspects of Bakhtinian dialogism and intertextuality. The purpose of this enterprise is to discern the function of scripture in Joel and its New Testament Nachleben. The terms 'appropriation' and 'resignification' are descriptive of the process through which an antecedent text is transformed by its displacement, condensation, and recontextualization. These methodologies assist in giving an account of the intertextual dialogism involved in a text’s unrecorded hermeneutics. The scope of the work looks at the use of scriptural traditions within the book of Joel during the Second Temple period. There is an introduction to the hermeneutical methods employed, followed by a general introduction to the book of Joel in chapter one. Chapters two and three concern the function of scripture in Joel. Finally, the last chapter deals with Joel’s New Testament Nachleben. Each chapter has an introduction and conclusion. This work does not eschew the importance of diachronic issues. The diachronic method pays attention to the context of an antecedent’s voice, while the synchronic methodological approach pays attention to the function and purpose in which the receptor text resignifies the appropriated motifs and allusions. The diachronic becomes fused with the synchronic in the process of an allusion’s recontextualization. This study, in a heuristic manner, focuses on the way that each allusion is appropriated and resignified for the needs of both Joel’s community and those of the later NT, in order to understand the function of canonical hermeneutics.

An examination of Apocalypticism from one of the leading lights in the field.

A text-critical, literary, and theological investigation of Paul's use of Isaiah in his letter to the Romans. It situates Paul's reading of scripture within the milieu of early Jewish interpretive practices and places it in the particular context of his own mission to the Gentiles. This publication has also been published in hardback, please click here for details.

Garrick Allen brings the Book of Revelation into the broader context of early Jewish literature. He touches on several areas of scholarly inquiry in biblical studies, including modes of literary production, the use of allusions, practices of exegesis and early engagements with the Book of Revelation.

Written by leading experts in the field, The Book of Exodus: Composition, Reception, and Interpretation offers a wide-ranging treatment of the main aspects of Exodus. Its twenty-four essays fall under four main sections. The first section contains studies of a more general nature, including the history of Exodus in critical study, Exodus in literary and historical study, as well as the function of Exodus in the Pentateuch. The second section contains commentary on or interpretation of specific passages (or sections) of Exodus, as well as essays on its formation, genres, and themes. The third section contains essays on the textual history and reception of Exodus in Judaism and Christianity. The final section explores the theologies of the book of Exodus.

How did New Testament authors use Israel’s Scriptures? Use, misuse, appropriation, citation, allusion, inspiration—how do we characterize the manifold images, paraphrases, and quotations of the Jewish Scriptures that pervade the New Testament? Over the past few decades, scholars have tackled the question with a variety of methodologies. New Testament authors were part of a broader landscape of Jewish readers interpreting Scripture. Recent studies have sought to understand the various compositional techniques of the early Christians who composed the New Testament in this context and on the authors’ own terms. In this landmark collection of essays, Matthias Henze and David Lincicum marshal an international group of renowned scholars to analyze the New Testament, text-by-text, aiming to better understand what roles Israel’s Scriptures play therein. In addition to explicating each book, the essayists also cut across texts to chart the most important central concepts, such as the messiah, covenants, and the end times. Carefully constructed reception history of both testaments rounds out the volume. Comprehensive and foundational, Israel’s Scriptures in Early Christian Writings will serve as an essential resource for biblical scholars for years to come. Contributors: Garrick V. Allen, Michael Avioz, Martin Bauspiess, Richard J. Bautch, Ian K. Boxall, Marc Zvi Brettler, Jaime Clark-Soles, Michael B. Cover, A. Andrew Das, Susan Docherty, Paul Foster, Jörg Frey, Alexandria Frisch, Edmon L. Gallagher, Gabriella Gelardini, Jennie Grillo, Gerd Häfner, Matthias Henze, J. Thomas Hewitt, Robin M. Jensen, Martin Karrer, Matthias Konradt, Katja Kujanpää, John R. Levison, David Lincicum, Grant Macaskill, Tobias Nicklas, Valérie Nicolet, Karl-Wilhelm Niebuhr, George Parsenios, Benjamin E. Reynolds, Dieter T. Roth, Dietrich Rusam, Jens Schröter, Claudia Setzer, Elizabeth Evans Shively, Michael Karl-Heinz Sommer, Angela Standhartinger, Gert J. Steyn, Todd D. Still, Rodney A. Werline, Benjamin Wold, Archie T. Wright

All Religion Is Inter-Religion analyses the ways inter-religious relations have contributed both historically and philosophically to the constructions of the category of “religion” as a distinct subject of study. Regarded as contemporary classics, Steven M. Wasserstrom's Religion after Religion (1999) and Between Muslim and Jew (1995) provided a theoretical reorientation for the study of religion away from hierophanies and ultimacy, and toward lived history and deep pluralism. This book distills and systematizes this reorientation into nine theses on the study of religion. Drawing on these theses--and Wasserstrom's opus more generally--a distinguished group of his colleagues and former students demonstrate that religions can, and must, be understood through encounters in real time and space, through the complex relations they create and maintain between people, and between people and their pasts. The book also features an afterword by Wasserstrom himself, which poses nine riddles to students of religion based on his personal experiences working on religion at the turn of the twenty-first century.

This volume explores nearly every facet of Jesus research -- from eyewitness criteria to the reliability of memory, from archaeology to psychobiography, from oral traditions to literary sources, and from narrative criticism to Gospel criticism. Bringing together a wide variety of topics and perspectives in one volume, this ambitious collaborative enterprise casts light on important debates and encourages creative links between ideas new and old. This distinguished collection of articles by internationally renowned Jewish and Christian scholars originates with the Princeton-Prague Symposium on Jesus Research. It summarizes the significant advances in understanding Jesus that scholars have made in recent years, chiefly through the development of diverse methodologies. Even readers who are already knowledgeable in the field will discover unique angles from well-known New Testament scholars, and all will be brought up to speed on the current state-of-play within Jesus studies.

The Scriptures of Israel in Jewish and Christian Tradition is a collection of studies in honour of Professor Maarten J.J. Menken (Tilburg/Utrecht) and illustrates the rich diversity of approaches to biblical interpretation at the beginning of the Common Era. An international team of specialists share their insights on such topics as the availability of Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek texts, Jewish and Christian hermeneutics, notions of authority and inspiration and even a study of inscriptions. Each in its own way demonstrates that the relationship between text and tradition, culture and belief is always complex.