Jacqueline Vayntrub - Böcker

A revelatory study of embodied voice and its function in biblical textsPerformance, transmission, and corporeality were essential to ancient understandings of textuality. Far more than an aide-mémoire, written text constituted a powerful mechanism for capturing and transmitting embodied vocal presence. In this bold and provocative book, Jacqueline Vayntrub demonstrates how embedded concepts of embodied speechmaking shaped a tradition of aesthetics and interpretation in the Hebrew Bible.For authors and readers alike, biblical texts functioned as vessels containing voices for posterity, preserving otherwise fleeting moments of performance and transporting audiences into an idealized or stylized past. Through incisive readings of passages from diverse genres and examinations of the social and material dimensions of speech in the ancient Near East, Vayntrub offers a striking reconceptualization of the biblical authors’ understanding of literary craft.

Central to understanding the prophecy and prayer of the Hebrew Bible are the unspoken assumptions that shaped them—their genres. Modern scholars describe these works as “poetry,” but there was no corresponding ancient Hebrew term or concept. Scholars also typically assume it began as “oral literature,” a concept based more in evolutionist assumptions than evidence. Is biblical poetry a purely modern fiction, or is there a more fundamental reason why its definition escapes us?Beyond Orality: Biblical Poetry on its Own Terms changes the debate by showing how biblical poetry has worked as a mirror, reflecting each era’s own self-image of verbal art. Yet Vayntrub also shows that this problem is rooted in a crucial pattern within the Bible itself: the texts we recognize as “poetry” are framed as powerful and ancient verbal performances, dramatic speeches from the past. The Bible’s creators presented what we call poetry in terms of their own image of the ancient and the oral, and understanding their native theories of Hebrew verbal art gives us a new basis to rethink our own.

This work traces the development of Judaism as a Scriptural religion, claiming that this did not arise from discrete moments of "political" authority (e.g., Sinai, Josiah, Ezra), but was part of a complex and multifarious negotiation involving writing, literacy, orality and the socio-political power of the Persian, Greek and Roman empires.

The first volume in Travis B. Williams’ and David G. Horrell’s magisterial ICC commentary on first Peter.Williams and Horrell bring together all the relevant aids to exegesis - linguistic, textual, archaeological, historical, literary, and theological - to help the reader understand the letter. This first volume presents introductory maps, and a comprehensive introduction covering aspects such as genre, canonicity, early citations of the letter, and its theology and influence. A particular feature of the introduction is that each section is preceded by an initial bibliography. The exegesis also provides for each passage sections on bibliography, text-criticism, literary introduction, detailed exegesis, and overall summary.Following the introduction volume 1 provides commentary up to 2.10, the conclusion of the first major section of the letter.

In this ICC Martin de Boer provides an introduction and commentary on chapters 1-6 of John’s Gospel.de Boer sets out to interpret the Gospel in the historical context in which it was written and first read, and to explain it both historically and theologically. Taking his primary bearings from the seminal work of Raymond E. Brown and J.L. Martyn, de Boer applies and advances their approach through each section of his commentary, whilst also engaging with the latest scholarship, alternative viewpoints, and critiques of the Brown/Martyn approach.As such de Boer takes very seriously the view that John’s Gospel was written for a particular community, and that the composition of the text as we know it took place over an extended period of time. Examination of the historical realities of this community is a hallmark of this commentary including the notion that, as members of the community, women may have played a role in the Gospel’s composition.

This volume completes Stuart Weeks' commentary on the book of Ecclesiastes, also known as Qoheleth. Weeks draws together all the relevant tools for understanding this complex wisdom book in the Old Testament. As is the hallmark of the ICC no stone is left unturned as Weeks considers the full range of linguistic, textual, archaeological, literary and theological interpretations of the text.Week incorporates recent interpretation alongside the history of research to examine the text of Ecclesiastes 6-12 in the closest possible, offering a reading of what may have be the original writer's linguistic and theological intent.The volume is a companion to Weeks' previous commentary on chapters 1-5 of Ecclesiastes, which also contains his exhaustive bibliography of works relevant to the study of the text.

Craig S. Keener provides an in-depth critical and exegetical commentary of the first four chapters of Gospel of Mark in this first of four volumes of commentary on the Markan text. Keener brings together all the relevant aids to exegesis - linguistic, textual, archaeological, historical, literary and theological - to provide a complete overview and understanding of this crucial Christian document. Keener incorporates new evidence available in the field and applies new methods of studies. As is a hallmark of the series, the volumes on Mark are not bound by a single theological or critical approach. Keener's own distinctive approach brings great erudition and scholarly expertise with careful and comprehensive consideration of every aspect of the text.This first volume of commentary covers the start of Mark's Gospel, the commissioning of the twelve disciples, the baptism of Jesus, and gives full attention to the teaching of Jesus in parables, and the culmination of this section of the Gospel in the calming of the storm.

In this second volume of his four volume work on the text of Mark's Gospel Craig S. Keener provides an in-depth critical and exegetical commentary on Mark chapters 5-9. As befits an ICC volume Keener brings together all the relevant aids to exegesis - linguistic, textual, archaeological, historical, literary and theological - to provide a complete overview and understanding of these chapters. Keener provides a close reading of the text and incorporates the wealth of secondary scholarship in providing readers with a highly comprehensive commentary that offers new insights into the meaning and development of the text.The text covered in this volume focuses largely on the healings of Jesus including the raising of Jairus' daughter, the Canaanite woman's daughter, the deaf mute and the man born blind. Also featured are the feeding of the 5000, Peter's confession of faith, and Jesus' predictions of his death. This part of the Gospel finishes with the Transfiguration.

A compelling exploration of how Mesopotamian discoveries reshaped biblical scholarship, and why their connection to the Bible made them matter. From the first public reading of the Babylonian flood story in 1872 to the controversies sparked by Delitzsch’s Babel–Bible lectures, Lasine Thelle traces the formative encounters between Assyriology and biblical studies. This book reveals how excavations in Assyria and Babylonia, and the decipherment of Akkadian texts, transformed the study of the Old Testament and redefined core concepts still taken for granted today.Through detailed analysis of major figures, including Wellhausen, Gunkel, and Mowinckel, Thelle shows how scholarly debates over creation myths, chronology, and cultural influence shaped modern biblical research. She also uncovers the reciprocal dynamic: Mesopotamia’s appeal to Western explorers was inseparable from its perceived biblical significance.Rich in historical insight and critical reflection, this study illuminates the intertwined histories of two disciplines and offers a fresh perspective on the intellectual currents that continue to inform contemporary scholarship.

Gudme applies an anthropological approach to the Hebrew Bible and carries out a systematic study of the role, function and literary use of hospitality in the biblical texts. Gudme's starting point is a contextualization of classical anthropological themes such as reciprocity, guest friendship and kinship structures, which is supplemented by insights from more recent studies on gender, materiality and space. She moves on to provide a much needed critical and systematic analysis and overview of the key hospitality texts in the Hebrew bible, including discussions of the ‘dark sides’ of hospitality such as deceit, rape and violence.Gudme shows that hospitality is a central theme and a core value in the Hebrew bible. This is famously illustrated by the patriarch Abraham who acts as the perfect host to a visitor that turns out to be God himself in the Book of Genesis chapter 18. In the biblical texts, hospitality creates social capital, it forges alliances and marriages and it is used as literary tool to characterize both people and deities.

This book compares and contrasts several parallel passages in the Hebrew Bible that relate to the David narratives. Lydie Kucová analyses various ancient versions of the books of Samuel-Kings and Chronicles, showing how the David story is told differently across these textual witnesses.Beginning with a review of the previous scholarly synopses of these passages, Kucová outlines the main characteristics of the particular ancient versions that are significant for her study (Masoretic text, Dead Sea scrolls, Septuagint, Targums and Peshitta related to the books of Samuel, Kings and Chronicles). She then proceeds to compare elements of the two separate accounts of David’s reign, such as Saul’s death, the Philistine campaigns and the transfer of the Ark. Rather than imply any correlation between the texts, Kucová instead provides a parallel of David narratives for more convenient in-depth study

Graham I. Davies provides his long-awaited commentary on the first ten chapters of the second book of the Torah in this in-depth engagement with Exodus chapters 1-10. Davies brings together all the relevant aids to exegesis - linguistic, textual, philological, archaeological, historical, literary, and theological - to help the reader understand the text at hand. The first ten chapters of Exodus cover the affliction in Egypt and the finding of Moses as well as the plagues of Egypt and Moses' interactions with Pharaoh. Davies plumbs the depths of these well-known texts, bringing out many profound insights into their structure and meaning, and into the history of scholarship.Two results of Davies's research are to place the old hypothesis of an Elohistic source on a much stronger footing and to reaffirm that both it and the J source extended through both Genesis and Exodus.

This book sets out to describe the multi-dimensional nature and function of rhetorical questions in the Old Testament. Biblical scholars have previously analyzed the use of rhetorical questions in both Testaments, but consistently describe their function in persuasive terms. While this understanding is appropriate in a number of instances, many rhetorical questions do not operate this way, and Jim W. Adams focuses in particular on rhetoric expressing the self-involvement of both the speaker and hearer.Among linguistic philosophers, speech act theory has illuminated the fact that uttering a sentence does not merely convey information; it may also involve the performing of an action. The concept of communicative action provides additional tools to the exegetical process as it points the interpreter beyond the assumption that the use of language is merely for descriptive purposes. Language can also have performative and self-involving dimensions. In relation to speech act theory, linguistic specialists continue to research the nature of rhetorical questions.

John Day investigates disputed points of interpretation within Genesis 1-11, expanding on his earlier book From Creation to Babel with 11 stimulating essays. Day considers the texts within their Near Eastern contexts, and pays particular attention to the later history of interpretation and reception history.Topics covered include the meaning of the Bible’s first verse and what immediately follows, as well as what it means that humanity is made in the image of God. Further chapters examine the Garden of Eden, the background and role of the serpent and the ambiguous role of Wisdom; the many problems of interpretation in the Cain and Abel story, as well as what gave rise to this story; how the Covenant with Noah and the Noachic commandments, though originally separate, became conflated in some later Jewish thought; and the location of ‘Ur of the Chaldaeans’, Abraham’s alleged place of origin, and how this was later misinterpreted by Jewish, Christian and Islamic sources as referring to a ‘fiery furnace of the Chaldaeans’. These chapters, which illuminate the meaning, background and subsequent interpretation of the Book of Genesis, pave the way for Day’s forthcoming ICC commentary on Genesis 1-11.

Sheona Beaumont addresses the untold story of biblical subjects in photography. She argues that stories, characters, and symbols from the Bible are found to pervade photographic practices and ideas, across the worlds of advertising and reportage, the book and the gallery, in theoretical discourse and in the words of photographers themselves. Beaumont engages interpretative tools from biblical reception studies, art history, and visual culture criticism in order to present four terms for describing photography's latent spirituality: the index, the icon, the tableau, and the vision. Throughout her journey she includes lively discussion of selected fine art photography dealing with the Bible in surprising ways, from images by William Henry Fox Talbot in the 19th century to David Mach in the 21st. Far from telling a secular story, photography and the conditions of its representations are exposed in theological depth.; Beaumont skillfully interweaves discussion of the images and theology, arguing for the dynamic and potent voice of the Bible in photography and enriching visual culture criticism with a renewed religious understanding.

Sheona Beaumont addresses the untold story of biblical subjects in photography. She argues that stories, characters, and symbols from the Bible are found to pervade photographic practices and ideas, across the worlds of advertising and reportage, the book and the gallery, in theoretical discourse and in the words of photographers themselves. Beaumont engages interpretative tools from biblical reception studies, art history, and visual culture criticism in order to present four terms for describing photography's latent spirituality: the index, the icon, the tableau, and the vision. Throughout her journey she includes lively discussion of selected fine art photography dealing with the Bible in surprising ways, from images by William Henry Fox Talbot in the 19th century to David Mach in the 21st. Far from telling a secular story, photography and the conditions of its representations are exposed in theological depth.; Beaumont skillfully interweaves discussion of the images and theology, arguing for the dynamic and potent voice of the Bible in photography and enriching visual culture criticism with a renewed religious understanding.

Barbara Thiede presents an exploration of Yhwh as a complex character who models biblical masculinity by forming intimate relationships with his people Israel in the service of establishing his power and authority. Divine Masculinity in the Books of Samuel reveals that the Israelite deity’s relationships with Israel, the prophet Samuel, King Saul, and King David feature a wide-ranging emotional palette. Yhwh’s intense bonds with his men produce shifting and unstable male alliances and networks, which are homoerotic and often triangular. As Israel’s über-man, his character demonstrates that biblical masculinity is assertive, forceful, jealous, vulnerable, and controlling.Thiede illustrates how emotion is made to serve divine agenda and divine might is established and maintained through emotions and emotional display in the Books of Samuel. Yhwh is womanless, but the men he chooses to serve him may be brought to the height of ecstasy, emotionally abused, and sexually humiliated. The book demonstrates that Yhwh’s emotional and sexual life revolves around his relationships with other male characters, exposing the uncompromising hegemonic masculinity that undergirds the biblical world.

The second volume in Travis B. Williams’ and David G. Horrell’s magisterial ICC commentary on first Peter.Williams and Horrell bring together all the relevant aids to exegesis - linguistic, textual, archaeological, historical, literary, and theological - to help the reader understand the letter. This second covers the major part of the letter, providing commentary on 2.11 to the end of the letter. The exegesis provides for each passage sections on bibliography, text-criticism, literary introduction, detailed exegesis, and overall summary.The volume concludes with a comprehensive bibliography, which covers the whole epistle.

For over 100 years the International Critical Commentary has had a special place amongst works on the Bible. In this third of four volumes, Craig S. Keener provides an in-depth critical and exegetical commentary of the Gospel of Mark.Keener brings together all the relevant aids to exegesis - linguistic, textual, archaeological, historical, literary and theological - to provide a complete overview and understanding of this crucial Christian document. Keener incorporates new evidence available in the field and applies new methods of studies. As is a hallmark of the series, the volumes on Mark are not bound by a single theological or critical approach, but rather present a comprehensive view of the text at hand.

For over 100 years the International Critical Commentary has had a special place amongst works on the Bible. In this fourth and final volume, Craig S. Keener continues his in-depth critical and exegetical commentary of the Gospel of Mark.Keener brings together all the relevant aids to exegesis - linguistic, textual, archaeological, historical, literary and theological - to provide a complete overview and understanding of this crucial Christian document. Keener incorporates new evidence available in the field and applies new methods of studies. As is a hallmark of the series, the volumes on Mark are not bound by a single theological or critical approach, but rather present a comprehensive view of the text at hand.

Michael H. Floyd explores how the woe-speeches in Habakkuk 2:6-20 are related in form and content to the message revealed to the prophet in Hab 2:1-5, defending his reading through spirited debate with other scholars who have similarly proposed a fresh take on various exegetical puzzles of Chapter 2.After assessing the preceding material in Habakkuk 2 as the necessary prelude to analyzing the woe-speeches themselves, Floyd explores the form and function of the woe-speeches themselves, in light of how they fit into the unfolding composition of the oracular report that makes up Habakkuk 2. He further brings together and systematizes previous observations about the rhetoric of reproof, arguing that the woe-speeches themselves represent a different type of reproof speech, one that also draws upon wisdom traditions but uses them in a way that is more accusatory and self-incriminating than persuasive and correctional. He proposes that, although the outcry of the nations in Habakkuk 2 is obviously a fictional representation of the international situation, it nevertheless expresses a realpolitik critique of ancient Near Eastern imperialism. Floyd concludes that as an integral part of Habakkuk’s oracular inquiry, the woe-speeches provide a basis for a critique of the idolatrous ideology of imperialism and a model of how to live hopefully despite being under an imperialistic thumb.

Peter J. Sabo explores the multifaceted biblical portrayal of Moab and Ammon, from their incestuous origins as the descendants of Lot and his daughters to the prohibitions of exogamy against them, to the marriage of Ruth and Boaz. Sabo demonstrates that Lot’s kinship with, yet separation from, Abraham functions as a paradigm of the relationship between the descendants of Lot and Abraham in the Hebrew Bible, thereby revealing a complex network of intertextual connections that play off each other. Furthermore, he analyzes the gendered dimensions of this relationship in which these Transjordanian neighbors are imagined as sexually deviant—subverting, threatening, but also establishing the patriarchal norms of ancient Israel.Beginning with a close reading of Lot's story in Genesis, Sabo focuses on how Moab and Ammon act as a foil to Israel in its desert wanderings, and explores how Moabite women subvert patriarchal gender roles and present a threat to Israelite identity, even as they are used to affirm it as well. Highlighting the supposedly tenuous connection of Rahab's aid of Israel, Sabo analyses how both the Lot and Rahab stories play with issues of insider-outsider relations, and further assess the archetypes of Moab and Ammon's descendants in Judges, Samuel and Kings; from Ehud the Benjaminite and Jephthah the Gileadite and his daughter to Nahash the Ammonite and Mesha the Moabite. Culminating in Ruth, a foreigner-kinswoman and a character who combines the identities of Israelite and Moabite and marries Boaz, Sabo argues that this intermingling of incest and exogamy relates to the complicated navigating of territorial boundaries, proper sexual behaviour, and kinship relations that are consistently present in biblical stories of Lot, his daughters, and their descendants.

Ambra Suriano analyses the narrator’s techniques, exploring the influence of the readers’ understanding and playing with their interpretative freedom in recounting particular episodes in the Book of Genesis. She argues that a synchronic analysis of the text uncovers a series of binary oppositions that characterise the narrative world of Mamre and Sodom. Beginning with a summary of the context of Genesis 18-19, Suriano traces the boundaries and narrative coherence of the text, considering each episode as part of a single story and divided into five scenes, which can be further split into narrative units. Within each scene and narrative unit, Suriano considers the dynamics between the narrator and the reader, amongst the characters, between the narrator and the characters and between the reader and the characters, highlighting how they interact with each other and with the narrative world they are programmed for. She proposes that knowledge is the main topic of the narrative, to which all the characters concur; knowledge of the divine and human world, leading to awareness and the critical ability to distinguish between good and evil, and to choose which to follow.

Yitzhak Berger analyses the stories of the six major Israelite chieftains, exploring narratives that comprise the heart of the biblical book of Judges. Berger presents an original set of interpretations, drawing substantially on the text’s allusions to earlier biblical material. Each narrative undergoes a fresh assessment, and by integrating evidence generated by allusion into a cohesive reading of the text, Berger offers new perspective on each of the major judges.Beginning by considering the supplanting of Adoni-bezek, Berger then explores the rebirth of a nation in the story of Ehud and analyses the pivotal point of Deborah and Gideon, the nation’s decline in the narrative of Jephthah and the travails of Samson, concluding with Ruth and her connection to Israelite Kingship. These new perspectives have implications for the book’s wider ideological trajectory; consistent with a common practice of interpreting the book of Ruth together with Judges, Berger offers new insights on that shorter composition, based substantially on inner-biblical connections.

This volume presents a complete bibliography to the gospel of Mark, which completes Craig S. Keener’s magisterial ICC commentary on the gospel of Mark.The bibliography itself is a valuable resource for scholars, drawing together a truly comprehensive list of secondary literature. Scholars and researchers looking to broaden their work and scholarship in the study of the gospel will find Keener’s work an indispensable resource for studying this important New Testament text.

Susan Niditch explores ways in which the literature of ancient Israel grapples with matters of identity, self, and Other. Drawing upon her experience in the fields of ethics, folklore, oral -traditional literatures, and women and gender studies, Niditch examines both universal concerns about “strangers” and the culturally-specific settings and socio-historical frames in which particular examples come to life.To study ancient Israelite self-definition and ways of viewing the Other or strangers, Niditch engages with biblical composers’ use of traditional language, recurring characterizations, and identity-rich stories that distinguish “us” from “them.” After analysing 'strange speech,' speech acts and Otherly origins, she examines numerous characters designated as 'other' in the texts, from mothers like Hagar, Rebecca and Ruth, to giants such as the Nephilim, Og of Bashan and Goliath, and the gendered otherness of hair in both women and men. Niditch finally delves into Ezra-Nehemiah, considering the implications for engagement with defining self, and the theme of identity and definitions of the author’s group, the true Israel vs. those portrayed as other.

Christie Gilfeather explores the role of the widow in the Hebrew Bible, examining the appearance and significance of widowhood in numerous biblical texts, from Job and Deuteronomy to Leviticus and Lamentations . Gilfeather argues that the patterns found in contemporary ethnographic accounts of the lives of widows have significant parallels with biblical texts; the widow is often found on the periphery of narratives which centre on powerful men, and thus their contribution has often been overlooked, making it possible for novel questions to be asked about the texts at hand. With a combination of detailed exegesis and interdisciplinary investigation, Gilfeather examines biblical widowhood in a greater degree of detail than has ever been achieved before.Gilfeather first discusses themes which the reader already associates with the widow, primarily poverty and social justice. Focusing on texts from Deuteronomy, Job and 1-2 Kings, she addresses issues including food poverty, advocacy and inheritance; and also explores the way in which the widow functions as a tool in books such as Job, utilised by the protagonist as a reference point for their own moral standing. Gilfeather then builds on the more unexpected findings of her research, particularly sexuality, and analyses how the widow’s sexual past was understood in priest marriage laws, Ruth and Genesis 38. She finally discusses widowhood’s association with death, in particular its use as a metaphor in Lamentations and the widow's role as a public mourner.

In this volume, Katerina Koci redefines our understanding of gender-related sacrifice in the Hebrew Bible. Through an exploration of the figures of Jephthah’s unnamed daughter, Isaac, and the classical princess Iphigenia, the biblical roots of sacrifice, gendered sacrifice and the existential phenomenology of sacrifice are woven together, liberating these chosen figures from long-standing gender stereotypes.Koci begins with a historical-critical examination of female sacrifice, including a syntactic-structural analysis of the original Hebrew text, Judges 11:29-40. Koci explores two parallel sacrificial narratives: from the Hebrew Bible, the story of the binding of Isaac in Genesis 22, and from Classical mythology, Euripides’ Iphigenia in Aulis. By employing systematic investigation of the reception of sacrifice within existential phenomenology and theology, she focuses on the sacrificial experience of the individual and examines the concept of female sacrifice within the framework of feminist philosophy and theology. Ultimately, Koci offers an insight into the nuances that define gendered sacrifice and how the sacrificial experience may or may not differ if we consider both gender fluidity and other experiences, such as motherhood, that are inherently gendered.