An AJS conference division group! Join to discuss literature of the Bible; world of the Bible; early post-Biblical literature (Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, Dead Sea Scrolls); interpretation of the Bible from antiquity to modern times; all areas of critical biblical scholarship and history of interpretation
Alison Joseph deposited Manasseh the Boring: Lack of Character in 2 Kings 21 in the group
Bible and the History of Biblical Interpretation on AJS Commons 2 years, 3 months ago
King Manasseh of Judah is blamed for the destruction of Jerusalem and the Babylonian exile, a heavy mantle to carry. But as a character, Manasseh is boring—he looks like the other ordinary bad kings, even described as a “cardboard cutout,” that Kings has little literary use for. Wouldn’t we expect a more colorful villain? Is there anything in the…[Read more]
Alison Joseph deposited ‘Is Dinah Raped?’ Isn’t the Right Question: Genesis 34 and Feminist Historiography in the group
Bible and the History of Biblical Interpretation on AJS Commons 2 years, 3 months ago
Many of the feminist readings of the Dinah story in Genesis 34 in recent years have focused on the question of whether Dinah is raped. The interpretations that perhaps Dinah was not “raped” span the spectrum from a teenage love affair between Dinah and Shechem, to a case of statutory rape, to a marriage by abduction. Guilty of exploring this que…[Read more]
simeon chavel deposited The Polymorphous Pesaḥ: Ritual Between Origins and Reenactment in the group
Bible and the History of Biblical Interpretation on AJS Commons 3 years, 5 months ago
The paper argues that the pesaḥ is a ritual with no origins in the literature we have, from the earliest recoverable fragment, through the first revision that introduces as many problems as it aims to solve, to subsequent extensions in multiple directions, with no arc, no trajectory, no telos, but recurrent hermeneutic expressive engagement.
simeon chavel deposited The Utility and Futility of Poetry in Qohelet in the group
Bible and the History of Biblical Interpretation on AJS Commons 3 years, 8 months ago
Argues that Qohelet’s famous bit of speech on the seasons at 3:1-8 mimics and mocks proverbial poetry, as part of his larger, prosaic denial that life has discernible and usable rhythms and rhymes.
simeon chavel deposited Compositry and Creativity in 2 Samuel 21:1–14 in the group
Bible and the History of Biblical Interpretation on AJS Commons 4 years, 1 month ago
Analysis of the story of David and the Gibeonites, argues that two different stories have been spliced together.
simeon chavel deposited “Oracular Novellae” and Biblical Historiography: Through the Lens of Law and Narrative in the group
Bible and the History of Biblical Interpretation on AJS Commons 4 years, 1 month ago
Theoretical discussion of law and narrative and their interaction in biblical historiography.
simeon chavel deposited The Second Passover, Pilgrimage, and the Centralized Cult in the group
Bible and the History of Biblical Interpretation on AJS Commons 4 years, 1 month ago
Literary and historical analysis of the passage at Num 9:1–14
simeon chavel deposited The Literary Development of Deuteronomy 12: Between Religious Ideal and Social Reality in the group
Bible and the History of Biblical Interpretation on AJS Commons 4 years, 1 month ago
Presents a new compositional history of the centralization law.
simeon chavel deposited Knowledge of the Lord in the Hebrew Bible in the group
Bible and the History of Biblical Interpretation on AJS Commons 4 years, 2 months ago
Applies theory of literature as simulation speech to argue that knowledge of the Lord is not reflected in texts of the Hebrew Bible but created by them.
Marc Bregman deposited “God Made Himself into a Serpent before Moses” in the group
Bible and the History of Biblical Interpretation on AJS Commons 4 years, 3 months ago
“God made Himself into a Serpent before Moses”
A Unique Midrashic Tradition on Exodus Chapters III-IV (Parashat Va-Era)
from an Early Tanhuma-Yelammedenu Genizah FragmentRachel Rafael Neis deposited Embracing Icons: The Face of Jacob on the Throne of God in the group
Bible and the History of Biblical Interpretation on AJS Commons 4 years, 6 months ago
Rachel Neis’ article treats Hekhalot Rabbati, a collection of early Jewish mystical traditions, and more specifically §§ 152–169, a series of Qedusha hymns. These hymns are liturgical performances, the highlight of which is God’s passionate embrace of the Jacob icon on his throne as triggered by Israel’s utterance of the Qedusha. §§ 152–1…[Read more]
simeon chavel deposited Biblical Law in the group
Bible and the History of Biblical Interpretation on AJS Commons 4 years, 10 months ago
Introductory overview of the legal literature in the Bible
John Hobbins deposited Martin Luther on the Value of Learning Hebrew and Greek in the group
Bible and the History of Biblical Interpretation on AJS Commons 5 years ago
Martin Luther (1483-1546), the great religious reformer, re-rooted German culture by turning once again to the Hebrew and the Greek of the Old and New Testaments after a thousand years of relative neglect, and by putting the Bible translated from Hebrew and Greek into the hands of people of every walk of life. Thanks to Luther and Melanchthon,…[Read more]