>Review of Biblical Literature has published its latest edition of review of books in the area of biblical studies. Review of Biblical Literature is a publication of the Society of Biblical Literature.

The following reviews are of interest to students of the Old Testament:

Chaim Cohen, Victor Hurowitz, Avi Hurvitz, Yochanan Muffs, Baruch Schwartz, and Jeffrey Tigay, eds.

Birkat Shalom: Studies in the Bible, Ancient Near Eastern Literature, and Postbiblical Judaism Presented to Shalom M. Paul on the Occasion of His Seventieth Birthday

Reviewed by Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer

Description: This magnificent volume is a compilation of the writings of friends, colleagues, and former students in tribute to Shalom Paul, Professor Emeritus and former Chair of the Bible Department at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. More than 60 essayists contribute new ideas in the areas of research most loved by Prof. Paul, such as biblical literature and criticism, prophecy, comparative exegesis and linguistics, ancient Near Eastern historical and cultural milieus, and biblical and Mesopotamian law. Contributors include scholars of renown such as Adele Berlin, Frank Moore Cross, William G. Dever, Michael V. Fox, William W. Hallo, Sara Japhet, André Lemaire, Carol Meyers, Jacob Milgrom, Elisha Qimron, Gary A. Rendsburg, Jack M. Sasson, Shemaryahu Talmon, Emanuel Tov, James C. VanderKam, Joan Goodnick Westenholz, and Ziony Zevit.

Tremper Longman III and Peter Enns, eds.

Dictionary of the Old Testament: Wisdom, Poetry and Writings

Reviewed by Francis Dalrymple-Hamilton

Description: This third Old Testament volume in InterVarsity Press’s celebrated “Black Dictionary” series offers nearly 150 articles covering all the important aspects of Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Psalms, Song of Songs, Lamentations, Ruth and Esther. Over ninety contributors, many of them experts in this literature, have contributed to the Dictionary of the Old Testament: Wisdom, Poetry and Writings. This volume maintains the quality of scholarship that students, scholars and pastors have come to expect from this series. Coverage of each biblical book includes an introduction to the book itself as well as separate articles on its ancient Near Eastern background and its history of interpretation. Additional articles amply explore the literary dimensions of Hebrew poetry and prose, including acrostic, ellipsis, inclusio, intertextuality, parallelism and rhyme. And there are well-rounded treatments of Israelite wisdom and wisdom literature, including wisdom poems, sources and theology. In addition, a wide range of interpretive approaches is canvassed in articles on hermeneutics, feminist interpretation, form criticism, historical criticism, rhetorical criticism and social-scientific approaches.

Leo G. Perdue

The Sword and the Stylus: An Introduction to Wisdom in the Age of Empires

Reviewed by Benjamin G. Wright III

Description: The all-too-frequent disregard of historical and social contexts by many wisdom scholars often leads to the distortion of this literature and transforms its teachings into abstract ideas lacking any incarnation in the social and historical world of human living. Leo Perdue here argues that the proper understanding of ancient wisdom literature requires one to move out of the realm of philosophical idealism into flesh-and-blood human history. Arguing that wisdom was international in practice and outlook, Perdue traces the interaction between both ruling and subject nations and their sages who produced their respective cultures and their foundational worldviews. While not always easy to reconstruct, he acknowledges, the historical and social settings of texts provide necessary contexts for interpretation and engagement by later readers and hearers. Wisdom texts did not transcend their life settings to espouse values regardless of time and circumstance. Rather, they are located in a variety of historical events in an evolving nation, reflecting a vast array of different and changing moral systems, epistemologies, and religious understandings.

Peter T. Vogt

Deuteronomic Theology and the Significance of Torah: A Reappraisal

Reviewed by Trent C. Butler

Description: One of the few areas of consensus in modern Deuteronomy scholarship is the contention that within the book of Deuteronomy there is a program of reform that was nothing short of revolutionary. Although there are divergent views regarding the specific details of this revolutionary program, most scholars agree that, in fundamental and profound ways, Deuteronomy was radical in its vision. This vision was expressed in key ideas: centralization of worship, secularization, and demythologization (of earlier traditions). However, Vogt argues that these ideas fail to account adequately for the data of the text of Deuteronomy itself. Instead, he claims, at the heart of Deuteronomic theology is the principle of the supremacy of Yahweh, which is to be acknowledged by all generations of Israelites through adherence to Torah. Thus, the book of Deuteronomy is in fact radical and countercultural but not in the ways that are usually adduced. It is radical in its rejection of ANE models of kingship and institutional permanence, in its emphasis on the holiness of life lived out before Yahweh, and in its elevation of Yahweh and his Torah. In the introductory chapter, the structure and ideology of the book are examined. Chapter 1 then examines some of the ways in which the theology of Deuteronomy has been understood, namely, in terms of centralization, secularization, and demythologization. Chapters 2-5 evaluate key texts that are used to support the idea that centralization, secularization, and demythologization are at the heart of the theology of Deuteronomy. An alternative reading of the texts is presented that highlights the supremacy of Yahweh and Torah. The final chapter investigates the theological and ideological implications of this alternative reading of key texts.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

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