Project MUSE®: The Catholic Biblical Quarterly - Latest Articles
https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/742
Project MUSE®: Latest articles in The Catholic Biblical Quarterly.daily12026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00text/htmlen-USVol. 79 (2017) through current issueLatest Articles: The Catholic Biblical QuarterlyTWOProject MUSE®The Catholic Biblical Quarterly2163-25290008-7912Latest articles in The Catholic Biblical Quarterly. Feed provided by Project MUSE®Moving beyond Text-Fetishism: Toward a Catholic Biblical Hermeneutic
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990664
<p></p>
I am a cradle Catholic. For seventy years, I practiced my faith; for fifty years I have been a member of the Order of Preachers (Dominicans) and a Bible scholar for thirty-one years. My Ph.D. is from the Catholic University of America, and all my other diplomas and degrees are from Catholic institutions. I teach at a Catholic university. As a Catholic Dominican sister, I learned how to pray with the Bible. As a Catholic Bible scholar, trusting in the intellectual authority of my graduate school professors, I believed that my search for authorship, dating, “the meaning” of the text, and the function of metaphors and chiastic structures would make me a great biblical scholar. Indeed, my male colleagues who embraced
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990693">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/742/image/coversmallMoving beyond Text-Fetishism: Toward a Catholic Biblical Hermeneutic2026-05-15text/htmlen-USMoving beyond Text-Fetishism: Toward a Catholic Biblical Hermeneutic2026-05-152026TWOProject MUSE®1040462026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-05-15Delimiting Creation: Sense Divisions as Reception History in an Early Septuagint Witness of Genesis 1
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990665
<p></p>
In recent decades, the biblical studies subfield of delimitation criticism has yielded fruitful insight into the interplay between exegesis and material culture, shedding light on the fact that all texts are read within a mediated textual environment.1 Delimitation criticism builds on the insight that it is not just the content of each word on the page that shapes the reader’s interpretation, but also how that content is presented. The presence of marginal notes, chapter headings, paragraph division, and even punctuation markers can have a significant effect on how the reader will ultimately understand the meaning of a text.2 Because of this, delimitation criticism provides a window into ancient reception history
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990693">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/742/image/coversmallDelimiting Creation: Sense Divisions as Reception History in an Early Septuagint Witness of Genesis 12026-05-15text/htmlen-USDelimiting Creation: Sense Divisions as Reception History in an Early Septuagint Witness of Genesis 12026-05-152026TWOProject MUSE®1144932026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-05-15From Marriage to Sacrilege: Variations on a Biblical Motif
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990666
<p></p>
The verbal sequence “see, good/beautiful, take” (לקח,יפה/טוב ,ראה) appears a total of six times in Genesis and the Deuteronomistic works. The sequence receives a fair amount of attention in isolated passages, especially in classic loci such as Gen 3:6, where the woman “saw [ותרא] that the tree was good [טוב] for food” and then “took [ותקח] of its fruit.”1 But the whole sequence is only treated somewhat rarely as a more broadly recurring literary motif. Where the “see, beautiful, take” sequence is addressed as a motif––either explicitly or implicitly–– typically only one or two parallels are considered, and categorization of the motif accordingly follows from these. Thus, when the garden and antediluvian “sons of
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990693">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/742/image/coversmallFrom Marriage to Sacrilege: Variations on a Biblical Motif2026-05-15text/htmlen-USFrom Marriage to Sacrilege: Variations on a Biblical Motif2026-05-152026TWOProject MUSE®1175822026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-05-15Psalm 22: The Death and Resurrection of King David
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990667
<p></p>
In a seminal article in 1972, Bruce Vawter critiqued Mitchell Dahood for intimating postmortem existence in his translation of Sirach.1 Dahood’s rendering, Vawter noted, may have been philologically possible, but it was theologically incoherent in a text where immortality is conceived not as resurrection or spiritual exaltation, but as fond remembrance of a life well-lived (Sir 40:17; 44:14). Having established a suitable hermeneutic, Vawter then turned his attention to the biblical psalms and wisdom literature, noting that here too Dahood and others had irresponsibly attempted to locate resurrection theology where it did not belong.2 For Vawter, the chimeric search for resurrection in the Psalter should be
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990693">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/742/image/coversmallPsalm 22: The Death and Resurrection of King David2026-05-15text/htmlen-USPsalm 22: The Death and Resurrection of King David2026-05-152026TWOProject MUSE®1067232026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-05-15Tradition-Informed Historical Criticism: A Jewish Reading of Dei Verbum as an Invitation to Catholic–Jewish Dialogue in Biblical Studies
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990668
<p></p>
In his 2015 monograph Revelation and Authority: Sinai in Jewish Scripture and Tradition, Benjamin D. Sommer offers a Jewish defense of historical-critical biblical studies.1 Rejecting allegations that it undermines Judaism, Sommer argues instead that it encourages a “participatory” theology of revelation: God’s authority is realized in human interpretation, which began at Sinai itself. Nevertheless, Sommer also registers an objection: in practice, historical criticism enforces a “firewall” between the Scripture and tradition that appear in his subtitle. “Many biblical critics,” he laments, “maintain that it is illegitimate to . . . think about the Bible in terms of classical Jewish ideas or values.”2 This reflects
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990693">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/742/image/coversmallTradition-Informed Historical Criticism: A Jewish Reading of Dei Verbum as an Invitation to Catholic–Jewish Dialogue in Biblical Studies2026-05-15text/htmlen-USTradition-Informed Historical Criticism: A Jewish Reading of Dei Verbum as an Invitation to Catholic–Jewish Dialogue in Biblical Studies2026-05-152026TWOProject MUSE®1481152026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-05-15A Certain Woman Disciple: Tabitha as μαθήτρια
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990669
<p></p>
In the wake of several decades of feminist biblical scholarship, it has become a truism that Jesus had women disciples and that women continued to function as disciples in the early ecclesia. For example, in a recent book, Helen Bond and Joan Taylor assert, “If we look carefully at the Gospels we’ll see that there is more evidence for women in the mission of Jesus than we first supposed. Here and there women do appear. They aren’t always named, and sometimes their stories are tantalisingly brief, but traces of Jesus’ women disciples haven’t been completely rubbed away.”1 Similarly, Nijay Gupta answers the question whether Jesus had women disciples affirmatively, observing that, while women were not among the
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990693">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/742/image/coversmallA Certain Woman Disciple: Tabitha as μαθήτρια2026-05-15text/htmlen-USA Certain Woman Disciple: Tabitha as μαθήτρια2026-05-152026TWOProject MUSE®931322026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-05-15“About Whom Is Our Discourse”: New Data on λόγος in Hebrews 4:13
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990670
<p></p>
In most modern English translations, Heb 4:12–13 reads something like this:12 For the word of God [ὁ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ] is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account [πρὸς ὃν ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος].The word λόγος appears near the beginning and at the end of the short section, and its meaning in both places is hotly contested. The meaning of the first λόγος depends primarily on whether one thinks that Hebrews might have a λόγος chris-tology and on how one
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990693">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/742/image/coversmall“About Whom Is Our Discourse”: New Data on λόγος in Hebrews 4:132026-05-15text/htmlen-US“About Whom Is Our Discourse”: New Data on λόγος in Hebrews 4:132026-05-152026TWOProject MUSE®646892026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-05-15The New Jerusalem and Greco-Roman City Founding: Revelation 19–21
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990671
<p></p>
The new jerusalem is depicted through vivid imagery: birds engaged in aerial flight, a cosmic battle, a majestic floating city descending from the divine, adorned with jasper walls, gates of pearl, and streets paved with gold. These striking images evoke a sense of hope for a utopian future where inhabitants enjoy boundless benefits in this city. Central to the symbolism surrounding the city is the concept of city founding, rooted in foundation myths. These myths, whether steeped in fable or history, serve the essential purpose of associating a deity or heroic figure with the inception of a city. Through the preservation of these origin stories, communities reinforce their collective identity and hierarchical
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990693">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/742/image/coversmallThe New Jerusalem and Greco-Roman City Founding: Revelation 19–212026-05-15text/htmlen-USThe New Jerusalem and Greco-Roman City Founding: Revelation 19–212026-05-152026TWOProject MUSE®1021342026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-05-15Micah: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary by Bob Becking (review)
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990672
<p></p>
Becking’s much-anticipated commentary on the Book of Micah is one of the most recent additions to the updated Anchor Yale Bible commentary series—a well-established series devoted to providing robust discussions on the translation of biblical texts and their interpretation within their ancient historical and cultural contexts. B.’s contribution replaces Francis I. Andersen and David Noel Freedman’s weighty Micah commentary (Micah: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary [AB 24E; New York: Doubleday, 2000]), which is now just over two decades old. One of the first characteristics readers familiar with Andersen and Freedman’s work will notice is that B.’s commentary is less than half the length of its
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990693">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/742/image/coversmallMicah: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary by Bob Becking (review)2026-05-15text/htmlen-USMicah: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary by Bob Becking (review)2026-05-152026TWOProject MUSE®90072026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-05-15Prophet, Intermediary, King: The Dynamics of Mediation in the Biblical World and Old Babylonian Mari by Julie B. Deluty (review)
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990673
<p></p>
Biblical scholars have extensively studied the role of prophets and prophetesses as intermediaries between gods and humanity. Julie B. Deluty’s work continues in this line of inquiry, entering this conversation by means of sources from Mari and the Hebrew Bible. After briefly reviewing previous literature on the topic, D. focuses on the often-overlooked agents in the chain of interactions that facilitated divine–human communications. While prophets are the obvious link in the communication between gods and humans, Deluty explores the roles of non-prophetic intermediaries, such as royal functionaries, scribes, or elite women as go-betweens for prophets and political leaders. With this approach, D.’s volume is a
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990693">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/742/image/coversmallProphet, Intermediary, King: The Dynamics of Mediation in the Biblical World and Old Babylonian Mari by Julie B. Deluty (review)2026-05-15text/htmlen-USProphet, Intermediary, King: The Dynamics of Mediation in the Biblical World and Old Babylonian Mari by Julie B. Deluty (review)2026-05-152026TWOProject MUSE®73602026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-05-15Walter Brueggemann’s Prophetic Imagination: A Theological Biography by Conrad L. Kanagy (review)
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990674
<p></p>
Years ago, when I was teaching in Guatemala during the time of the civil war, I came across works by Walter Brueggemann. One little book, The Prophetic Imagination, now the classic that prompted this title by Conrad Kanagy, had a major influence on my processing the realities of that time and place. With his interdisciplinary approach of wedding sociological realism and rhetorical sensibilities, Brueggemann provided a lens and categories for analyzing Latin America with the biblical text in hand.For years, for me and many others, Brueggemann has been an inspiring guide for appropriating the OT today. What has been lacking is a project like this that reveals the man behind the publications. K. labels his book a
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990693">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/742/image/coversmallWalter Brueggemann’s Prophetic Imagination: A Theological Biography by Conrad L. Kanagy (review)2026-05-15text/htmlen-USWalter Brueggemann’s Prophetic Imagination: A Theological Biography by Conrad L. Kanagy (review)2026-05-152026TWOProject MUSE®82702026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-05-15The Labors of Idrimi: Inscribing the Past, Shaping the Present at Late Bronze Age Alalah by Jacob Lauinger (review)
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990675
<p></p>
In this volume, Lauinger studies the Idrimi inscriptions, asking, “Why was the story of Idrimi’s life told at this particular time and place and in this particular way?” (p. 1). The Idrimi inscriptions were inscribed on a statue found in Alalah (Tell Atchana, in modern Turkey), and relate the story of Idrimi’s early adventures, his negotiations with Mitanni ruler Parattarna I, and his royal acts (regarding this tripartite division, pp. 74–75).After introducing the Idrimi statue and inscriptions along with the history of Alalah and its excavations in chap. 1, L. summarizes and assesses scholars’ past approaches in chap. 2. Recent archaeological work and reassessment suggest that, although the historical Idrimi
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990693">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/742/image/coversmallThe Labors of Idrimi: Inscribing the Past, Shaping the Present at Late Bronze Age Alalah by Jacob Lauinger (review)2026-05-15text/htmlen-USThe Labors of Idrimi: Inscribing the Past, Shaping the Present at Late Bronze Age Alalah by Jacob Lauinger (review)2026-05-152026TWOProject MUSE®81432026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-05-15A Womanist Reading of Hebrew Bible Narratives as the Politics of Belonging from an Outsider Within by Vanessa Lovelace (review)
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990676
<p></p>
The book’s title gives the reader the subject matter and its methodology. Vanessa Lovelace states in her introduction, “This is a book about belonging, more specifically the ‘politics of belonging,’ the processes used to determine who belongs as a member of a polity and who decides” (p. xii). She argues that the Hebrew Bible and the United States created insiders and outsiders in God’s name, with the United States sometimes using the Hebrew Bible as a source for its own articulation of the boundaries of citizenship; however, “both groups constructed boundaries along racial/ethnic, gender, and class categories and both believed that their actions were divinely ordained” (p. xiii). L. utilizes four scholars in her
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990693">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/742/image/coversmallA Womanist Reading of Hebrew Bible Narratives as the Politics of Belonging from an Outsider Within by Vanessa Lovelace (review)2026-05-15text/htmlen-USA Womanist Reading of Hebrew Bible Narratives as the Politics of Belonging from an Outsider Within by Vanessa Lovelace (review)2026-05-152026TWOProject MUSE®83982026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-05-15The Suffering Servant: Isaiah 53 for the Life of the Church by J. Gordon McConville (review)
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990677
<p></p>
J. Gordon McConville is professor emeritus of Old Testament Theology at the University of Gloucestershire. In this concise and well-written volume of five chapters, blended with a rich bibliography and indexes of Scripture passages and subjects, McConville offers a close reading of Isaiah 53 as one of the great texts of Christian canon. He does this for the life of the church.In chap. 1, which serves as an extended introduction, M. presents a road map to the entire analysis. Although the text before us is “properly designated as Isaiah 52:13–53:12” (p. 1), he prefers the shorthand name “Isaiah 53,” for the sake of convenience. Isaiah 53, he argues, contains not only a stunning image of a suffering man, but has
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990693">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/742/image/coversmallThe Suffering Servant: Isaiah 53 for the Life of the Church by J. Gordon McConville (review)2026-05-15text/htmlen-USThe Suffering Servant: Isaiah 53 for the Life of the Church by J. Gordon McConville (review)2026-05-152026TWOProject MUSE®76512026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-05-15Prophets beyond Activism: Rethinking the Prophetic Roots of Social Justice by Julia M. O’Brien (review)
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990678
<p></p>
Modern progressive Christian discourses often invoke the OT prophets as biblical forerunners of social justice. This book reveals that this “progressive orthodoxy,” which parades selected passages as the biblical basis of activism in the manner of “biblical ventriloquism” (a term the author takes from Craig Martin, “How to Read an Interpretation: Interpretive Strategies and the Maintenance of Authority,” Bible and Critical Theory 5.1 [2009] 6.1–6.25), glosses over the complexity of the prophetic tradition. O’Brien draws on her extensive engagement with the prophets of the OT in her publications, teaching, and ecclesiastical participation to unpack the significance of this scrutiny.This book is strategically
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990693">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/742/image/coversmallProphets beyond Activism: Rethinking the Prophetic Roots of Social Justice by Julia M. O’Brien (review)2026-05-15text/htmlen-USProphets beyond Activism: Rethinking the Prophetic Roots of Social Justice by Julia M. O’Brien (review)2026-05-152026TWOProject MUSE®91532026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-05-15The Arrival of the King: The Shape and Story of Psalms 15–24 by Carissa Quinn (review)
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990679
<p></p>
Carissa Quinn’s book examines the structure and message of Psalms 15–24, demonstrating that this collection forms a unified whole through its cohesion and thematic development, rather than being read as a series of isolated units disconnected from their literary context. This approach provides valuable insight into the Psalms’ overarching narrative structure. The book explores how major themes evolve through literary connections between the Psalms, as well as through structural and rhetorical devices, illustrating their intentional arrangement to convey a specific narrative. Additionally, it engages both chiastic and sequential readings by developing a methodology rooted in the principles of Hebrew parallelism.The
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990693">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/742/image/coversmallThe Arrival of the King: The Shape and Story of Psalms 15–24 by Carissa Quinn (review)2026-05-15text/htmlen-USThe Arrival of the King: The Shape and Story of Psalms 15–24 by Carissa Quinn (review)2026-05-152026TWOProject MUSE®88982026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-05-15Moses: Man among Men? by Anthony Rees (review)
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990680
<p></p>
A person is not born a man: they become one (riffing on Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex [New York: Knopf, 1057]). Manhood and masculinity, in other words, are socially constructed categories. Manliness must be achieved and maintained. It shifts based on context: a man may seem more manly vis-à-vis some men—yet less so compared to others. In Moses: Man among Men?, Anthony Rees argues that the Torah (especially Exodus and Numbers) portrays Moses as a true man, according to categories of hegemonic masculinity. Rees draws upon David Clines’s six categories (“David the Man: The Construction of Masculinities in the Hebrew Bible,” in Clines, Interested Parties: The Ideology of Writers and Readers of the Hebrew Bible
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990693">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/742/image/coversmallMoses: Man among Men? by Anthony Rees (review)2026-05-15text/htmlen-USMoses: Man among Men? by Anthony Rees (review)2026-05-152026TWOProject MUSE®81662026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-05-151–2 Samuel by Marvin A. Sweeney (review)
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990681
<p></p>
Marvin Sweeney’s commentary takes a novel approach, viewing 1–2 Samuel as a study in human leadership read “in relation to Machiavelli’s The Prince and Sun Tzu’s The Art of War” (p. ii). Strangely, however, reference is made only once to these books (pp. 7–8). S. suggests that 1–2 Samuel teaches three “key lessons” (p. 19). First, “YHWH appears to make mistakes” since Eli, Saul, and even David are poor choices for leadership. Second, “YHWH works through questionable human beings to achieve divine purposes,” emphasizing that characters have free will (though this second “lesson” seems to undermine the validity of the first). Third, 1–2 Samuel is a “study in leadership,” which guides the focus of S.’s commentary.As
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990693">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/742/image/coversmall1–2 Samuel by Marvin A. Sweeney (review)2026-05-15text/htmlen-US1–2 Samuel by Marvin A. Sweeney (review)2026-05-152026TWOProject MUSE®87252026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-05-15Mercy for All: Paul, Judaism, and the Salvation of “All Israel” by Robert D. Anderson (review)
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990682
<p></p>
This study is based on the author’s dissertation from Graduate Theological Foundation, though its current form is intended for a broader audience inclusive of academics, ministers, and informed laity. In my view, although this work is very readable, the depth of its content might be a bit overwhelming for a good portion of the latter group. The work is said to center on divine faithfulness to Israel based on Romans 9–11, but it actually addresses quite a number of other things. Only two of its nine chapters—chaps. 7 and 8—are dedicated to examining Romans 9–11. Overall, the author wants to argue from a Paul-within-Judaism perspective for the letter. There is not enough space to do this work justice in terms of all
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990693">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/742/image/coversmallMercy for All: Paul, Judaism, and the Salvation of “All Israel” by Robert D. Anderson (review)2026-05-15text/htmlen-USMercy for All: Paul, Judaism, and the Salvation of “All Israel” by Robert D. Anderson (review)2026-05-152026TWOProject MUSE®134922026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-05-15Imitation in Early Christianity: Mimesis and Religious-Ethical Formation by Cornelis Bennema (review)
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990683
<p></p>
Cornelis Bennema expands in this book on his earlier works on mimesis, Mimesis in the Johannine Literature: A Study in Johannine Ethics (LNTS 498; London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2017) and numerous articles, examining the role of mimesis in early Christianity in the context of the Greco-Roman world. In a comprehensive study, he analyzes the role of mimesis in the OT, Second Temple Judaism, Greco-Roman literature, the NT, and patristic literature.In the introduction, B. asks: (1) Where do the origins of the early Christian concept of mimesis lie? (2) What language defines mimesis? (3) Is the early Christina concept of mimesis consistent, varying, or developing, and what is its place in Christian ethics? (4) How could
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990693">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/742/image/coversmallImitation in Early Christianity: Mimesis and Religious-Ethical Formation by Cornelis Bennema (review)2026-05-15text/htmlen-USImitation in Early Christianity: Mimesis and Religious-Ethical Formation by Cornelis Bennema (review)2026-05-152026TWOProject MUSE®78952026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-05-15Embedded Genres in the New Testament: Understanding Their Impact for Interpretation by Jeannine K. Brown (review)
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990684
<p></p>
Jeannine K. Brown’s Embedded Genres in the New Testament offers methodological guidance and concrete examples for scholars and more casual readers interested in understanding how to recognize embedded genres in NT texts and what to make of them. Based on B.’s 2022 Hayward Lectures at Acadia Divinity College, the study is written in an accessible style and presents sophisticated insights from historical, narrative, and rhetorical criticism in an engaging fashion. Readers encounter references to the embedded letters in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (pp. 10–13), guiding questions that focus the discussion (“But what if, at least sometimes, Jesus was intentionally ambiguous?,” p. 51), and brief explanations of
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990693">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/742/image/coversmallEmbedded Genres in the New Testament: Understanding Their Impact for Interpretation by Jeannine K. Brown (review)2026-05-15text/htmlen-USEmbedded Genres in the New Testament: Understanding Their Impact for Interpretation by Jeannine K. Brown (review)2026-05-152026TWOProject MUSE®69592026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-05-15Jérémie, un paradigme pour Paul? Étude de l’emploi de textes jérémiens dans la rhétorique de quelques péricopes des deux lettres aux Corinthiens by Pierre De Curraize (review)
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990685
<p></p>
This erudite study is a slightly revised 2023 dissertation directed by Antonio Pitta at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. It makes a significant contribution to Pauline studies, exploring a debated theme of the influence of writings from the prophet Jeremiah (LXX) on Paul’s thought, especially in the Corinthian correspondence. The book comprises a twenty-three-page introduction; three main exegetical chapters, each of which explores connections between particular passages from Jeremiah in specific Corinthian pericopes; and a conclusion. An extensive bibliography, three appendixes of charts outlining certain structural features of the pericopes under discussion, and three indexes (sources, modern authors
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990693">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/742/image/coversmallJérémie, un paradigme pour Paul? Étude de l’emploi de textes jérémiens dans la rhétorique de quelques péricopes des deux lettres aux Corinthiens by Pierre De Curraize (review)2026-05-15text/htmlen-USJérémie, un paradigme pour Paul? Étude de l’emploi de textes jérémiens dans la rhétorique de quelques péricopes des deux lettres aux Corinthiens by Pierre De Curraize (review)2026-05-152026TWOProject MUSE®74252026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-05-15Remarriage in Early Christianity by A. Andrew Das (review)
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990686
<p></p>
With thorough analysis of biblical and early Christian texts addressing divorce and remarriage, Das contends that early Christians read Jesus’s teachings to disallow Christian remarriage after divorce under any condition, even though that went against cultural and religious patterns. In the introduction, D. orients the argument with an assessment of the state of the question in NT and early Christian scholarship. In his summation, an “emerging consensus” has been that remarriage was allowed among early Christians despite varying opinions within related scholarly disciplines (p. 12). D. proceeds to argue, on the contrary, that early Christians rejected remarriage unless one’s spouse died (p. 13).Das describes in
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990693">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/742/image/coversmallRemarriage in Early Christianity by A. Andrew Das (review)2026-05-15text/htmlen-USRemarriage in Early Christianity by A. Andrew Das (review)2026-05-152026TWOProject MUSE®83122026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-05-15The Affections of Christ Jesus: Love at the Heart of Paul’s Theology by Nijay K. Gupta (review)
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990687
<p></p>
In Gupta’s relatively concise study, The Affections of Christ Jesus: Love at the Heart of Paul’s Theology, his argument is clear: “love belongs in the conversation about the center of Paul’s theology” (p. 11). The book is broadly divided into two main sections. The first section (chaps. 1–4) surveys various perspectives and terminologies on love from Jewish traditions, Greco-Roman culture, and the Jesus tradition; then the second section (chaps. 5–11) shifts to Paul’s relationship to love. In the second section, G. argues that Paul’s understanding of love is not merely an ethical principle; rather, the concept of love appears in some of the most theologically dense sections of his writings (e.g., Romans 5–8). G.
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990693">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/742/image/coversmallThe Affections of Christ Jesus: Love at the Heart of Paul’s Theology by Nijay K. Gupta (review)2026-05-15text/htmlen-USThe Affections of Christ Jesus: Love at the Heart of Paul’s Theology by Nijay K. Gupta (review)2026-05-152026TWOProject MUSE®58202026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-05-15Jesus and the Visibility of God: Sight and Belief in the Fourth Gospel by Luke Irwin (review)
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990688
<p></p>
With its copious citations, sound logic, and attention to context (intratextual, intertextual, and sociocultural), Luke Irwin’s revised doctoral dissertation makes a welcome contribution to Johannine scholarship. Combating what he sees as the prevalent and erroneous idea of God’s “absolute invisibility,” that is, “the idea that God is necessarily and irrevocably invisible” (p. 8), I. successfully argues that “God must become physically visible in Jesus in order for belief to obtain” (p. 5).Irwin competently demonstrates his thesis in five chapters, using the concept of a “cultural encyclopedia” extensively, that is, the complex of conventions, presuppositions, potential intertexts, and so on, through which the text
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990693">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/742/image/coversmallJesus and the Visibility of God: Sight and Belief in the Fourth Gospel by Luke Irwin (review)2026-05-15text/htmlen-USJesus and the Visibility of God: Sight and Belief in the Fourth Gospel by Luke Irwin (review)2026-05-152026TWOProject MUSE®82382026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-05-15Rewritten Gospel: The Composition of Luke and Rewritten Scripture by Jonathan M. Potter (review)
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990689
<p></p>
Written for specialists, this is Potter’s revised 2019 Ph.D. dissertation directed by Carl Holladay at Emory University. P. compares Luke’s use of Mark to the rewriting of Genesis found in Jubilees and in Josephus’s Antiquities. Those examples of “rewritten scripture,” P. argues, are the best analogy for Luke’s models and purpose for writing a new Gospel. P. makes a strong case that Luke used well-known literary devices and did not intend to replace Mark.In the Forschungsbericht, P. highlights Alex Damm’s Ancient Rhetoric and the Syn-optic Problem: Clarifying Markan Priority (BETL 252; Leuven: Peeters, 2013). Damm also used Josephus as an analogy and studied individual pericopes to show that Matthew and Luke used
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990693">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/742/image/coversmallRewritten Gospel: The Composition of Luke and Rewritten Scripture by Jonathan M. Potter (review)2026-05-15text/htmlen-USRewritten Gospel: The Composition of Luke and Rewritten Scripture by Jonathan M. Potter (review)2026-05-152026TWOProject MUSE®84442026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-05-15Worship, Music, and Interpretation: Exploratory Essays by Wendy J. Porter (review)
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990690
<p></p>
This collection of essays explores the role of music in Christian worship across the centuries; it particularly argues that music serves to interpret Christian tradition and experience. The book comprises seventeen chapters that cover an expansive list of topics: tracing the role of music in the early church context to the contemporary Christian context, engaging the versified sermons of Romanos Melodus to Stravinsky’s musical settings of the creed, and more.The collection begins with a chapter that introduces the unifying theme of the book and maps the subsequent essays: (1) “An Introduction to Worship, Music, and Interpretation” (pp. 1–14). The rest of the essays are organized into three parts. Part 1, “Music and
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990693">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/742/image/coversmallWorship, Music, and Interpretation: Exploratory Essays by Wendy J. Porter (review)2026-05-15text/htmlen-USWorship, Music, and Interpretation: Exploratory Essays by Wendy J. Porter (review)2026-05-152026TWOProject MUSE®84592026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-05-15The Future of Catholic Biblical Interpretation: Marie-Joseph Lagrange and Beyond ed. by James B. Prothro and Isaac Augustine Morales, Op (review)
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990691
<p></p>
This collection of fifteen essays originated from an online conference of several Roman Catholic biblical scholars in the spring of 2022 organized by James B. Prothro and John A. Kincaid. The contributors are diverse in their methods and approaches while sharing a common commitment to the project of biblical interpretation by and for the people of God in Catholic contexts. Despite the title of the volume, they recognize that there is no single prescribed future for Catholic biblical interpretation. Each essay offers a unique and valuable perspective.The opening essay, “Catholic Biblical Interpretation: Lagrange and Beyond,” by James B. Prothro and Isaac Augustine Morales, OP (pp. 1–18), begins with a historical
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990693">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/742/image/coversmallThe Future of Catholic Biblical Interpretation: Marie-Joseph Lagrange and Beyond ed. by James B. Prothro and Isaac Augustine Morales, Op (review)2026-05-15text/htmlen-USThe Future of Catholic Biblical Interpretation: Marie-Joseph Lagrange and Beyond ed. by James B. Prothro and Isaac Augustine Morales, Op (review)2026-05-152026TWOProject MUSE®116532026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-05-15Books Received
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990693
<p></p>
Notice here neither implies nor precludes review in a subsequent
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/990693">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/742/image/coversmallBooks Received2026-05-15text/htmlen-USBooks Received2026-05-152026TWOProject MUSE®296892026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-05-15