Resources helpful for study the Bible
Over the past year, I have noticed an increased interest in the question of vegetarianism and veganism. In this edition, Simon J. Joseph (University of California) investigates vegetarianism and Christian origins: Other Voices: Remembering the marginalized vegetarian in the study of Christian origins.
Continue readingJJMJS is strongly committed to remain open access. Moving forward, we, as any other open-access journals, must secure long-term economic stability without compromising academic quality. We are therefore very pleased to announce that, through a unique collaborative effort, JJMJS is now entering a multilateral partnership with Hebrew University of Jerusalem, DePaul University in Chicago, and the University of Oslo.
This edition is something of a feast for those interested in Paul, Pauline scholarship, and first century CE Judaism and is timed to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of E.P. Sanders’ Paul and Palestinian Judaism. The edition is divided into two parts. Part I considers the “impact of the work of E.P. Sanders forty years after the publication of his magisterial Paul and Palestinian Judaism“. Part II then explores Paul in contemporary research with three articles reflecting on the work of Paula Fredriksen and John Gager. The final article is Paula Fredriksen’s response to these articles. Continue reading
The journal is going to be particularly useful to anyone interested in reception history and the use of the Bible within the visual arts, as well as music and literature. It will also include reviews and reports on current research.
Martin’s article, Painting of King Solomon in Islamic and Orientalist Tradition, explores the person King Solomon, a very popular and influential figure within biblical and post-biblical tradition, as it appears in Islamic and Orientalist art. After examining Solomon in the Qur’an and later Islamic tradition, Martin explores the depiction of Solomon in Islamic miniature painting (illustrated) and noting that the prevalence of illustrations like these
…help to dispel the myth of the lack of enthusiasm for figurative art in Islam, especially in relation to how prophets can be portrayed.
Martin O’ Kane (2017: 17)
Martin then explores Solomon within the Orientalist tradition, with its focus on the increasingly lavish and exotic.
For those who’s appetites have been whetted in regards to Solomon, Bible in the Arts also includes another article by Antonia Krainer (in German), this time focusing upon the recent (post 1960) interest in the Queen of Sheba and what it can tell us about the way these old stories/figures can connect with our imaginative and creative worlds: King Vidor „Solomon and Sheba“ (1959) – Hintergründe und Wirkungsgeschichte
Welcome to Orbis: The Stanford Geospatial Network Model of the Roman World produced by Walter Scheidel and Elijah Meeks.
It is always exciting to hear news of a new journal – and especially so when it is open-access and published free of charge!
One of the major developments in mid to late 20th century biblical studies was the way research began to set the figures of Jesus and Paul within their distinctively Jewish contexts. Rather than viewing them as prototype Christians, New Testament scholars began to draw upon contemporary Jewish literature in order to understand them within a Jewish environment. Following the publication of Geza Vermes’ Jesus the Jew (1973) and Ed Sanders’ Paul and Palestinian Judaism (1977), the Jewish setting of Jesus and Paul have been widely acknowledged. It is therefore great news to hear of research that explores these Jewish roots (and their continuity) within early Christianity.
Published by Eisenbrauns, the Journal of the Study of the Jesus Movement in its Jewish Setting (JJMJS) proposes to look at the inter-relationships between Jewish and Christian traditions during the first seven centuries of Christianity.
Contributions to the journal are made from a range of disciplines including, Christian origins, early Jewish studies, the Apocrypha and
Pseudepigrapha, Dead Sea Scrolls, rabbinics, patristics, and archaeology and, in the increasingly fragmented world of biblical scholarship, is exactly the sort of initiative this area of study needs. This creates a wonderful sense of dialogue and joint exploration. Peer reviewed articles (some by top specialists in their fields) can be read online or downloaded (free of charge) in pdf format.
An exciting additional feature is the online forum. As far as I know this is an innovative step by Eisenbrauns and could lead to some interesting conversations and responses to the published articles. It will be really interesting to see how this catches on.
Eisenbrauns should be applauded for this venture. The JJMJS looks like a really worthwhile addition to scholarship in early Christian and early Jewish studies.
Newman Research Centre for the Bible and its Reception 