George J. Brooke

Early Judaism and the New Testament

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“This is a timely and significant book, rich in scholarship with its own persistent line of argument, yet fully recognizing a diversity of views, both ancient and modern. While the Jewishness of Jesus has long been reasserted, the Jewishness of the New Testament writings has not been given enough prominence. Carter and Feldman, leading experts in their fields, address this lack with clarity and vigor. I wish I had had this volume when I was teaching in seminary.”

Hugh Schonfield

World Religions

“From his selective reading of Scripture, Schonfield fashioned an ideal for universal peace. He proclaimed a form of democratized messianism, modeling a solely human, Jewish Jesus for the formation of a worldwide servant nation. Schonfield's own strong individualism undermines all attempts at fitting him into any neat group category--indeed, as Power valuably shows, it challenges the very categories of identity themselves.”

John Marco Allegro

History & Biography

“Judith Brown's beautifully written biography of her father provides a richly informative and candid overview of John Allegro's life and thought. Through her intricate use of dozens of his letters and other unpublished items, Allegro tells his own story. In the hands of his daughter, however, the self-presentation is skillfully controlled so that this immensely energetic and intellectually provocative character, who has been much maligned, is shown in a fresh and appealing light. This is an impressive work for reconstructing the intellectual history of Dead Sea Scrolls studies.”

Justice for the Poor?

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“This book is something rich and rare. Walter Houston’s collected essays are rich with attention to detail, and such detail is set in the context of the most significant relevant works of biblical scholarship, all critically and sympathetically cross-examined. In profound ways rarely encountered in biblical scholarship, the detail is not left to stand on its own but is encouraged to speak to ethical and political issues old and new. Here is much challenging insight.”

Leviticus and Its Reception in the Dead Sea Scrolls from Qumran

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“This worthwhile book goes well beyond previous surveys of Leviticus in the Dead Sea Scrolls and moves forward the discussion of early Jewish uses of Scripture. Choi shows how Leviticus, especially chapters 25–27, has variously influenced the structures and arguments, the ideologies and theologies, of several late Second Temple period works.”

Making Sense of Sex

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“This book is both a magnificent distillation of many years’ work published in five comprehensive volumes and a splendid new work in its own right. Loader’s paying attention to and juxtaposing the full range of ancient Jewish and New Testament texts on human sexuality clearly shows the lack of any monochrome view in those texts. His thematic arrangement enables readers to bridge the gap of two millennia with ease and without undue distortion. Most valuable.”

My Lips Play Flute for the Highest

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“This innovative and very worthwhile collection of texts reveals the riches of Jewish views of God and the world in the three centuries before the Roman destruction of the Temple in AD 70. Here are ancient writings that are prayerfully poignant and spiritually sonorous in modern translations that are poetically perceptive and hymnically harmonious.”

Pioneer and Priest

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“In this highly accessible study, Hebrews is read as a response to the needs of a community in crisis. . . . Written with a sense of urgency and with contemporary Christian communities in mind, this book makes a substantial contribution to the recent resurgence of interest in Hebrews and is in itself pioneering in several ways.”

Rediscovering the Dead Sea Scrolls

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Delightfully full of common sense. The essays are light on jargon but heavy on insight, showing readers how to refresh and rephrase their research questions within a wider interdisciplinary framework and encouraging multiple moves beyond the parameters of traditional higher criticism. The examples used from the Scrolls are judiciously chosen and cover almost every literary genre. Highly recommended for readers of the Scrolls of every generation!”

Religion in the Dead Sea Scrolls

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“An important milestone in Dead Sea Scrolls studies. Here we have the first serious attempt, since the general release of all the unpublished fragments in 1991, to consider in a comprehensive way the various religious perspectives to be found in the whole body of evidence or exemplary parts of it. Though there is much more yet to be said on the topics raised here, and indeed on others not included, in many ways these essays will set the agenda for future discussion.”

The Dead Sea Scrolls for a New Millennium

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“"If you are looking for a refreshing guide to the Dead Sea Scrolls that introduces you to most of the major compositions in a clear and sympathetic way, then this is the book for you. Callaway presents a wide range of views about the Scrolls, and yet overall he sees them not as the products of a maverick minority but very much as part of the Judaism of their time. As such he argues that they need to be taken seriously by all who understand themselves as in any way the heirs of that formative period two thousand years ago.”

The Emergence of Judaism

World Religions

“With such insights as that the Hebrew Bible is a document of compromise and with such descriptions as that the early rabbinic movement was slow, informal, chaotic, and marginal, this wide–ranging introduction is a significant tour de force. In just a few carefully crafted chapters, Christine Hayes manages astutely to convey something of the rich diversity of Judaism through the ages as well as drawing attention to key ideas, identifying its basic practices, and describing its major figures. With its multiple study resources this volume should quickly find its way onto basic reading lists for courses in the field.”

The Pseudepigrapha on Sexuality

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“This third volume of Bill Loader's work on sexuality in all the Jewish literary remnants from the Second Temple period is packed with astutely sorted information. . . With the Decalogue as the touchstone for the control of passion in a rich and varied sexual ethic, the reader is left wondering especially what Jewish women would really have thought about this wide variety of male opinion. Highly stimulating — intellectually, that is.”

The Scepter and the Star

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“This second edition updates an authoritative and accessible guide to the messianic figures of the Dead Sea Scrolls and related literature. Collins's judgments are well balanced, and his conclusions concerning the tantalizing evidence of the fragments of the Scrolls are substantial but healthily tentative. The bibliography alone, some forty percent larger than that of the first edition, is a major resource for all students engaged in the study of early Jewish messianism. Most welcome.”

The Struggle to Understand Isaiah as Christian Scripture

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Once again Brevard Childs has put us in his debt with a splendid and thought-provoking book that is much more than just a history of interpretation. Childs's analytical description of how Isaiah has been handled over two millennia is both a major contribution to our understanding of the many faces of Christian hermeneutics and a timely reminder that all those who use scripture should be keenly aware of their own methods and presuppositions.”

Warrior, King, Servant, Savior

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Torleif Elgvin offers in this book a fresh overview of Davidic and messianic ideology. His work builds on the historical resonances of developing literary traditions, sets key observations alongside archaeological evidence, recognizes the many nuanced voices of Second Temple times and beyond, and articulates the theologies embedded in messianic thought.”

Where is Boasting?

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“In this important book Simon Gathercole breaks free from the overly polarized discussion of the relative positions of grace and works in the writings of early Judaism, including the New Testament. By placing consideration of final judgment alongside the value of what Jews inherited from the past and experienced in the present, he presents a reading of the Jewish texts that form the matrix of Paul's concerns in a more balanced and nuanced form than is common in the 'New Perspective' on Paul. Sweeping generalizations are avoided through the frequent citation of primary sources, and a wealth of scholarship is presented in a highly readable manner. This work will become compulsory reading for all involved in reconstructing the variegated Judaism of the turn of the era.”

Writing Faith

Philosophy

“Timothy Stanley's stimulating book challenges the reader to reflect on the technical significance of writing, especially the writing of faith, from antiquity to the present. Early Christian preferences for writing sacred texts in codex books is strikingly juxtaposed with modern philosophical reflections on the nature of text, printed word, and publication from Derrida back to Kierkegaard via Heidegger. Among many riches, three notable matters emerge: first, that the codex enabled the ongoing unified representation of diversity, just as does the printed book; second, that writing, especially on treated animal skin, was a deep sign of verbal incarnation beyond the philosophical privileging of orality; and third, that concrete text both creates presence and denotes absence, is both immanent and apophatic. Reading this essay will encourage you to reconsider your theological understanding of all written media, not least the gains and losses of the contemporary action of ‘scrolling down.’”