James A. Sanders

A Guide to the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Joseph Fitzmyer has done it again: a complete and reliable reference work giving far greater access to the Scrolls for scholars, students, and future readers than previously available. . . After 1991 over thirty volumes of the series have been published. This volume provides data for access to all the published Scrolls, various bibliographies of the Scrolls, early survey reports of the discoveries and of the archaeology involved, concordances, dictionaries and grammars that have been compiled, listings of translations available, Fitzmyer's own outlines of some of the major ancient documents, a bibliography covering topics of interest concerning the Scrolls, an exhaustive list of sigla and numbers used to designate the individual manuscripts, and finally a list of the electronic resources available for accessing the texts themselves. It is a remarkable achievement and a necessary tool for all serious students of the Scrolls as well as for tyros just entering the field. The gratitude of the whole world of Scrolls scholarship is due to Fitzmyer for this precious gift.”

Between Text and Community

“Morgan's book is also the best attempt I have so far seen to compare, contrast, and combine the two quite different approaches to study of canon associated with Brevard Childs and myself. I am impressed with some of the evaluations he makes of what we and our students have both been trying, in remarkably different ways, to do with the concept of canon."”

Constantine's Bible

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Dungan's study of what Constantine and Eusebius did toward establishing that unity will be the touchstone in future discussions of the New Testament canon.”

Eschatology, Messianism, and the Dead Sea Scrolls

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“This volume offers solid scholarship on what is really important in determining how to understand early Christian claims about Jesus as 'messiah.'”

Homosexuality, Science, and the "Plain Sense" of Scripture

Ethics, Culture & Social Issues

“This volume is an excellent colloquy of scripture scholars who are concerned enough about the church to engage each other in a real dialogue about a very explosive topic. The various contributors approach the same Bible from different hermeneutical stances but do so with respect for their colleagues in the debate. No position on the issue comes off unscathed. There is something here to make everybody mad, no matter their stance. But there is also plenty in this book to inform all readers about what 'those others' really think.”

The Pesharim and Qumran History

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Charlesworth explores the understanding of Scripture that the Jewish sectarians at Qumran had and the way they read and applied Scripture to their time in history. They lived in the tumultuous period of Roman oppression just before the rise of Christianity, and they had essentially the same hermeneutics of Scripture as the New Testament writers ? that is, they believed that the Bible addresses the end time, that they were living in the last days, and that Scripture therefore spoke directly to their situation. Charlesworth's study starkly illumines the same kind of hermeneutics evident in present-day Christian eschatological sects. The appendixes by Lidija Novakovic of biblical quotations and textual variants are alone worth the price of the book.”

The Psalms, vol 1

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Our longtime friend and colleague Samuel Terrien, who recently passed into the divine presence, has willed us a legacy that is rich and well worth studying for years to come. The crown of that legacy is his magnum opus on the Psalter, completed before he left. Terrien's profound study of Psalms shows that the spacings and accent markings of the Masoretic text are far more attuned to the form and structure of the psalms themselves than most modern efforts at poetic analysis have seen. Honoring the text in its integrity, Terrien offers wise observations on the genres and strophic structures of each psalm and on the theology that underlies them all. With his trenchant understanding of the presence/absence of God to which the Bible as a whole witnesses, Terrien probes the understanding of God that underlies each poem and presents it in the language of today. This commentary on Psalms, rich in treasures for scholars and students alike, reflects a mind gifted with sharp intellect and a heart attuned to the cadences of the human and the divine.”

The Psalms, vol 2

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Our longtime friend and colleague Samuel Terrien, who recently passed into the divine presence, has willed us a legacy that is rich and well worth studying for years to come. The crown of that legacy is his magnum opus on the Psalter, completed before he left. Terrien's profound study of Psalms shows that the spacings and accent markings of the Masoretic text are far more attuned to the form and structure of the psalms themselves than most modern efforts at poetic analysis have seen. Honoring the text in its integrity, Terrien offers wise observations on the genres and strophic structures of each psalm and on the theology that underlies them all. With his trenchant understanding of the presence/absence of God to which the Bible as a whole witnesses, Terrien probes the understanding of God that underlies each poem and presents it in the language of today. This commentary on Psalms, rich in treasures for scholars and students alike, reflects a mind gifted with sharp intellect and a heart attuned to the cadences of the human and the divine.”

What Is Scripture?

World Religions

“Scriptures rightly understood can bring humanity together and, indeed, release the Western so-called scientific mind from the mundane to which it has sunk. Such observations are the fruit of W. C. Smith's lifelong quest for truth in scrutiny of the near universal tendency to structure canons of reflection on the human experiment.”