Search Results (155)

Medieval biblical exegesis in the twelfth century was largely dominated by allegorical interpretation, often at the expense of the literal sense of Scripture. Richard of Saint Victor stands out as a significant exception. This article argues that his commitment to the literal sense of Scripture constitutes not merely a methodological requirement but a theological conviction that operates consistently across works of very different character. Through an analysis of Beniamin Minor, Beniamin Maior, and In Visionem Ezechielis, it shows that the literal sense functions in all three as the indispensable foundation upon which allegorical and tropological meanings are constructed. In the Beniamins, predominantly received as works of spiritual and allegorical theology, the literal sense quietly sustains the entire interpretative edifice—through etymology, onomastics, and precise biblical description. In In Visionem Ezechielis, by contrast, the littera itself becomes the object of an explicit and historically remarkable defence: Richard translates the complex architectural descriptions of Ezekiel’s Temple into architectural drawings that constitute some of the earliest known examples of representation in plan, elevation, and section. In doing so, he demonstrates not only that the literal sense of this contested passage is fully intelligible, but that word and image together can bear the weight of God’s revealed Word, enabling the reader to move from the literal and historical sense towards the spiritual meanings of Scripture and, ultimately, towards the contemplation of God. Full article

Modern, post-Scaliger expectations for constructing an absolute chronology out of ancient biblical narratives introduce a fallacy of assumed time that distorts the reading of these narratives. While absolute chronology undergirds historical-critical interpretation from Spinoza and Reimarus to twentieth-century scholarship, the more recent “temporal turn” in philosophy, historiography, and literary theory aligns with a renewed attention to narrative time and ancient temporal consciousness. Focusing on 2 Maccabees and the Gospel of John as historiographical narratives reveals how both texts configure events through relative temporal devices—such as temporal markers and temporal process verbs—rather than through absolute calendrical dating, even when coordinates appear in 2 Maccabees’ embedded letters. Building on this comparison allows for a dimensional model of time that respects these configurational strategies and avoids obscuring how these texts construct theological and historical meaning within their own narrative worlds. Full article

Abraham Joshua Heschel proposed a linguistic method that he applied in his interpretation of biblical texts and rabbinic teachings. A central feature of this method is the reinterpretation of certain terms beyond their direct, literal meaning. While this approach is rooted in earlier traditions, Heschel gave it a distinct conceptual formulation and regarded it as a key component of his theological vision. This article articulates its structure and explores how it may be understood through the lens of contemporary research on creative language. To that end, the article compares Heschel’s view with selected philosophical and theological models and introduces cognitive tools, such as metaphor theory and semantic networks, that may support a more systematic understanding of his exegetical style. The aim is not only to deepen our comprehension of Heschel’s linguistic method, but also to propose a path toward advancing his broader vision through the integration of traditional thought and modern research. Full article

Jewish thinkers and artists have used Midrash as a framework for exploring the entanglement of cultural inheritance and social justice projects. Marian D. Moore’s (1956–) poetry collection Louisiana Midrash (2019) exemplifies this dynamic. It blends Moore’s cultural landscape, Shreveport and New Orleans, Louisiana, African History and the Biblical and Midrashic literary traditions. Moore’s unique poetic voice, in the context of twenty-first century Midrash grounded in Jewish tradition, explores the intersection of African American history and Jewishness. Moore’s Midrashic poetry integrates African American and Jewish traditional biblical interpretation with the cultural reality of post—Katrina Louisiana. This article will discuss several of Moore’s poems in the context of her Black poetic Midrashic framework. The analysis illustrates how Louisiana Midrash shows the flexibility of Midrash as a creative genre and literary form, as it grows beyond a normative Jewish framework and becomes open to a multitude of voices and perspectives. Full article

This paper examines migration from Africa as a response to shifting identities and the resurgence of nationalism, bringing biblical traditions into dialogue with contemporary realities. In many African contexts, contested identities, ethno-religious nationalism, and exclusionary state policies intensify conditions of displacement alongside poverty, conflict, and terrorism. As a result, migration becomes both a survival strategy and a negotiation of identity in an increasingly fragmented world. Biblical narratives of forced migration provide an interpretive framework for understanding these movements. The Hebrew Bible recounts exilic experiences, such as the Babylonian deportation, that reshaped Israel’s communal memory, identity, and theology. Similarly, the New Testament highlights dispersions caused by persecution, showing how migration functioned as a catalyst for the expansion of faith communities and the reconstruction of belonging. These texts illuminate how forced migration is not only a consequence of crisis but also a transformative process that redefines identity and community. By employing sociological and theological methods, this study demonstrates how African migration in the context of nationalism parallels biblical paradigms of exile and dispersion. It argues that African migrants’ narratives of identity, marked by struggle, hope, and resilience, echo biblical testimonies of displacement and offer theological resources for interpreting migration today. In doing so, this paper contributes to interdisciplinary debates on migration by showing how biblical exilic traditions can inform responses to Africa’s ongoing challenges of nationalism, identity, and forced movement. Full article

The 19th century Protestant missionary James Legge is acknowledged for his voluminous and Christianity-inflected translations of Chinese classics of “Three Teachings”, yet his rendition of Buddhist texts remains under-examined. This study analyzes whether a value of Western theology exists in his portrayal of the Chinese monk Fâ-hien in A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms, where the pilgrim should emerge as a devout Buddhist, a pioneering explorer, and a morally sensitive figure. Legge foregrounded these facets through paratexts such as illustrations and footnotes, but also repeatedly framed Fâ-hien within a biblical interpretation by frequently drawing parallels between Christianity and Buddhism. At the textual level, he shifted the original first-person narrative to a third-person perspective, which weakened the emotional and spiritual sense of Fâ-hien’s journey. Legge’s scholarly competence in Chinese learning and his role as Oxford’s first Professor of Chinese determined his precise representation of the rich connotations of Fâ-hien’s image, balancing academic rigor with an orientation toward Great Britain’s colonial education and imperial interests. His Christo-Buddhist intervention in the paratexts, associating the primary text with Christian culture, reveals his underlying missionary purpose to evangelize China. To this end, this study reveals how religious translation served both missionary and scholarly ends, contributing to Western perceptions of Chinese religion while illustrating the broader power dynamics of Christian engagement with modern China. Full article

Casta Meretrix articulates the Church’s paradoxical identity as simultaneously holy and sinful, a motif profoundly reconfigured by Hans Urs von Balthasar. Drawing on biblical typology, patristic interpretation, and historical allegory—from Rahab and Hosea to Tamar and the Shulamite—Balthasar constructs a nuanced ecclesiology that honors divine grace while acknowledging human frailty. This essay examines his method, showing how Casta Meretrix offers a critical framework for engaging ecclesial sin, historical failings, and the Church’s redemptive vocation, emphasizing vigilance, penitential self-awareness, and the transformative power of divine love within a flawed yet elect community. Full article

This study examines the possible points of connection between crime and reading on the basis of genre-typical roles and motifs in detective fiction. I aim to identify characteristic reading methods, strategies, locations, events, and professions with regard to the detective, the perpetrator and the victim. Following a general introduction with a focus on genre theory and thematic concerns, I proceed with an analysis of P. D. James’s crime novel Original Sin. This novel not only offers the posing and solving of a criminal puzzle, but also reflects powerfully on moral questions about sin, original sin and violent death. In my analysis, I follow the method of close reading, and as part of this approach, I also explore traces of biblical intertextuality. As a result of theoretical reflection and interpretation, I draw two important conclusions: (1) For investigators, reading texts constitutes an effective and indispensable instrument for reconstructing the past, thus uncovering the truth and revealing the perpetrator. (2) The reading events depicted in the novel refer to experiences and conceptual connections that justify discussing a kind of theology of reading: reading appears in the story as an intellectual activity that forms part of certain religious practices (penance, prayer, confession). Full article

There are many stories in the Hebrew Bible that depict prominent Jews in the epicentre of a foreign imperia, and biblical scholarship essentially classifies every such narrative as court tales in terms of genre. Notwithstanding nuances and sub-categorisations (e.g., court contest and court conflict, wisdom court legend, success story of the wise courtier), to have one catch-all genre designation is imprudent and amorphous. This paper argues, using Formkritik and Gattungskritik, for three subgenres whereby foreign royal stories may be distinguished. One type of tale involves a foreign king who is either sleepless (Dan 6, Esth 6) or dreams (Gen 41, Dan 2 and 4); in the former, a king intervenes favourably for Jews in distress, while in the latter, the king’s dreams are interpreted by a wise Jewish courtier. Another type of tale is the imperial banquet, where an intoxicated gentile king orders the death of a high official (Dan 5, Esth 1, 5/7); this is wrought by a woman who exploits the king’s wine-induced disposition to effect lethal action with disastrous repercussions for the kingdom. Still another type of tale is the court tale proper; these episodes, however, are restricted to the courtly etiquette and decorum of courtiers who sagaciously advise the king, alongside its tensions with monotheism (Dan 3; Esth 3). As a result of this preliminary investigation, the typical setting of the political centre of the foreign imperium in Hebrew Bible narratives comprises three subgenres: court tales, banquet tales, and bedchamber tales. Since genres are determined by the common story forms, each distinct genre is scientifically determined by corresponding distinct narrative structures, vocabulary, and outcomes. Thus, what is proposed is a more illuminating distinction to the wide array and nebulous conglomeration of biblical stories involving Jews in prominent spaces within the foreign king’s court. Furthermore, the implications of the contended three subgenres involve calcifying religious practices, which become vital expressions of Judaism in the Second Temple period. Full article

Reception history explores how the Bible has been translated, interpreted, reinvented, and deployed by exegetes, artists, politicians, and others. Given the Bible’s historical and global significance, reception history must also include evaluating how scholars themselves have “read” the biblical literature. This article examines the work of two influential scholars of Hebrew Bible, Howard Eilberg-Schwartz and Theodore Jennings. Eilberg-Schwartz’s groundbreaking God’s Phallus: And Other Problems for Men and Monotheism (1994) and Jennings’ Jacob’s Wound: Homoerotic Narrative in the Literature of Ancient Israel (2005) both treated an underexplored subject: divine masculinity. In their monographs, Eilberg-Schwartz and Jennings present biblical homoeroticism—divine as well as mortal—as a valuable path for establishing intimacy among men and for “transing” the men of the Hebrew Bible. Both works, however, partake in two long-standing exegetical traditions: mitigating, ameliorating, and even attempting to redeem the Bible’s often violent deity, and reinscribing binary premises that biblical narratives typically feature. The article concludes that scholars must resist the tendency to rehabilitate a violent deity, as well as challenge the Hebrew Bible’s (and scholars’ own) binary premises. Full article

In this paper, I focus on a major corpus of the earliest Syrian Christian literature, Aphrahat the Persian Sage’s collection of epistles titled Demonstrations (Taḥwyātā; early 4th century), in order to gauge his thoughts on the “sins of reading”, peccata lectionis. First, I present the Aphrahatic corpus as it currently is and has been perceived over time in its Western and Eastern reception history. Then, I briefly consider what importance early Greek and Syriac monastic sources—like the Vita Antonii, the Pseudo-Macarian Homilies, Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Palladius’ Historia Lausiaca, the Ktābā dmasqātā (the Syriac Book of Steps), etc.—attributed to the reading of scripture as a regular part of a monk’s daily practice. It is against this historical backdrop that Aphrahat’s stance on reading scripture can be meaningfully interpreted. Finally, I present and analyze what the earliest-known orthodox Syrian church father, Aphrahat himself, has to say about the reading of scripture and its concurrent threat, the peccatum lectionis. As the Persian Sage was an excellent Biblical scholar, he made abundant references to religious reading practices in his Demonstrations. To his mind, the locus where sin may enter the meditative reading of early Syrian versions of the Bible is the interpretation of the text: misunderstanding it may lead to sin and potentially damnation. However, the wise person should be able to evade this danger, supported by the natural piety and cosmic religion inspired in them by the majesty of creation, which is a true reflection of divine infinity. Full article

This article examines the visual reception of the woman of Endor (1 Sam 28) and her gradual integration into the Western imaginary of the witch. In the first section, it offers a concise overview of the formation of witchcraft in late medieval and early modern visual culture, when iconographic and discursive registers contributed to the consolidation of a demonological and persecutory repertoire associated with the female body. Against this background, the study analyzes how the figure of Endor came to be interpreted and represented through increasingly negative categories—eventually becoming a conventionalized motif in the history of art—despite the fact that the biblical narrative originally presents her as a ritual mediator whose role in Saul’s episode is not constructed as a paradigmatic case of “witchcraft” in a strict sense. Drawing on a methodology of visual exegesis that brings together cultural biblical studies, art history, and gender studies, this article examines a range of artworks depicting the episode in order to show how visual culture negotiates the boundary between the legitimate and the forbidden, and how the later demonization of Endor reveals persistent tensions between orthodoxy and heterodoxy across different historical contexts. Full article

The erasure of mobile female-identified bodies amongst both biblical and migration scholars is being redressed, to a certain point. Building upon the work of both disciplines, this article attempts to provide a thorough feminist analysis of the mobility of the Hebrew Bible character Esther. The article begins with a discussion on what feminist migration studies might include, along with a critical look at the framework of forced migrations. Thereafter, the article brings together multiple scholars of the ancient world in conversation, using the work that has rightly labeled her movement by the story world regime as trafficking, along with comparative analysis to captivity studies. The article argues, however, that a feminist hermeneutic of the Bible should not only speak to the world, but also practice and model active reflexivity. Thus, a holistic account of interpreting Esther’s mobility in the Masoretic Text requires an interrogation of both the author of the biblical text and the author of the article itself. Full article

Feminist poets and scholars have transformed Queen Esther from a relatively silent biblical figure into a complex literary character, yet systematic analysis of their interpretive strategies remains limited. This study examines how these poets employ feminist hermeneutical frameworks to reimagine Esther’s experiences and choices. Using a close-reading methodology, the analysis applies Alicia Ostriker’s hermeneutical modes (suspicion, desire, and indeterminacy) and Wendy Zierler’s hermeneutics of identification to poems by Janet Ruth Heller, Carol Barrett, Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, Stacey Zisook Robinson, Jill Hammer, Enid Dame, Yala Korwin, and Bonnie Lyons from the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. The poems organize into three thematic categories: transformation and identity formation during Esther’s preparation for queenship; the interior and moral costs of her heroic actions; and retrospective reflections comparing her strategic compliance with Vashti’s direct defiance. The analysis reveals that these poets challenge traditional binary oppositions between the two queens, positioning both strategic accommodation and direct refusal as legitimate forms of feminist resistance within patriarchal structures. By giving Esther a first-person voice and exploring her interior life, these works create a new literary midrash that addresses contemporary concerns about women’s agency while maintaining deep engagement with Jewish textual tradition. Full article

This essay argues that a canonical reading of Scripture that is attentive to the experiences it portrays must notice the centrality of the migrant experience throughout both the Old and New Testaments. We begin by tracing patterns of displacement, forced migration, and exile that define the lives of biblical figures such as Adam and Eve, Abraham, Ruth, Jesus, Paul, and the Early Christians. We also explore contemporary uses of the Bible that justify anti-immigrant policies and the dehumanization of immigrants, arguing that such interpretations contradict the text’s narrative. By reading Scripture through the lens of migration, Christians can better identify how the migration experience is both a theological and hermeneutical key to understanding God’s redemptive work in history. Full article