Books published by Society of Biblical Literature

The essays in this volume examine the relationship between ancient fiction in the Greco-Roman world and early Jewish and Christian narratives. They consider how those narratives imitated or exploited conventions of fiction to produce forms of literature that expressed new ideas or shaped community identity within the shifting social and political climates of their own societies. Major authors and texts surveyed include Chariton, Shakespeare, Homer, Vergil, Plato, Matthew, Mark, Luke, Daniel, 3 Maccabees, the Testament of Abraham, rabbinic midrash, the Apocryphal Acts, Ezekiel the Tragedian, and the Sophist Aelian. This diverse collection reveals and examines prevalent issues and syntheses in the making: the pervasive use and subversive power of imitation, the distinction between fiction and history, and the use of history in the expression of identity.

American New Testament scholar Osburn looks at quotations of scripture by the fourth-century bishop Epiphanius in the several theological treatises that he wrote, which were at the heart of contemporary religious controversy and played a major role in shaping Byzantine history and the history of Christian thought. His frequent use of scripture make

From the Seminar on Theological Perspectives on the Book of Ezekiel, which meets at each annual meeting of the Society, 12 essays and two responses representing a range of perspectives and methods explore the ancient and modern meanings and implications of hierarchy in the Old Testament book. Priesthood in exile, creation as property, and Ezekiel i

Scott is a political scientist who insists that politics cannot be understood apart from culture and religion. He has done fieldwork in Malaysian villages and observed people subject to domination and exploitative political and economic relations. Here scholars of religion and the Bible apply his findings to the understanding of Jesus and Paul. Amo

Religious scholars take up various questions relating to the relationship between orality and literacy in the context of colonized people in antiquity, and explore the role of orality in relation to this hegemony. Among the topics are theoretical and methodological foundations, Mithra's cult as an example of religious colonialism in Roman times, th

This volume contains the Greek text, textual apparatus, and first published English translation of two treatises on rhetoric, with introductory material and notes. Once attributed to Hermogenes of Tarsus, these treatises are now believed to be by unknown authors writing in the second or third century C.E. or later. The first treatise, entitled On Invention, is a handbook for students providing formulas to aid them in the composition of declamations on assigned themes. The second treatise, On the Method of Forcefulness, discusses prose style with special attention to figures of speech. Extensive notes interpret the often-difficult content and relate it to other writing on rhetoric. The Greek text is that of Hugo Rabe (1913).

Literacy is essentially about the control of information, memory, and belief, and with colonialism in Southern Africa came the Bible and text-based literacy monitored by missionaries and colonial authorities. Old and new oral traditions, however, are beyond the control of empire and often carry the resistance, hopes, and dreams of colonized people. The essays in this volume recover aspects of Southern Africa's rich oral tradition. The authors, from disciplines such as anthropology, African literature, and biblical studies, delineate some of the contours of the indigenous knowledge systems which sustained resistance to colonialism and today provide resources for postapartheid society in Southern Africa.

Basil (ca. 330-379) was a prolific writer and quoted extensively from the New Testament, says Racine (New Testament, Jesuit School of Theology, Berkeley), and so his work provides excellent evidence for which texts of the New Testament were in common use in Cappadocia during the fourth century, especially when analyzed in conjunction with the quota

Although scholars point to similarities between Sirach and the book of Proverbs and sometimes characterize Ben Sira's relationship to biblical poetry as one of imitation (often unsuccessful imitation), this study considers the innovative and unique aspects of Sirach poetry, especially its use of parallelism, and demonstrates that Ben Sira does not rely exclusively on Proverbs or any other biblical book as a model. Innovations in Hebrew Poetry provides detailed readings and philological analysis for the nine poems in the Masada scroll, and general observations on many other Sirach and biblical poems complement the analysis.