The IVP Bible Dictionary Series

The IVP Bible Dictionary Series. - Editors: T. Desmond Alexander, David W. Baker. – Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003. – 976 p.

ISBN 978-0-8308-6737-0 (digital)

ISBN 978-0-8308-1781-8 (print)

 

This volume follows the trail blazed so well by four outstanding dictionary volumes on the New Testament. We appreciate the high standards set by our predecessors, and we are honored to be able to present this volume on the Pentateuch. We pray that this volume, though a reverse of the canonical ordering, might fill as fruitful a niche as has the New Testament series.

 

Our generation has seen a revolution in many aspects of pentateuchal study, and the dust has not yet settled, if it ever will. Many see this revolution as long overdue. Among them is W. McKane, formerly of St Andrews University, who in 1978 wrote: “Old Testament scholarship suffers from the burden of too many received critical assumptions hung about the neck of its practitioners like Coleridge’s albatross. It needs the transfusion of a kind of scholarship which is not a further development of critical positions accepted as premises but is rather an ab initio investigation, unburdened by too many bibliographical cases, and concentrating a fresh eye on the Hebrew Bible” (VT 28 [1978] 381). The same needs to be said for traditional assumptions, those views passed down from generation to generation that often go unexamined and become hallmarks of orthodoxy. While not intrinsically wrong, unexamined views cannot be clearly called our own; they must first be examined.

 

New eyes are especially needed in looking at this portion of Scripture. Here the story is started: foundations are laid and trajectories initiated which will move through the rest of Scripture and beyond. Here important theological presuppositions are laid out which developed and matured into those of three major world religions. Here fundamentals of life in relationship with God and one’s fellow people are established in a manner especially needful in societies currently questioning absolutes and concrete underpinnings for behavior.

 

While not every topic can be examined in equal detail in the genre of a dictionary, the format followed here allows greater luxury than most. With no article less than a thousand words, and some articles exceeding ten thousand words, this volume explores a wide range of subjects all relevant to understanding the Pentateuch better. The variety of themes examined provides a richness of content usually not found in monographs or periodicals. Some articles touch on areas rarely examined. Other articles provide helpful surveys, leading one into an understanding of the current state of discussion. Others take critical assumptions to task, seeking at least to identify the albatross if not to remove it. All seek to provide a better understanding and appreciation of an important area of biblical knowledge.

 

The combination of introductory and innovative articles should serve well a number of audiences. Students just entering the field will find it useful to see where things have been and where they are now. Church educators in the pulpit and the classroom will be able to see what has happened since they were themselves in front of the lectern, and scholars currently engaging in research may be challenged to examine old areas anew and to explore new areas afresh.

 

* * *

 

SARAH

 

Alongside the more widely recognized Israelite patriarchs stand the equally significant matriarchs of God’s people. Among these, none plays a greater role in the history of Israel and God’s dealings with humanity than Sarah. Her husband, *Abraham, is rightly known as the father of the faith; Sarah, a pivotal character in Genesis, equally can be seen as a mother of the faith. Indeed, many of the struggles and successes that Sarah experienced provided a pattern for the experiences of future biblical characters. It is no wonder, then, that Sarah continued to play a key role within the biblical traditions and even beyond.

 

1. Sarah in the Ancestral Narratives

 

2. Sarah in Later Tradition

 

1. Sarah in the Ancestral Narratives.

Sarai, as Sarah is known when she is first mentioned, was the wife of Abram. He was the first patriarch and she the first matriarch in the biblical text. When introduced in the biblical text, Abram is about seventy-five years old and Sarai is about sixty-five years old. Although her lineage is not initially recorded, the fact that she was childless receives double mention in Genesis 11:30: “Now Sarai was barren; she had no children.” The couple’s childlessness sets the tone for the stories about them that follow. Later God changed their names to the more familiar ones of Sarah and Abraham that are known throughout the biblical text (Gen 17:5, 15). Her name (in both forms) means “princess” or “chieftainess.” It also may be related to the Akkadian word šarrat, a designation of the moon-goddess Ishtar.

 

Sarai is identified as *Terah’s daughter-in-law in Genesis 11:31, but the issue of her genealogy remains complicated, for in Genesis 20:12 Abraham calls her his half-sister and explains to *Abimelech that she is the daughter of his father but not his mother.

 

After the death of Terah, God told Abram to leave his homeland and to go to a place that God would later disclose to him. God promised to make Abram a great nation, to bless him and to make his name great. God also promised that those who blessed Abram, God himself would bless, while those who cursed Abram, God himself would curse (Gen 12:1-3). Later God promised Abram descendants and land (Gen 15:4-7). Many of the issues in the stories about the couple can be understood as their struggle to come to terms with God’s promises of land, offspring, greatness and *blessings. Thus the couple’s yearning for a child draws in other characters: *Lot, Abram’s nephew and apparent heir; *Hagar, Sarai’s Egyptian handmaid; and Eliezer of Damascus, a servant and possible heir.

 

Sarai figures prominently in two accounts of marital deception: Genesis 12:10-20, the text regarding the couple’s descent to *Egypt during a famine; and Genesis 20:1-18, a similar story taking place years later in Gerar. In both cases Abram feared for his life because of his wife’s great beauty. In the first instance, Abram instructed her to say that she was his sister, and she obeyed. Consequently, *Pharaoh took her to his palace and rewarded Abram materially because of Sarai with sheep, cattle, donkeys, and male and female servants (Gen 12:16). The Lord, however, afflicted Pharaoh’s household with serious diseases because of this situation. Realizing the couple’s ruse, Pharaoh expelled them from the kingdom (Gen 12:17-20). In Genesis 20, Abimelech, king of Gerar, warned in a dream by God not to touch the still-beautiful Sarah, also expelled the couple and gave Abraham one of the strongest rebukes recorded in the biblical text.

 

The Nuzi documents have been thought by some to shed light on both incidents in Egypt and Gerar. It is claimed that Hurrian society honored a wife-sister relationship so much so that a woman in that society who became a man’s wife and was then adopted by him as his sister enjoyed a higher status and more privileges than an ordinary wife. However, this interpretation is now questioned (Greengus; Walton, 396).

 

The Nuzi documents have also been used to enlighten the legal aspects of the triangular relationship of Sarai, Hagar and Abram. According to a custom prevalent during that time, a wife could give her handmaid to her husband and any child born to a handmaid would be the child of the mistress. Nuzi documents stipulate that if a wife is childless, it is her duty to provide her husband with a female *slave as a concubine. Thus Sarai herself suggested to Abram that he take Hagar and get a child through her so that Sarai could build her own family (Gen 16:2); two generations later, Leah and Rachel gave their handmaids to Jacob (Gen 30:1-8). However, instead of dwelling on the Nuzi parallels, recent scholarship tends to emphasize Sarai’s need for a son in her own right. A son would secure Sarai’s status in the family and her place in the society; a son from the lawful wife not only would be the means of verifying God’s promise of descendants to Abram but also would be a caretaker for Sarai and Abram in their old age.

 

The women in Abram’s household, however, did not get along. Hagar’s arrogance after she successfully conceived led to her harsh treatment by Sarai. Hagar fled, but God told her to return to her mistress and to submit to her (Gen 16:4-15). The story of the rivals Sarai and Hagar becomes a pattern in the biblical text for acrimony between wives. Rachel and Leah competed for Jacob’s sexual favors (Gen 30:14-24), and Hannah mourned her childlessness while her rival, the fecund Peninnah, gloated (1 Sam 1:1-6). Sarah’s long period of waiting for a child also presents a pattern in Genesis: Rebekah was barren for years before the birth of twins (Gen 25:21); Rachel finally conceived *Joseph and then *Benjamin after Leah had given birth to six sons (Gen 30:23-24; 35:16-26); and *Tamar, who outlived two husbands, waited many years for a child (Gen 38).

 

When God inaugurated the *covenant sign of *circumcision with Abram, he changed the couple’s names and announced that Sarah would conceive a son who would be named Isaac (Gen 17:17-22). The promise of a son was reaffirmed when the Lord visited Abraham before destroying Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 18:10). Although Abraham and Sarah greeted the prophecies of an upcoming child with incredulous laughter (Gen 17:17; 18:12), Sarah indeed conceived and bore a child at approximately age ninety; her husband was approximately one hundred. Through these struggles, the biblical text emphasizes that it is through the lawful wife that God’s promise of progeny, land, greatness and blessings comes.

 

The story of a couple’s anguish for a child repeats itself in Genesis and throughout the biblical text. A delayed child such as Isaac, the second patriarch, often signals a child marked for a special purpose. Joseph, the long-awaited son of Rachel, became the agent through whom the family was saved during a famine. Samuel, Hannah’s son, became a prophet and king-maker. In the NT, Elizabeth and Zechariah resemble Abraham and Sarah because they, too, were well past child-bearing years when their son John was born (Lk 1).

 

The biblical text gives little information about Sarah after Isaac’s birth except that she persuaded Abraham to expel Hagar and Ishmael permanently from the camp (Gen 21:8-21). Sarah died at age 127 in Kiriath-arba and was buried in the cave at Machpelah, which Abraham purchased from Ephron (Gen 23:3-20).

 

2. Sarah in Later Tradition.

Sarah and Abraham are mentioned again in Isaiah 51:2, where God calls Israel to remember its roots—Abraham and Sarah—and the miracle of the many descendants who came from these two ancestors. Later Jewish tradition surrounding Sarah adds much to the details of the biblical text. Regarding genealogy, Sarah is identified as Iscah, the daughter of Abraham’s brother Haran (Gen 11:29). That would make her Abraham’s niece. The name Iscah is related to the word sākâ (“to look”), for all looked on her beauty (b. Meg. 14a). It is also said that her beauty lasted through journeys and wanderings and continued through to old age (Gen. Rab. 40:4), that her beauty made all other people look like monkeys (b. B. Bat. 58a), and that Abishag, a great beauty in her own right who sought to cheer David in his old age (1 Kings 1), was only half as beautiful as Sarah (b. Sanh. 39b).

 

The name Iscah also refers to Sarah’s ability to prophesy, according to Jewish tradition, and to see with the eyes of vision (b. Meg. 14a). She is named as one of the seven prophetesses in the Hebrew Bible, and her prophetic gift is reputed to have excelled that of her husband (Ex. Rab. 1:1). In addition, when her name was changed from Sarai, Sarah became a princess for all humanity as well as a princess for her own people (Gen. Rab. 40:5).

 

According to Jewish tradition, Pharaoh loved her and gave her Goshen. It is for this reason that the Israelites settled there in Joseph’s time (Pirqe R. El. 36). She retained her virtue with Pharaoh by praying to God, who sent an angel to whip Pharaoh at her command (Gen. Rab. 41:2).

 

In order to quell the rumor that Abraham and Sarah had adopted a foundling and that Isaac was not their natural son, Jewish tradition says that Abraham held a party for the neighborhood the day Isaac was weaned. Sarah suckled all the neighborhood infants, thereby proving her motherhood of Isaac (Gen. Rab. 53:9; b. Baba Meṣiʿa 87a). Isaac further proved his parentage by his striking resemblance to Abraham (Gen. Rab. 53:6; b. Baba Meṣiʿa 87a).

 

Miracles surrounded Sarah during her lifetime, according to Jewish tradition. Her dough miraculously increased, a light burned from Friday through Friday, and a pillar of cloud rested above her tent (Gen. Rab. 60:16). Her expulsion of Ishmael was justified because she saw him commit idolatry, rape and murder (t. Soṭah 6:6; Gen. Rab. 53:11).

 

Jewish tradition says that Sarah died suddenly over the shock of hearing that Abraham intended to slay Isaac. One account says that Satan appeared to her and told her that Abraham had slaughtered or was about to slaughter Isaac (Pirqe R. El. 32); another account says that Isaac himself returned and told her of the event (Lev. Rab. 20:2). Upon her death, the Hebronites closed their places of business out of respect for her (Gen. Rab. 58:7; 62:3).

 

See also ABRAHAM; FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS; HAGAR; ISAAC; WOMEN.

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

R. G. Branch

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Dictionary of the Old Testament - Historical Books

The IVP Bible Dictionary Series. – Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2005. – 1084 p.

USA ISBN 978-0-8308-1782-5

UK ISBN 978-1-84474-094-9

 

This volume takes its place in the well-established series of IVP dictionaries which have been proving to be so helpful to students of the Bible at all levels. It is our hope that the present volume will be found equally valuable.

 

There are, however, some particular problems that arise in treating the Historical Books of the Old Testament, so we should make our position on these clear to prospective readers.

 

First, here probably to a greater extent than elsewhere in the Bible it is necessary to be clear that history is a multifaceted word and that different people hear it to mean different things. The most obvious distinction is between history as what actually happened in the past and history as a written record of that past. While the two meanings naturally overlap, they are equally clearly not the same thing. No record of the past could hope to be fully comprehensive, for instance, so any written account is bound to be heavily selective in what it chooses to include. Furthermore, the record may be written with one or more of many possible purposes in view, and this too will affect the presentation.

 

In this dictionary we have tried to keep both points in view, and we hope that our readers will do the same as they approach each entry. On the one hand, for example, there are substantial articles that offer the best approximation the authors can achieve at a scholarly reconstruction of the past history of Israel in the various phases of its existence from Joshua to Nehemiah. For this, many sources besides the Bible need to be used, so often, as might be expected, the reconstruction may have a very different feel from the biblical account taken on its own. On the other hand, the entries on the books themselves generally tend to focus more on literary and theological issues and less on the historical events that they refer to in order to convey their message. Both approaches are legitimate and necessary for a full understanding of this part of the Bible, and we hope that the right balance has been struck in order for readers to have all the resources they need for answering the different questions that they will be bringing to the text.

 

Second, however, it is no secret that in some cases (particularly regarding the premonarchic period and the time of the united monarchy) there is at present a fierce scholarly debate about whether the gulf between history as a record of the past and the biblical material which relates to it is not so great as to be unbridgeable. On this we have had to take a clear and firm editorial line which will be fair both to our authors and to the texts. Clearly on the one hand it would not have been right to ask our scholarly colleagues to change their minds on issues they have pondered deeply and on which they have come to a decision after weighing all the relevant evidence. Equally, however, we have been sensitive all along to the unavoidable fact that not all our readers will agree on these matters. As a result, we have naturally allowed our contributors complete freedom to express their own point of view, but at the same time we have insisted (often requesting significant revision of preliminary drafts) that all other major points of view, whether more conservative or more radical, be summarized in an evenhanded manner. In this way, we hope that readers (and students in particular) will have material at hand that will guide them in their own thinking on these difficult issues.

 

Finally, the Historical Books of the Old Testament contain so many names of people and places that a Bible dictionary faces the danger of becoming little more than a list of entries which add little, if anything, to what could already be known by a straightforward reading of the text. To overcome this, and in line with the policy adopted for previous dictionaries in this series, we have limited our choice of entries to those topics that require more extended evaluation. At the same time, we have sought to group many of the sorts of subject that might otherwise claim a short entry on their own into coherent topics (e.g., David’s family; Omri dynasty), and we have been pleasurably surprised to find how often this policy has resulted in fresh insights which would not have emerged had each family member or each king in a dynasty been treated separately. Similarly, the substantial entry for “God,” which brings into a single article treatment of the many divine names, appellatives and attributes, results in a much richer theological discussion than would each of these if taken in isolation. This policy made the initial listing of entries into a challenging and thought-provoking task in itself, and we can only hope that our readers will not disagree too much with the choice of topics that were eventually selected for inclusion and exclusion.

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Dictionary of the Old Testament - Wisdom, Poetry and Writings

The IVP Bible Dictionary Series. - Editors: Tremper Longman III, Peter Enns. – Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, 2008. – 991 p.

ISBN 978-0-8308-6738-7 (digital)

ISBN 978-0-8308-1783-2 (print)

 

The editors are honored to present the seventh in a series of critically acclaimed IVP Academic dictionaries on the various parts of the biblical canon. By the time we began our work some years ago, we had already benefited personally from the dictionaries that had seen publication. These dictionaries were helpful to our research because they provided a ready summary of the best thinking on the most important subjects in the areas of their coverage, and they advanced the discussion with fresh insights and ideas. We were excited at the prospect of helping to produce the same quality research tool as our predecessors on a part of the canon that has received spotty attention—the Psalms, Wisdom and Writings.

 

The delineation of this corpus of biblical books is difficult. The first volume in the Old Testament series presents no problem in this regard, the Pentateuch being a clearly defined unit, the Torah of the Hebrew Bible. The Historical Books are a bit more problematic to define since not all the historical books fall into a particular part of the Hebrew or Greek canon. The Former Prophets of the Hebrew canon (Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings) are all included, but so are Chronicles and Ezra-Nehemiah, which are found in the Writings (Kĕtûbîm) of the Hebrew canon. One could mount an argument for the inclusion of Ruth and Esther in the Historical Books volume. Nonetheless, they instead are included in our volume in order to treat all the Megillot (or Festal Scrolls: Ruth, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations and Esther) together. The Megillot and all the other books covered in this volume are from the Writings, though not all the Writings are found here. We have already commented that Chronicles and Ezra-Nehemiah are in the Historical Books volume, and Daniel will be treated in the forth-coming volume on the Prophets.

 

After determining which books would be included in this volume, it was necessary to choose what topics would be given article-length treatment. As with previous volumes, each biblical book gets a long article. But a new feature of this volume is that for each book there is also an article focused on its ancient Near Eastern background and on its history of interpretation. Major characters are also the subject of longer treatment as well as the most significant theological themes. Different methods of study are described and then applied to the text. While this list does not capture all the different types of articles in this dictionary, special mention should be made of those articles that cover the literary qualities of the Psalms, Wisdom and Writings. All told, the topics were chosen to give full coverage to the important tools, concepts and content needed for the study and interpretation of these books.

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Dictionary of the Old Testament – Prophets

The IVP Bible Dictionary Series. - Editors: Mark J. Boda and J. Gordon McConville. – Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, 2012. – 992 p.

ISBN 978-0-8308-9583-0 (digital)

ISBN 978-0-8308-1784-9 (print)

 

It has been both a challenge and a privilege to edit this volume on the Prophets in IVP’s highly regarded series of Black Dictionaries on the Bible. The prophetic books represent a large division of the Old Testament canon and contain within them a rich variety of language, literature and ideas. For this reason, they continue to be an area of fast-moving scholarly research, attracting the attention of researchers with a wide range of interests and commitments. They have also been hugely important for theology, and in Christian interpretation have played a major part in attempts to understand the relationship between the Old and New Testaments. All this has made the editing of this volume a particularly rewarding experience.

 

We have been keenly aware, in approaching and undertaking the work, that some issues in interpreting the prophets are fiercely debated because matters of fundamental importance are perceived to be at stake. This might have posed an acute dilemma. Was it our task to make a case for a particular viewpoint or to try to resolve contentious issues? We believe, however, that it would have been neither possible nor desirable to do this. Instead, we have undertaken to let the volume portray a broad picture of contemporary scholarship on the Prophets. With this in mind, we are glad that we have been joined in the project by scholars from all points on the scholarly spectrum, Jewish as well as Christian.

 

There are several good reasons for proceeding in this way. First, it signals that we acknowledge and honor the strong commitments of all our contributors and the constituencies they represent. We sincerely hope that the volume will be read in this way, and so as a “whole offering.” That is to concede that readers may find some particular article not agreeable to their way of thinking. But we hope it is implied in the range of contributions that no one viewpoint has been allowed a final word. Our contributors have respected all points of view, and all the articles are offered to our readers for their own judgment and further reflection. We think there is a balance overall, and we have no wish to present the work as a contest.

 

The second reason is simply that contemporary work on the Prophets is extremely varied and complex, and we think it incumbent on us to represent this in a modern dictionary on the subject. In our selection of articles, we have included, of course, articles on the prophetic books themselves, and for the purpose of this volume and series, we have followed the convention of the Christian Old Testament in including the book of Daniel. There are additional articles on the reception history of the four major prophetic books (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel), since reception history is a growth area in biblical study at large. And along with these stands the Book of the Twelve, since the concept of the Twelve “minor prophets” as a “book,” though itself ancient, has come to prominence as an area for research in recent times. We have also included articles on aspects of prophetic language and imagery, on textual and historical topics, on prophetic genres, on hermeneutics, and on important conceptual and theological themes. And finally we have thought it essential to reflect the range of critical methodologies that are in current use. It is in this area especially (though not only here) that the fast-moving nature of research on the Prophets is evident. Though we hesitate to pick out specific articles, the list includes entries on Conversation Analysis, Performance Criticism, and Psychological and SocialScientific approaches. These simply illustrate how the parameters of a reference work on the Prophets have changed since an earlier generation. Our contributors across the board have worked in this modern context, and we are confident that the Dictionary makes many fresh contributions to scholarship.

 

A third reason for our approach, following from the preceding, is that the collection in its range and diversity expresses the fact that our understanding of the Prophets, as of Scripture more broadly, is an unfinished work, and that interpretation inescapably involves the hearing of many voices. It is in this spirit that we present the volume to our readers.

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Dictionary of New Testament Background

The IVP Bible Dictionary Series. - Editors: Craig A. Evans, Stanley E. Porter. – Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000. – 1328 p.

ISBN 978-0-8308-6734-9 (digital)

ISBN 978-0-8308-1780-1 (print)

 

The first three dictionaries in this series are dedicated to the principal components of the New Testament: Jesus and the Gospels, Paul and his letters, and the later New Testament writings. These volumes survey well the contents and theological contributions of the New Testament and its principal figures, along with the various critical methods that have been developed to assist interpreters in their work. The present volume hopes to supplement these earlier works in strategic ways.

 

This, the fourth reference volume, takes a completely different approach. It attempts to situate the New Testament and early Christianity in its literary, historical, social and religious context. This volume is concerned with archaeology, geography, numismatics, related writings, various historical figures, political institutions, historical events, peoples and culture. It is not tied to specific writings of the New Testament, as is the case with the three previous dictionaries.

 

There are several related books that could be mentioned. C. K. Barrett’s The New Testament Background (rev. ed., 1987) provides a key selection of primary texts, along with helpful annotations. C. A. Evans’s Noncanonical Writings and New Testament Interpretation (1992) offers thumbnail descriptions of much primary literature that has bearing on the writings of the New Testament. S. E. Porter’s edited volume, Handbook to Exegesis of the New Testament (1997), contains a variety of lengthier essays on select background-related topics as they bear on exegesis. Other works take a commentary approach. S. T. Lachs’s A Rabbinic Commentary on the New Testament (1987) provides useful commentary, but is limited to the Synoptic Gospels and is focused primarily on rabbinic parallels. The Hellenistic Commentary to the New Testament, edited by M. E. Boring, K. Berger, and C. Colpe (1995), covers the whole New Testament but only offers parallels from the world of Hellenism (though broadly defined). B. J. Malina’s and R. L. Rohrbaugh’s Social-Science Commentary on the Synoptic Gospels (1992) takes a thematic approach, bringing social, economic and cultural issues to bear, but it is limited to the Synoptic Gospels and discussion is brief. The most comprehensive of these works is C. S. Keener’s The IVP Bible Background Commentary on the New Testament (1993), which brings relevant data to bear on all of the New Testament writings, passage by passage. However, its treatment—though based on the primary literature—is aimed at a popular audience and so does not include references to the ancient sources.

 

In contrast to these related and important studies, the present volume limits itself to some 300 topics judged to be relevant to our understanding of the world, or “background,” of the New Testament. It may be admitted that background is not necessarily the best word. Some will argue that context, setting, world or some other word would have been better. Perhaps. But “background” will be widely and immediately understood and will have to do, for the other alternatives pose difficulties of their own. The purpose of the present volume is to clarify the world of thought and experience in the light of which the New Testament should be read and the early Christian church understood.

 

Readers will find discussion of most of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Greek papyri and various inscriptions, the writings that make up the Apocrypha and pseudepigrapha, and the biblical languages. Recent archaeological finds are presented, including regional overviews. Important figures are featured—such as Caiaphas, Hillel, Shammai, Simon ben Kosibah and the Roman governors of Palestine—as well as exotic ones, such as Apollonius of Tyana, Jesus ben Ananias or Jewish holy men. Articles focus on major Jewish, Greek and Roman institutions, important cities in Israel and the Roman Empire, as well as on cults, commerce, geographical perspectives and much more. Some two hundred scholars who possess expertise in the various topics treated have contributed to this volume. Many of the contributors are well-known veterans, while others have completed their doctorates in recent years in technical fields that are breaking forth in new avenues of discovery.

 

The length of the respective articles has been determined on the basis of their relevance to New Testament research or the complexity and vastness of the subject. Several articles are only 500 words; most of the others range from 1,000 to 7,500 words, with some exceeding 10,000 words. All include bibliography, guiding readers to additional literature that treats aspects of the topic in greater depth. Each article attempts to bring the reader up to date, to trace briefly the scholarly discussion and then present the very latest research. Some articles discuss texts that were not available only a few years ago. In some cases, such as archaeology, the material that is discussed has come to light only in the year or so prior to publication. The editors and publisher hope that this collective labor will benefit significantly those who wish to interpret the writings of the New Testament and the early church in full context and as accurately and completely as possible.

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Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels

The IVP Bible Dictionary Series. - Editors: Joel B. Green, Jeannine K. Brown and Nicholas Perrin. – Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2013. – 1120 p.

ISBN 978-0830824564

 

Today New Testament students are inundated with a virtual flood of research on Jesus and the Gospels. What does it mean for Jesus to be called God’s Son? Why did Jesus have to die? Did Jesus have female followers; if he did, what is their significance? What is a “Gospel”? Was Jesus a Cynic? (What is a Cynic?) How can we make sense of Jesus’ parables? Given the need for so much specialized background and knowledge, how do students and pastors even begin to tackle these questions, and others besides?

 

In recent decades some traditional viewpoints have been transformed, some overturned, others confirmed. New methodologies and approaches have been championed, some becoming commonplace. New studies have helped us to appreciate better the perspectives of the Gospel writers, and they have brought into sharper relief the challenge of Jesus’ life and message. Those studies have also grown more numerous and, in many cases, more technical.

 

How can undergraduate students, seminarians, people in professional ministry, leaders in local churches and other Christian organizations, even academic scholars, stay abreast of the range of contemporary study of Jesus and the Gospels? How can the fruit of vital study of Jesus and the Gospels in recent years help to animate our reading of and interaction with the Gospels?

 

When it first appeared some twenty years ago, the Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels was concerned to address exactly these kinds of needs. This revision of the Dictionary follows the same path, though now with new content and up-to-date bibliographies, as well as a host of new contributors. Some ninety percent of the original material has been replaced, with most previous entries assigned to a fresh list of scholars. A number of new articles have been introduced, and a handful of articles from the first edition have been updated in light of ongoing research.

 

Like its predecessor, this revision of the Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels provides students with introductory discussions, comprehensive surveys and convenient bibliographies. For pastors and teachers it provides reliable and readable information. For theologians and biblical scholars it provides up-to-date reviews. People interested in Jesus and the Gospels can start here—and from here they will be led back with new insights and questions to the biblical texts themselves. And they may find themselves turning from one article to the next, and on to further studies, as they pursue their questions.

 

Articles in the Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels treat questions arising from the Gospels themselves, longstanding traditions of interpretation of Jesus and the Gospels, significant background issues, and the range of methodological approaches used in Gospels study today. These essays concentrate on Jesus and the Gospels, limiting their discussions to the needs of those who study, teach and expound the Gospels. Because of its narrow focus, the Dictionary consists of fewer entries than other one-volume dictionaries. This allows for greater depth of coverage and concentration than would normally be available.

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Dictionary of Paul and His Letters

The IVP Bible Dictionary Series. – Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993. – 1067 p.

ISBN 0-8308-1778-6

 

"It has long been a matter of controversy among New Testament scholars how best we should interpret the theology of Paul." If this remark of W. D. Davies was true when he first made it in 1948, the last several decades have seen no resolving of the matter and very few points of consensus.

 

Yet areas of agreement are to be found, and they are significant. They range from Paul's Jewish-rabbinic background and the setting of his missionary life and work in a Greco-Roman environment to, and above all, the decisive turning point in his thought and vocation when he became a Christian apostle. To be sure, each of these fields of inquiry has provoked animated discussion, even if there is general agreement among students of Paul that it is within these three sectors of investigation that the ultimate meaning of Paul's life and ministry and its legacy to the subsequent history of the church is to be located.

 

The present time is surely opportune to harvest the gains of such inquiries, proposals and investigations. We are sufficiently distant from E. P. Sanders's epoch-making volume Paul and Palestinian Judaism (1977), rightly praised, if then pertinently criticized, by J. D. G. Dunn (in his essay "The New Perspective on Paul," 1983) as breaking the mold of current Pauline research and posing a new set of agenda questions, to attempt a reevaluation and assessment. The team of essayists who have contributed to the Dictionary of Paul and His Letters mainly stand in the shadow of this major new appraisal of Paul's attitude to the Law, the covenant and the people of Israel, and reflect their reaction, whether positive or cautious, to the "new look" on Paul's gospel of righteousness by faith and the elements of continuity with the ancestral faith.

 

This perhaps is the chief reason why the ensuing volume should prove serviceable to a new generation of seminary and college students wishing to interact with the "new look" on Paul and his place in Christian and world history. Parish ministers too will value an up-to-date survey of Paul's leading ideas as well as find helpful background data in seeking to place the apostle in his time frame. Key articles, however, show the relevance of the Pauline message to the Christian pulpit today, and would-be preachers will not be slow to glean useful insights based on the best modern scholarship, both critical and conservative. The editors venture to believe that their fellows in the professional guild of teachers and researchers will find here a working tool and a conspectus of bibliographical aids and summarized discussions to assist them in their classroom courses and to provoke further discussion.

 

Yet a wider audience should equally benefit from a handbook like DPL. Editorial policy has striven to keep in view the needs of a vast company of lay people who are interested in these letters of the New Testament. We have tried to make each contribution readable to and understandable by the educated person-in-the-pew who, we believe, will welcome this comprehensive study of Paul's life and labors, his teaching and influence—and the enduring witness he still stands for, centered on the new life in Christ and the church. If this volume serves to introduce Paul to any who are curious about his role in early Christian history and takes Paul out of the study and the sanctuary into the marketplace and the hectic world where moral values are threatened and ethical decisions made, it will have achieved part of its purpose.

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Dictionary of the Later New Testament and Its Developments

The IVP Bible Dictionary Series. – Edited by Ralph P. Martin, Peter H. Davids. – Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1997. – 1319 p.

ISBN 978-0-8308-6736-3 (digital)

ISBN 978-0-8308-1779-5 (print)

 

In the previous two companion volumes, dedicated to the parts of the New Testament called “Gospels” and “Pauline Epistles,” an attempt was made to introduce readers to those documents with which the readers would be familiar. Hence the respective prefaces acknowledged the foundational character of what the early church called “the Gospel” and “the Apostle.”

 

A different kind of introduction is called for in this third yet complementary reference work. Here—in the remaining books of the New Testament canon—the reader is more than likely to be on a terra incognita. Features such as the complex arguments of the letter to the Hebrews, the moralizing tendency of James the Just, the fierce denunciations sounded in the epistle of Jude as well as the more accessible First Peter and the Acts of the Apostles will come to mind as representing books which cry out for elucidation. And who has not felt the need for scholarly and sympathetic guidance while patiently, if with puzzlement, reading the final book, called the Revelation? This Dictionary will, we hope, be among the first resources a student, teacher and communicator will turn to when seeking assistance.

 

It is to offer such help that the contributions to the present full-scale Dictionary of the Later New Testament and Its Developments were conceived, assembled, composed—and now are offered to the public. The editors are bold to surmise that this volume, perhaps more than the two earlier dictionaries, will fill a perceived gap in the field of reference books on the New Testament. It is designed to come to the aid of preachers, ministers, Christian laypeople and hard-pressed students of theology no less than the editors’ colleagues in the academy when called on to teach these often neglected books of the canon.

 

Mention of the New Testament canon calls to mind a recent (1983, 1995) pronouncement of the doyen scholar C. K. Barrett. Writing on “The Centre of the New Testament and the Canon” (in his collected essays Jesus and the Word [Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1995] 259-76), he states in support of his position that the norma normans of New Testament theology, the means of testing theological propositions (or better, he would say, the church’s proclamation), is a nuanced version of the slogans sola fide, solus Christus, the “claim that in practice no harm but good results [follow] if we look at all the literary products of the apostolic and subapostolic ages” (his emphasis). To respond to this remark would involve a discussion of the ongoing debate regarding the “center of the New Testament” and the limits and definition of canonical authority. It is sufficient here to note that the coverage in this Dictionary will, we trust, put the readers in a position to see the ways the formulation of the Christian message developed from the Synoptic Gospels and Paul to the remaining New Testament books and then up to about the middle of the second century. Commitment to a determinative canon (embracing the twenty-seven books in our New Testament) should make room for (1) a frank admission that books often thought to be peripheral to the alleged “center” are still held to be normative, for as Dr. Barrett remarks, “there cannot be degrees of canonicity”; and (2) an equally frank acknowledgment that Christian thinking did not cease with the last New Testament book, and it developed in those writings usually called the apostolic fathers.

 

The decision to take the lines of development up to A.D. 150 was a matter of convenience, since a cut-off point was clearly needed if the volume was to be of manageable size. A certain editorial latitude, however, was granted to contributors who felt it needful to include material from the later patristic period. One reason for this inclusion is to allow developments that come to fuller fruition in the late second and subsequent early centuries to cast their light backward on the obscurities of the period A.D. 100-150. To change the metaphor, germination and flowering of a Christian truth often requires a considerable length of time to appear.

 

The editors and publisher struggled to find a suitable title for this volume that would do justice to its diverse subject matter and yet stand in continuity with the Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels and the Dictionary of Paul and His Letters. No prejudicial judgment should be read into the part-title, The Later New Testament. As will be clear, the case for dating Jude or James anterior to the Pauline letters still continues to be made, even if the tendency is to place these letters in a subsequent decade. By general consensus, however, the bulk of the literature covered in this volume was written chronologically after the Pauline chief letters and, in some cases, after the publication of the Synoptics. Again, the adjective “later” is one of convenience, just as the term Developments is in no way intended to blur the line of demarcation the church has accepted (since Athanasius) between canonical and noncanonical, even if the story of the canonization of the New Testament has the ragged edges admitted by Eusebius.