New SBL books

FORTHCOMING BOOKS FROM THE SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE:

Empirical Models Challenging Biblical Criticism
Raymond F. Person, Robert Rezetko

ISBN 9781628371321
Status Forthcoming
Price: $51.95
Binding Paperback
Publication Date May 2016
Pages 254

Cutting edge reflections on biblical text formation

Empirical models based on ancient Near Eastern literature and variations between different textual traditions have been used to lend credibility to the identification of the sources behind biblical literature and the different editorial layers. In this volume, empirical models are used to critique the exaggerated results of identifying sources and editorial layers by demonstrating that, even though much of ancient literature had such complex literary histories, our methods are often inadequate for the task of precisely identifying sources and editorial layers.


Negotiating Power in Ezra-Nehemiah
Donna Laird

ISBN 9781628371390
Status Forthcoming
Price: $55.95
Binding Paperback
Publication Date July 2016
Pages 420

Donna Laird examines Ezra and Nehemiah in the light of modern sociological theorist Pierre Bourdieu. How did this context of hardship, exile, and return change what Ezra and Nehemiah viewed as important? How did they define who was a part of their community, and who was an outsider? It goes on to explore how the books engaged readers at the time: how it addressed their changing circumstances, and how different groups gained and used social power, or the ability to influence society.


The Vision of the Priestly Narrative: Its Genre and Hermeneutics of Time
Suzanne Boorer

ISBN 9780884140627
Status Forthcoming
Price: $89.95
Binding Paperback
Publication Date July 2016
Pages 664

A fresh look at the Priestly narrative that places less weight on linguistic criteria alone in favor of narrative coherence

Boorer explores the theology of an originally independent Priestly narrative (Pg), extending through Genesis–Numbers, as a whole. In this book she describes the structure of the Priestly narrative, in particular its coherent sequential and parallel patterns. Boorer argues that at every point in the narrative’s sequential and parallel structure, it reshapes past traditions, synthesizing these with contemporary and unique elements into future visions, in a way that is akin to the timelessness of liturgical texts. The book sheds new light on what this material might have sought to accomplish as a whole, and how it might have functioned for, its original audience.