Hendel, Genesis 1-11 (AB Commentary)

NEW BOOK FROM YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS:

Genesis 1-11
A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary

by Ronald Hendel

Series: The Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries

488 Pages, 6.12 x 9.25 in, 13 b-w illus.

Hardcover
9780300149739
Published: Tuesday, 3 Sep 2024
$85.00

eBook
9780300175363
Published: Tuesday, 3 Sep 2024
$85.00

The first volume of a groundbreaking two-part commentary on the book of Genesis by leading biblical scholar Ronald Hendel

The first eleven chapters of Genesis narrate the origin of the universe; the creation of the first human beings; the beginnings of moral reasoning, society, and culture; and the cataclysmic global flood. By showing how life and civilization came into being, Genesis 1–11 offers a richly drawn map for understanding the world as a meaningful cosmos and an ethical guide for human purpose and responsibility within it.

The culmination of over thirty years of research, this long-awaited study by leading Genesis scholar Ronald Hendel is the first comprehensive scholarly commentary on Genesis 1–11 in a generation. Drawing on archaeological discoveries from Israel and the ancient Near East as well as contemporary methods of scholarship, it presents a multilayered view of the classic text. The extensive introduction, notes, and comments explore ancient textual versions and editions, historical contexts, literary style and design, compositional history, cosmology, ethics, and the book’s interpretive life in Judaism and Christianity. Featuring numerous illustrations, this engagingly written commentary is an indispensable, field-defining guide to the first eleven chapters of the Bible.

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On the Gospel of the Lots of Mary

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: The Gospel of the Lots of Mary. Previously unknown 1,500-year-old ‘gospel’ contains oracles ( Robin Ngo).

I've posted before on the Gospel of the Lots of Mary, but not recently. Although it titles itself as a "gospel," it is actually a late-antique "sortilege" work, which uses Bible verses and passages as divinatory oracles.

Previous posts on it are here, here, and here. Note also here and here.

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The future of Palmyra's Temple of Bel

THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST TODAY: What is the Future of the Temple of Bel in Palmyra? (Maamoun Abdulkarim and Jacques Seigne).

Should we leave it in its current state, as a witness to the tragic events experienced by Palmyra and the Middle East at the beginning of the 21st century? The authors answer an emphatic “no,” and for two reasons. First, we have a duty to secure the upstanding remains of the monument, ensuring that the damage wrought by the explosion does not lead to further collapse. We need to make sure these surviving remnants are safe and secure. Second, we also need to record, gather, and conserve the fragments of the temple that were scattered by the blast. The risk of not doing so is to lose those pieces to robbery, to natural processes of erosion, or to unwitting damage.

Cross-file under Palmyra Watch. For many PaleoJudaica posts on the ancient metropolis of Palmyra, its history and archaeology, the Aramaic dialect once spoken there (Palmyrene), and the city's tragic reversals of fortune, now trending for the better, follow the links collected here. For posts on the Temple of Bel in particular, see here, here, here, and here (sort of).

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Heine, The Philocalia of Origen (OUP)

NEW BOOK FROM OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS:

The Philocalia of Origen

A New Translation with Annotations

Edited by Ronald E. Heine

Oxford Early Christian Texts

£160.00

Hardback
Published: 30 August 2024
432 Pages
234x156mm
ISBN: 9780198893219

Also Available As:
Ebook

Description

Origen was one of the great thinkers of the third-century Church and the most influential of the Greek Church Fathers. He created significant interpretations of Scripture throughout his life. The Philocalia of Origen is a collection of texts excerpted from Origen's numerous works. It was created sometime in the fourth century, perhaps by Basil of Caesarea and Gregory of Nazianzus. It is of special interest to scholars of Origen because it contains several excerpts from works that are no longer extant, or from works now otherwise found only in Latin translations prepared in the fourth century or later from the original Greek.

Yet the Philocalia is also essential to those beginning their studies in Origen; it consists of short extracts from a wide range of his writings—homilies, commentaries, a theological treatise, apologetics—which cover some of the most important subjects he discussed. Many of the annotations in this edition aim to introduce and contextualize Origen to readers previously unacquainted with his works.

The Greek text of the Philocalia was first edited for an English audience in 1893 by J. Armitage Robinson. This text, with some minor improvements, is the Greek text presented in this edition and translated on the facing pages.

For more on Origen of Caesarea and why he is of interest to PaleoJudaica, see here, here, and here.

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