Hebrew Bible Monographs

This series from a newly formed publishing house offers academic works for biblical studies. Editors are David J. A. Clines, J. Cheryl Exum, and Keith W. Whitelam. The first four volumes published are these titles:

“I Have Written to the King, My Lord”: Secular Analogies for the Psalms

by Roger Tomes

Sheffield Phoenix, Sheffield, 2005. 160 pp. $27.50 (cloth). ISBN 1-90504-809-2.

Sin, Impurity, Sacrifice, Atonement: The Priestly Conceptions

by Jay Sklar

Sheffield Phoenix, Sheffield, 2005.        212 pp. $42.50 (cloth). ISBN 1-90504-812-2.

The Michal Affair: from Zimri-lim to the Rabbis

by Daniel Bodi                                     

Sheffield Phoenix, Sheffield, 2005. 169 pp. $42.50 (cloth). ISBN 1-90504-817-3.

David Observed: A King in the Eyes of His Court

by Keith Bodner

Sheffield Phoenix, Sheffield, 2005. $198 pp. $42.50 (cloth). ISBN 1-90504-823-8.

Performing the Psalms

edited by Dave Bland and David Fleer

Chalice Press, St. Louis, 2005. 195pp. $19.99. ISBN 978-0-827229-83-6.

Contributors approach the world created by the Psalms through heuristic essays and sermons, inviting preachers into recesses of humanity that reflect both conflict and transformation at work. Topics include narrative, enemies in the Psalms, communal lament, and New Testament use of the Psalms.

Ancient Texts for New Testament Studies: A Guide to the Background Literature

by Craig A. Evans

Hendrickson, Peabody, 2005. 539 pp. $34.95 (cloth). ISBN 1-56563-409-8.

This volume is an expansion and revision of the 1992 book Noncanonical Writings and New Testament Interpretation. It features quotations from texts either found in, alluded to, or parallel with New Testament passages as well as a comparison between rabbinical parables and those of Jesus. Writings examined include the Apocrypha, the Old and New Testament Pseudigrapha, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Philo, Josephus, Targum paraphrases of the Old Testament, the Early Church Fathers, and Gnostic and secular sources.

Violence in the New Testament

edited by Shelly Matthews and E. Leigh Gibson

T & T Clark, Harrisburg, 2005.  160 pp. $34.95. ISBN 0-567-02500-4.        

The essays in this slim volume tackle methodological questions concerning passages that too often have been read in a binary fashion reflecting a Jewish/Christian polarity. Among topics addressed are intra-religious violence among Jews during the formation of the Christian community, violence of the Roman imperial order, Jesus’ battles with demons, pronouncements regarding a fiery hell, and Paul’s conflict with his Galatian opponents.

Essential Theological Terms

by Justo L. Gonzalez

Westminster John Knox, Louisville, 2005. 187 pp. $24.95. ISBN 0-664-22810-0.

Discussion of over 300 theological terms offers ready access to meaning, significance, and both historic and contemporary understandings.

Resistance and Theological Ethics

edited by Ronald H. Stone and Robert L. Stivers

Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, 2004. 332 pp. $28.95. ISBN 0-7425-4160-6.

From an approach of nonviolent resistance, this collection addresses militarism, economic inequality, national pride, dominance, and greed. Nineteen contributors with roots in the Presbyterian tradition bring diversity of thought, ethnic identification, and occupation to consideration of these topics.

Conversations with the Confessions: Dialogue in the Reformed Tradition

edited by Joseph D. Small

Geneva, Louisville, 2005. 248 pp. $24.95. ISBN 0-664-50248-2.

Fourteen scholars examine the confessions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). They provide commentary on the origins of the confessions in church history as well as their relevance to theological issues regarding tenets of faith, the Bible, the church, worship, and relationship with God and with one another.

Radical Orthodoxy and the Reformed Tradition: Creation, Covenant, and Participation

edited by James K. A. Smith and James H. Othuis

Baker Academic, Grand Rapids, 2005. 301 pp. $24.99. ISBN 0-8010-2756-X.

Radical Orthodoxy holds that created reality exists only by participation in the Creator. These essays constitute a dialogue between this theological movement and the Reformed tradition regarding areas of commonality and the need for further discussion. Major thinkers examined include Augustine, Barth, Hegel, Duns Scotus, and Calvin.

The Witness of Preaching (Second Edition)

by Thomas G. Long

Westminster John Knox, Louisville, 2005. 267 pp. $24.95. ISBN 0-664-22943-3.

The revision of this classic text incorporates the use of video clips and PowerPoint, critical engagement with new voices, and recent works by those previously cited in the first edition. The chapter on biblical exegesis now includes more textual interpretation, sermon forms, illustrations, and conclusions. “Bearing witness to the gospel” continues to be the foundation of the sermon’s creative process.

Sermons from Duke Chapel

edited by William H. Willimon

Duke University Press, Durham, 2005. 370pp. $34.95 (cloth). ISBN 0-8223-3483-6.

This collection presents fifty-seven of the most notable sermons preached at Duke University Chapel during its seventy-five year history. Selections range from meditations on biblical texts to reflections on contemporary issues of the time, delivered by preachers such as Paul Tillich, Barbara Brown Taylor, Billy Graham, Peter Gomes, Elton Trueblood, and Elizabeth Achtemeier.

Her Story: Women in Christian Tradition (Second Edition)

by Barbara MacHaffie

Fortress, Minneapolis, 2006. 384 pp. $39.00. ISBN 0-8006-3826-3.

This new edition’s historical overview has been fully updated and revised. Portraits, artifacts, and readings provide additional primary sources for each time period. Pedagogical tools are also available through a companion website, herstorytext.com, that offers chapter summaries and study questions along with related web links.

Images of Pastoral Care: Classic Readings

edited by Robert C. Dykstra

Chalice Press, St. Louis, 2005. 248 pp. $29.99. ISBN 0-8272-1624-6.

Contributors explore pastoral care from the perspective of pastoral theology, offering a rich array of images from which to draw. Some are familiar and others may be surprising, including shepherd, wise fool, wounded healer, the Samaritan, intimate stranger, circus clown, diagnostician, moral coach, midwife, gardener, agent of hope, and storyteller.