Features

Two Questions About Crucifixion
Does the victim die of asphyxiation? Would nails in the hand hold the weight of the body? By Frederick T. Zugibe

Despite the uncertainties and controversies concerning Jesus’ life and death, there is universal agreement about at least one thing: He was crucified. Yet even here questions have been raised, questions about the physical cause of death and about how people were nailed to the cross. I would like to address these two questions, or […]

Amos’s Four Visions
Of judgment & hope By H. Neil Richardson

Taking a short passage from the Bible and looking at it from a variety of perspectives can be very instructive. For example, from a short passage from the book of the eighth-century B.C. prophet Amos, we can learn: something about the problems of translation and why scholars sometimes emend (that is, change) the text; […]

Coarse Language In The Bible?
It’s culture shocking! By Harvey Minkoff

22 In an article I recently wrote in Bible Reviewa on the problems of Bible translating, I distinguished two styles of translation: reader-centered (covert) and text-centered (overt). The first style of translation tries to convey to the reader the impression of an original author in the language of the translation. The second style of […]

Visual Glories
The Hebrew Bible in medieval manuscripts By Roger S. Wieck

Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any manner of likeness, of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath. … Thou shalt not bow down unto them, nor serve them …” (Exodus 20:4, 5). The Second Commandment’s prohibition against the worship of idols often […]