Features

What Did Jesus Really Say?

About 40 scholars, all specialists in the study of the historical Jesus, are seated around a table. They have just completed their discussion of a saying attributed to Jesus in the Gospels. The time has come for each to vote on a simple but complex question: Do you think Jesus actually said that? Or, […]

Israel’s Emergence in Canaan
BR interviews Norman Gottwald

26 Norman K. Gottwald, W. W. White Professor of Biblical Studies at New York Theological Seminary, is known for his pioneering work in developing and applying sociological and anthropological methods in the study of the Hebrew Bible. Of special interest are his views regarding the vexed question of Israel’s emergence in Canaan. For years […]

Responses to Jew-Hatred
Midrashic texts reveal how the Jewish community faced antagonistic neighbors By Pinchas H. Peli

Midrash is a special kind of Jewish biblical literature. What it tells of is not necessarily in the Bible, but is derived from the Bible or is based on the Bible—in a way, a commentary on the Bible. It is post-biblical, although there are hints of midrashic technique already in the Bible itself, as […]

Bible for A King
J. Paul Getty II reunites abducted manuscript illuminations

Some missing illuminations from the pages of an ornately illustrated Bible that once belonged to a medieval king have been returned to their original setting, thanks to the largesse of London industrialist and manuscript collector J. Paul Getty. The history of this expressively illustrated Bible is for the most part shrouded in mystery. What […]

Departments

My View
Neither the liberal nor the conservative God is adequate By Joanne Swenson
Glossary
Canon: Choosing the books of the New Testament By George Howard