Features

Part II: The Development of Israelite Religion

In the August 1992 BR we published the first part of a three-part interview with the world-renowned scholar Frank Moore Cross (see Frank Moore Cross—An Interview, BR 08:04). The interview, conducted in Cross’s home in Lexington, Massachusetts, occurred on the occasion of his retirement as Hancock Professor of Hebrew and Other Oriental Languages at […]

How Mary Magdalene Became a Whore
Mary Magdalene is in fact the primary witness to the fundamental data of early Christian faith By Jane Schaberg

Mention the name Mary Magdalene and most people will free-associate the word “whore,” albeit the repentant whore whose love for Jesus led him to forgive her. In Jesus Christ—Superstar, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Timothy Rice’s 1970s musical, she is depicted as a prostitute platonically in love with Jesus, not having a sexual affair with […]

Feminist Interpretations of the Bible: Then and Now
The Bible has frequently been used as a weapon to oppress women By Pamela J. Milne

Feminism—and the movement arising from it—may be the most important revolutionary development in human history. It seeks nothing less than the true equality of women. Some have compared the feminist movement to the Copernican revolution: Like the Copernican revolution, the feminist movement has already changed the way we view and understand the world.1 We […]

If The Bible’s So Patriarchal, How Come I Love It?
Can women serve two authorities, a master called Scripture and a mistress called feminism? By Phyllis Trible

Early in the 1970s, I listened to animated discussions about feminism. I did not have to be converted. At the same time, I also understood that Scripture nourished my life, that the Bible I grew up with in Sunday school continued to feed me. To be sure, I had learned in college and […]

Departments

“Subdue the Earth”: What Does It Mean?
Humans received a God-given freedom to choose between a lifestyle that fosters life on this planet or that leads to death for the earth and its inhabitants. In the words of Deuteronomy 30:19: “Choose life so that you and your descendants may live.” By Bernhard W. Anderson
Finding Morality In Luke’s Disturbing Parables
Are there limits to love and generosity? Is wealth a good thing? Should justice be impartial? Does following the commandments and giving to the poor make a person acceptable to God? Luke has a few surprises for us. By Helmut Koester
Hebrew for Bible Readers
Verb forms for shades of meaning, part II By Keith N. Schoville
Greek for Bible Readers
Greek verbs: An overview By David Alan Black