1986 BAS Publication Awards
The Temple Scroll
Yigael Yadin, Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Professor Yadin died on June 28, 1984)
Random House
“Told as only Yadin could do it. The story of the soul-baring 2000-year-old document, written by Jewish dissidents at their Dead Sea refuge where they waited for the Lord to come .”
Judges:
Oded Borowski, Emory University; Joseph A. Callaway, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; Frank Moore Cross, Harvard University
Excavations at Tell Oasile, Part II, The Philistine Sanctuary
Amihai Mazar, Hebrew University
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
“A major contribution to studies on the Philistines. Includes innovations in ceramic analysis.”
Judges:
Lawrence T Geraty, Atlantic Union College; R. Thomas Schaub, Indiana University of Pennsylvania; Joe D. Seger, Mississippi State University
Reading the Old Testament—An Introduction
Lawrence Boadt, Washington Theological Union
Paulist Press
“A thorough introduction to Hebrew literature. Valuable discussions of apocryphal materials and of the thought and social world out of which Hebrew scripture arose.”
Judges:
Menahem Mansoor, University of Wisconsin; Kent H. Richards, Iliff School of Theology; H. Neil Richardson, Boston University
Biblical Interpretation in Ancient Israel
Michael Fishbane, Brandeis University
Oxford University Press
“A massive volume of mature and meticulous scholarship. A valuable contribution to our knowledge of the various styles and methods of scribal exegesis in the Hebrew Bible.”
Judges:
R. Lansing Hicks, Yale University; Nahum Sarna, Brandeis University; Robert R. Wilson, Yale University
(including contemporaneous Judaism)
Co-winner:
Bandits, Prophets and Messiahs: Popular Movements in the Time of Jesus
Richard A. Horsley, University of Massachusetts and John S. Hanson, University of Kansas
Harper & Row
“Ground-breaking views on the Zealots in first-century Palestine. Focuses on people often ignored. Distinguishes different types of charismatic leaders.”
Co-winner:
Rediscovering Paul: Philemon and the Sociology of Paul’s Narrative World
Norman R. Petersen, Williams College
Fortress
“Integrates the insights and methods of the ‘new’ literary criticism, of sociology and of the more traditional disciplines of exegesis. An illuminating study of Paul’s ‘narrative world’ using the example of Paul’s letter to Philemon.”
Judges:
Eldon J. Epp, Case Western Reserve University; Victor P. Furnish, Southern Methodist University; Birger Pearson, University of California at Santa Barbara
(including contemporaneous Judaism)
The Churches the Apostles Left Behind
Raymond E. Brown, Union Theological Seminary
Paulist Press
“Penetrating insights into Scripture and early Christianity on nearly every page; the conclusions of a lifetime of New Testament study.”
Judges:
George Howard, University of Georgia; William R. Stegner, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary; James F. Strange, University of South Florida
“The Archaeology of the Family in Ancient Israel”
Lawrence E. Stager, Harvard University
Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research
“A brilliant synthesis of archaeological and textual evidence concerning the social structure of early Israel and changes introduced in it by the establishment of the monarchy.”
“The Priestly Account of Building the Tabernacle”
Victor (Avigdor) Hurowitz, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Journal of the American Oriental Society
“An illuminating study of the final form of the Tabernacle story in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers which lays out similarities in narrative pattern between it and other accounts of temple-building in biblical, Ugaritic, and Mesopotamian literature.”
“The Cults of Thessalonica and the Thessalonian Correspondence”
Karl P. Donfried, Smith College
New Testament Studies
“A valuable review of extra-biblical sources concerning the cultic and historical context in which the audience of the letters to the Thessalonians lived. Interprets selected passages in light of this background.”
Judges:
Michael D. Coogan, Stonehill College; P. Kyle McCarter, Johns Hopkins University; Jack M. Sasson, University of North Carolina
Ezra-Nehemiah
H. G. M. Williamson, Cambridge University, England
Word
“A work that forces one to rethink old positions. It parts company with a widespread scholarly consensus that attributes Ezra, Nehemiah and Chronicles to a single editor.”
Judges:
John J. Collins, University of Notre Dame; Ernest S. Frerichs, Brown University; J. J. M. Roberts, Princeton Theological Seminary
II Corinthians
Victor Furnish, Southern Methodist University
Doubleday
“Tracing the history of the church in Corinth, this commentary highlights features shared by church members and matters on which they disagreed. A wealth of insights clarify the meaning of this Pauline letter, which, Furnish concludes, is composed of two letters.”
Judges:
Bernadette J. Brooten, Harvard University; John C. Hurd, Trinity College; Howard C. Kee, Boston University
BAS Special Awards honor books of outstanding merit that, in the opinion of the judges, deserve recognition although they do not fit into the established award categories.
Harper’s Bible Dictionary
Paul J. Achtemeier, General Editor, Union Theological Seminary
Harper & Row
“Written by 180 members of the Society of Biblical Literature. Useable with any Bible translation, the 3,700 entries summarize the consensus view of Bible scholars and archaeologists.”
The Book of Enoch or I Enoch
Matthew Black, University of St Andrews, Scotland
E. J. Brill
“Though not a biblical book, I Enoch inspired many early Christians and is quoted in the New Testament Epistle of Jude. This commentary is a brilliant work of scholarship.”
The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, Volume II
James H. Charlesworth, Princeton Theological Seminary
Doubleday
“Fresh introductions and new translations for 40 documents that illumine Jewish and Christian thought in the intertestamental period. A companion volume to the highly-acclaimed edition of the Apocrypha.”
Tanakh—A New Translation of the Holy Scripture According to the Traditional Hebrew Text
Jewish Publication Society
“A translation from the traditional Hebrew text into contemporary English idiom, Thnakh represents the finest fruits of 30 years of American Jewish scholarship. This new version of the Hebrew Bible makes a monumental contribution to Bible translation.”
Ignatius of Antioch
William Schoedel, University of Illinois
Fortress
“A first-century Christian writer, Ignatius of Antioch, stands in the Pauline tradition. This commentary helps us understand the appeal of the tradition and how it was accepted in the early church.”