First Glance
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Social, political and theological upheaval surrounded Israel’s transformation from a loose confederation of tribes to a united nation led by David. At the center of the storm stood Saul, selected by the Israelites against Yahweh’s will to be their first king. In “Saul as Sacrifice—The tragedy of Israel’s first monarch,” L. Daniel Hawk describes Saul’s life as the embodiment of Israel’s metamorphosis. Like a sacrificial offering to Yahweh, writes Hawk, Saul’s death appeased the Israelite deity and allowed his people to proceed toward the golden age of the monarchy under David.
Associate professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at Ashland Theological Seminary, Hawk wrote Every Promise Fulfilled: Contesting Plots in Joshua (Westminster/John Knox, 1991). His hobbies include hiking and playing keyboard and singing with his classic rock and blues band, Reaction.
The Yonan Codex’s “15 minutes of fame” came in the mid-1950s. This ancient Syriac-Aramaic Bible, some scholars claimed, not only was one of the very earliest copies of the New Testament but was written in the language spoken by Jesus. After being exhibited at the Library of Congress, the codex made a noisy tour of the Bible Belt to raise funds for its purchase by the Library of Congress.
Then, suddenly, the commotion ceased—when scholars proved that the codex was not as old as had been claimed and that Jesus spoke a different dialect of Aramaic. In “Bible Hype: The saga of the Yonan Codex,” Bruce M. Metzger recalls the role he played in helping to burst this ancient Bible’s bubble.
Textual and biblical scholar Bruce M. Metzger is a retired professor of New Testament language and literature at Princeton Theological Seminary and a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy. The author of hundreds of articles on biblical history, the Hebrew Bible, the Apocrypha and the New Testament, Metzger has also published The Text of the New Testament (Oxford Univ. Press, 1964; 3rd edition 1992) and Manuscripts of the Greek Bible (Oxford, 1981).
No path is more filled with emotion for Christians than the Via Dolorosa—“The Way of Sorrows”—the stretch of street on which Jesus bore the cross before his crucifixion. For centuries, pilgrims have trekked across a section of Jerusalem that leads from north of the Temple Mount to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. But how historically accurate is this traditional route? In “The Geography of Faith,” Jerome Murphy-O’Connor shows how today’s Via Dolorosa developed over time and notes that to appreciate it requires not a knowledge of geography but an appreciation of faith.
Murphy-O’Connor, a specialist in the archaeology of Jerusalem, is the author of The Holy Land (Oxford 1992), an archaeological guide to the country. He is a professor at the Ecole Biblique et Archaeologique in Jerusalem and a member of BR’s Editorial Advisory Board.
The recent restoration of Michelangelo’s paintings on the Sistine Chapel ceiling has caused agony—for the handful of critics who fear Michelangelo’s work has been irreversibly damaged—and ecstasy—for most recent visitors to the chapel, who are stunned by the vivid colors that have emerged across the ceiling. Brimming with glorious full-page color photos, a recent book by the restoration team allows you to judge for yourself. In “Michelangelo’s Masterpiece Reclaimed,” A. Dean McKenzie reviews this book (The Sistine Chapel: A Glorious Restoration) and revisits Michelangelo’s use of biblical figures.
Professor emeritus of art history at the University of Oregon, in Eugene, McKenzie frequently advises BR on artistic matters. He has written extensively on Russian icons and prepared several exhibition catalogues, including Windows to Heaven: The Icons of Russia (Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 1982).
Social, political and theological upheaval surrounded Israel’s transformation from a loose confederation of tribes to a united nation led by David. At the center of the storm stood Saul, selected by the Israelites against Yahweh’s will to be their first king. In “Saul as Sacrifice—The tragedy of Israel’s first monarch,” L. Daniel Hawk describes Saul’s life as the embodiment of Israel’s metamorphosis. Like a sacrificial offering to Yahweh, writes Hawk, Saul’s death appeased the Israelite deity and allowed his people to proceed toward the golden age of the monarchy under David. Associate professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at […]
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