First Glance
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In the wilderness of Sinai, at the base of the rugged mountain that he had climbed to receive the Tablets of the Law, Moses made a simple and sacred pact between his people and God: As an exuberant expression of love and gratitude for their escape from Egypt, Israel’s would observe the Ten Commandments. Israel journeyed on; Canaan came into view; centuries passed, and the covenant—always strong—changed with the times. In “Continuity and Change in Israel’s Covenant with God,” Kevin O’Connell, S.J., charts the dynamic relationship between Israel and God—as patriarchs, judges, kings and prophets affected it—from the Exodus to post-Exilic times.
O’Connell, chairman of the Religious Studies Department of John Carroll University in Ohio, is now writing a translation and commentary on the Book of Exodus for the Anchor Bible series. A science fiction and handball enthusiast, O’Connell is also an experienced field archaeologist; he dug at Tell el-Hesi, in Israel, from 1973 to 1981.
The so-called documentary hypothesis, which separates the Pentateuch into different authorial strands, has been accepted by many scholars since the 18th century. According to this hypothesis, the Pentateuch was written not by Moses, but is a compilation of several different documents written independently at different times. In “The Documentary Hypothesis in Trouble,” Joseph Blenkinsopp argues that as scholars try to separate the strands, or authors, of the Pentateuch and then to break these strands into components, the very existence of the separate authors comes into question. To illustrate the problems, Blenkinsopp takes a close look at the separate literary strands in one section of the Pentateuch, the Flood story (Genesis 6–9). A new compositional theory is needed, he concludes.
Born in Durham, England, Blenkinsopp is John A. O’Brien Professor of Biblical Studies at Notre Dame University in Indiana and has written several books, including Wisdom and Law in the Old Testament (Oxford University Press, 1983). Since 1980 he has coordinated excavations at the Greek Orthodox site at Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee.
In “Tracing the Spread of Early Christianity Through Coins,” numismatist Stanley A. Hudson displays an array of ancient coins minted in bronze, silver and gold. From the fourth century—the time of Constantine the Great—until the tenth century, artwork on Roman and Eastern coinage evolved from depictions of 27 different pagan deities to images that were exclusively Christian.
Minister at the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Whittier, California, Hudson is also a doctoral student at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena. Before his first child, four-month-old Daniel was born, he had time to enjoy rockhounding and photography.
In the 11th century, when the doges, the rulers of Venice, began building a palace church, they set in motion a program of lavish decoration that took centuries to complete. The result is spectacular—thousands of square feet of brilliantly colored mosaics blanketing the walls and vaulted ceilings of the Church of San Marco. In an illustrated review, associate professor at the University of Maryland Marie Spiro analyzes a new four-volume work, The Mosaics of San Marco in Venice by Otto Demus, on this masterpiece of art and architecture.
Spiro, like the author of the book she reviews, is an art historian. She has written books on Tunisian mosaics and Christian mosaic pavements in Greece, and since 1978, has served as the mosaic specialist for the Joint Expedition to Caesarea Maritima, Israel.
David Noel Freedman, who is working on a commentary on the Book of Amos, has already provided Bible Review with several short insights concerning this biblical book. In “Who Asks (or Tells) God to Repent?” Freedman points out a unique characteristic of the famous prophet. Freedman is Arthur F. Thurnau Professsor of Biblical Studies at the University of Michigan and serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of Bible Review.
In the wilderness of Sinai, at the base of the rugged mountain that he had climbed to receive the Tablets of the Law, Moses made a simple and sacred pact between his people and God: As an exuberant expression of love and gratitude for their escape from Egypt, Israel’s would observe the Ten Commandments. Israel journeyed on; Canaan came into view; centuries passed, and the covenant—always strong—changed with the times. In “Continuity and Change in Israel’s Covenant with God,” Kevin O’Connell, S.J., charts the dynamic relationship between Israel and God—as patriarchs, judges, kings and prophets affected it—from the Exodus […]
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