First Glance

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“The devil’s gateway, the unsealer of that forbidden tree, the first deserter of the divine law”—so Eve was described by the Christian theologian Tertullian (c. 160–240 A.D.). And it’s been downhill since then for the popular image of the biblical mother of all humanity. Downhill, that is, until about 15 years ago, when feminist Bible critics started studying the creation stories in Genesis 2–3. In “Eve and Adam—Is a Feminist Reading Possible?” Bible scholar Pamela J. Milne offers a lucid and fascinating interpretation of the Eve and Adam story, and compares her own view with many others that have been promoted, past and present.

At the University of Windsor in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, Milne serves as assistant professor of Hebrew Bible. She is the author of Vladimir Propp and the Study of Structure in Biblical Narratives (Almond/Sheffield Academic Press, 1988).

It has been said that “history begins at Sumer,” so we should not be surprised to learn that literature also begins there. Although Sumerian literature treats mostly deities and kings, it does display a variety of genres, including riddles, proverbs, royal hymns, antediluvian traditions and quasi-philosophical treatises. Many of the same genres, and even a few similar stories, such as the Flood, appear in the Bible. But the Bible differs in significant ways, as William W. Hallo explains in “Sumerian literature—Background to the Bible.”

One of the world’s leading scholars on Mesopotamian civilization, Hallo holds degrees from Harvard, Leiden and the University of Chicago. He has taught at Yale University since 1962, serving as the William M. Laffan Professor of Assyriology and Babylonian literature since 1976. He also serves as the curator of Yale’s Babylonian Collection. His publications number more than a hundred in a career that spans over 30 years. A member of BR’s Editorial Advisory Board, Hallo helped to launch the first issue with his article, “As the Seal Upon Thy Heart,” BR 01:01.

Barely 200 years old, the term “biblical theology”—a theology based on biblical texts rather than on church dogma—has encompassed a wide variety of biblical interpretations. Until recently, however, “biblical theology” has been a form of Christian theology. Now, in “Must ‘Biblical Theology’ Be Christian Theology?” Rolf Rendtorff shows how the term can be broadened in its meaning. After examining the historical understanding of the term and the various approaches by which Christians have attempted to incorporate the Old Testament into their theology, Rendtorff proposes a theological interpretation of the Old Testament, or Hebrew Bible, that he hopes will be acceptable in principle to both Christians and Jews.

A theologian and scholar whose specialty is the Hebrew Bible, Rendtorff has served as a professor at the University of Heidelberg, West Germany, since 1963. Jewish-Christian, German-Jewish and German-Israeli relations are areas of great concern to him, and he has written and edited several books on these subjects. He speaks modern Hebrew and has lectured as a Visiting Professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Among his books on biblical topics is The Old Testament: An Introduction (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1986).

In the Middle Ages, which saw the creation of the Gutenberg Bible and the birth of the printing industry, what was the best-selling book? A good guess would be the Bible, by far the best seller of all time. But the Bible was not number one in the Middle Ages. Roger S. Wieck, associate curator of rare books and manuscripts at The Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore, Maryland, gives us the answer in “The Book of Hours—The Medieval Best Seller.” These handwritten prayer books maintained an enormous popularity from the 13th to the 16th century, largely because of their lavish, colorful and gloriously detailed paintings, called illuminations.

Included in an array of book reviews is BR editorial advisory board member Shaye J. D. Cohen’s appraisal of George Howard’s important new book, The Gospel of Matthew according to a Primitive Hebrew Text (see Bible Books). Howard presented to BR readers his formidable evidence for a previously unknown Hebrew text of Matthew in “Was the Gospel of Matthew Originally Written in Hebrew?” BR 02:04. “The quality of Howard’s work is excellent,” Cohen says. “Thanks to Howard’s labors, this interesting text is now accessible in a reliable and convenient edition.”

“The devil’s gateway, the unsealer of that forbidden tree, the first deserter of the divine law”—so Eve was described by the Christian theologian Tertullian (c. 160–240 A.D.). And it’s been downhill since then for the popular image of the biblical mother of all humanity. Downhill, that is, until about 15 years ago, when feminist Bible critics started studying the creation stories in Genesis 2–3. In “Eve and Adam—Is a Feminist Reading Possible?” Bible scholar Pamela J. Milne offers a lucid and fascinating interpretation of the Eve and Adam story, and compares her own view with many others that have […]