First Glance

Letters to the editor spark lively—and often controversial debates in BR’s Readers Reply column. More recently, however, a letter has generated an article. Ronald F. Watts, after reading Victor Hurowitz’s literary trip “Inside Solomon’s Temple,” BR 10:02, noted that the elaborate decoration of Solomon’s Temple appears to violate the Second Commandment: “You shall not make for yourself any graven image” (Exodus 20:4). But in the Book of Kings we read that Solomon set up two huge cherubim in the Temple shrine. Watts asks, “Did King Solomon Violate the Second Commandment?” Hurowitz’s reply traces the development of the interpretation of this biblical commandment.

Hurowitz is a senior lecturer in the department of Bible and ancient Near Eastern studies at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva. His interest in ancient temples led to his recent book I Have Built You an Exalted House (JSOT/ASOR, 1992). His first BR article was “When Did God Finish Creation?” BR 03:04.

Saul, Israel’s first king, has often been seen as a tragic figure overwhelmed by larger forces. His rule is doomed because of impossible challenges posed by Israel’s enemies—the Ammonites, Philistines and Amalekites; by the rise of a powerful young pretender, David; and by his own inner demons. Nonsense, says Kenneth I. Cohen in “King Saul—A Bungler from the Beginning.”. Saul, Cohen writes, is exactly the king the Israelites deserve for demanding a monarchy and rejecting the more direct rule by God through charismatic judges. God takes revenge by giving the people “a hapless fool” for a leader.

Cohen combines doctoral studies at the Graduate Theological Union’s Center for Jewish Studies in Berkeley, California, with teaching at Dominican College in San Rafael, California. He comes to religious studies after a 20-year computer career that included positions at IBM, Mc Donnell-Douglas and the Oracle Corporation.

Origen revered it. Irenaeus considered it canonical. Tertullian called it Scripture. It was one of the most popular texts in the first centuries of the church. But hardly anyone today has heard of the second-century A.D. text The Shepherd of Hermas, a collection of visions revealed to a freed slave named Hermas by his spiritual guide, the shepherd. Author Carolyn Osiek has made it her mission to reacquaint people with Hermas. In “The Shepherd of Hermas,” Osiek reveals Hermas’s message about the need for spiritual conversion.

Sister Osiek, professor of New Testament Studies at Catholic Theological Union, Chicago, is working on a commentary on The Shepherd of Hermas for the Hermeneia series (Fortress Press, forthcoming).

Imagine being sentenced to death over a disagreement about who wrote the Pentateuch—or being imprisoned for proposing that Jesus’ miracles never occurred. Not long ago, severe penalties awaited those who questioned the traditional understanding of the Bible. A few men, however, dared suggest that the Jesus of the Gospels was someone different from the Jesus of history. In “Profiles in Scholarly Courage,” Marcus Borg traces the beginnings of this quest for the historical Jesus.

A BR columnist, Borg is professor of religion and culture at Oregon State University in Corvallis. Author of four books on the historical Jesus, Borg is one of a group of scholars who recently produced The Five Gospels: What Did Jesus Really Say?

Paul mentions his journey to “Arabia”—probably today’s Jordan—only in passing in the New Testament. But why was he there? Jerome Murphy-O’Connor solves the mystery of “What Was Paul Doing in “Arabia”?”

Murphy-O’Connor, a professor at the Ecole Biblique et Archeologique in Jerusalem and a member of BR’s Editorial Advisory Board, has contributed several articles to BR, including “On the Road and on the Sea with St. Paul,” BR 01:02.

We’re Moving

As of October 1, 1994, our new address will be: 4710 41st Street NW, Washington, DC 20016. Our customer service number will remain 1–800-221–4644. Subscription questions should be addressed to PO Box 7017. Red Oak, Iowa, 51591, or call 1–800-678–4444.

A Note on Style

B.C.E. (Before the Common Era) and C.E. (Common Era), used by some of our authors and often used in scholarly literature, are the alternative designations corresponding to B.C. and A.D.

Letters to the editor spark lively—and often controversial debates in BR’s Readers Reply column. More recently, however, a letter has generated an article. Ronald F.