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Bible Studies The World of the Bible
Holger Gzella is professor of Old Testament at the University of Munich, Germany. He previously served as professor of Hebrew and Aramaic at Leiden University. Near Eastern archaeology and anthropology at the University of Arizona in Tucson. He has served as director of the Nelson Glueck School of Biblical Archaeology in Jerusalem, as director of the W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem, and as a visiting professor at universities around the world. He has also spent thirty years conducting archaeological excavations in the Near East, resulting in a large body of award-winning eldwork.
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Aramaic
A History of the First World Language Holger Gzella Translated by Benjamin D. Suchard In this volume—the rst complete history of Aramaic from its origins to the present day—Holger Gzella provides an accessible overview of the language perhaps most well known for being spoken by Jesus of Nazareth. Gzella, one of the world’s foremost Aramaicists, begins with the earliest evidence of Aramaic in inscriptions from the beginning of the rst millennium BCE, then traces its emergence as the rst world language when it became the administrative tongue of the great ancient Near Eastern empires. He also pays due diligence to the sacred role of Aramaic within Judaism, its place in the Islamic world, and its contact with other regional languages, before concluding with a glimpse into modern uses of Aramaic.
Although Aramaic never had a uni ed political or cultural context in which to gain traction, it nevertheless ourished in the Middle East for an extensive period, allowing for widespread cultural exchange between diverse groups of people. In tracing the historical thread of the Aramaic language, readers can also gain a stronger understanding of the rise and fall of civilizations, religions, and cultures in that region over the course of three millennia.
Aramaic: A History of the First World Language is visually supplemented by maps, charts, and other images for an immersive reading experience, providing scholars and casual readers alike with an engaging overview of one of the most consequential world languages in history.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Introduction 2. The Oldest Aramaic and Its Cultural Context 3. Aramaic as a World Language 4. Aramaic in the Bible and Early Judaism 5. Aramaic between the Classical and Parthian
Worlds 6. Syriac and the End of Paganism 7. The Second Sacred Language: Aramaic in Rabbinic
Judaism 8. Not Just Jews and Christians: Samaritans, Mandeans, and Others 9. Aramaic in Arabia and the Islamic World 10. Modern Aramaic from a Historical Perspective
William G. Dever is professor emeritus of 978-0-8028-7748-2 | Hardcover | 380 pages | $70.00 US | $94.99 CAN | £55.99 UK | Available May 2021
Has Archaeology Buried the Bible?
William G. Dever
In the last several decades, archaeological evidence has dramatically illuminated ancient Israel. However, instead of proving the truth of the Bible—as an earlier generation had con dently predicted—the new discoveries have forced us to revise much of what was thought to be biblical truth, provoking an urgent question: If the biblical stories are not always true historically, what, if anything, is still salvageable of the Bible’s ethical and moral values?
Has Archaeology Buried the Bible? simpli es these complex issues and summarizes the new, archaeologically a ested ancient Israel, period by period (ca. 1200–600 BCE). But it also explores in detail how a modern, critical reader of the Bible can still nd relevant truths by which to live. ern, critical reader of the Bible can still nd relevant truths by which to live.
“ is book is both vintage Dever and re eshingly innovative. Dever’s strongly argued positions on the relationship between the Hebrew Bible and archaeological materials are presented in lucid and riveting language, accessible to all. In addition, Dever shows how biblical accounts—even problematic ones—are not devoid of meaning but rather are rich with the potential to provide lessons for contemporary life.” — CAROL MEYERS Duke University
“Bill Dever is one of the leading archaeologists of the Southern Levant in the last two generations, in uencing the course of scholarship for more than y years. Has Archaeology Buried the Bible? critically synthesizes biblical history with modern archaeology, o ering a detailed and compelling reconstruction of how things really were, as well as a stimulating assessment of the value of this history to modern readership. e book reviews both the biblical history of ancient Israel— om the period of the patriarchs, through the exodus and se lement in Canaan, to the period of the monarchy—as well as various aspects of Israelite religion, and examines them through the lens of archaeology and modern scholarship. It is a must-read for anyone interested in biblical history and in understanding its relevance in the modern world.” — AV HAM FAUST Bar-Ilan University
978-0-8028-7763-5 | Jacketed Hardcover |168 pages | $25.99 US | $34.99 CAN | £20.99 UK | Available
Ethnicity and Inclusion
Religion, Race, and Whiteness in Constructions of Jewish and Christian Identities
David G. Horrell Foreword by Judith M. Lieu
Some of today’s problematic ideologies of racial and religious di erence can be traced back to constructions of the relationship between Judaism and early Christianity. New Testament studies, which developed contemporaneously with Europe’s colonial expansion and racial ideologies, is, David Horrell argues, therefore an important site at which to probe critically these ideological constructions and their contemporary implications.
In Ethnicity and Inclusion, Horrell explores the ways in which “ethnic” (and “religious”) characteristics feature in key Jewish and early Christian texts, challenging the widely accepted dichotomy between a Judaism that is ethnically de ned and a Christianity that is open and inclusive. en, through an engagement with whiteness studies, he o ers a critique of the implicit whiteness and Christianness that continue to dominate New Testament studies today, arguing that a diversity of embodied perspectives is epistemologically necessary. necessary.
“Magisterial and far-reaching.”
— TERESA MORGAN University of Oxford
“An ambitious, impressive, and important work.” — MA HEW THIESSEN McMaster University
David G. Horrell is professor of New Testament studies and director of the Centre for Biblical Studies at the University of Exeter, UK, where he has taught since 1995. His other books include e Making of Christian Morality: Reading Paul in Ancient and Modern Contexts and Becoming Christian: Essays on 1 Peter and the Making of Christian Identity.
978-0-8028-7608-9 | Jacketed Hardcover | 432 pages $55.00 US | $73.99 CAN | £44.99 UK | Available
The Nations, the Parting of the Ways, and Roman Imperial Ideology
Terence L. Donaldson
Originally an ascribed identity that cast nonJewish Christ-believers as an ethnic other, “gentile” soon evolved into a much more complex aspect of early Christian identity. Gentile Christian Identity om Cornelius to Constantine is a full historical account of this trajectory, showing how, in the context of “the parting of the ways,” the early church increasingly identi ed itself as a distinctly gentile and anti-Judaic entity, even as it also cra ed itself as an alternative to the cosmopolitan project of the Roman Empire. is process of identity construction shaped Christianity’s legacy, paradoxically establishing it as both a counterempire and a mimicker of Rome’s imperial ideology.
Drawing on social identity theory and ethnography, Terence Donaldson o ers an analysis of gentile Christianity that is thorough and highly relevant to today’s discourses surrounding identity, ethnicity, and Christian-Jewish relations. As Donaldson shows, a full understanding of the term “gentile” is key to understanding the modern Western world and the church as we know it.
“Learned and thought-provoking. . . . Touches upon a range of issues central to early Christian history and presents an entangled and ambivalent tale with ongoing relevance today.” — JAMES CARLETON PAGET University of Cambridge
Terence L. Donaldson is Lord and Lady Coggan Professor Emeritus of New Testament Studies at Wycli e College in Toronto. He is also the author of Jews and Anti-Judaism in the New Testament and Paul and the Gentiles.
978-0-8028-7175-6 | Jacketed Hardcover | 656 pages $75.00 US | $100.99 CAN | £60.99 UK | Available
New Testament Apocrypha
More Noncanonical Scriptures
VOLUME 2 Tony Burke, editor
is anthology of ancient nonbiblical Christian literature presents informed introductions to and readable translations of a wide range of li le-known apocryphal texts, most of which have never before been translated into any modern language. e second volume of New Testament Apocrypha features twenty-nine texts—including “ e Adoration of the Magi,” “ e Legend of the Holy Rood Tree,” “ e Life of Mary Magdalene,” “ e Travels of Peter,” and “ e Investiture of the Archangel Michael”—each carefully introduced, copiously annotated, and translated into English by eminent scholars. ese fascinating texts provide insights into the beliefs, expressions, and practices of a range of Christian communities from the early centuries through late antiquity and into the medieval period.
Tony Burke is professor of early Christianity at York University in Toronto and founding president of the North American Society for the Study of Christian Apocryphal Literature. He is also the author of Secret Scriptures Revealed: A New Introduction to the Christian Apocrypha and coeditor, with Brent Landau, of New Testament Apocrypha: More Noncanonical Scriptures, volume 1.
978-0-8028-7290-6 | Jacketed Hardcover | 681 pages $75.00 US | $100.99 CAN | £60.99 UK | Available
ALSO AVAILABLE: VOLUME 1
New Testament Apocrypha
More Noncanonical Scriptures VOLUME 1 978-0-8028-7289-0 | Jacketed Hardcover | 635 pages | $75.00 US
