A Covenant with Death (originally published as Death in the Iron Age II and in First Isaiah by Mo... more A Covenant with Death (originally published as Death in the Iron Age II and in First Isaiah by Mohr Siebeck, 2011) is a major contribution to the study both of Proto-Isaiah and of death in the ancient Near East. It consists of two parts, one concerning the ritualization of death in the surrounding cultures as well as in Israel and Judah, primarily in Iron Age II, and the second applying the findings to passages in Isaiah concerning death. Hays argues that Isaiah skillfully uses the international language and imagery of the cult of death subversively in support of his religious-political program and his insistence that YHWH is ultimately triumphant over death, as represented by the Neo-Assyrian peril. His thesis is sustained through an abundance of local exegetical insights, which enable one to read with an appreciation of Isaiah's rhetorical subtlety. It raises important methodological questions about the relationship of historical to literary studies. The book is also a significant contribution to the debate on the formation of Isaiah. Hays is somewhat conservative in his dating of Proto-Isaiah, which he sees as primarily the product of two recensions, one following Sennacherib's siege and the other in the reign of Josiah, in both of which religious and political issues are inseparable. For example, the reunification of northern and southern kingdoms is a subtext of the imagery of revivification in Isa 24-27, as part of Josiah's propaganda. At the same time, Hays
J. Cheryl Exum. Tragedy and Biblical Narrative. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992, 206 ... more J. Cheryl Exum. Tragedy and Biblical Narrative. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992, 206 pp.; Plotted, Shot, and Painted: Cultural Representations of Biblical Women. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supp. 215; Gender, Culture, Theory Series 3. ...
1 HE BIBLICAL BOOK of Ruth has generally been treated as a romantic idyll,1 and hence neglected b... more 1 HE BIBLICAL BOOK of Ruth has generally been treated as a romantic idyll,1 and hence neglected by scholars enamoured of the serious matters of history and theology, except for the conundrum posed by the issue of levirate and redemption in the legal drama in chapter 4.2 There ...
In this paper the authors trace very briefly the most consequential points of the history of Reli... more In this paper the authors trace very briefly the most consequential points of the history of Religious Studies at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. This history demonstrates that the structural location and the disciplinary horizon of Religious Studies ...
Biblical Interpretation: A Journal of Contemporary Approaches, 2006
Isaiah 40.1-11 is commonly identified as the prologue to Deutero-Isaiah, and as result its interp... more Isaiah 40.1-11 is commonly identified as the prologue to Deutero-Isaiah, and as result its interpretation concerns both its function as a prologue and its relationship to the past, to Proto-Isaiah or other texts.1 These questions are especially pertinent to the cur-rent debates on the unity of ...
* The germ of this article was a paper delivered at the AAR/SBL Annual Meet-ing in San Francisco,... more * The germ of this article was a paper delivered at the AAR/SBL Annual Meet-ing in San Francisco, Nov. 1992. I am grateful to my colleague, Dr. Ehud Ben-Zvi, for generosity of his time in clarifying lexicographical points, and to my research assistant, Mr. James Linville, for ...
1. The word which Isaiah son of Amoz envisaged concerning Judah and Jerusa-lem. 2. And it shall b... more 1. The word which Isaiah son of Amoz envisaged concerning Judah and Jerusa-lem. 2. And it shall be in the last days, that the mountain of the house of Yhwh shall be established at the top of the mountains, and lifted up above the hills, and all the nations shall flow to it. 3. ...
My paper for the Joshua and Judges section of the SBL. On masquerades; the spies as alter egos of... more My paper for the Joshua and Judges section of the SBL. On masquerades; the spies as alter egos of Joshua; Rahab, the prostitute, dressed in rouge and tights, quoting Deuteronomy, post-colonialism and subversion.
This is my Abschiedsvorlesung at the University of Alberta. In it I talk about my teaching, resea... more This is my Abschiedsvorlesung at the University of Alberta. In it I talk about my teaching, research, Derrida and Kabbalah, and do a reading of part of the Blessing of Moses in Deut.33. I also offer thanks
My last Judaism course! I'll be comparing Jonathan Sacks' Future Tense and Arthur Green, Seek My ... more My last Judaism course! I'll be comparing Jonathan Sacks' Future Tense and Arthur Green, Seek My Face
This will be my last Hebrew Bible course! I've tried to make it a little adventurous, and am adop... more This will be my last Hebrew Bible course! I've tried to make it a little adventurous, and am adopting David Carr's excellent introductory textbook
A reading of Numbers 5-6 (the Sotah and the Nazirite) arguing that they are structural inversions... more A reading of Numbers 5-6 (the Sotah and the Nazirite) arguing that they are structural inversions. From Francis Landy, Leigh Trevaskis, and Bryan Bibb, "Text, Time, and Temple: Literary, Historical, and Ritual Studies in Leviticus" (Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix, 2015) pp. 170-195.
From Ehud Ben Zvi and Christoph Levin (eds) Thinking of Water in the Early Second Temple Period. ... more From Ehud Ben Zvi and Christoph Levin (eds) Thinking of Water in the Early Second Temple Period. (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2014). Pp.436-455.
The Mythical and the Mystical: The Rivers of Psalm 93. This paper concerns the conjunction of two... more The Mythical and the Mystical: The Rivers of Psalm 93. This paper concerns the conjunction of two terms, "mythical" and "mystical", to represent opposed and complementary aspects of the poetic experience communicated by Psalm 93, and the symbolic association of the aquatic imagery of the poem, the rivers and seas of vv.3-4, with both a primal dissidence and the voice of the poet. Both the mythical and the mystical contribute to what Jim Linville calls the "cosmic imagination" the poem articulates, and both raise issues of interpretation and definition. For example, is myth to be contrasted with history, and consigned to an Eliadean illo tempore, or is it any sacred and foundational story, which is how I think Wendy Doniger would conceive it? In any case, the boundaries with narrative in general, and scriptural narrative in particular, are porous. What is the relation of the myth, the Chaoskampf, to the poem: is it something long past in the primordium, or is it present? Mysticism is a problematic category in the history of religions: is there a universal phenomenon of mysticism, or is it a particular cultural tradition? Gershom Scholem, for instance, would famously confine Jewish mysticism to the post-biblical era, and see it as a response to the abyss opened up between God and humanity exemplified by rabbinic Judaism, while Moshe Idel considers it to be rooted in biblical traditions. Much depends on how one understands mysticism, for example as a practice or a set of ideas, and how seriously one wishes to undertake cross-cultural and -temporal comparison (e.g unio mystica in Jewish, Christian and
A Covenant with Death (originally published as Death in the Iron Age II and in First Isaiah by Mo... more A Covenant with Death (originally published as Death in the Iron Age II and in First Isaiah by Mohr Siebeck, 2011) is a major contribution to the study both of Proto-Isaiah and of death in the ancient Near East. It consists of two parts, one concerning the ritualization of death in the surrounding cultures as well as in Israel and Judah, primarily in Iron Age II, and the second applying the findings to passages in Isaiah concerning death. Hays argues that Isaiah skillfully uses the international language and imagery of the cult of death subversively in support of his religious-political program and his insistence that YHWH is ultimately triumphant over death, as represented by the Neo-Assyrian peril. His thesis is sustained through an abundance of local exegetical insights, which enable one to read with an appreciation of Isaiah's rhetorical subtlety. It raises important methodological questions about the relationship of historical to literary studies. The book is also a significant contribution to the debate on the formation of Isaiah. Hays is somewhat conservative in his dating of Proto-Isaiah, which he sees as primarily the product of two recensions, one following Sennacherib's siege and the other in the reign of Josiah, in both of which religious and political issues are inseparable. For example, the reunification of northern and southern kingdoms is a subtext of the imagery of revivification in Isa 24-27, as part of Josiah's propaganda. At the same time, Hays
J. Cheryl Exum. Tragedy and Biblical Narrative. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992, 206 ... more J. Cheryl Exum. Tragedy and Biblical Narrative. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992, 206 pp.; Plotted, Shot, and Painted: Cultural Representations of Biblical Women. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supp. 215; Gender, Culture, Theory Series 3. ...
1 HE BIBLICAL BOOK of Ruth has generally been treated as a romantic idyll,1 and hence neglected b... more 1 HE BIBLICAL BOOK of Ruth has generally been treated as a romantic idyll,1 and hence neglected by scholars enamoured of the serious matters of history and theology, except for the conundrum posed by the issue of levirate and redemption in the legal drama in chapter 4.2 There ...
In this paper the authors trace very briefly the most consequential points of the history of Reli... more In this paper the authors trace very briefly the most consequential points of the history of Religious Studies at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. This history demonstrates that the structural location and the disciplinary horizon of Religious Studies ...
Biblical Interpretation: A Journal of Contemporary Approaches, 2006
Isaiah 40.1-11 is commonly identified as the prologue to Deutero-Isaiah, and as result its interp... more Isaiah 40.1-11 is commonly identified as the prologue to Deutero-Isaiah, and as result its interpretation concerns both its function as a prologue and its relationship to the past, to Proto-Isaiah or other texts.1 These questions are especially pertinent to the cur-rent debates on the unity of ...
* The germ of this article was a paper delivered at the AAR/SBL Annual Meet-ing in San Francisco,... more * The germ of this article was a paper delivered at the AAR/SBL Annual Meet-ing in San Francisco, Nov. 1992. I am grateful to my colleague, Dr. Ehud Ben-Zvi, for generosity of his time in clarifying lexicographical points, and to my research assistant, Mr. James Linville, for ...
1. The word which Isaiah son of Amoz envisaged concerning Judah and Jerusa-lem. 2. And it shall b... more 1. The word which Isaiah son of Amoz envisaged concerning Judah and Jerusa-lem. 2. And it shall be in the last days, that the mountain of the house of Yhwh shall be established at the top of the mountains, and lifted up above the hills, and all the nations shall flow to it. 3. ...
My paper for the Joshua and Judges section of the SBL. On masquerades; the spies as alter egos of... more My paper for the Joshua and Judges section of the SBL. On masquerades; the spies as alter egos of Joshua; Rahab, the prostitute, dressed in rouge and tights, quoting Deuteronomy, post-colonialism and subversion.
This is my Abschiedsvorlesung at the University of Alberta. In it I talk about my teaching, resea... more This is my Abschiedsvorlesung at the University of Alberta. In it I talk about my teaching, research, Derrida and Kabbalah, and do a reading of part of the Blessing of Moses in Deut.33. I also offer thanks
My last Judaism course! I'll be comparing Jonathan Sacks' Future Tense and Arthur Green, Seek My ... more My last Judaism course! I'll be comparing Jonathan Sacks' Future Tense and Arthur Green, Seek My Face
This will be my last Hebrew Bible course! I've tried to make it a little adventurous, and am adop... more This will be my last Hebrew Bible course! I've tried to make it a little adventurous, and am adopting David Carr's excellent introductory textbook
A reading of Numbers 5-6 (the Sotah and the Nazirite) arguing that they are structural inversions... more A reading of Numbers 5-6 (the Sotah and the Nazirite) arguing that they are structural inversions. From Francis Landy, Leigh Trevaskis, and Bryan Bibb, "Text, Time, and Temple: Literary, Historical, and Ritual Studies in Leviticus" (Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix, 2015) pp. 170-195.
From Ehud Ben Zvi and Christoph Levin (eds) Thinking of Water in the Early Second Temple Period. ... more From Ehud Ben Zvi and Christoph Levin (eds) Thinking of Water in the Early Second Temple Period. (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2014). Pp.436-455.
The Mythical and the Mystical: The Rivers of Psalm 93. This paper concerns the conjunction of two... more The Mythical and the Mystical: The Rivers of Psalm 93. This paper concerns the conjunction of two terms, "mythical" and "mystical", to represent opposed and complementary aspects of the poetic experience communicated by Psalm 93, and the symbolic association of the aquatic imagery of the poem, the rivers and seas of vv.3-4, with both a primal dissidence and the voice of the poet. Both the mythical and the mystical contribute to what Jim Linville calls the "cosmic imagination" the poem articulates, and both raise issues of interpretation and definition. For example, is myth to be contrasted with history, and consigned to an Eliadean illo tempore, or is it any sacred and foundational story, which is how I think Wendy Doniger would conceive it? In any case, the boundaries with narrative in general, and scriptural narrative in particular, are porous. What is the relation of the myth, the Chaoskampf, to the poem: is it something long past in the primordium, or is it present? Mysticism is a problematic category in the history of religions: is there a universal phenomenon of mysticism, or is it a particular cultural tradition? Gershom Scholem, for instance, would famously confine Jewish mysticism to the post-biblical era, and see it as a response to the abyss opened up between God and humanity exemplified by rabbinic Judaism, while Moshe Idel considers it to be rooted in biblical traditions. Much depends on how one understands mysticism, for example as a practice or a set of ideas, and how seriously one wishes to undertake cross-cultural and -temporal comparison (e.g unio mystica in Jewish, Christian and
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