Biblical Theology

Biblical Theology Leonard J. Greenspoon, Christopher R. Matthews, Thomas Hieke, Eric J. Wagner CR, and Richard A. Taylor ________ 1555. Jewish Martyrdom in Antiquity Friedrich Avemarie, Jan Willem van Henten, and Yair Furstenberg, Jewish Martyrdom in Antiquity: From the Books of Maccabees to the Babylonian Talmud (CRINT 17; Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2023). Pp. 553. 270. ISBN 978–90–04–53832–2. The three authors of this hefty tome have collected and explicated written accounts of martyrdom within a Jewish context from the last two cents. b. c. e. (esp. 2 and 4 Macca-bees) through the rabbinic material of the first centuries c. e. This is the first publication to cover this fascinating phenomenon in such detail. The authors trace the strategies that link the earliest and latest narratives they treat as well as other narratives that did not have so long-lasting an impact. Among the volume's most intriguing sections is the one that seeks to place suicides within a broadly conceived continuum. A. et al. pay significant attention to those elements that rabbinic and early Christian sources have in common as well as those that are unique to each tradition. As part of this analysis they document the array of possible interactions between Jewish and Christian practices with regard to martyrdom, and conclude that there is no single explanation for the similarities they identify. —L. J. G. 1556. "Son of Man" in Early Jewish Literature Richard Bauckham, "Son of Man, " Vol. 1, Early Jewish Literature (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2023). Pp. xiii + 744. 44. 99. ISBN 978–0-8028–8326–1. This volume contains the first two parts of a projected two-volume, three-part study on "the Son of Man" in early Jewish literature and the Gospels, the latter to be treated in the second volume. Part one, in the current volume, claims to offer the fullest study yet published on the messianic figure in the Parables of Enoch (1 Enoch. 35–71). It includes discussion of the Enochic identity of "that Son of Man" (71: 14), highlights six "key results" (e. g. , there is no "concept" of "the son of man" in the Parables), and deliberates on the date (possibly as late as the early 2nd century c. e. ) and place of composition (unknown) of the Parables. Part two offers a detailed investigation of the interpretation of Daniel 7 in extant literature of the late Second Temple period, with special attention to Dan 7: 13–14. It considers the Greek versions of Daniel 7, 4Q246 as perhaps the earliest evidence of interpretation of Daniel 7, Daniel 7 in Sibylline Oracles 5, Daniel 7 in the Apocalypse of Ezra (4 Ezra), a messiah from the past in rabbinic traditions, as a context for the Parables of Enoch, Daniel 7 in the Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch (2 Baruch), Rabbi Aqiva on Daniel 7, and the absence of Daniel 7 in Josephus. B. , professor emeritus at the University of St Andrews, argues that Dan 7: 13–14 was not the source of a form of messianic expectation quite different from the Davidic hope—a heavenly (angelic/divine) figure coming from heaven versus an earthly human king, born on earth. He observes that in the interpretations of Daniel 7 examined by him, the messiah had been born on earth in the past and will come in the future from heaven—a reading remarkably close to the way early Christians read Daniel 7. B. concludes that no messianic figure, even those whose portrayal relied heavily on Dan 7: 13–14, was ever called "the Son of Man, " and it is hard to believe that anyone in late Second Temple times would have recognized the phrase "the Son of Man" as an allusion to Dan 7: 13. —C. R. M. 1557. OT Anthropology Kathrin Gies, Anthropologie des Alten Testaments (utb 5997; Paderborn: Schöningh, 2023). Pp. 238. €20. ISBN 978–3-8252–5997–6. G. 's textbook explains selected OT perspectives on the human condition using relevant texts and interpretations. It provides insight into the history of research and current discourse on methodology. After an introductory chapter on hermeneutics and methodology. . .