The “sacramental imagination” is closely associated with writers from the Roman Catholic tradition. However, Marilynne Robinson, drawing on the creational and sacramental theology of John Calvin, has successfully developed a distinctly American Protestant sacramental vision in and through her novels Housekeeping and Gilead. In this article, I exa…[Read more]

In this essay I will seek to discern just how seriously Williams intends for his readers to take the notion of substituted love. Specifically, is the picture of substituted love in Descent into Hell simply an illustration of a theological principle, or is the theological principle meant to be inclusive of a real world practice? In order to better…[Read more]

Does “authorship” still have a place in the study of the Hebrew Bible? Historical criticism has long sought to uncover the human authors behind the biblical texts. But how might the “death of the author,” so forcefully declared by Roland Barthes over fifty years ago, change the contours of this search? This volume brings together leading experts…[Read more]

This work provides new insights into the relationship between the Holiness legislation in Leviticus 17–26 and processes of cultic centralization in the Persian period. The author departs from the classical theory that Leviticus 17–26 merely presume, with minor modifications, a concept of centralization articulated in Deuteronomy. She shows how Lev…[Read more]

Early Jewish writings are replete with narratives of warfare and collective violence. Yet relatively little scholarly attention has been paid to how these accounts of violence affected the way Jews structured their festal calendar. This essay examines the festivals described in 1 and 2 Maccabees that serve to commemorate the most impressive m…[Read more]

This Open Access volume reveals how violent pasts were constructed by ancient Mediterranean societies, the ideologies they served, and the socio-political processes and institutions they facilitated. Combining case studies from Anatolia, Egypt, Greece, Israel/Judah, and Rome, it moves beyond essentialist dichotomies such as “victors” and “va…[Read more]

The emergence of Judaism and Samaritanism in antiquity is closely linked to the process by which the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) became defined as the Torah of Moses.

Against the background of the often female-focused view of sexual abuse victims, this paper addresses the issue of male-identifying victims of sexual violence through the lens of the Bible. I tackle one particular form of sexual abuse: female-on-male sexual violence, of the “forced/made to penetrate” type through a re-reading of Genesis 19:…[Read more]

Reformed evangelicals do not have a reputation for being ecumenically inclined. The twentieth century saw Roman Catholics, largely as a result of Vatican II, turning their focus toward developing more receptive relationships with other Christian communions. It also saw mainline Protestants engaged in efforts to foster visible unity through the…[Read more]

Lesslie Newbigin’s insights into and example of the missional and ecumenical nature of the Church have exerted influence on Christian churches and communities across the ecumenical spectrum. While Newbigin’s ideas about the shaping effect of cultural pluralism on the Church’s mission have become common currency for many Christians in our post-…[Read more]

One of the defining features of the developing field of the Digital Humanities (DH) is its interdisciplinary character. This paper will attempt to indicate how theological insights can contribute at a more theoretical level to DH. Specifically, it will attempt to suggest a way that Marshall McLuhan can contribute positively to defining and…[Read more]

Though Charles Williams was already an established novelist before his friendship with Lewis blossomed, Lewis played a crucial role in helping to secure an honorary degree and teaching opportunities for Williams when he relocated to Oxford during the war. Their mutual appreciation is well attested to, and it is no exaggeration to say that Lewis…[Read more]

The Reformed tradition helped provide the rationale for Southern slavery and for South African apartheid. If Reformed theology is going to speak to the racial issues of our day, it must come to terms with the tradition of Black theology. Some Reformed evangelical theologians have begun to engage with the insights of Black theologians, but they…[Read more]

Like many of the clergy leaders in the civil rights movement, Oliver embodied what Gayraud S. Wilmore identified as the radical tradition in Black religion. Unlike most of those leaders, Oliver was educated in predominantly white, conservative religious circles. He drew many of his theological convictions from the conservative Presbyterian…[Read more]

This essay examines three cases in which pentateuchal ritual law is employed in Ezra-Nehemiah and Chronicles: the Sukkôt celebration in Neh 8:13–18, Hezekiah’s Passover in 2 Chr 30, and Josiah’s Passover, in 2 Chr 35:1–19. These case studies reveal that the scribes responsible for Ezra-Nehemiah and Chronicles considered the ritual texts of the P…[Read more]

This article explores how the priestly wilderness shrine functions as a monumental space in the sanctuary construction account of Exod 25–31, 35–40. It draws on spatial theory and studies of monumental architecture to identify five features of the tent of meeting that infuse it with monumentality: first, its significance in negotiating the pat…[Read more]

This is a review essay, originally contributed to a blog symposium, responding to the publication of Philip G. Ziegler’s book entitled Militant Grace: The Apocalyptic Turn and the Future of Christian Theology.

What is the contribution of Psalm 45 within its canonical context? What is Psalm 45 doing in, and what is it doing for, the First Korahite Collection (Pss. 42–49)? These are the questions this article engages. In common with scholarship on the “shape and shaping” of the Psalter, the article seeks a form of coherency across the First Korahite Colle…[Read more]