The Oxford Handbooks Biblical Studies Collection (8 vols.)

by Danna Nolan Fewell; John Rogerson; Judith M. Lieu; Paul C. Gutjahr

and

8 more

Publisher:

Oxford University Press

, 2006–2019

Overview

One of the most prestigious and successful strands of Oxford’s scholarly publishing, the Handbook series contains in-depth, high-level articles by scholars at the top of their field. Oxford Handbooks are guided by a world-class editorial board that brings together the world’s leading scholars to discuss research and the latest thinking on a range of major topics. Each Handbook offers thorough introductions to topics and a critical survey of the current state of scholarship, creating an original conception of the field and setting the agenda for new research. Handbook articles review the key issues and cutting-edge debates and provide arguments for how those debates might evolve.

Key Features

• Provides an invaluable resource and reference for scholars, students, and general readers
• Features in-depth, high-level articles by scholars at the top of their field
• Offers thorough introductions to topics and a critical survey of the current state of scholarship, creating an original conception of the field and setting the agenda for new research

The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Narrative

• Editor: Danna Nolan Fewell
• Series: Oxford Handbooks
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication Date: 2016
• Pages: 656

Comprised of contributions from scholars across the globe, The Oxford Handbook to Biblical Narrative offers critical treatments of both the Bible’s narratives and topics related to the Bible’s narrative constructions. The volume’s fifty-one chapters fall into five sections: The first section covers the general work of biblical narrative, the history of biblical narrative criticism, the socio-historical influences on biblical narrative, and issues of narrative genre. The second section focuses on the biblical narratives themselves, from Genesis to Revelation, providing both overviews of literary-critical treatments of individual biblical books and innovative readings of biblical narratives informed by a variety of methodological approaches and theoretical frameworks. The third section targets how various kinds of bodies are constructed in biblical narrative. The fourth section explores the natural, social, and conceptual landscapes of biblical story worlds. The final section raises questions of reading, particularly the relationship of culture to biblical interpretation and the ethical responsibilities of readers. The volume as a whole combines literary sensitivities with the traditional historical and sociological questions of biblical criticism and puts biblical studies into intentional conversation with other disciplines in the humanities. It reframes biblical literature in a way that highlights its aesthetic characteristics, its ethical and religious appeal, its organic qualities as communal literature, its witness to various forms of social and political negotiation, and its uncanny power to affect readers and hearers across disparate time-frames and global communities.

The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Studies

• Editors: John Rogerson and Judith M. Lieu
• Series: Oxford Handbooks
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication Date: 2008
• Pages: 920

The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Studies offers an authoritative and up-to-date survey of original research in biblical studies. The forty-five articles have been written by leading international figures in the discipline, who give critical examinations of the progress and direction of debates in this highly technical and diverse field. Study of the Bible demands expertise in fields ranging from Archaeology, Egyptology, Assyriology, and Linguistics through textual, historical, and sociological studies to Literary Theory, Feminism, Philosophy, and Theology, to name but a few.

The Oxford Handbook of Johannine Studies

• Editors: Judith M. Lieu and Martinus C. de Boer
• Series: Oxford Handbooks
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication Date: 2018
• Pages: 496

The contribution of the Johannine literature to the development of Christian theology, and particularly to Christology, is uncontested, although careful distinction between the implications of its language, especially that of sonship, in a first century 'Jewish' context and in the subsequent theological controversies of the early Church has been particularly important if not always easily sustained. Recent study has shaken off the weight of subsequent Christian appropriation of Johannine language which has sometimes made readers immune to the ambiguities and challenging tensions in its thought. The Oxford Handbook of Johannine Studies begins with chapters concentrating on discussions of the background and context of the Johannine literature, leading to the different ways of reading the text, and thence to the primary theological themes within them, before concluding with some discussion of the reception of the Johannine literature in the early church. Inevitably, given their different genres and levels of complexity, some chapters pay most if not all attention to the Gospel, whereas others are more able to give a more substantial place to the letters. All the contributors have themselves made significant contributions to their topic. They have sought to give a balanced introduction to the relevant scholarship and debate, but they have also been able to present the issues from their own perspective. The Handbook will help those less familiar with the Johannine literature to get a sense of the major areas of debate and why the field continues to be one of vibrant and exciting study, and that those who are already part of the conversation will find new insights to enliven their own on-going engagement with these writings.

The Oxford Handbook of the Bible in America

• Editor: Paul C. Gutjahr
• Series: Oxford Handbooks
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication Date: 2017
• Pages: 736

Early Americans have long been considered “A People of the Book” Because the nickname was coined primarily to invoke close associations between Americans and the Bible, it is easy to overlook the central fact that it was a book-not a geographic location, a monarch, or even a shared language-that has served as a cornerstone in countless investigations into the formation and fragmentation of early American culture. Few books can lay claim to such powers of civilization-altering influence. Among those which can are sacred books, and for Americans principal among such books stands the Bible.

The Oxford Handbook of the Dead Sea Scrolls

• Editors: John J. Collins; Timothy H. Lim
• Series: Oxford Handbooks
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication Date: 2012
• Pages: 808

In 1946 the first of the Dead Sea Scroll discoveries was made near the site of Qumran, at the northern end of the Dead Sea. Despite the much publicized delays in the publication and editing of the Scrolls, practically all of them had been made public by the time of the fiftieth anniversary of the first discovery. That occasion was marked by a spate of major publications that attempted to sum up the state of scholarship at the end of the twentieth century, including The Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls (OUP 2000). These publications produced an authoritative synthesis to which the majority of scholars in the field subscribed, granted disagreements in detail.

A decade or so later, The Oxford Handbook of the Dead Sea Scrolls has a different objective and character. It seeks to probe the main disputed issues in the study of the Scrolls. Lively debate continues over the archaeology and history of the site, the nature and identity of the sect, and its relation to the broader world of Second Temple Judaism and to later Jewish and Christian tradition. It is the Handbook's intention here to reflect on diverse opinions and viewpoints, highlight the points of disagreement, and point to promising directions for future research.

The Oxford Handbook of the Psalms

• Editor: William P. Brown
• Series: Oxford Handbooks
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication Date: 2014
• Pages: 686

The Psalms-the longest and most complex book in the Bible-is a varied collection of religious poetry, the product of centuries of composition and revision. It is the most transcribed and translated book of the Hebrew Bible. Intended for both scholar and student, The Oxford Handbook of the Psalms features a diverse array of essays that treat the Psalms from a variety of perspectives. Beginning with an overview of the Psalms that touches on the history of scholarship and interpretation, the volume goes on to explore the Psalms as a form of literature and a source of creative inspiration, an artifact whose origins remain speculative, a generative presence in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and a still-current text that continues to be read and appropriated in various ways. Classical scholarship and traditional approaches as well as contextual interpretations and practices are well represented. The Handbook’s coverage is uniquely wide-ranging, covering everything from the ancient Near Eastern background of the Psalms to contemporary liturgical usage. This volume offers a dynamic introduction into an increasingly complex field and will be an indispensable resource for all students of the Psalms.

The Oxford Handbook of the Reception History of the Bible

• Editors: Christopher Rowland, Michael Lieb and Emma Mason
• Series: Oxford Handbooks
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication Date: 2011
• Pages: 752

In recent decades, reception history has become an increasingly important and controversial topic of discussion in biblical studies. Rather than attempting to recover the original meaning of biblical texts, reception history focuses on exploring the history of interpretation. In doing so it locates the dominant historical-critical scholarly paradigm within the history of interpretation, rather than over and above it. At the same time, the breadth of material and hermeneutical issues that reception history engages with questions any narrow understanding of the history of the Bible and its effects on faith communities.

The challenge that reception history faces is to explore tradition without either reducing its meaning to what faith communities think is important, or merely offering anthologies of interesting historical interpretations. This major new handbook addresses these matters by presenting reception history as an enterprise (not a method) that questions and understands tradition afresh.

The Oxford Handbook of the Reception History of the Bible consciously allows for the interplay of the traditional and the new through a two-part structure. Part I comprises a set of essays surveying the outline, form, and content of twelve key biblical books that have been influential in the history of interpretation. Part II offers a series of in-depth case studies of the interpretation of particular key biblical passages or books with due regard for the specificity of their social, cultural or aesthetic context.

These case studies span two millennia of interpretation by readers with widely differing perspectives. Some are at the level of a group response (from Gnostic readings of Genesis, to Post-Holocaust Jewish interpretations of Job); others examine individual approaches to texts (such as Augustine and Pelagius on Romans, or Gandhi on the Sermon on the Mount). Several chapters examine historical moments, such as the 1860 debate over Genesis and evolution, while others look to wider themes such as non-violence or millenarianism. Further chapters study in detail the works of popular figures who have used the Bible to provide inspiration for their creativity, from Dante and Handel, to Bob Dylan and Dan Brown.

The Oxford Handbook of the Writings of the Hebrew Bible

• Editor: Donn Morgan
• Series: Oxford Handbooks
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication Date: 2018
• Pages: 528

This handbook provides a comprehensive overview of the Writings, the third division of the Hebrew Bible canon, from historical, literary, and canonical perspectives through the contributions of twenty-eight scholars. A first major section deals with the postexilic period of ancient Israel when most of the Writings were either written or collected, looking at its major events, literary traditions, and archeology. The second major section looks creatively at each book of the Writings from many different perspectives (literary, historical, theological, sociological, ideological, etc.). Finally, the handbook concludes with a section examining the Writings from the perspectives of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Ancient Near East, Asian religions, the history of Israelite religion and canon formation, scripture, and the reception history of this literature in music and the visual arts, Judaism, and Christianity. Each chapter concludes with a bibliography for future research and study.