Biblical Theology Bulletin Journal of Bible and Culture
Datos de la Revista
| Tipo | JOURNAL |
|---|---|
| Editorial | SAGE Publishing (US) |
| ISSN | 0146-1079 / 1945-7596 |
| Scopus | 16400154747 |
| OpenAlex | S141067752 |
| MAG | 141067752 |
| Sitio web | http://www.sagepub.com/journalsProdDesc.nav?prodId=Journal201924 |
| Total de publicaciones | 192 |
| Periodo de cobertura | 1973 - 2026 |
| País | GB |
| Idioma | EN |
| Indexación | Indexada en Scopus |
| Citada por | 39 |
| Factor de impacto | 0.122 |
| SJR | 0.146 (Q2) |
| SNIP | 0.825 |
| CiteScore | 0.4 |
| Índice h | 3 |
| Índice i10 | 2 |
| Participación femenina en la autoría | 23.1% |
Biblical Theology Bulletin Journal of Bible and Culture examines the intersection of biblical studies and culture. This falls under religious studies and the sociology/anthropology of religion, which are cognate humanities areas with regular anthropological intersection
Religious Studies · African history and culture analysis · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Ancient Egypt and Archaeology · Ancient Near East History · Archaeology and Historical Studies · Biblical Studies and Interpretation · Byzantine Studies and History · Christian Theology and Mission · Classical Antiquity Studies
Exploring Psalm 137 through the lens of affect
This article aims to employ affect theory as a lens to read Psalm 137. It argues that the Psalm is an artistic articulation framed in human emotion. This ancient Israelite literary composition that evokes human emotion is ranked as a Locus Classicus poem and has been noted by scholars of Old Testament as one of the most complex and fascinating Psalms in the Hebrew Scriptures. Psalm 137 is a historic poem that recounts Israel’s mournful destructio…
A Study on the Intertextuality Between Plato’s Myth of Er and Luke’s Parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man: Focusing on the Intertextual Reader
This study explores the intertextual relationship between Plato’s Myth of Er and Luke’s Parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man. It examines how a reader familiar with Plato’s work as an ante-text interprets Luke’s parable. By identifying echoes of the Myth of Er within Luke’s narrative, the reader establishes Plato’s text as the geno-text and Luke’s parable as the pheno-text. Through comparative analysis, the reader discerns thematic and structural …
David’s Wives: Michal
King David has eight wives and numerous concubines. Michal, Abigail, and then Bathsheba are his most prominent wives, certainly in the sense of material found in the books of Samuel and Kings. “David’s marriages offer an intriguing narrative of gender relations and power on a number of levels...” and they cast an “important light on the role of women in securing political power—and also in losing it.” (Hackett: 157). Following a brief summary of …
A Critical Review of Contemporary Scholarship: Conceptualizing an ideal wife of Proverbs 31:10-31
This article explores the contemporary conceptualizations and advocacies on an ideal wife as presented in extant literature in African scholarship. In the wake of women’s emancipation, empowerment and capitalistic economy, coupled with contemporary challenges of poverty, HIV-Aids and resilience of African patriarchy, there is a growing academic concern that seeks to revisit and redefine the concept of an ideal wife in African marriages. Various s…
Presenting the Issue: A Wonderful Hermeneutic
The Historian and the Theologian: On the Role of New Testament Studies in the Christologies of McCormack and DeHart
Two recent works of Christology attempt to bridge the gap between systematic theology and biblical studies by engaging historical research about the Bible in a constructive way: Bruce L. McCormack’s The Humility of the Eternal Son: Reformed Kenoticism and the Repair of Chalcedon and Paul J. DeHart’s Unspeakable Cults: An Essay in Christology . McCormack seeks to repair Chalcedon by drawing on what he takes to be the correct reading of Paul’s Chri…
Cognitive Dissonance And Social-Memory Assessment Of Jesus’s Temple Prophecies
Scholars reconstruct the tradition history of the temple prophecies in Mark 13:2, 14 par .; 14:58 par .; Q 13:34-35; and Luke 19:41-44; 21:20-24; 23:27-31 in various ways. Cognitive dissonance theory provides a useful guide in constructing the sayings’ tradition history, and it suggests a sequence of responses addressing a perceived threat of disconfirmation beginning with Mark 14:58. Additionally, our findings are situated in a social memory fra…
Babatha, En-Gedi And The Bar Kokhba Revolt: A New Approach Using Evidence From The Cave Of Letters
This article presents a new approach to when and where the Bar Kokhba Revolt began and to its aftermath by adopting a microhistorical approach to evidence, both papyri and objects, left by Judean fugitives from the Romans, especially Babatha, daughter of Shim‘on, in the Cave of Letters in Naḥal Ḥever. The central argument is based on P. Yadin 27 of 19th August 132 CE to the effect that it is not a receipt but a draft receipt, meaning that Babatha…
Lethal Agents or Locally Extinct: Wild Animals and Divine Violence in the Hebrew Bible
Throughout the Hebrew Bible various aspects of the natural world are utilized by deities to enact violence and judgement on the earth. Sometimes these natural instruments of divine violence are inanimate, such as climatic or geological processes, but often other agents become involved in God’s violent activity too. This article focuses on the overlooked role wild animals play within divine violence in the Hebrew Bible and outlines two ways that t…
The Use of Imprecatory Lament in Religious Violence: A Comparison of Psalm 35 and Surah 2
Imprecatory lament holds a critical role in Christian and Islamic traditions, often intersecting with political and religious violence throughout history. This paper examines the thematic parallels and divergences between the Psalms of lament and Quranic lament through a comparative methodology, emphasizing how these texts have been manipulated in the rhetoric of war. By Focusing on Psalm 35 and Surah 2, the study highlights how the universal the…
Interpreting Matthean Remuneration in a Neoliberal Economy: Expanding Socioeconomic Interpretations of Matthew 20.1-16
The parable of the just landowner (Matt 20.1-16) has been subjected to traditional theological and socioeconomic interpretations. Traditional readings emphasize its allegorical function, depicting the landowner as a divine figure bestowing salvation. By contrast, socioeconomic interpretations examine the parable within first-century labor structures, arguing that it critiques exploitative economic practices. While scholars have analyzed the parab…
Presenting the Issue: Telling Stories
Jesus’s Ethics of Wealth: Where Your Treasure Is, There Your Heart Will Be Also
I defend an interpretation of Jesus’s ethics of wealth according to which possession of wealth beyond what is required to satisfy minimal daily needs conflicts with the central commandment to love God with all one’s heart. On Jesus’s view, possession of (surplus) wealth inevitably leads to love of wealth – “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Accordingly, Jesus lays down a set of principles regarding wealth that, if followed, …
Presenting the Issue: Biblical Theology in a Secular State
The Biblical Key Word ḇêraḵ: What Does it Mean and How it Can Be Rendered in English, Arabic and Japanese
The Biblical Hebrew word ḇêraḵ (written in Hebrew script ברך and pronounced /beˈraχ/) is a biblical key word that is often rendered in English as bless but also as praise and other words. Since it is a key word, understanding its meaning is important, as this can help Bible readers better understand verses that include it. This can also help practicing Christians and Jews who do not know Hebrew understand prayers based on these verses. Therefore,…
“When I See … I Will Remember”: Exploring the Memorability of Rainbows and Stars in Genesis through Mnemonatures
The authors of the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible (OT/HB) interweave the text with references to the natural world, creating cognitive links between nature and the text which aid memorability. Twenty-first century readers, chronologically and often spatially removed from this natural context, risk missing the mnemonic function of these references to nature, and the interpretative insights that may flow from them. To bridge this gap, I develop and imp…
Whose Interests Are Served by Eshet Chayil: Reading Woman in Proverbs 31:10-31
This study aims to reinterpret Proverbs 31:10-31, specifically the figure of the eshet chayil (woman of valor), through an interdisciplinary approach that combines linguistic, historical, feminist, womanist, and theological perspectives. Using a multi-method framework, the paper analyzes the linguistic nuances of the Hebrew term chayil , situates the eshet chayil within the socio-economic context of ancient Israel, and applies feminist and womani…
Hagar Interprets Her Own Promise: Exploring A Hopeful Reading of Genesis 16:12
Genesis 16:12 contains three clauses that have been widely interpreted as predicting prolonged conflict between Ishmael’s descendants and their relatives within the Abrahamic family. While there is agreement among contemporary commentators that the wording of these clauses is ambiguous, negative renderings are far more prevalent than positive or neutral renderings in popular English translations, as well as in expositions of the text. This articl…
Between Acts and Antioch: Discerning Paul on Gentiles and the Jerusalem Temple
When the author of Acts addresses the controversy of Paul’s teaching in Acts 21, he implicitly rejects the notion that Paul preaches “against the people, the law, and this place [i.e., the temple]” (Acts 21:28), including the accusation that Paul brought gentiles beyond their designated area in the temple complex. Acts’s account of the allegations against Paul, his temple attendance, and arrest is narrated in such a way as to dampen the controver…
Paul’s Narrative Preaching for Contemporary Homiletics
Contrary to the common approach of contemporary homiletics, which treats Paul’s letters and narratives as completely different genres, Paul interweaves several narratives in 1 Thessalonians: (1) narrative of God and Jesus, (2) Paul’s narrative (3) the Thessalonians’ narrative. Paul wanted these three narratives to function as a collective story within the Thessalonian church, reinforcing their common identity, and as a story that separated inside…
An ecological, creation-theology critical re-reading of Mark’s Fig Tree Miracle
This article re-examines the story of the cursing of a fig tree by Jesus, who, seeking to find fruit on it to satisfy his hunger and finding none, was apparently disappointed, and thereupon cursed it. The tree was said to have withered forthwith. A critical reader gets perplexed when the Marcan version, unlike Matthew’s (Matt.21: 18-20), clearly excuses the fig tree, “...for it was not time for figs.” The zenith of the complications is reached in…
Gehazi’s Active Post-Biblical Afterlife: Three Views
Gehazi the servant/disciple of Elisha appears briefly in the Bible (2 Kings chapters 4, 5, and 8). There he is depicted as both a faithful and caring servant, and as a villain who is punished. Gehazi has an intriguing post-biblical afterlife in the writings of Jewish and Christian exegetes from ancient times to the present, as well as being of interest for contemporary scholarship. This article considers three views of Gehazi, those based on bibl…
Emulating Hospitality, Evading Xenophobia-Tracing the Sins of Sodomites: Special Emphasis on yāda`
This study aims to trace what kind of Sodom’s sin is in Genesis 18-19. Since the interpretation of Augustine of Hippo on Sodom’s story, the ideology of reading the text in a certain way has been systemized. He claimed homosexuality was the sin of Sodomites. Churches in Indonesia have inherited this way of reading. As a result, many churches reject the presence of homosexuality based on the passage. They argue that homosexuality was the reason why…
Acts 17: 26: God made of one [blood] every ethnicity of humans: Part B: Appraising Patristic Witnesses and Ancient Language Manuscripts
Among handwritten manuscripts, Acts 17:26 most commonly reads “God made of one blood every ethnicity of humans...” Another reading here is “God made of one every ethnicity of humans...” This Part B paper documents that the “of one blood” reading appears very early and extensively across multiple language manuscript and patristic quotations—more so than for any other distinctly Byzantine reading of an Acts passage. We document a significant number…
How did the biblical authors perceive the color behind the term erythros
The conceptualization of colors is heavily influenced by culture, resulting in the fluid semantics of color-related terminology. This necessitates heightened attention towards concepts present in ancient languages, which often receive inadequate scrutiny from lexicographers. Within Greek biblical language, numerous terms are translated as “red” in English, yet the objects described by these terms challenge the validity of this simple identificati…
Honor and Shame
After establishing a definition of the honor and shame conceptual framework, this study goes on to examine the sense in which that framework can be said to characterize Mediterranean culture (past and present). The framework's relevance to biblical studies is clarified, and the specifically gender and sex-related aspects are explored. Then the framework's prominent place in (1) Hellenistic, and (2) Roman civilization is discussed, before-finally-…
The Galilean Fishing Economy and the Jesus Tradition
Building on the earlier studies of ancient fishing by Rostovtzeff and Wuellner, this article examines fishing as a sub-system within the political economy and the domestic economy of first-century Galilee. I employ a model of embedded economics to articulate the relationships between the various players in the sub-system: the Roman emperors; Herod Antipas; the tax administrators; the brokers, tax collectors, and toll collectors; the fishing famil…
Mediterranean Sacrifice: Dimensions of Domestic and Political Religion
Sacrifice is a ritual in which an offering (inducement) is rendered humanly irretrievable and ingestible, and then directed to some controlling higher personage (usually a deity) by someone lower in social status in order to have some life-effect. In the first-century Mediterranean, there were two major institutional variations of religion: political religion and domestic religion. Hence there was also political sacrifice and domestic sacrifice. …
The Politics of Patronage and the Politics of Kinship: The Meeting of the Ways
Scholarship on patronage in the ancient Mediterranean world abounds but is not unanimous in its understanding of how the patronage system worked, how it was present in the pre-Roman Greek world, and what were the differences, if any, in how it functioned in the Roman West and East. Moreover, little is known about how the system worked among non-elites. In two of Paul's relationships, with Philemon and with Phoebe (Rom 16:1-2), we can see the info…
Is There a Circum-Mediterranean Person? Looking for Stereotypes
The purpose of this presentation is to develop further insight into the way Mediterranean persons of antiquity understood each other. The Mediterranean world has been radically group oriented and the documents of the past deal rather exclusively with elite males. One gets to know a human being by observing how he has much in common with certain categories of persons who have much in common with certain categories of animals who have much in commo…
The Current State of Targumic Studies
Social Stratification
Every society has an organizational structure that reflects what is valued by that society. Those members of the society that are deemed more valuable or that contribute more to society are rewarded with a larger share of the goods and services. The ancient Mediterranean world functioned within a rigid hierarchical structure, in which the most valued members were openly designated—in the family, the city, the empire, and the cosmos. The virtues o…
Sacrifice, an Ancient Mediterranean Ritual
Any examination of sacrifice must reckon with the variety and complexity of sacrificial activities and the problems that consequently attend sacrifice employed as an analytical category. Approached as ritual and placed in full context, sacrifice reveals rich connections with the key social structures and cultural values of the ancient Mediterranean world. Sacrifice established and maintained the social status and location of participants in it, a…
BTB Readers Guide: Loyalty
This article looks at the nature of ancient loyalty, stressing its external (relationship) as opposed to its internal (emotional) features, and confirms this through an analysis of loyalty within three types of Graeco-Roman patronage— client kingship, manumission, and relationships with philosophical teachers. It then looks at examples of loyalty in the First and Second Testaments, noting the extent to which the former are similar or different fr…
The City in the Second Testament
While interest in the ancient city has been strong in recent Second Testament scholarship, such work has not always been informed by a social-scientific understanding that allows us to distinguish the pre-industrial cities of the the past from the modem ones we now inhabit. This BTB Reader's Guide is thus intended to give the student of Second Testament who is a non-specialist in urban studies a review of the basic literature needed for understan…
The Passion in Mark: Transformation Ritual
This article uses Victor Turner's theory of liminality- communitas to interpret the trials and passion of Jesus in Mark. Turner provides the symbolic anthropological framework for reading these narratives as a ritual of status transformation. Jesus in the passion is viewed as undergoing a rite of passage, and his relationship to sympathetic characters in this context is also examined. Mark's overall objective is to portray Jesus as a model of dis…
Honor and Shame
After establishing a definition of the honor and shame conceptual framework, this study goes on to examine the sense in which that framework can be said to characterize Mediterranean culture (past and present). The framework's relevance to biblical studies is clarified, and the specifically gender and sex-related aspects are explored. Then the framework's prominent place in (1) Hellenistic, and (2) Roman civilization is discussed, before-finally-…
More Queries for Q: Women and Christian Origins
Research on women in antiquity and anthropological studies of the contemporary Mediterranean world reveal that generally Mediterranean women were most active and most powerful within the domestic realm. However, there is considerable evidence to show that some took on more public roles during the Late Republic. The sayings source Q witnesses to a community in which women may have been active both within and without the household. By pairing examp…
BTB Readers Guide: Kinship
The social domain of kinship covers a broad range of institutions: genealogy and descent, marriage and divorce, and dowry-systems and inheritance. Because kinship in the ancient Mediterranean affected virtually every part of life and every other social domain, it is fundamental for readers of the Bible to have a solid grasp of how kinship functioned in these cultures. While one might assume that "family" is a straightforward concept determined by…
Secrecy in the Mediterranean World: An Anthropological Perspective
The so-called Messianic secret in the Gospels is much more complex than the classic theory of Wilhelm Wrede allowed. Insights and models drawn and adapted from Georg Simmel and developed by Tefft et al. demonstrate that secrecy is an integral part of Mediterranean culture required by the demands of the core cultural values, honor and shame. Ideological interpretations of this motif in the Gospels must be modified by these insights
Jesus as Sovereign in the Passion according to John
This paper argues that in writing his account of the Passion of Jesus the author of the Fourth Gospel recognized the Hellenistic culture of his audience and their knowledge of the much discussed nature of true sovereignty. With this material in mind John presents Jesus as the friendly, suffering, servant sovereign who would be particularly familiar to those acquainted with Cynicism or Stoicism. For the Stoics every wise person was a sovereign. Fo…
Mediterranean Sacrifice: Dimensions of Domestic and Political Religion
Sacrifice is a ritual in which an offering (inducement) is rendered humanly irretrievable and ingestible, and then directed to some controlling higher personage (usually a deity) by someone lower in social status in order to have some life-effect. In the first-century Mediterranean, there were two major institutional variations of religion: political religion and domestic religion. Hence there was also political sacrifice and domestic sacrifice. …
The Galilean Fishing Economy and the Jesus Tradition
Building on the earlier studies of ancient fishing by Rostovtzeff and Wuellner, this article examines fishing as a sub-system within the political economy and the domestic economy of first-century Galilee. I employ a model of embedded economics to articulate the relationships between the various players in the sub-system: the Roman emperors; Herod Antipas; the tax administrators; the brokers, tax collectors, and toll collectors; the fishing famil…
Healing Stories and Medical Anthropology: A Reading of Mark 10:46–52
The healing stories of the Gospels have been studied by exegetes from a literary and a theological point of view. Both approaches have contributed greatly to a better understanding of them. Nevertheless none of these methodologies has been able to interpret those stories from their native point of view. The purpose of this article is to contribute to this native understanding of the healing stories. This aim is pursued by using some cross-cultura…
BTB Readers Guide: Loyalty
This article looks at the nature of ancient loyalty, stressing its external (relationship) as opposed to its internal (emotional) features, and confirms this through an analysis of loyalty within three types of Graeco-Roman patronage— client kingship, manumission, and relationships with philosophical teachers. It then looks at examples of loyalty in the First and Second Testaments, noting the extent to which the former are similar or different fr…
Bibles That Matter: Biblical Theology and Queer Performativity
Discussions of Bible and homosexuality, and discussions of postmodern biblical interpretation, have often taken place in isolation from one another. However, Judith Butler's “queer” approach to sex, gender and performativity may allow biblical scholars to rethink their objects and procedures in a manner that brings such discussions together. Grounded in a reading of speech act theory, Butler's work explores the possibility that gender, rather tha…
The Politics of Patronage and the Politics of Kinship: The Meeting of the Ways
Scholarship on patronage in the ancient Mediterranean world abounds but is not unanimous in its understanding of how the patronage system worked, how it was present in the pre-Roman Greek world, and what were the differences, if any, in how it functioned in the Roman West and East. Moreover, little is known about how the system worked among non-elites. In two of Paul's relationships, with Philemon and with Phoebe (Rom 16:1-2), we can see the info…
David and His Friends: Social-Scientific Perspectives on the David-Jonathan Friendship
The narrative of the David and Jonathan friendship in 1 Samuel continues to fascinate modern readers as a tale of an enduring friendship under strong political and family pressures. Modern readers are apt to read the story through a lens somewhat beclouded by romanticism and anachronism. This study aims to read the David-Jonathan narratives with the help of a cross-cultural model derived from the work of the social sciences, especially cultural a…
Sacrifice, an Ancient Mediterranean Ritual
Any examination of sacrifice must reckon with the variety and complexity of sacrificial activities and the problems that consequently attend sacrifice employed as an analytical category. Approached as ritual and placed in full context, sacrifice reveals rich connections with the key social structures and cultural values of the ancient Mediterranean world. Sacrifice established and maintained the social status and location of participants in it, a…
Social Stratification
Every society has an organizational structure that reflects what is valued by that society. Those members of the society that are deemed more valuable or that contribute more to society are rewarded with a larger share of the goods and services. The ancient Mediterranean world functioned within a rigid hierarchical structure, in which the most valued members were openly designated—in the family, the city, the empire, and the cosmos. The virtues o…
The Settlers' Dreams
The Impact of Sargon & Enheduanna on Land Rights in Deuteronomy
Hormuzd Rassam (1826-1910) and Austen Henry Layard (1817–1894) recovered the Birth Stories of Sargon copied or composed under Sargon II (722–705 BCE). Existing studies of their intriguing parallels with the Birth Stories of Moses (Exod 1:22–2:10) emphasize shared motifs—unwanted pregnancy, secret birth. abandoned newborn, adoption by an outsider, river ordeal and protection by a divine patron. Here I am proposing that the Birth Stories of Moses p…
New Wineskin of Conflict Resolution: Conditions of Change in the Parable on Wineskin
The biblical treasury has inspired people throughout millennia to ponder questions regarding their lives. Changing circumstances is a typical feature in the western societies today and elementary conditions of it are of urgent importance to many. The parable on wineskin offers inspirational reading in grasping some of these realities. This paper analyses conditions of change that the parable on wineskin informs of in the light of a change from th…
Presenting the Issue: Reflecting on 50 Years
Women Prophets in the Old Testament: Implications for Christian Women in Contemporary Southeastern Nigeria
There is a close relationship between the traditional Igbo-African culture and its treatment of women and the traditional Jewish culture and the status of women therein. This article examines the implications that the life, ministry, actions and inactions, of women prophets in the Old Testament hold for Christian women in contemporary Southeastern Nigeria where the Igbos live. Despite the obvious difference in time and clime, it is discovered, am…
Presenting the Issue: Biblical Stories, Their Interpretations, and Their Impact
Jesus as Moral-Kingmaker: Gatekeeper for a Co-Owned Dual Kingdom
If we know anything about Jesus of Nazareth, we know that he had a message about the “kingdom of God.” The synoptic Gospels confirm this, if they confirm anything. A challenge arises, however, in our identifying what Jesus thought of the arrival of this kingdom, especially regarding its timing and its role for divine judgment, and what he considered its intended impact on a person’s experience, beyond talk about it. If the kingdom in question is …
Women, Wells, and Springs: Water Rights and Hagar’s Tribulations
The theological problem underlying environmental and gender injustice is the pathological assumption that “the rest of” creation is available for use and commodification by a select group of privileged image bearers. An adequate response to this assumption requires re-examining appropriate relationships between creatures. The story of Hagar’s relationship to water provides the foundation for such a response. An ecomimetic interpretation of Genesi…
Luke as the Master Architect of “God’s Plan”: An Analysis of a Distinctive Lucan Concept
Luke is the singular evangelist to use the term “plan” ( boulē) (of God). He is also the only NT author to use the related terms horizō/ hōrismenos, and these he uses in a sense similar to “ boulē.” This article investigates Luke’s construction and use of the term “plan (of God)” to convey a fundamental proclamation of faith, namely, that the Jesus event fulfilled a predetermined divine plan. Primarily three examples from Luke (Peter’s Speech at …
Josiah at Bethel and the “Monument” to the Unnamed Prophet from Judah
In a reexamination of the narrative in which Josiah travels to Bethel and desacralizes the shrine originally constructed by King Jeroboam, special attention is given to issues of spatiality, sensory criticism, and memory studies. By focusing on the sighting of a monument standing in the cemetery at Bethel, the storyteller uses this mnemonic device to evoke a memory that would further vilify Jeroboam and justify Josiah’s centralization of worship …
The Rich Young Man and the Boundary of Distributive Justice: An Economics Reading of Matthew 20:1–16
This article proposes a novel way of resolving many of the challenges posed by traditional interpretations of the Matthean parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard (20:1–16) through a lens of economics. It argues that most interpretational challenges go away if we interpret the parable, not eschatologically or allegorically, but as a gloss on Jesus’s injunction to the rich young man to sell his possessions and give the money to the poor (Matt 19:2…