Tom de Bruin
Biographic Data
| ID | 8637204 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Tom de Bruin |
| GIVEN NAMES | Tom |
| FAMILY NAME | de Bruin |
| SIGNATURE | DE BRUIN T |
| AFFILIATIONS | Radboud University https://dx.doi.org/6029 Nijmegen The Netherlands |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-8500-8030 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 5 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 0 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 5 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 0 |
Animals and demons
The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, usually included in collections of Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, contains descriptions of nonhuman animals in eight of its twelve testaments. This article is the first to examine these descriptions of nonhumans. In this text virtuous humans are protected from nonhuman animals and this protection is a sign of a person’s virtue. Furthermore, nonhuman animals plot against human ones and attempt to gain master…
Looking for Homophobia, a Metacritique
Many contemporary scholars, when interpreting early Christian texts about Sodom’s sin, refer to ‘homosexual practice’ or ‘homosexual activity.’ In this paper I present a meta-critique of contemporary scholarship on texts that refer to the sins of Sodom, focussing specifically on scholarship that engages with the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. This highly patriarchal and famously misogynist second-century text contains several references to …
The Kingdom and Sodom in the Testament of Benjamin
This article responds to JM Na’s recent “Echoes of the Kingdom” published in this journal. It argues that the parallels Na highlights between 1 Cor 6 and T. Benj. 9.1 are untenable. This article examines the themes of the kingdom of the Lord and the fornication of Sodom in T. Benj., arguing for a different reading. The kingdom of the Lord refers to the ancient Israelite kingdom—not Paul’s eschatological kingdom. Examining the literary and histori…
Excision as Exorcism
In Mark 9:43–48, Jesus suggests amputating an eye, hand or foot in response to sinfulness. This article contextualises Jesus’s sayings among ancient Jewish traditions of the body and the demonic. Several ancient Jewish texts associate demons with specific body parts. The author here argues that it is not unreasonable to propose that Jesus’s command to auto-amputate was an exorcistic suggestion. In some ancient Jewish and early Christian contexts,…
In Defence of New Testament Satanologies
Satan is a key figure in many New Testament books. The authors of these books build on hugely diverse Second Temple traditions and themes. A recurring trend in New Testament Satanology is to assume or argue for a monolithic image of Satan throughout the New Testament. This trend is seen, most recently, in Farrar and Williams’s (2016) argument for a distinct, coherent Satanology, published in this journal. Such a uniform New Testament Satanology i…
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In Defence of New Testament Satanologies
Satan is a key figure in many New Testament books. The authors of these books build on hugely diverse Second Temple traditions and themes. A recurring trend in New Testament Satanology is to assume or argue for a monolithic image of Satan throughout the New Testament. This trend is seen, most recently, in Farrar and Williams’s (2016) argument for a distinct, coherent Satanology, published in this journal. Such a uniform New Testament Satanology i…
Excision as Exorcism
In Mark 9:43–48, Jesus suggests amputating an eye, hand or foot in response to sinfulness. This article contextualises Jesus’s sayings among ancient Jewish traditions of the body and the demonic. Several ancient Jewish texts associate demons with specific body parts. The author here argues that it is not unreasonable to propose that Jesus’s command to auto-amputate was an exorcistic suggestion. In some ancient Jewish and early Christian contexts,…
Animals and demons
The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, usually included in collections of Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, contains descriptions of nonhuman animals in eight of its twelve testaments. This article is the first to examine these descriptions of nonhumans. In this text virtuous humans are protected from nonhuman animals and this protection is a sign of a person’s virtue. Furthermore, nonhuman animals plot against human ones and attempt to gain master…
Looking for Homophobia, a Metacritique
Many contemporary scholars, when interpreting early Christian texts about Sodom’s sin, refer to ‘homosexual practice’ or ‘homosexual activity.’ In this paper I present a meta-critique of contemporary scholarship on texts that refer to the sins of Sodom, focussing specifically on scholarship that engages with the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. This highly patriarchal and famously misogynist second-century text contains several references to …
The Kingdom and Sodom in the Testament of Benjamin
This article responds to JM Na’s recent “Echoes of the Kingdom” published in this journal. It argues that the parallels Na highlights between 1 Cor 6 and T. Benj. 9.1 are untenable. This article examines the themes of the kingdom of the Lord and the fornication of Sodom in T. Benj., arguing for a different reading. The kingdom of the Lord refers to the ancient Israelite kingdom—not Paul’s eschatological kingdom. Examining the literary and histori…
Art (3 works) · Biblical studies (3 works) · Biblical Studies and Interpretation (3 works) · Literature (3 works) · Philosophy (3 works) · Development, Ethics, and Society (2 works) · History (2 works) · Judaism (2 works) · Theology (2 works) · Argument (complex analysis) (1 work)