TIC TALK 34, 1996

Newsletter of the United Bible Societies Translation Information Clearinghouse

Contents: Double click on the highlighted, underlined words to go to that section.· : Bible Dictionaries, by Sarah Lind· Publication Notices on · Publication Notices on · Publication Notices on

BIBLE DICTIONARIES

BY SARAH LIND

The last decade has seen the publication of a number of Bible dictionaries, both new and revised, one-volume and multi-volume. On the whole, new dictionaries don’t replace their predecessors, but add to them. Different kinds of information are offered. A shift in focus means that some topics are approached quite differently, others are left behind completely, and new ones are introduced. This means that excellent but older works such as Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible (1904) and the Encyclopaedia Biblica (1903) still have much to offer, a fact that is evidenced by their recent reprintings.

Multi-volume DictionariesThe most recent multi-volume dictionary in English is the Anchor Bible Dictionary (ABD, 1992). It has taken its place on many people’s shelves alongside the Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, written thirty years earlier (IDB, 1962). A few examples illustrate differences between the two sets. Shift in focus on a topic can be seen in the entries on slavery. IDB has one article, “Slavery in the OT.” ABD has three articles, “Slavery (Ancient Near East),” “Slavery (OT),” and the longest article is “Slavery (Greco-Roman),” completely absent in IDB.

In terms of omissions, while ABD is a treasure trove in its presentation of recent trends and essays on problems of interpretation and knowledge, just try looking up “Precious stones.” Not there. Nor is there an entry or cross-reference for “Stones, precious,” “Gems,” “Rocks,” “Stones,” or “Minerals.” The entry for “Jewelry” deals mainly with metals. I still don’t know where (or if) precious stones are discussed. In the IDB, on the other hand, each of the terms “Precious stones,” “Stones, precious,” and “Gems” has a cross reference to the entry “Jewels and precious stones,” where you find general observations, a discussion of archeological evidence and difficulties in identification, and a listing with short descriptions of precious stones mentioned in the Bible and their Hebrew or Greek names. [An index of all entries and cross-references in ABD has been

compiled by an archivist at the University of Chicago. While useful, this still doesn’t get you to subjects that are discussed within entries but not referenced.]

On the other side, if you look up “Anthropology” in IDB, you are referred to “Man, nature of,” and “Man, ethnic divisions of,” but there is no entry on anthropology as a discipline. In ABD, under “Anthropology” you will find a discussion of the application of cultural anthropology to study of the OT. And the same situation exists, of course, for entries like “Sociology,” “Linguistics,” “Computers.” This kind of addition makes sense. Why should all that solid data-rich material in IDB be repeated? ABD offers what IDB can’t—indications of where research has gone in the thirty years since IDB was published.

The only problem is that it means you need both sets of dictionaries on your shelf. And many would add to these the four volumes of the 1988 revision of the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE), written by conservative scholars. Recommending the three sets for the biblical scholar’s library, Danker comments: “In the last analysis, ABD, when compared with IDB and ISBE, marks the boundary between an older fact-gathering emphasis with stress on synthesis, and a developing attention to epistemological concerns; or, as the editors express it, ‘How do we know what we know about this topic?’” (Frederick Danker, Multipurpose tools for Bible study [Fortress, 1993], p. 151)

The depth of treatment of individual entries, the set of entries included, and the organization of the dictionary are different enough from one set to the next that the reader of all three stands a better chance of receiving a broad and balanced understanding of a given subject. You may have the space on your shelves, but how much does it cost? It’s not as bad as you might expect. According to the prices listed by my favorite discount distributor, the total comes to just over $500 for the 15 hefty volumes (that’s less than five Brill books).

One-volume DictionariesThe one-volume dictionaries are especially useful for quick look-ups and concise summaries of topics, and also good for tight budgets or taking on the road. While there are many such dictionaries, three in particular stand out as critical works intended for the student and scholar:

The Harper Bible Dictionary (HBD, 1985) has just been issued in revised form as the Harper-Collins Bible Dictionary (1996). Written by members of the Society of Biblical Literature, the second edition reportedly contains 25 percent new and/or revised material.

Members of the National Association of Baptist Professors of Religion, including Bob Bratcher, Roger Bullard, Howard Kee, and Roger Omanson, contributed to the excellent Mercer dictionary of the Bible (1990, 3rd corr. printing, 1992).

The third edition of the New Bible Dictionary (NBD) will be available in November of this year. This is a general updating of the 1982 edition where 100 of the most important articles have been revised or rewritten and all bibliographies revised. The NBD has seen many incarnations: It is the text for the rich Illustrated Bible Dictionary (1980), with its German version, Das Grosse Bibellexikon (1990, 2nd ed.), both three volumes. The NBD

2nd ed. has been translated into the Spanish Nuevo diccionario bíblico (1991). The New Concise Bible Dictionary (1989) is drawn from NBD 2nd ed., and also has a German version, Brunnen Bibel Lexikon (1994).

Finally, The Oxford companion to the Bible, while it “does not aim to be an encyclopedia or encyclopedic dictionary,” is a valuable reference volume. In its choice of contributors (250) and entries it is “consciously pluralistic” and contains more than 20 lengthy entries on the Bible’s continuing significance, e.g., African American Traditions and the Bible; Feminism and the Bible; Music and the Bible; Medicine and the Bible, etc. There is an unusually inclusive treatment of translation, with articles from multiple contributors—30 pages of material covering ancient translations and modern translations throughout the world. The volume’s detailed subject index is a valuable feature not shared by most Bible dictionaries.

[Eerdmans has announced a completely new one-volume Bible dictionary with D.N. Freedman as editor, and is soliciting contributions. Articles are available in OT and NT areas (people, places, terminology, theology), social world, flora and fauna, the ancient Near East, and some archeological sites. While the deadline for manuscripts is Dec. 1996, there may still be a place for your article. Respond to Allen C. Myers, Senior Editor, Eerdmans Publishing Co., 255 Jefferson S.E., Grand Rapids MI 49503, USA. Fax: 616-459-6540; Email: amyers@eerdmans.com]• Dictionaries mentioned above (prices are publisher’s/discounted):

Dictionary of the Bible: Dealing with its language, literature, and contents, including the Biblical theology. James Hastings, ed., et al. Scribner’s Sons, 1898-1904. 5 vols. Reprinted by Hendrickson, 1988. $149.50/59.95

Encyclopaedia biblica: A critical dictionary of the literary, political and religious history, the archaeology, geography, and natural history of the Bible. T. K. Cheyne and J. Sutherland Black, eds. Macmillan, 1899-1903. 4 vols. Reprinted by Gordon Press, 1977.

Anchor Bible dictionary. David Noel Freedman, ed.-in-chief; Gary A. Herion, David F. Graf, John David Pleins, assoc. eds.; Astrid B. Beck, managing ed. Doubleday, 1992. 6 vols. 7200 pp.; Contributors: nearly 1,000; $360.00/239.95. Separate index compiled by Belinda Monahan, available by ftp from the Oriental Institute’s internet address oi.uchicago.edu/pub/oi/research. Also in photocopy, edited and reformatted by Patrick Timothy Ryan: The Anchor Bible dictionary index. University of Chicago, 1994.

Interpreter’s dictionary of the Bible. G.A. Buttrick, ed. Abingdon, 1962. 4 vols. Supplement vol., Keith Crim, ed., 1976. $199.95/163.95.

International standard Bible encyclopedia. Geoffrey W. Bromiley, ed. Eerdmans, 1988, rev. ed. 4 vols, 4466 pp.; 1500 color and b&w photos, 342 maps. $220.00/119.95.

HarperCollins Bible dictionary. Paul J. Achtemeier, gen. ed.; Roger S. Boraas, et al., assoc. eds., with the Society of Biblical Literature. 2nd ed. HarperSanFrancisco, 1996. 1200pp; 53 color photos; 590 b&w; 18 color maps; 72 b&w; drawings, diagrams, charts, tables. Entries: 3,700; Contributors: 193 members of SBL $45/32.95

Mercer dictionary of the Bible. Watson E. Mills, gen. ed.; Roger Bullard, et al., assoc. eds. 3rd corr. printing. Mercer University Press, 1992 (1990). 993 pp.; index of articles, by author; 62 pp. of color plates, including original maps; 150 ill. Contributors: 225 members of NABPR

New Bible dictionary. I.H. Marshall, et al., eds. 3rd ed. InterVarsity Press, November 1996. 1326 pp. Entries: 2,100; Contributors: 150. $32.99/24.95.

Illustrated Bible dictionary. J.D. Douglas, organizing ed., et al. Tyndale House; InterVarsity Press, 1980. 3 vols. 1728 pp. 1500 color photos, drawings, maps, and diagrams. Entries: 2,000 (based on NBD 2nd ed.) $79.99/39.95

Das Grosse Bibellexikon. Helmut Burkhardt, et al., eds. Brackhaus; Brunnen, 1990, 2nd ed. 3 vols. Based on IVP’s The Illustrated Bible dictionary (1980), beautifully illustrated with color & B&W photos and maps.

Nuevo diccionario bíblico. J.D. Douglas, organizing ed., et al. Ediciones Certeza, 1991. Tr. of NBD 2nd ed.

New concise Bible dictionary. Derek Williams, ed. IVP, 1989. 595 pp. Good for what it is: 2,100 edited entries from NBD, 2nd ed. $12.99

Brunnen Bibel Lexikon. Joachim Drechsel, Elisabeth Meyer-Baltensweiler und Derek Williams, eds. Brunnen, 1994. 443 p. Based on New concise Bible dictionary (based on NBD 2nd ed.)

Oxford companion to the Bible. Bruce M. Metzger and Michael D. Coogan, eds. Oxford University Press, 1993. 892 pp.; annotated, classified bib. at end; detailed subject index; separate index to maps; color maps. Entries: 700; Contributors: 250; $45.00/29.95. Also available on CD-ROM packaged with the New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha (NRSV) and the New Oxford Bible Maps ($99.95). • Many one volume dictionaries are written with the lay reader in mind. While the articles can tend toward sermonizing and neglect of research, some of these vol-umes are rich in illustrations:

Holman Bible dictionary: with summary definitions and explanatory articles on every Bible subject, introductions and teaching outlines for each Bible book, in-depth theological articles, plus internal maps, charts, illustrations, scale reconstruction drawings, archaeological photos, and atlas. Trent C. Butler, gen. ed. Holman Bible Publs, 1991. 1450 pp. $28.99/21.95

Revell Bible dictionary. Lawrence O. Richards, gen. ed. Wynwood Press, 1990. “conservative” 1156 pp. Many illustrations: 1700 color photos, ill., maps. Entries: about 2,000, plus separate sections for people and places. $39.99/17.95

Illustrated dictionary & concordance of the Bible. Geoffrey Wigoder, gen. ed.; Shalom M. Paul, ed. Old Testament, Benedict T. Viviano, ed. New Testament, Ephraim Stern, ed. biblical archeology. Macmillan, 1986. 1070 pp. Bible refs in margin; also index of subjects with all bible refs—concordance in that sense. Entries are biblical only; no modern issues like interpretation, text criticism. Strong in archeology. Excellent illustrations.

• Other Bible dictionaries published since 1985:

Baker encyclopedia of the Bible. Walter A. Elwell, gen. ed.; Peter C. Craigie, et al., assoc. eds.; Barry J. Beitzel ... [et al.], assist. eds. Baker Book House, 1988. 2 vols; 2210 pp. Also published as: Encyclopedia of the Bible (Marshall Pickering).

Dictionary of Bible and religion. William H. Gentz, ed. Abingdon, 1986. “ecumenically Christian in origin and outlook” 1147 pp. Entries: 2,800; Contributors: 28.

Eerdmans Bible dictionary. Allen C. Myers, rev. ed.; John W. Simpson, Jr., et al., assoc. eds. Eerdmans, 1987. Based on a translation of Bijbelse Encyclopedie, rev. ed. (Kok, 1975). “although the focus of the Dictionary remains primarily evangelical, the editors have sought to display greater sensitivity to the broad spectrum of interpretation, presenting as objectively as possible divergent perspectives.” 1094 pp. Entries: 5,000; Contributors: 48 to English ed. $34.99/23.95.

Nelson’s new illustrated Bible dictionary. Ronald F. Youngblood, gen. ed., with F.F. Bruce and R.K. Harrison. Nelson, 1995, rev. ed. (1986) 1346 pp. evangelical. $34.99/22.95 Entries: 7,000 “concise” entries; Contributors: 80; 500+ color photos and maps.

New Unger’s Bible dictionary. [Merrill F. Unger] R.K. Harrison, ed.; Howard F. Vos, Cyril J. Barber, contributing eds. Rev. and updated ed. Moody Press, 1988. 1400 pp. $39.99/24.95.• Other recent dictionary-type resources for biblical studies

Civilizations of the Ancient Near East. Jack M. Sasson, ed.-in-chief. John Baines, Gary Beckman, Karen S. Rubinson, assoc. eds. Simon & Schuster Macmillan, 1995. 4 vols. 2966 pp. Early Bronze Age to 325 BCE. Not strictly an encyclopedia, but 189 essays on various topics: Impact of the ANE on the ideas and institutions of the western world; the environment: climate, flora, fauna; environment and political and economic development; population: migration, cultivation of regional identity; social institutions; history and culture: important historical events, development of population centers and regimes; economy and trade; technology and artistic production; religion and science: theological, cultic, ethical principles, mythologies; language, writing, and literature: major languages, scripts, literary works, transition from oral to literate; visual and performing arts: aesthetics, techniques, forms; seven memoirs by leading ANE scholars. 46 maps, 612 b&w photos and drawings.

Dictionary of Judaism in the biblical period: 450 B.C.E. to 600 C.E. Jacob Neusner, ed. in chief, William Scott Green, ed. Simon & Schuster Macmillan, 1996. 2 vols. Short entries on biblical and related writings; writings on the Jews in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin; rabbinic writings; concepts, religious rites, theological categories; Christian and pagan writers referring to the Jews and Judaism.

The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land. Ephraim Stern, ed. Israel Exploration Society & Carta/Simon & Schuster, 1993. 4 vols. Entries by place names; b&w illustrations on almost every page, some color plates.

Baker encyclopedia of Bible places. Towns & cities, countries & states, archaeology and topography. J.J. Bimson, ed. Baker, 1995. Brief articles on all main towns and cities,

villages and settlements, streams and rivers, countries and states mentioned in the Bible. Includes photographs, maps and plans. $29.99

Complete who’s who in the Bible. P.D. Gardner, ed. Zondervan, 1995. Supplies basic information about all the people mentioned in the OT and NT: references and a brief description of the person’s role in the biblical narrative and relationship to other characters.

Who’s who in the Old Testament: together with the Apocrypha. Joan Comay. Dent, 1993.

Who’s who in the New Testament. Ronald Brownrigg. Dent, 1993.

Dictionary of deities and demons in the Bible (DDD). Karel van der Toorn, Bob Becking, Pieter W. van der Horst, eds. Brill, 1995. The entries are only for those names mentioned in the Bible (Hebrew Bible, LXX, and Greek NT), but others are indexed. Includes gods mentioned as gods, theophoric elements in personal names, demythologized deities (like yareah and shemesh), gods whose presence is questionable (Belti and Osiris in Isa 10.4), and human figures who attained divine status in the biblical or later tradition. Most entries have four sections: name, etymology, occurrence; identity, character, role in the culture of origin; role and nature in the Bible; bibliography. $128.75

Jesus and his world: An archaeological and cultural dictionary. John J. Rousseau and Rami Arav. Fortress Press, 1995. “intended to make available the wide variety of extrabiblical sources related to the quest of the historical Jesus” from the time of the Maccabees to Josephus. Informal style: many questions; challenges Jesus seminar results at some points on the basis of archeological and historical data. Most entries have five sections: Importance, Scripture Reference(s), General Information, Archaeological Data, Implications for Jesus Research.

Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels. Joel B. Green, Scot McKnight, eds. InterVarsity Press, 1992. “critically responsible and theologically evangelical.” Contributors: 95, including Paul Ellingworth.

Dictionary of Paul and his letters. Gerald F. Hawthorne, Ralph P. Martin, eds. InterVarsity Press, 1993. “The team of essayists who have contributed to the Dictionary of Paul and his letters mainly stand in the shadow of [E.P. Sanders’s] major new appraisal of Paul’s attitude to the law, the covenant and the people of Israel, and reflect their reaction, whether positive or cautious, to the ‘new look’ on Paul’s gospel of righteousness by faith and the elements of continuity with the ancestral faith.” Lengthy articles on social setting of mission churches, social-scientific approaches to Paul, on each of the letters, prayer, the OT in Paul, Jerusalem, Paul’s understanding of God, eschatology, Paul and his letters in the canon.

Encyclopedia of early Christianity. Everett Ferguson, ed. Michael P. McHugh, Frederick W. Norris, assoc. eds. 2nd ed. Garland Publishing, 1996 (1st ed. 1990). From life of Jesus to approx 600 CE. Avoids technical language as much as possible; concise summaries, bibliographies. 977 entries. Persons, places, doctrines, practices, art, liturgy, heresies, and schisms. Most entries consist of: brief definition, identification, or characterization; antecedents to the subject; chronological or topical development of the

subject in early Christianity. Information on biblical persons and books concentrates on their significance and use in the postbiblical period.

Encyclopedia of the Early Church. Angelo Di Berardino, ed. Tr. from the Italian by Adrian Walford. Oxford University Press, 1992. 2 vols. Up to Bede in the West (673-735) and John of Damascus in the East (c675-759).

Dictionary of feminist theologies. 1996. Letty M. Russell and Shannon Clarkson, eds. Westminster/John Knox. Provides a pluralistic approach, addressing topics in Christian theology as they relate to feminism in a variety of religious, cultural, and racial settings. $39

HarperCollins dictionary of religion. Jonathan Z. Smith, gen. ed. William Scott Green, assoc. ed. HarperSanFrancisco, 1995. 1154 pp. If you can’t squeeze in the 16 vols. of the Encyclopedia of Religion (Mircea Eliade, ed.-in-chief, Macmillan, 1987), you might want to consider this volume. Just as HDB was written by SBL members, contributors to this dictionary are from the American Academy of Religion. Similar in format to HBD, there are more than 3,200 articles, coverage of ancient and modern religions, maps and charts; eleven feature articles on the major religions of the world. In general the entries are fairly short, without bibliographies. $45/31.95 • Some Bible dictionaries in German and French since 1985

Neues Bibel-Lexikon. Manfred Görg und Bernhard Lang, eds. Benziger, 1988-.

Reclams Bibellexikon. Klaus Koch, et al., eds. 5th revised and expanded. Reclam, 1992. 581 pp.

Dictionnaire de culture biblique. Maurice Carrez. Desclée, 1993. 356 pp.; maps.

Dictionnaire culturel de la Bible. Danielle Fouilloux, et al., eds. Marabout, 1995 (Cerf, 1990). 341 pp.

Dictionnaire encyclopédique de la Bible. Centre informatique et Bible, Abbaye de Maredsous; Pierre-Maurice Bogaert, et al. Brepols, 1987. 1363 pp.; 10 pp. of plates; maps.

Dictionnaire de la Bible. André-Marie Gérard, et al. Laffont, 1989. 1478 pp.; ill.

Petit dictionnaire encyclopédique de la Bible. Centre informatique et Bible (Maredsous). Brepols, 1992. 949 pp.; maps.

Go to TIC Talk 34

BIBLE TRANSLATION

GENERAL

Peter Lineham. 1996. Bible and society: A sesquicentennial history of the Bible Society in New Zealand. (The Bible Society in New Zealand) In celebration of its sesquicentenary, the Bible Society commissioned this work, which details the history of the Bible Society from its beginnings (1846) to the present, and examines the role of the Bible and the church in New Zealand culture. $30

William A. Smalley. 1995. “Language and culture in the development of Bible Society translation theory and practice,” IBMR 19/2:61-71. S. discusses the role of language and culture in translation theory, and the place of a missionary translator, reviews the principle of dynamic equivalence translation and indicates how the Bible Society is assisting the transition from missionary to native speaker translators.

W.G. Oxtoby. 1995. “‘Telling in their own tongues’: Old and modern Bible translations as expressions of ethnic cultural identity,” Concilium 1995/1:24-35. O. explores the translation process in terms of identity in three areas: translation in biblical times, translation and the spread of Christianity, and scripture and translation in world religions.

Barbara Ellen Galli. 1995. Franz Rosenzweig and Jehuda Halevi: Translating, translations, and translators. (McGill-Queen’s University Press) The first part of this book is an English translation of Rosenzweig’s German translation of the medieval philosopher Jehudah Halevi’s Hebrew poetry, including Rosenzweig’s After-word on translation and his extensive notes on the poetry and his translation of it. Part Two is Galli’s response to Rosenzweig’s book, including discussion of his “speech-thinking” philosophy exemplified in his notes, and a chapter on his philosophy of translation. “Translating is after all the actual goal of the mind; only when something is translated has it become really audible, no longer to be disposed of” (quoting Rosenzweig, 322).

ANCIENT

Johann Cook. 1995. “Were the persons responsible for the Septuagint translators and/or scribes and/or editors?” JNSL 21/2:45-58. Some LXX scholars seem unwilling to accept the possibility that some Greek translators tended to adapt their Hebrew parent texts extensively. Proverbs contains many examples of the Hexaplaric text and inner-Greek corruptions. In ch. 31, the translator changed the order of his text to fit in with the end of ch. 29. In some instances, then, the translator of Proverbs was more than just a “passive” renderer of his Vorlage; he edited it for contextual reasons.

Mogens Müller. 1996. The First Bible of the Church: A plea for the Septuagint. (Sheffield Academic Press) M. elaborates the view that he has developed in earlier articles: “Considering that the Septuagint is also a witness to the transmission of traditions, it follows that this translation cannot just be ignored with regard to the question of the Jewish Bible at the time of the New Testament” (143). “Insight into the creation of the Biblia Hebraica text and the peculiar character of the Septua-gint,

together with the story of how this old Greek translation was received into the New Testament and the early Church, must lead to our questioning the matter of fact way in which we have, by tradition, understood Biblia Hebraica as the original text of the Old Testament as part of the Bible of the Church” (144).

Giuseppe Veltri. 1994. Eine Tora für den König Talmai: Unter-suchungen zum Übersetzungs-verständnis in der jüdisch-hellenistischen und rabbinischen Literatur. (J.C.B. Mohr) Explores the traditions concerning the purpose of the LXX and different understandings of what translation was in rabbinical Judaism.

MODERN

Precise parallel New Testament. 1995. Edited by John R. Kohlenberger III. (Oxford University Press) This useful edition has all the following versions arranged on facing pages: GNT4, KJV, Rheims, Amplified, NIV, NRSV NAB, NASB. 39.95/32.95

Everett Fox. 1995. The Five books of Moses. (Schocken Books) (See Relevant Ramblings DDD.) Translating in the Buber-Rosenzweig tradition, F. states: “The purpose of this work is to draw the reader into the world of the Hebrew Bible through the power of its language. . . . This translation is guided by the principle that the Hebrew Bible . . . was meant to be read aloud, and that consequently it must be translated with careful attention to rhythm and sound . . . My task has been to present the raw material of the text as best I can in English, and to point out some of the method that may be fruitfully employed in wrestling with it” (Preface). Introductions, commentary and notes accompany the translation.

Ariel Bloch and Chana Bloch. 1995. The Song of Songs: A new translation with an introduction and commentary. (Random House) This translation offers some novel readings, with a high regard both for English usage and for the conciseness of Hebrew poetry, in an attractive edition with the Hebrew and English on facing pages. Followed by an afterword by Robert Alter and commentary by the authors, one a Semitics scholar, the other a poet. $27.50

Ruth B. Bottigheimer. 1996. The Bible for children: From the age of Gutenberg to the present. (Yale University Press) “Children’s Bible stories teach far more than Bible content . . . The notions expressed in children’s Bibles have generally incorporated not divisive religious polemic but shared social values, and these Bibles are thus an important part of the transmission of cultural norms and values from one generation to the next . . . Scores of variant tellings . . . show authors attempting to resolve the tension between ancient Bible stories and the authors’ own social ethic.” (xi-xii)

Lowell Handy. 1996. “One problem involved in translating to meaning: An example of acknowledging time and tradition,” SJOT 10/1:16-27. The translation to meaning of Psalm 82 changed through time and tradition. The polytheistic world of the author of the poem was not the accepted context for understanding the psalm when it was part of the Bible. Jewish and Christian readings of the same text have traditionally been different. Examples of various understandings of the psalm from the author’s to the Reformation’s demonstrate that the meaning of the biblical text has been different according to the tradition in which it has been read.

Eric A. Hermanson. 1995. “Metaphor in Zulu: Problems in the translation of biblical metaphor in the book of Amos.” Ph.D. dissertation from University of Stellenbosch. H., of the BS of South Africa, applies conceptual metaphor theory to analyze and categorize metaphors in Zulu and Hebrew metaphors in Amos, then evaluates how successfully the latter have been translated into Zulu translations. Gives suggestions how the translations may be improved to enable the modern Zulu reader to recover the implicatures in the Hebrew text. Understanding the conceptual framework within which a metaphor is formed in one language helps to identify the implicatures it contains in a given context. The translator must determine whether the receptor language has the same framework or another from which speakers can invoke a metaphor with the same implicatures. Chapters include: Theory of metaphor, Study of metaphor in South-eastern Bantu languages, Zulu metaphor, Translating metaphor, History of Bible translation in Zulu, Translating Hebrew metaphors from the book of Amosinto Zulu. Copies (in a compact printed edition, 1996) are available from the author.

Go to TIC Talk 34

BIBLE

GENERAL

B. Barry Levy. 1996. “The State and directions of [Jewish] Orthodox Bible study,” in Modern scholarship in the study of Torah: Contributions and limitations, edited by Shalom Carmy. (Jason Aronson Inc.) Levy proposes thirty articles of a “contemporary Orthodox hermeneutic,” which emphasizes the primacy of the biblical text and unrestricted investigation of it. The book seeks to end the estrangement between academic study of the Bible and Talmud Torah, or traditional Torah study, and to point to ways in which the former can be integrated with the latter.

John Breck. 1996. “[Christian] Orthodox principles of biblical interpretation,” St. Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly 40:77-93. Looks at the way Orthodox Christians view the Scriptures and make use of them; detects a neglect of Scripture in practice; and considers how an authentic Orthodox understanding of Scripture, which the author terms holistic and synthetic, can help to recover the true purpose of exegesis and preaching. States seven hermeneutical principles derived from the writings of Eastern patristic exegetes, giving particular attention to typology as it was understood and practiced by the Church Fathers.

Justo L. González. 1996. Santa Biblia: The Bible through Hispanic eyes. (Abingdon) Suggests five paradigms for Latino biblical interpretation: marginality, poverty, mestizaje, exile and alienness, solidarity. Discusses theory and gives examples of interpretations of biblical texts that apply these perspectives. $12.95 pb

Kwok Pui-Lan. 1996. “Chinese Christians and their Bible,” Biblical Interpretation 4/1:127-129. Two other articles in this issue also have to do with Chinese biblical interpretation: Antoinette Wire, “Chinese biblical interpretation since mid-century,” 101-123, Chenfang Lo, “Chinese biblical interpretation in the eyes of a Chinese Christian,” 124-126.

“Chinese hermeneutics: Biblical, theological, and cultural studies.” Thematic issue, Jian Dao No. 5. Some English titles are: “Intersubjectivity, intertextuality, interconnectivity: On biblical hermeneutics and hegemony,” P. Chia; “The Dao of Qoheleth,” C. Heard; “The Shape and motive of piety in Chinese religious tradition and the biblical tradition,” P. Towner; “A Confucian reading of Romans 7:14-25: Torah and Li,” Yeo K.; and responses to Towner and Yeo.

J.-P. Ruiz. 1995. “New ways of reading the Bible in the cultural settings of the Third World,” Concilium 1995/1:73-84. Considers ways in which Third World biblical interpretation has begun to make a difference in the church and in academic study.

Ethnicity and the Bible. 1996. Edited by Mark G. Brett. (Brill) 21 essays examine the construction and contesting of ethnic identities within the Bible and in biblical interpretation, focusing on ethnocentrism, indigenity, concepts of culture and the politics of identity. $158.25

Transformations, passages, and processes: Ritual approaches to biblical texts. Semeia 67 (1994), pub. 1995. Edited by Mark McVann. Frank Gorman’s article “Ritual studies and biblical studies” reviews the movements in the history of biblical studies that functioned to evaluate ritual negatively, discusses interpretive issues that have arisen in recent ritual studies, and suggests how ritual studies can contribute to the study of biblical ritual texts. Three articles on Hebrew Bible, two on NT, and a response to each, are followed by an introductory bibliography for ritual studies.

BIBLICAL LANGUAGES

HebrewJohn Lübbe. 1996. “An Old Testament dictionary of semantic domains,” ZAH 9:52-57. This description of the project gives its history, purpose, methodology, sources, and progress. “It is hoped that this project will be finished within the next six years.” Other articles by Lübbe related to the project have appeared in the Journal for Semitics: “Hebrew lexicography: A new approach,” 2/1:1-14 (1990); “The Use of syntactic data in dictionaries of Classical Hebrew,” 5/1:89-96 (1993); “Old Testament translation and lexicographical practice,” 6/2:180-191 (1994).

Diethelm Michel. 1994. “Probleme des Nominalsatzes im biblischen Hebräisch,” ZAH 7/2:215-224. Verbless sentences can be divided into three categories: 1) sentences in which one obligatory member is definite, the other indefinite; 2) sentences with definite obligatory members, and 3) sentences with indefinite obligatory members. The first is called “nominal message,” the second “nominal claim,” and the third “nominal introductions.” The notions of “subject” and “predicate” in the verbless clause should be replaced by either “visualization” and “statement” or by the Arabic “mubtada” and

“chabat.” In independent clauses and after certain conjunctions the order is mubtada-chabat; in dependent clauses and after other conjunctions the order is reversed.

Elisha Qimron. 1995. “The Biblical lexicon in light of the Dead Sea Scrolls,” Dead Sea Discoveries 2/3:295-329. In this expanded version of his article in Hebrew in Tarbiz 58 (1989) 297-315, Q. explicates 16 instances where the understanding of a given word in the non-biblical DSS can help in the interpretation of that word as it occurs in a given biblical passage.

GreekKent Spielmann. 1995. “Participant reference and definite article in John,” JOTT 7/1:45-85. An analysis from a discourse perspective provides a consistent and explanatory account of participant reference and the definite article. Presents a detailed analysis of participant reference issues in John 1.

R.A. Campbell. 1995. “ - A new look at 1 Timothy 5.8,” NTS 41/1:157-160. In this context, the phrase means “fellow Christians” rather than one’s own family. What the author says is “If anyone does not provide for his own relatives, especially remembering that they are fellow Christians, he has disowned the faith...”

N. Clayton Croy. 1995. “A Note on Hebrews 12:2,” JBL 114/1:117-119. identifies Jesus as the “perfecter” of faith. In rhetorics, a is one who perfects or refines a style invented by another orator. In Hebrews, Jesus is the originator and consummator of faith, the prototype and paragon.

C.S. de Vos. 1995. “The Significance of the change from to in Luke’s account of the Philippian gaoler (Acts 16:30-34),” NTS 41/2:292-296. The jailer is most likely a public slave functioning as the prison warden. In the context of a slave’s circumstances, probably refers to his fellow slave-jailers and to his residential unit, his immediate “family.” Thus, Paul promises salvation to the jailer and his family; whether he had children or not is not specified, however. The issue of household (rather than infant) baptism is reduced to the issue of the jailer’s role as a Roman pater in the process of religious decision making.

OT

Saint Jerome’s Hebrew Questions on Genesis. 1995. Edited by C.T.R. Hayward. (Clarendon Press) Translated with Intro and commentary by Hayward. In Hayward’s opinion, Jerome’s purpose in writing this treatise which he described as “a collection of Hebrew researches or traditions” was “to justify his dealings with Judaism and the Jews, when the ecclesiastical and civil authorities were intent on pushing that nation to the margins of Christian society. . . to show his detractors that Jewish understanding of the Scriptures is often correct.” (14)

The Place is too small for us: The Israelite prophets in recent research. 1995. Edited by Robert Gordon. (Eisenbrauns) A collection of reprinted articles representing recent scholarship on Israelite prophecy, organized into seven sections: Near Eastern background, message of the prophets, art of prophecy, prophecy and society, the developing tradition, prophecy after the prophets, future directions. $34.50

Wisdom in ancient Israel: Essays in honour of J.A. Emerton. 1995. Edited by John Day, Robert Gordon, and H.G.M. Williamson. (Cambridge University Press) A good survey collection of 23 essays covering a wide range of issues in OT Wisdom, in three sections: Ancient Near Eastern setting, OT and Apocryphal texts, Themes.

Loren F. Bliese. 1995. “A Cryptic chiastic acrostic: Finding meaning from structure in the poetry of Nahum,” JOTT 7/3:48-81. Shows how metrical patterning in Nahum correlates with discourse structure. In the same volume: C. Follingstad, “ and focus function with application to Tyap,” J. Bentinck, “A Comparison of certain discourse features in Biblical Hebrew and Nyaboa and their implications for the translation process,” B. Ljungberg, “Tense, aspect, and modality in some theories of the Biblical Hebrew verbal system.”

Shalom Goldman. 1995. The Wiles of women/The wiles of men: Joseph and Potiphar’s wife in Ancient Near Eastern, Jewish, and Islamic folklore. (State University of New York Press) G. compares the treatment of the “Potiphar’s wife motif” in the literature of the ancient Near East, biblical Israel, early Islam, touching on gender issues—the status of women in Middle Eastern societies and the varying constructions of male-female relationships—and the question of originality in narrative traditions.

Lester L. Grabbe. 1995. Priests, prophets, diviners, sages: A socio-historical study of religious specialists in Ancient Israel. (Trinity Press) Analysis of the interactive roles of religious specialists; each chapter studies one kind of specialist, drawing on data in the OT, with comparisons to ancient and modern parallels, ending with a composite picture of each specialist. One chapter is devoted to reconstructing the functions of the various specialists as they related to each other within the social structure. $20

T.R. Hobbs. 1995. “BTB readers guide: Aspects of warfare in the First Testament world,” BTB 25/2:79-90. Surveys and critiques recent literature on the subject of ancient biblical warfare.

Herbert Marks. 1995. “Biblical naming and poetic etymology,” JBL 114/1:21-42. Reconsiders the significance of some of the explicit name etymologies of the Hebrew Bible—the over 80 passages in which proper names of persons and places are given a semantic interpretation based on phonetic correspondences. The practice was a sophisticated literary device that serves as a commentary on the meaning of the associated stories. Considers the double etymologies associated with Noah, Moses, Jacob-Israel, and Peniel.

Thomas W. Overholt. 1996. Cultural anthropology and the Old Testament. (Fortress) In the Guides to Biblical Scholarship series, the book shows how the work of cultural anthropologists can shed light on the society reflected in OT texts. Application is to the Elijah and Elisha stories of 1-2 Kings. Also discussed are divination, status of women, role of iron technology, and the rise of the monarchy.

Ernst Wendland. 1996. “Obadiah’s vision of ‘the day of the Lord’: On the importance of rhetoric in the biblical text and in Bible translation,” JOTT 7/4:54-86.

TextFerdinand Deist. 1995. “Text, textuality, and textual criticism,” JNSL 21/2:59-67. Aims to explicate some of the theoretical and epistemological implications of textual criticism defined as “text restoration,” implications seldom articulated in theological discourse; and to reflect on the role textual criticism may play in more recent approaches to literature, such as reception aesthetics, post-structuralism and deconstruction.

Gerard J. Norton. 1993. “Changing paradigms in the study of the history of the biblical text,” Hermathena 154:19-37. The quest for original text, followed in classical studies, is not appropriate for the Hebrew Bible with its multiple authorship and layers of redaction. If two or more forms of a biblical book existed side by side in Palestine . . . at the time of the formation of the first Christian communities, can one of them now be dismissed on the basis of a decision to adopt one of them rather than the other...? (34)

NT

Stanley E. Porter and Lee McDonald. 1995. New Testament introduction. (Baker Books) Twelfth in the IBR (Institute for Biblical Research) Bibliographies series, which now has fourteen volumes, this volume provides a selected annotated bibliography of works for study of the NT in four areas: Interpretation skills and language; NT criticism and history of interpretation; Historical backgrounds; Introductions, commentaries, and canon.

Dennis Stoutenburg. 1995. “Recent background resources for New Testament studies,” Didaskalia 6/2:46-76. An annotated listing of about 75 recent works (most dated 1990-1995) in the following areas of NT study: Formation of the text, social setting, criticism and interpretation, Judaism and the early church, anti-Judaism and the New Testament, Jesus and the Gospels, Paul, other NT literature, Dead Sea Scrolls, extrabiblical literature.

Hellenistic commentary to the New Testament. 1995. Edited by M. Eugene Boring, Klaus Berger, and Carsten Colpe. (Abingdon) A collection of nearly 1000 Hellenistic texts correlated to the NT, arranged according to the canonical order of the NT. Each text is accompanied by commentary suggesting ways in which it might illuminate the NT text. Cross-references and indexes. Translation and expansion of the German edition. 640 pp. $69.95 C.K. Barrett’s The New Testament Background: Writings from ancient Greece and the Roman Empire that illuminate Christian origins has been updated to include Qumran and Nag Hammadi literature (Harper, 1995). 400 pp. $18 pb

Kenneth E. Bailey. 1995. “Informal controlled oral tradition and the synoptic Gospels,” Themelios 20/2:4-11. Reviews the two opposite views of transmission of oral tradition for the Gospels, informal uncontrolled oral tradition (Bultmann), and formal controlled oral tradition (Scandinavian school), and argues for a middle ground, informal controlled oral tradition. Looks at examples in the Middle East of all three forms of transmission and the type of material that tends to be in each category. Describes how informal controlled oral tradition is developed and controlled, and how it differs from the other forms. In light of what can be observed, the claim that early Christians were not interested in history is untenable.

Brian K. Blount. 1995. Cultural interpretation: Reorienting New Testament criticism. (Fortress) Uses Mark to demonstrate the social intent of every reading, and shows the influence of communicative context in diverse readings of the Bible. $18 pb

Robert L. Brawley. 1995. Text to text pours forth speech: Voices of Scripture in Luke-Acts. (Indiana University Press) “Giving utterance to voices of scripture is . . . among the primary strategies [in Luke-Acts] of making sense of Jesus” (ix). B. concludes that in Luke-Acts’ use of scripture (LXX), 1) overt references to scripture prompt readers to consider covert allusions to the larger context of scripture; 2) the allusions are revisionary and reciprocal; 3) scripture is appropriated with a theocentric hermeneutic; 4) fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham to bless all the families of the earth drives the understanding of God and scripture; and 5) a clearer picture of the social location of the implied author and audience is given.

Ernst Wendland. 1996. “Finding some lost aspects of meaning in Christ’s parables of the lost—and found (Luke 15),” Trinity Journal 17/1:19-65. Surveys recent literary and cultural study of the parables, and combines close contextual exegesis and attention to the listener’s situation.

J.A. Harrill. 1995. The Manumission of slaves in early Christianity. (Mohr-Siebeck) Revised dissertation from University of Chicago. A social historical investigation of the manumission of Christian slaves in early congregations, based on an analysis and comparison of 1 Cor 7:21 and Ignatius, Ad Polycarp. 4.3. Chapter 2 looks at the philological and contextual problems of 1 Cor 7:21, in particular the elliptical phrase .

TextWilliam W. Combs. 1996. “Erasmus and the Textus Receptus,” Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal 1:35-53. In the first issue of this new journal from a self-described fundamentalist seminary. After relating the story of Erasmus’s publication of his Latin-Greek NT, the author concludes: “is [the TR], as [D.A.] Waite believes, ‘the exact words of the originals themselves’? Hardly! It is based on a few very late manuscripts . . . Fundamentalists should reject the attempts by some in our movement to make the TR the only acceptable form of Greek text.” (53)

Paul Ellingworth. 1996. “The UBS Greek New Testament, fourth revised edition: A user’s response,” NTS 42:282-287. Points out some differences between this and the third edition, in both omissions and additions; comments on type face, changes in grading, changes in the ms evidence in the apparatus; calls for a reassessment of the relation between GNT and NA in terms of their intended users.

Go to TIC Talk 34

LANGUAGE

Esteban Torre. 1994. Teoría de la traducción literaria. (Editorial Síntesis) A historical review of the subject followed by an examination of recent approaches to translation of literature. Special attention is given to the translation of poetry. (Bill Mitchell)

Miguel Ángel Vega, ed. 1994. Textos clásicos de teoría de la traducción. (Ediciones Catedra) Gives an overview of the history of translation theory by means of an extensive selection of texts on the subject from 46 BCE to the 1980s, from Cicero to Nida and Fedorov. (Bill Mitchell)

Rosemary Arrojo. 1993. Tradução, desconstrução e psicanálise. (Imago) A collection of essays in which Arrojo explores such issues as the redefinition of ‘originality’, the role of the translator, the possible relations between translation and reading, translation and interpretation, translation and authorship. She argues against the privileged position that the original text has assumed in the logocentric tradition of western thought. (Bill Mitchell)

Translators through history. 1995. Edited by Jean Delisle and Judith Woodsworth. (John Benjamins) Nearly 50 scholars have collaborated in this exploration of the part translators have played in the invention of alphabets, development of national languages and literatures, spread of religion, transmission of cultural values, the dissemination of knowledge, and dictionary-writing, including the contributions of Bible translations and translators to these areas. $32 pb. Also published in French: Les traducteurs dans l’histoire (Presses de l’Université d’Ottawa).

Clifford E. Landers. “Latin America and translation: Three contributions to knowing ‘the Other,’” Latin American Research Review 30/3: 254-263. A review essay on Susanne Jill Levine’s The Subversive Scribe: Translating Latin American Fiction, William Luis and Julio Rodríguez-Luis’ Translating Latin America: Culture as Text and John Milton’s O Poder da Tradução. (Bill Mitchell)

* * *

Cliff Goddard. 1996. “Cross-linguistic research on metaphor,” Language & Communication 16/2:145-151. G. takes issue with Peter Mühlhäusler’s assertion that “there is no culture-neutral boundary between what is literal and what is metaphorical,” and with what he views as M.’s extreme relativism (“Metaphors others live by,” Language & Communication 15/3:281-288). G. contends that despite the enormous semantic differences between languages, there is solid evidence that they share a small set of “universal meanings,” which can provide a non-arbitrary and non-ethnocentric vocabulary for cross-linguistic semantics. Goddard, with Anna Wierzbicka, edited Semantic and lexical universals: Theory and empirical findings (John Benjamins, 1994). Wierzbicka has just published another book on universals: Semantics, primes and universals (Oxford University Press, 1996).

Louis Goossens, et al. 1995. By word of mouth: Metaphor, metonymy and linguistic action in a cognitive perspective. (John Benjamins) Contributions to the understanding of the ways in which linguistic action is expressed and conceptualized by speakers of

English. The “concentration on metaphorical and metonymic meaning extensions is motivated by the view that metaphor and metonymy are central aspects of our conceptual apparatus.” (vii) Chapter titles: “A survey of metalinguistic metaphors,” “Body parts in linguistic action,” “Assessing linguistic behaviour: A study of value judgements,” “Levels of metaphorizaton: The case of put,” “Metaphtonymy: The interaction of metaphor and metonymy in figurative expressions for linguistic action,” “From three respectable horses’ mouths: Metonymy and conventionalization in a diachronically differentiated data base,” “Metaphor, schema, invariance: The case of verbs of answering.”

Michael Toolan. 1996. Total Speech: An integrational linguistic approach to language. (Duke University Press) An approach to language that consistently pays attention to its contextual embeddedness, drawing on Roy Harris’s “integrational” perspective on linguistic action, applying his arguments to some foundational contemporary linguistic notions (such as literal meaning and rule governedness) and some context-sensitive proposals in current linguistics (such as relevance theory). Includes chapters on metaphor, relevance in theory and practice, repetition.

Peter Cole, Gabriella Hermon, and Mario Daniel Martin, eds. 1994. Language in the Andes. (University of Delaware) Papers from the ‘International Conference on Language, Language Policy and Education in the Andes’ held at the University of Delaware in 1991. The topics covered include bilingual education, historical linguistics, sociolinguistics, teaching of Andean languages, and theoretical and descriptive syntax and phonology. (Bill Mitchell)

End of TIC TALK 34, 1996.

Go to TIC Talk 34