Book Reviews

About Book Reviews

The Two Cities provides book reviews on a number of topics within biblical studies and theology, and we welcome reviews from outside the regular contributors to the blog. For more information, contact Logan Williams (logan.a.williams@durham.ac.uk).

Review of Struggles for Shalom

Nov 22, 2014

Laura L. Brenneman and Brad D. Schantz, eds. Struggles for Shalom: Peace and Violence Across the Testaments. Studies in Peace and Scripture 12. Eugene, OR.: Pickwick Publications, 2014. xxiv + 376 pp. $44.00. Paperback.. The interplay between the concepts of peace and violence in the texts of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament holds together the twenty-five essays found in Struggles for Shalom: Peace and Violence Across the Testaments. The volume honours the work of...

Review of the Oxford Handbook of the Psalms

Nov 15, 2014

Edited by William P. Brown. The Oxford Handbook of the Psalms. Oxford University Press, 2014. 661 pgs. $150.00 (Hardback). The recently released Oxford Handbook of the Psalms represents an impressive encyclopedia of Psalms scholarship. The volume includes ten sections (with an additional two appendices) produced by over forty experts in their respective disciplines. In the following review, I will introduce the reader to the book’s structure and contents by examining a cross-section of the entries...

Review of Shenoute of Atripe and the Uses of Poverty: Rural Patronage, Religious Conflict, and Monasticism in Late Antique Egypt by Ariel G. López

Oct 25, 2014

Ariel G. López. Shenoute of Atripe and the Uses of Poverty: Rural Patronage, Religious Conflict, and Monasticism in Late Antique Egypt. Transformation of the Classical Heritage Volume 50. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2013. 237 pgs. Hardback. $81.92. ISBN: 9780520274839. Shenoute of Atripe and the Uses of Poverty is the publication of López’s (revised) doctoral dissertation, defended at Princeton University in 2010. (ix) The work consists of seven main parts, including a substantial introduction,...

Review of John, Jesus, and the Renewal of Israel By Richard Horsley & Tom Thatcher

Oct 11, 2014

Horsley, Richard and Tom Thatcher John, Jesus, and the Renewal of Israel. Grand Rapids: Eerdmanns, 2013. 207 pages. Paperback. $20.00. In John, Jesus, and the Renewal of Israel, Thatcher and Horsley argue for a fresh reading of John’s Gospel. They contend that John presented Jesus as one whose ministry enacted Israel’s renewal in opposition to the Judean establishment and their Roman supporters. The larger goal of their work is to establish John as a valid source for Historical...

Review of An Ancient Commentary on the Book of Revelation: A Critical Edition of the Scholia in Apocalypsin by P. Tzamalikos

Oct 4, 2014

Tzamalikos, P. An Ancient Commentary on the Book of Revelation: A Critical Edition of the Scholia in Apocalypsin. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013. 464 + xix pages. £120. This beautiful folio volume contains the critical edition of a portion of Codex 573 of the Meteora monastery of Metamorphosis (also known as minuscule manuscripts 2329 and 2351 of the book of Revelation), as well as Tzamalikos’ comments on the manuscript and its provenance. The critical text...

Review of For the Glory of God by Daniel I. Block

Sep 27, 2014

Block, Daniel I. For the Glory of God: Recovering a Biblical Theology of Worship. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2014. 432 pages. Hardcover. Retail: $34.99. In the spring semester of 2011, I had the privilege of attending a course at Wheaton College, IL that Dr. Daniel Block taught based upon the content that would become his new book, For the Glory of God: Recovering a Biblical Theology of Worship. It is a joy to now...

Review of Text and Tradition in Performance and Writing by Richard Horsley

Sep 14, 2014

Richard A. Horsley. Text and Tradition in Performance and Writing. Biblical Performance Criticism Volume 9. Cascade Books, 2013. 2014. 340 pgs. $32.00. Paperback. Richard Horsley’s, Text and Tradition in Performance and Writing, is volume nine of the Wipf and Stock series Biblical Performance Criticism. Due to significant overlap in the content of several of the chapters, I have elected to sketch the book’s general contours rather than offer a chapter by chapter summary. The foundational...

Review of Reading the Sealed Book by J. Ross Wagner

Sep 7, 2014

J. Ross Wagner. Reading the Sealed Book: Old Greek Isaiah and the Problem of Septuagint Hermeneutics. Waco, Tex.: Baylor University Press, 2014. 308 pages. Softcover. Retail: $49.95. Reading the Sealed Book is a work concerned with Septuagint hermeneutics, especially as it pertains to Isaiah. For those not familiar with Septuagint hermeneutics, the first chapter alone is worth the price of the book. It begins with a discussion of the two major centers of controversy with...

Review of The Oral Ethos of the Early Church by Joanna Dewey

Aug 31, 2014

Joanna Dewey. The Oral Ethos of the Early Church: Speaking, Writing, and the Gospel of Mark. Biblical Performance Criticism Volume 8. Cascade Books, 2013. 204 pgs. $24.00. Paperback. Joanna Dewey’s recent volume, The Oral Ethos of the Early Church: Speaking, Writing, and the Gospel of Mark, represents one of the many important studies in Wipf and Stock’s recent series on Biblical Performance Criticism. For the sake of economy, I will not summarize every article collected...

Review of The World of the New Testament edited by Joel Green and Lee Martin McDonald

Aug 23, 2014

Joel Green and Lee Martin McDonald, editors. The World of the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2013. 640 pages. Hardcover. $49.99. The World of the New Testament (WNT) is a reference work covering a wide range of topics relating the historical background of the New Testament (NT). The volume is divided into forty seven entries contributed thirty four scholars. Entries vary in length, the shortest is only four pages while the longest is twenty...

About Book Reviews

Review of Struggles for Shalom

Review of the Oxford Handbook of the Psalms

Review of Shenoute of Atripe and the Uses of Poverty: Rural Patronage, Religious Conflict, and Monasticism in Late Antique Egypt by Ariel G. López

Review of John, Jesus, and the Renewal of Israel By Richard Horsley & Tom Thatcher

Review of An Ancient Commentary on the Book of Revelation: A Critical Edition of the Scholia in Apocalypsin by P. Tzamalikos

Review of For the Glory of God by Daniel I. Block

Review of Text and Tradition in Performance and Writing by Richard Horsley

Review of Reading the Sealed Book by J. Ross Wagner

Review of The Oral Ethos of the Early Church by Joanna Dewey

Review of The World of the New Testament edited by Joel Green and Lee Martin McDonald

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