The online Journal of Hebrew Scriptures announced a few new book reviews today. Some are noteworthy for material covered on this blog:
Michael Hundley, Keeping Heaven on Earth: Safeguarding the Divine Presence in the Priestly Tabernacle (FAT II, 50; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2011)
- I reference Hundley’s work in my recent article in JESOT on how divine plurality is not evidence of monotheistic evolution. I’m actually working on a more in depth article of some themes covered there to which Hundley’s work contributes.
Alice Wood, Of Wings and Wheels: A Synthetic Study of the Biblical Cherubim (BZAW, 385; Berlin and New York: de Gruyter, 2008)
- The most recent work on cherubim
Anne Moore, Moving Beyond Symbol and Myth: Understanding the Kingship of God of the Hebrew Bible through Metaphor (Studies in Biblical Literature, 99; New York: Peter Lang, 2009).
Bruce Harvey, YHWH Elohim: A Survey of Occurrences in the Leningrad Codex and their Corresponding Septuagintal Renderings (LHBOTS 537; Hebrew Bible and its Versions 6; London/New York: T&T Clark, 2011)
Umm the first two are attractive to me. JESOT is new right, from last year ?
correct
Mike,
How can we get your most recent article to which your refer? Is it on your website?
The one that is actually done was published by JESOT a while back. It’s available online. I’m still working on the other one.
Link: http://jesot.org/2012/06/does-divine-plurality-in-the-hebrew-bible-demonstrate-an-evolution-from-polytheism-to-monotheism-in-israelite-religion-by-michael-s-heiser/
Dr. Heiser,
I read through excerpts of Hundley’s book. While I find his concept of Priestly rituals to keep God on earth fascinating (and consonant with the Near East), does not his idea of God described by the Priestly writers as “transcendent” and “beyond description” contradict your previous recommendation, Benjamin Sommer’s The Bodies of God and Ancient Israel wherein God is embodied?
not every scholar will say the same things; they are both stimulating. I think the “transcendent” thing is over-blown.