Recently added

Old Testament Studies: Recent submissions

  • A trauma reading of Isaiah 1–12 from the “Unity Movement” perspective 
    Esterhuizen, Elizabeth; Groenewald, Alphonso, 1969- (Unisa Press, 2023-07)
    In this contribution we focus firstly on the “unity movement” which has changed the face of Isaianic studies over the last 30 or more years, having been characterised by the Duhmian interpretation of three separate books ...
  • Nehemiah – leader in times of crisis 
    Wuench, Hans-Georg (AOSIS, 2023-08)
    Times of crisis call for sustainable leadership. Often in Christian circles, (especially among Evangelicals), the biblical figure of Nehemiah is presented as a model of leadership from which one can learn directly how ...
  • 1 and 2 Chronicles as a discourse of power 
    Geyser-Fouche, Ananda B. (AOSIS, 2023-02)
    This article reflected a comparison of 1 and 2 Chronicles with its source documents. It transpires that the history of Israel and Judah is selectively retold by the authors of Chronicles with deliberate omissions and ...
  • Ezekiel and the construction of cultural trauma 
    Crouch, Carly Lorraine (De Gruyter, 2022-12)
    The book of Ezekiel may be effectively understood in terms of Jeffrey Alexander’s theory of cultural trauma, in which catastrophic events take on a wider cultural significance because they are perceived as having ...
  • Humans and non-humans as (נֶ֥פֶשׁ חַיָּֽה) and Ntu-beings : ecological appraisal of Gen 2:7 and 19 in dialogue with African-Bantu indigenous cosmology 
    Kavusa, Kivatsi Jonathan (Old Testament Society of South Africa, 2022)
    The Hebrew text of Gen 2:7, 19 describes both humans and animals as nephesh hayya’ (living being). However, a large number of contemporary influential Bible translations render this expression differently for humans and ...
  • Exploring rabbinic approaches to the Psalms 
    Michal, Gavin (Old Testament Society of South Africa, 2022)
    Today, the Jewish world has adopted a popularist - if not theurgical - approach to the Book of Psalms, where the Psalms take on a mystical and almost magical function.1 However widespread, this is only one facet of a ...
  • „Legst du ihre Himmelsschrift auf die erde an?“ (Ijob 38,33) – was aber meint „Himmelsschrift“? 
    Bockle, Jakob (Old Testament Society of South Africa, 2022)
    Since the hapax legomenon מִשְׁטָר* of Job 38:33b is understood as a “scripture of heaven,” its meaning can be deduced only from the en-vironment of the Old Near East but in particular from its context, Job 38:31–33 ...
  • The debate on the sectarian movement in the Dead Sea Scrolls continues 
    Geyser-Fouche, Ananda B. (Unisa Press, 2023-02)
    This article reviews the debate concerning the sectarian movement in the Dead Sea Scrolls. The consensus that the movement described in the Damascus Document and Community Rule originated in a dispute over the high ...
  • Keepers of the vineyard and the fence around the Torah : the vineyard metaphor in Rabbinic literature 
    Teugels, Lieve M. (Brill Academic Publisher, 2022-01)
    Rabbinic texts apply the metaphor of the vineyard to the Torah as well as to Israel. Conceptual Metaphor Theory allows us to explain the parallel use of the vineyard metaphor for the two target domains, Israel and the ...
  • Mann Gottes oder Gottmann? Die Rolle Elijas in der Endzeit und die Rezeption von Maleachi 3,1 und 23-24 in der rabbinischen Auslegung 
    Teugels, Lieve M. (Universität Salzburg; Bibelwissenschaft und Kirchengeschichte, 2023)
    Typisierungen Elijas sind vielfältig: Prophet, Priester, heiliger Mann, Wundertäter, Streitschlichter, Vorläufer des Messias. In der rabbinischen Tradition findet man sie alle, oft mit legendären Zügen. Auch in der ...
  • Binitariarism 
    Teugels, Lieve M. (De Gruyter, 2023-06)
    Binitarianism is the belief in two persons within one godhead. This is usually distinguished from bitheism—belief in two gods, but this distinction is not always clear in the scholarly literature. In this entry we take ...
  • Identity formation in Proverbs 22 and the Mkpuru Mmiri drug crisis in Igbo communities 
    Uroko, Favour Chukwuemeka (AOSIS, 2022-08-18)
    Although progress, no matter how small, has been made by scholars who examined different aspects of the Mkpuru Mmiri [methamphetamine or crystal meth] drug crisis in Nigerian Igbo communities, literature is yet to approach ...
  • The significance of the names of the builders in Nehemiah 3 
    Haasbroek, Ursula V. (University of Pretoria, 2023)
    The composition of the list of builders and its incorporation into Nehemiah's autobiography has captivated the attention of many modern-day intellectuals. Scholars concede that the list does not form part of the Nehemiah ...
  • Is the sin of Jehu the fault of the Deuteronomist? Hosea 1* and the Deuteronomistic redaction of the Book of the Four 
    Kato, Szabolcs-Ferencz (Brill Academic Publishers, 2024-01)
    In recent years an increasing scepticism has arisen concerning the Deuteronomistic character of the Book of the Four (Hos, Amos, Mic, Zeph). Many themes and motifs have been regarded as “inspired” by or “oriented” towards ...
  • YHWH : a Storm-God of Hosea? The beginning of Yahwism in light of the Book of Hosea 
    Kato, Szabolcs-Ferencz (Routledge, 2022)
    The original profile of YHWH is a much-discussed issue of research, YHWH being defined mostly as either an El-like or a Baal-like deity. Scholars are investigating older texts of the Hebrew Bible that might reflect relevant ...
  • The ontological status of Yahweh and the existence of the thing we call God 
    Mokoena, Lerato Likopo Dinah (Calabar School of Philosophy, 2022-12)
    The essence of deities has captured our imaginations for as long as we can remember. Does a God exist, or is the divine entity just a figment of our dreams, a projection? Is God what Aribiah Attoe calls a “regressively ...
  • Honor in the cult : Leviticus 10 in socio-rhetorical perspective 
    Heyd, Andrew (Sage, 2022-06)
    Walter Houston’s article on the death of Nadab and Abihu is one of the few attempts to bring a social science model of honor and shame to bear on the Pentateuch. This article will argue that he did not go far enough in ...
  • The prayer of Jacob Chapter 1 
    Khumalo, Sihe (Stellenbosch University, 2022)
    The primary source that will be used in this translation is The prayer of Jacob chapter 1. The selected text is from Henrichs and Preisendanz 1974:148–149. I will also make reference to the translation of the text in ...
  • Why did Paul cite Habakkuk 2:4b? 
    Lim, Timothy H. (Sage, 2022-03)
    One of the most perplexing uses of the Old Testament in the New is Paul’s quotation of ‘the one who is righteous will live by faith’ to support his view that: divine righteousness is revealed through faith (Rom 1:17); no ...
  • How was the canon formed? 
    Lim, Timothy H. (Sage, 2022-06)
    The Hebrew Bible or Old Testament did not drop down from heaven, as is sometimes believed. It is widely agreed that the canon is the construct of faith communities. But what was the process that led to the formation of the ...