Reviews

R aoul M ortley : Connaissance Religieuse et Herméneutique chez Clément ďAlexandrie
C hristopher H aigh : Reformation and Resistance in Tudor Lancashire. London and New York
M. W. A nderson : Peter Martyr: a Reformer in Exile: a Chronology of the Biblical Writings in England and Europe
E lliot R ose : Cases of Conscience: Alternatives Open to Recusants and Puritans under Elizabeth I and James I. London and New York
G. R. R. T reasure : Cardinal Richelieu and the Development of Absolutism
D ietrich B laufuss : Spener-Arbeiten; Quellenstudien und Untersuchungen zu Philipp Jacob Spener und zur frühen Wirkung des lutherischen Pietismus. Bern and Frankfurt/M.
B. J. M ijuskovic : The Achilles of Rationalist Arguments. The Hague, Nijhoff
F rank E. M anuel : The Religion of Isaac Newton. Oxford, Clarendon Press
B arry C hant : Heart of Fire: The Story of Australian Pentecostalism. Adelaide
J oseph A mato : Mounter and Maritain: A French Catholic Understanding of the Modern World. University, Alabama, University of Alabama Press     

Scolding aesthetics in biblical literature

Abstract

The leading purpose of this study is to critically introduce a textual layer in the Bible which is both ideologically intriguing and aestethically appealing. The textual, Biblical layer in focus may be entitled “Scolding Aesthetics”, Accordingly, the Biblical narrator dexterously utilizes an intricate literary mechanism while harnessing it to a morel rebuke which he aims at a certain Biblical character (usually of high fame and reputation). Hence, scolding aesthetics may also be considered an intersection where Biblical literary artistry and moral values cross, interact and mutually produce a complex textual system.

The current study demonstrate the practice of that Biblical‐literary‐moral strategy through a close reading of three Biblical texts: Genesis, 12 (Abraham descends to Egypt) 2 Samuel, 11 (King David who does not participate in the war against the Ammonites) and Genesis, 3 (Eve's Fall). All three illustrations effectively surrender and display the aesthetic‐moral mechanism under consideration while plausibly proving as well how the “epidemic” textual layer of the Bible may deliberately lead astray. Accordingly, under the seemingly simple and “innocent” narrative one may excavate underlying currents of remarkably aesthetic intricacy which operates impressively as rhetorical tool of moral lesson.     

Book Reviews

Books Reviewed:
Fisher, Peter S. and Peters, Alan H., Industrial Incentives: Competition among American States and Cities
Frankel, Jeffrey A., The Regionalization of the World Economy
Warner, Stephen R. and Wittner, Judith G., Gatherings in Diaspora: Religious Communities and the New Immigration     

BOOK REVIEWS

Books reviewed in this article:
Olsson, Gunnar, Birds in Egg/Eggs in Bird
REPLaY
A Critical Review of The Political Economy of the Welfare State , by Ian Cough.
The Geography of Public Finance , by R. J. Bennett     

Just a Little Bend on the S-Curve: The Rise and Fall of Linguistic Change in Post-Classical Biblical Hebrew

The paper deals with the text-critical challenge and the variationist analysis in application to the historical linguistics of Biblical Hebrew, coming out in recent research, particularly in Historical Linguistics and Biblical Hebrew by Robert Rezetko and Ian Young (2014). Different textual transmissions have become part of the linguistic corpus and an indispensable part of historical-linguistic research. Variationist analysis corroborates that some explicit innovative processes in the standard literary idiom of the Persian period were reversed by the conservative tendency, distinctive in the Qumran corpus, so that it will be more accurate to speak about two different stages in Late Biblical Hebrew development: Persian period and Late Hellenistic—early Roman periods.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed:
Tom Mels, Reanimating Places: A Geography of Rhythms
William Coleman, Wyn Grant and Tim Josling, Agriculture in the New Global Economy
Ray Hudson, Economic Geographies: Circuits, Flows and Spaces
John R. Gold and George Revill, Representing the Environment
Neil Brenner, New State Spaces. Urban Governance and The Rescaling of Statehood     

REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article:
Geography of the U.S.S.R. , by R oy E. H. M ellor , Macmillan and Co. Ltd., London
Aboriginal Watercraft on the Pacific Coast of South America , by C. R. E dwards , Ibero-Americana, 47, University of California
Geography: Its Scope and Spirit , by J an O. M. B roek , Social Science Seminar Series, Charles E. Merrill Books     

Educational Policy Analyses: Three Recent Works

Books reviewed in this articles:
Derrick Ben, ed., Shades of Brown; New Perspectives on School Desegregation
Michael E. Manley-Casimir, ed., Family Choice in Schooling
Michael A. Rebell and Arthur R. Block, Educational Policy Making and the Courts: An Empirical Study of Judicial Activism     

BOOK REVIEWS

Books Reviewed in this Article:
Wayne V. McIntosh. 190. The Appeal of Civil Law: A Political-Economic Analysis of Litigation
Norma M. Riccucci. 1990. Women, Minorities, and Unions in the Public Sector
James R. Bowers. 1990. Regulating the Regulators: An Introduction to the Legislative Oversight of Administrative Rulemaking
William F. Shughart II. 1990. Antitrust Policy and Interest-Group Politics     

Kennedy on Tape

Books reviewed:
Philip Zelikow and Ernest May, general eds.; Timothy Naftali, ed., vol. 1; Timothy Naftali and Philip D. Zelikow, eds., vol. 2; Philip D. Zelikow and Ernest R. May, eds., vol. 3. The Presidential Recordings: John F. Kennedy: The Great Crises.     

The Fictions of Biblical History

Book reviewed in this article:
The Mythic Past: Biblical Archaeology and the Myth ofIsrael , by Thomas L. Thompson     

The Usefulness of Applied Social Science: Three Views

Books reviewed in this article:
Peter W. House, The Art of Public Policy Analysis .
Robert F. Rich, Social Science Information and Public Policy Making .
Robert A. Scott and Arnold R. Shore, Why Sociology Does Not Apply; A Study of the Use of Sociology in Public Policy .     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed in this article:
Renate D. Klein and Deborah Lynn Steinberg, (Eds.) Radical Voices: A Decade of Feminist Resistance from Women's Studies International Forum
D. Gregory and R. Walford, (eds.), Horizons in Human Geography.
P. J. Taylor Britain and the Cold War: 1945 as Geopolitical Transition.     

Book Reviews

Book review in this Article On Teachinn Histon, in Collepes nnd Universities. Bv Earl R. Beck. Modernization. Edited, with an introduction, by Myron Weiner. Men, Machines, and Modem Times. By Elting E. Morison. A History of Space Flight. By Eugene M. Emme. Archaeology, Historical Attalogy, und Early Biblical Tradition. By William F. Albright. Europe in the Nineteenth Century, 1830–1880. By H. Harder. A New History of Portugal. By H. V. Livermore. Revolutionary Hamburg: Labor Politics in the Early Weimar Republic. By Richard A. Comfort. The Police State of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, 1851–1860. By Howard C. Payne. French Communism in the Making, 1914–1924. By Robert Wohl. Pilsudski's Coup D'Etat. By Joseph Rothschild. The American Natal Rmlution. By Walter R. Herrick, Jr. Trumaii and Taff-Hartly: A Question of Mandate. By R. Alton Lee. The Last Inca Rcvolt, 1780–1783. By Lillian Estelle Fisher. Origins of Mendelism. By Robert C. Olby. With an introduction by C. D. Darlington.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed in this article:
Thirdspace: journeys to Los Angeles and other real and imagined places Edward W Soja
Union retreat and the regions: the shrinking landscape of organised labour Ron Martin, Peter Sunley and Jane Wills
Rights of way: policy, culture and management Charles Watkins (ed.)
Human geography – an essential reader J Agnew, D N Livingstone and A Rogers (eds)
Exploring human geography – a reader S Daniels and R Lee (eds)
Global continental palaeohydrology K J Gregory, L Starkel and V R Baker (eds)
Advances in fluvial dynamics and stratigraphy Paul A Carling and Martin R Dawson eds
Interactive spatial data analysis Trevor C Bailey and Anthony C Gatrell     

Books in Summary

Books reviewed:
Pictures of Innocence: the History and Crisis of Ideal Childhood . By Anne Higonnet
Spheres of Philosophical Inquiry and the Historiography of Medieval Philosophy . By John Inglis
In the Past Lane: Historical Perspectives on American Culture . By Michael Kammen
A Romantic Historiosophy: The Philosophy of History of Pierre-Simon Ballanche . By Arthur McCalla
Michelet: La Magistrature de l'histoire . By Olivier Remaud
A Global Encyclopedia of Historical Writing . Edited by D. R. Woolf     

The Theophany and Meal of Exodus 24

ABSTRACT

The Hebrew Bible may give the impression that there was a clearly definable area called Geshur. The Biblical view is often adopted in scholarly literature. The kingdom of Geshur plays a role in the reconstruction of the political situation during the early monarchic period, especially during the reign of King David.

However, historical sources for Geshur are shaky. These Biblical traditions may contain an early core that may even preserve an ancient memory of Geshur, but their historical value is much smaller than what scholarly discussion would implicate. They do not justify many of the views found in scholarly discussion. Scholarship has also sought to corroborate the Biblical traditions with two external sources but the evidence is very problematic, and, in the worst case, its use is reminiscent of Biblicism, where the main function of external sources is to corroborate Biblical texts.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed:
Margaret K. Nelson and Joan Smith, Working Hard and Making Do: Surviving in Small Town America
George R. Zodrow, State Sales and Income Taxes: An Economic Analysis
Clive Granger, Empirical Modelling in Economics: Specification and Evaluation
Emil E. Malizia and Edward J. Feser, Understanding Local Economic Development
Richard Muir, Approaches to Landscape
Jan Albers, Hands on the Land: A History of the Vermont Landscape
Michel Bellet and Corine La'Harmet (eds.), Industry, Space and Competition: The Contribution of Economists of the Past
Stephanie S. Pincetl, Transforming California: A Political History of Land Use and Development     

History of Israelite religion or old testament theology? Jewish interest in biblical theology

Abstract

Both branches — the “history of the Israelite religion” and “Old Testament theology” — are significant and have equal merit. However, there are also distinct demarcations and deep differences between them. Thus, the research of each must be separate and follow unique clearly defined methods so as to avoid confusion. It is interesting to discover the theological guidelines of the Biblical authors, editors and canonists. There is also a necessity to be aware of the theological guidelines that control the Biblical corpora; to read the Bible for religious messages and moral values which may be derived from it. Nevertheless, it is impractical to look for or to impose one sole idea on the whole Bible. Christian theologians should not introduce any sort of anti‐Semitic or anti‐Jewish theology. Jews are interested in the theology of the Hebrew Bible and in Biblical theology. The main reasons for the limited interest of Jewish scholars in Biblical theology is inherent in the youthfulness of scholarly Jewish Biblical research; the focus of Jewish‐Israeli interest on Biblical research in the last generations; and in the formation of higher educational institutions first and foremost in Israel as well as in some Jewish institutions in America.