Sacred Geography,Antiquarianism and Visual Erudition: Benito Arias Montano and the Maps in the Antwerp Polyglot Bible

The final volume of the Polyglot Bible, edited by Benito Arias Montano and printed in Antwerp by Christophe Plantin, was published in 1571–1572. Forming part of the Bible's Apparatus, the volume contains a number of essays, illustrations and maps by Montano relating to questions raised by the biblical text. Montano's maps were a product of his philological training in Oriental languages and exegesis, his profound interest in antiquarianism and geography and his practice of visualizing and tabulating knowledge. He designed his maps both as study aids and as devotional‐meditative devices. Moreover, the maps reflect his wider philosophical outlook, according to which Holy Scripture contains the foundations of all natural philosophy. Montano's case encourages us to re‐examine early modern Geographia sacra in the light of the broader scholarly trends of the period.     

THE LETTER KILLS: ON SOME IMPLICATIONS OF 2 CORINTHIANS 3:62

The paper focuses on an argument put forward by Augustine in his De doctrina Christiana: there are passages in the Bible that need to be read in a literal, contextual, and ultimately rhetorical perspective. This approach to the Bible (usually overshadowed by Augustine's own parallel emphasis on the importance of allegory) was needed to deal with customs—for instance the patriarchs' polygamy—that had to be evaluated, Augustine argued, according to standards different from those prevailing in the present day. This need inspired Augustine to utter some sharp remarks on the need to avoid (as we would say today) ethnocentric, anachronistic projections into the Biblical text. The long‐term impact of Augustine's argument was profound. The emphasis on the letter played a significant role in the exchanges between Christian and Jewish medieval readings of the Bible, which affected Nicholas of Lyra's influential commentary (Postilla). The same tradition may have contributed to Valla's and Karlstadt's audacious hermeneutic remarks on the Biblical canon, which covertly or openly focused on contradictions in the Biblical text, questioning the role of Moses as author of Deuteronomy. Traces of those discussions can be detected in Spinoza's Tractatus theologico‐politicus. The paper suggests that the emphasis on a literal, contextual reading of the Bible provided a model for secular reading in general. The possible role of this model in the aggressive encounter between Europe and alien cultures is a matter of speculation.     

Fear and Foreign Bodies: The Bible and "Post-Racial" American Identity

Abstract

The Bible has played a prominent role in US political discourse, shaping ideas of race, ethnicity and identity. Its influence on the political landscape today is most evident within conservative politics—among evangelical Christians and the Tea Party Movement. At least in perception, its influence has been divisive. What role do biblical scholars and academic theologians have to play in contemporary social and political discourse, particularly with respect to race? This article approaches the question first by way of the concept of the political as espoused by Carl Schmitt and the category "race," both as applied to antiquity and to the modern period; second, through a reading of Genesis 20; and third, through attention to contemporary discussions of race among contextual and liberation theologians, focusing on the problem of essentialism in the constitution of identity. The article concludes by drawing together these elements to offer thoughts on a future course of American identity in the context of post-race desires and fears.     

“If I were hungry,I would not tell you” (Ps 50, 12): Perspectives on the Care and Feeding of the Gods in the Hebrew Bible

Abstract

In the Hebrew Bible, sacrifices are described as food for Yahweh and thus the sacrificial system corresponds with the general Ancient Near Eastern system of the “care and feeding of the gods” At the same time, human-divine commensality is problematized in narrative texts such as Judges 6 and 13, where the burnt offering is stressed as the only and necessarily different way the deity may consume food. Finally, some passages, such as Psalm 50, quoted above, explicitly reject the notion that sacrifices and offerings should be required as sustenance for Yahweh since he is the creator and owner of the world and everything in it.

This article offers a survey of various views on sacrifice as food for the deity in the Hebrew Bible and discusses these views in their Ancient Near Eastern context. It is suggested that the main understanding of sacrifice as meal in the Hebrew Bible is one that emphasizes difference through commensality and stresses the incompatibility of the human and the divine sphere through the social locus of the meal.     

Crisis as turning point: Chaim Weizmann in world war I

This article explores the dissonance between the radicalism of Ahad Ha'am's essays such as “Ancestor Worship” (1897) and “Moses” (1904), and his defense of the Masoretic Text as the starting point for teaching the Bible and rejection of source criticism as a pedagogic tool in the Herzliya Gymnasium debate. While Ahad Ha'am consistently deployed the Bible as a tool for promoting national revival, his polemics against Yosef Haim Brenner's attempt to divorce national identity from cultural allegiance to the Bible, and against Claude G. Montefiore's attempt to place the New Testament on a Jewish pedestal, drove him to a more conservative position.     

语言的力量——《圣经·巴别塔》与贵州金沙民间传说《汉苗彝的来历》之比较

传说是民间文学的一种,是先民们关于自然、世界、自身的文学叙述,具有极大的人类学意义。《圣经？巴别塔》和流传于贵州金沙一带的少数民族传说《汉苗彝的来历》这两个故事中,虽然父的形象、子的形象和塔的象征有其异同,但二者都隐藏着这样的语言观：语言对于人有着本质性的意义。     

The Temporality of Eternal Prosperity: Prospero’s Labors of Love in The Tempest

In this essay, I examine the role of providence in Shakespeare’s The Tempest alongside the concept of history that Kierkegaard develops in Philosophical Fragments. I argue that the art of the play is contained in Prospero’s historical and loving engagement with the past. In short, I undertake to show that, in stark contrast to the Greek and Roman conception of time as fate, it is in viewing love as both the temporal origin and the eternal goal of existence that the time of our lives is rendered providential, that is, meaningful and historical.     

President Obama,the Bible,and Political Rhetoric

Abstract

How has President Obama made use of the Bible in his political rhetoric, especially as it relates to public policy debates? This article addresses Obama's religious origins, his work as a community organizer in Chicago, his coming to Christian faith under the leadership of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and the development of his understanding regarding the relationship between faith and politics. In particular President Obama has emphasized the notion that we are all our brothers' and sisters' keepers. He also stresses the present generation of black Americans as "the Joshua Generation." The article considers President Obama's hermeneutics, as well as the important context of the black church for his own use of Scripture. The lenses of Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Reinhold Niebuhr are also addressed as they relate to Obama's use of Scripture in political rhetoric.     

The first English map of India

EUROPE

Somerset. By Arthur Mee. Illustrated. Map. Demy 8vo. Pp. ix+483. Price 10s. 6d.

Cambridge. By J. Stegmann. Illustrated. Demy 8vo. Pp. vii+120. Price 10s. 6d.

The Streets of London. By T. Burke. Illustrated. Demy 8vo. Pp. xii+152. Price 10s. 6d.

Curiosities of Town and Countryside. By E. Vale. Illustrated. Demy 8vo. Pp. viii+152. Price 10s. 6d.

The English Countryside. By Various Writers. Illustrated. Crown 8vo. Pp. 250. Price 6s.

Corn Country. By C. H. Warren. Illustrated. Demy 8vo. Pp. viii+136. Price 7s. 6d.

Red Hell. By J. Ameel. Demy 8vo. Pp. 316. London : Robert Hale Ltd., 1941. Price 12s. 6d.

The Way to an Island. By R. M. Rockley. Demy 8vo. Illustrated. Pp. xi+208. London : J. M. Dent and Sons Ltd., 1941. Price 7s. 6d.

If I Laugh. By R. Downing. Demy 8vo. Pp. 224. London : George G. Harrap and Co. Ltd., 1941. Price 8s. 6d.

The Eastern March Lands of Europe. By H. G. Wanklyn. Demy 8vo. Pp. xxiii+356. London : Philip and Son Ltd., 1941. Price 12s 6d.

The Place Names of West Lothian. By Angus Macdonald, M.A., Ph.D. Demy 8vo. Pp. xv+179. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd Ltd., 1941. Price 15s.

Where the Shannon River Flows. By Richard Hayward. Illustrated. Demy 8vo. Pp. 327. London : George G. Harrap and Co. Ltd., 1940. Price 12s. 6d.

My Alpine Album. By F. Smythe. Illustrated. Imperial 8vo. Pp. 147. London : A. and C. Black Ltd., 1940. Price 12s. 6d.

Living Space. By Stoyan Pribichevich. Demy 8vo. Pp. ix+362. London : William Heinemann Ltd., 1940. Price 15s.

Lundy, Isle of Puffins. By R. Perry. Illustrated. Demy 8vo. Pp. 267. London : Lindsay Drummond, 1940. Price 12s. 6d.

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Independent Egypt. By Amine Youssef Bey. Demy 8vo. Pp. xxiv+272. London : John Murray, 1941. Price 15s.

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Mexico. A New Spain with Old Friends. By J. B. Trend. Illustrated. Demy 8vo. Pp. 185. London : Cambridge University Press Ltd., 1940. Price 12s. 6d.

Voice from the Wilderness. By R. W. Thompson. Demy 8vo. Pp. 360. London : Faber and Faber Ltd., 1940. Price 12s. 6d.

Back of Beyond. By H. Noice. Illustrated. Demy 8vo. Pp. 253, London : George G. Harrap and Co. Ltd., 1940. Price 8s. 6d.

Southward Ho ! By W. La Varre. Illustrated. Demy 8vo. Pp. 258. London : William Heinemann Ltd., 1940. Price 12s. 6d.

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Oriental Assembly. By T. E. Lawrence. Illustrated. Demy 8vo. Pp. xli+291. London : Williams and Norgate, 1940. Price 10s. 6d.

Siam in Transition. By Kenneth Perry Landon. Demy 8vo. Pp. ix+328. London : Oxford University Press, 1939. Price 10s. 6d.

Syria As It Is. By Helen Cameron Gordon. Illustrated. Demy 8vo. Pp. viii+211. London : Methuen and Co. Ltd., 1939. Price 10s. 6d.

Drinkers of the Wind. By Carl R. Raswan. Illustrated. Pp. 288. Demy 8vo. London : Hutchinson and Co. Ltd., 1940. Price 18s.

Canoe to Mandalay. By R. Raven‐Hart. Illustrated. Demy 8vo. Pp. 245. London : Frederick Muller Ltd., 1939. Price 12s. 6d.

Adventures in Siam in the Seventeenth Century. By E. W. Hutchinson. Map. Demy 8vo. Pp. xxvii+283. London : Royal Asiatic Society, 1940. Price 12s. 6d.

Briton and Turk. By Philip Graves. Demy 8vo. Pp. 260. London : Hutchinson and Co. Ltd., 1941. Price 12s. 6d.

Five Miles High. By the Members of the Karakoram Expedition. Illustrated. Demy 8vo. Pp. 319. London : Robert Hale Ltd., 1940. Price 15s.

Sons of Sindbad. By A. Villiers. Illustrated. Demy 8vo. Pp. xiv+346. London : Hodder and Stoughton Ltd., 1940. Price 20s.

Land of the Blue Poppy. By F. Kingdon Ward. Pp.192. A Penguin Sixpenny Edition of Kingdon Ward's Travels in Eastern Tibet.

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I Went to Tristan. By A. B. Crawford. Illustrated. Maps. Demy 8vo. Pp. 268. London : Hodder and Stoughton Ltd., 1941. Price 18s.

Shackleton's Boat Journey. By Commander F. A. Worsley. Crown 8vo. Pp. 191. London : Hodder and Stoughton Ltd., 1940. Price 2s. 6d.

Peaks, Packs, and Mountain Tracks. By W. S. Gilkinson. Illustrated. Crown 8vo. Pp. 120. London : Whitcombe and Tombs Ltd., 1941. Price 5s.

GENERAL

The Scot Who was a Frenchman. By Marie W. Stuart. Impl. 8vo. Pp. 327. Edinburgh : William Hodge and Co. Ltd., 1940. Price 12s. 6d.

Contemporary Ancestors. By C. Young. Demy 8vo. Pp.190. London: R.T.S., 1941. Price 6s.

The Cambridge History of the British Empire. Vol. II. The Growth of the New Empire, 1783–1870. By various Authors. Impl. 8vo. Pp. xii+1068. London: Cambridge University Press, 1940. Price 50s.

Things Mortal. By Sir Frederick O'Connor. Illustrated. Demy 8vo. Pp. 260. London : Hodder and Stoughton Ltd., 1940. Price 10s 6d.

The Last Secrets. The Final Mysteries of Exploration. By John Buchan. Demy 8vo. Pp. 303. Edinburgh : Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd., 1941. Price 3s.

Middle East. By H. V. Morton. Demy 8vo. Pp. viii+326. Illustrated. London : Methuen and Co. Ltd., 1941. Price 8s. 6d.

Distant Horizon. By Carl Shreve. Illustrated. Demy 8vo. Pp. 288. London : Herbert Jenkins Ltd., 1940. Price 12s. 6d.

Our British Empire: Its Structure, Its History, and Its Strength. By Stephen Leacock. Crown 8vo. Pp.280. London: John Lane (The Bodley Head) Ltd., 1940. Price 7s. 6d.

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The Lands of Eastern Peoples. By Bradford and Moss. Maps and Illustrations. Demy 8vo. Pp. 145. London : George G. Harrap and Co. Ltd., 1941. Price 2s. 3d.

Man the World Over. By Carter and Brentnaix. Demy 8vo. Pp. 250 approx. Vols 1, 2 and 3. Oxford : Basil Blackwell, 1941. Price 3s. 3d. each.

Nature at Work. By E. M. Stephenson. Demy 8vo. Pp. 96 and 91. Books I and II. London : A. and C. Black Ltd., 1941. Prices 1s. 9d. and 1s. 10d.

MAPS

Bartholomew's Map of Europe Occupied by Germany. Price 3s. 6d.

Philip's The War in Maps. Price 1s. 6d. This is a handy atlas showing the various steps of German expansion from 1870 to the seizures in the present war. It is striking.     

Dwelling Brothers,Oozing Oil,and Descending Dew: Reading Psalm 133 Through the Lens of Yehudite Social Memory

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the ways in which Psalm 133 contributes to and is shaped by social memory in Yehud. By reading this psalm as a voice within a larger discourse of cultural memories, the images of brothers dwell-ing together, flowing oil, and dew can be understood to fit within a standard narrative structure according to which the Yehudite community fashioned its stories, highlighting a sense of continuity between Israel’s perceived golden age and its anticipated utopian future. In this paper, I argue that through the collective reliving of shared memories, the community was able to virtually participate in the glorious existence that it perceived to be due to it as YHWH’s chosen people, contributing to a sense of collective identity.