“They say ignorance is bliss, and, yeah, maybe, but it’s still fucking ignorance.”
– Rachel Harrison, Play Nice (Berkley, 2025), “After”
- The latest issue of Vetus Testamentum is out and there are a few open access articles that look pretty interesting, especially Idan Dershowitz and Na’ama Pat El’s “The Forgotten Meaning of אֹות.”
- Alexandria Frisch talks Moses and his extra-biblical portrayals, including that he was apparently a pretty baby.
- Meredith Warren appeared on Shirley Paulson’s The Bible and Beyond Podcast to talk about anti-Jewish readings and how they affect our understanding of the New Testament.
- John Nelson talks about what came before the Gospels, including a helpful overview of form criticism, what it got right and wrong, and its demise.
- James Davila provides links to two obituaries for archaeologist Gabriel Barkay. I had never heard of Barkay and, as it turns out, a lot of his work was written in Hebrew with very little in the way of English translation available to those outside of Israel.
- Free (for a limited time) book alert! Ky Heinze’s has written the latest entry in the Cambridge Elements series on early Christian literature. This one is titled Origen on Demonic Executioners and the Problem of Evil. Get it while the gettin’s good!
- Andrew Mark Henry discusses the Roman emperor Nero and the historical background of the belief he would return that is reflected in the book of Revelation.
- After the rape of their sister Dinah at the hands of Shechem, Levi and Simeon, through a clever ruse, get revenge and murder her assailant and his entourage (Gen 34). This upsets the rather callous and self-serving Jacob who on his deathbed effectively denounces the brothers. Shauf Bar talks about these texts and their later reception, noting how some readers believed that Levi and Simeon were in the right, bring to fruition God’s plan for Shechem.
The Amateur Exegete 