Published since June 28, 2014

Journal of the Bible and its Reception

ISSN: 2329-4434

Edited by: Jorunn Oekland, David Kraemer, Katherine Marsengill, Christopher Ocker

Managing Editor: Fiona C. Black

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About this journal

Objective
The Journal of the Bible and Its Reception (JBR) promotes the study of the reception history of the Bible in terms of both methodology and content. Published twice annually, JBR aims to shed light on the broader horizon of the impact of the Bible in a wide variety of academic fields and cultural settings. Articles focus on the field of Reception History, delivering new research results as well as up-to-date academic discourse. The journal also intentionally cultivates interdisciplinarity, covering a wide range of topics including reception of the Bible in Judaism, Christianity, Islam and other religions; in patristic, medieval, modern, contemporary, and postcolonial contexts; in film, music, literature, and visual arts; and in relation to politics, gender and sexuality, and a variety of other social and cultural issues.

De Gruyter is partnering with the Society of Biblical Literature to offer benefits and discounts on publications in biblical reception to SBL members.

De Gruyter provides you with an array of publications in the area of Bible and biblical Reception:

Topics

Religious studies
History of reception
Old and New Testament
Bible reception
Judaism
Christianity
Islam

Article formats
Original research articles, book reviews

Information on submission process

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Your benefits

Interdisciplinary studies on the Bible reception
Innovative methodology
Wide variety of academic fields and cultural settings
Various contexts and perspectives on the Bible and its reception
Open access publication

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External Links

Volume 10 Issue 2

November 2023

Publicly Available November 14, 2023

Frontmatter

Page range: i-iii

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October 19, 2023

Martin Luther King, Jr. and Apocalyptic Thought

Lisa Bowens

Page range: 151-172

Abstract

Apocalyptic literature has been designated as “crisis literature” and as a “form of protest against society” by some interpreters. This essay explores Martin Luther King Jr.’s reception and use of apocalyptic literature and thought in his sermons and writings. In doing so, it examines how King appropriates this literature as well as apocalyptic motifs to speak about the significance of African American history and to protest racism in American society. Such an analysis provides insight into the ongoing importance of the protest and crisis features of these apocalyptic texts. Moreover, the apocalyptic facets of King’s work have never been analyzed from a biblical studies perspective and this essay highlights the significance of these dimensions for his social justice work.

October 4, 2023

Enoch’s Green Apocalypse: The Source Material of Aronofsky’s Noah

Robby Waddell

Page range: 173-192

Abstract

A cataclysmic event, often spelling disaster for the environment, is an essential element to the backstory of any post-apocalyptic tale. In these stories, the presupposed ecological tragedy may have severely altered the environment, but it has not annihilated it. In fact, what has happened is that the apocalyptic catastrophe has neutralized the ecological threats that were the original catalysts for the devastation in the first place, resulting in an opportunity for the environment to rebound once its abusers have faced judgment. In other words, Earth may get beaten black-and-blue, yet the final effect is a green apocalypse—an event that rids Earth of its destructive inhabitants or at least counterbalances their negative effects, giving the global ecosystem a chance to renew. In this article I offer readings of two apocalyptic stories— 1 Enoch and Darren Aronofsky’s Noah . My approach to these stories utilizes elements from a method of ecological hermeneutics that has been developed by Norman Habel and others from the Earth Bible team. The Noahic flood story is one of the earliest examples of a “green” apocalypse, in which the penultimate event may have been devastation on the planet, but the ultimate end was a renewal of Earth. It is my hope that these ecological readings with their attention to the concept of a green apocalypse may be useful in appreciating the possibility of eco-friendly interpretations of apocalyptic texts.

October 9, 2023

Armageddon: A History of the Location of the End of Time

Régis Burnet, Pierre-Édouard Detal

Page range: 193-219

Abstract

Rev 16:16 is a textbook case for any reception history analysis. Indeed, its reception has several successive tipping points, as in any reception history. In Revelation, as the text makes clear, it is a Hebrew literary name whose interpretation was not easy: from Tyconius to the most contemporary commentators, Armageddon is understood as a code name whose key remains lost. It was not until the 16th century that the name of a mountain was recognised, har Mageddo, the mountain of Magedon, linked to the fortress of Megiddo in the Jezreel plain. From Joachim of Flora onwards, the location of the eschatological battle is sought geographically. This change of lexical category marks a major interpretive revolution, for if one can locate the place on a map, then the war that takes place there becomes concrete. By virtue of geography, what belonged to myth—and thus to non-time—becomes tangible and is inscribed in a future temporality. From Alexander the Minorite to Hal Lindsey, the battle of Armageddon becomes a mirror of the geopolitics of the Latin and Anglo-American world. This ubiquity of the term over the last forty years has had a paradoxical effect: its withdrawal from geographical considerations. Thanks to the mechanism of antonomasia, the toponym tends to cover, by synecdoche, all the events of the end of time. It thus becomes the proper name of the end of time.

November 1, 2023

Is Biblical Studies Stuck in Antiquarianism? The Case of Behemoth and Leviathan

Mark Sneed

Page range: 221-244

Abstract

In this article, a trajectory is traced that demonstrates that the soft consensus that Behemoth and Leviathan are the hippo and croc, respectively, is part of a larger phenomenon whereby these originally monstrous beasts have become domesticated and demythologized or their mythological nature rationalized. The great beasts as natural Egyptian animals only goes back to a 17th century Huguenot who was an etymologist, orientalist, antiquarian, and minister. This process of/domestication/demythologization in a weak form actually can be discerned in the Hebrew Bible itself but reaches its zenith during the Enlightenment. In the article, a trajectory of protest against this process is mapped out. And, finally, monsters are shown to be important theodicean agents in the ancient world as well as representing important mechanisms of cultural identity.

October 4, 2023

The Return of the Accuser as God’s Defender: A Diabolical Reception of Elihu in Elie Wiesel’s The Trial of God

Eric D. McDonnell

Page range: 245-259

Abstract

While a wealth of recent scholarship and popular reception has suggested the Elihu speeches in Job 32–37 are redundant and perhaps do not belong, still others maintain the character’s status as revelatory and divinely-inspired within the narrative. This article highlights Elie Wiesel’s little-noticed contribution to the discourse on Elihu through a reading of Wiesel’s play, The Trial of God . The play expands on an interpretation of Elihu first found in the pseudepigraphal Testament of Job and suggests that Elihu is a truly diabolical character who threatens the faithfulness of the righteous sufferer. This article begins with a brief survey of recent scholarly reception of Elihu, then offers a close reading of Wiesel’s analogue to Elihu in his play. The article concludes with a discussion of the ways Wiesel’s reception of Elihu can aid biblical scholars and theologians in their work on the Book of Job.

September 29, 2023

A Note on Canon and Hermeneutics: Junillus, Inst. 1.1-10

Tarmo Toom

Page range: 261-279

Abstract

For interpreting Scripture, one needs to figure out what exactly is to be interpreted when the Word of God is interpreted. Because canon and hermeneutics are so tightly connected, several early Christian introductions to Scripture ( introductiones ) provided lists of canonical books. This article assesses a little-known canonical list provided by a sixth-century treatise Instituta regularia divinae legis by Junillus. His aim was to show the particular ways the biblical books in various genres communicated their message as the canonical Scripture. Junillus’ Instituta is a Latin version of the lost work of Paul the Persian, who was educated in Syria, at the School of Nisibis. As such, Instituta is a unique and original example of a broadly Antiochean exegetical tradition, which is disseminated for western readers. Cassiodorus recommended it to his students at Vivarium.

Ahead of Print / Just Accepted

Ahead of Print / Just Accepted

Volume 10 (2023)

Volume 9 (2022)

Volume 8 (2021)

Volume 7 (2020)

Volume 6 (2019)

Volume 5 (2018)

Volume 4 (2017)

Volume 3 (2016)

Volume 2 (2015)

Volume 1 (2014)

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Submission
Please submit to JBR via ScholarOne Manuscripts

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Submission process

If you would like to submit an article to the journal for consideration, please adhere to the guidelines in the JBR style sheet
If you would like to submit a book review to the journal for consideration, please adhere to the guidelines in the JBR Book Review Guidelines
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In case of any problems editorial assistance will be provided

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Before submitting your article please have a look at Ethical Guidelines and our Copyright Transfer Agreement
Once your article is accepted you have the option to publish it open access
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Editorial

Managing Editors
David Kraemer; Jewish Theological Seminary
Fiona C. Black; Mount Allison University

Editors
Katherine Marsengill; Princeton University
Christopher Ocker; San Francisco Theological Seminary
Jorunn Økland; University of Oslo

Book Review Editor
N.N.

Advisory Board
Roland Boer; University of Newcastle & Renmin University of China
Chin Ken Pa; Fu Jen Catholic University
Francis X. Clooney; Harvard University
David Gunn; Texas Christian University
James E. Harding; University of Otago
Amy-Jill Levine; Vanderbilt University
Jeremy Punt; Stellenbosch University
Ben Quash; King’s College London
Elsa Tamez (Emeritus); Latin American Biblical University
David Thomas; University of Birmingham

(Deutsch)

Online ISSN: 2329-4434
Print ISSN: 2329-440X
Type: Journal
Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter
First published: June 28, 2014
Publication Frequency: 2 Issues per Year
Audience: All those interested in Biblical Studies