Month: May 2008

Quadrilateral Thoughts

Over on his blog on Quadrilateral Thoughts, Ken Schenk is providing an extensive review of my book on Philo and 1 Peter; Strangers in the Light. He is dealing with each chapter, and here is the order he uses when discusses its various chapters:
Chapter One,
Chapter Three,
Chapter Five,
Chapter Two,
Chapter Four (still to come).

This is obviously a part of his process of writing a review of my work for an Annual to be published late fall. He has a lot to say of both positive and negative evaluations. Sometimes he calls me Torrey, sometimes Seland; I first though he was calling me Torrey when he agreed with me or said something positive, and Seland when he disagreed, but it looks like this dichotomy breaks down several times…. 🙂

I am grateful and honored by the time and space he spends on me, and am sorry I am not able to respond this week, as I am going away to our cabin, in order to read some exam papers, and an interesting dissertation I am to evaluate,- and in addition, getting strength to overcome my 60 birthday coming up Friday this week.

I can’t believe the calender. All others getting 60 look much older then me…. (uh?, careful now….).

Have a nice week.

Bibliography on Prophecy and Apocalyptic

The Institute for Biblical Research has put up on their website a

Prophecy and Apocalyptic: Additional Bibliography

This collection of sources supplements a bibliography published by Baker under the auspices of the Institute for Biblical Research: D. Brent Sandy and Daniel M. O’Hare, Prophecy and Apocalyptic: An Annotated Bibliography (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007).

“In the process of compiling sources, hundreds were entered into our data base (many of which were annotated), but in the end they could not be included in the final selection for the printed edition of the bibliography. Hence, those sources are here made available. They are listed chronologically within the same categories as in the printed bibliography. Note that citations generally appear once, though many of them could have been assigned to more than one category. One advantage of this digital version of the bibliography is that you may search for specific words pertinent to your research.”

Phinehas’ Intercessory Prayer

Being interested in traditions about Phinehas, zealotry, and these traditions role in relation to Philo’s views on Phinehas, I will need to have a closer look at this article which had escaped my notice untill today:
David A. Bernat,
‘Phinehas’ Intercessory Prayer: A Rabbinic and Targumic Reading of the Baal Peor Narrative.’
Journal of Jewish Studies 58/2 (2007): 263-282.

Abstract:
A number of Rabbinic texts, along with Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, portray Phinehas as interceding with God, through prayer, on Israel’s behalf, in the aftermath of the Baal Peor apostasy, recounted in Numbers 25 and Psalm 106. This tradition constitutes an exegetical innovation, as nowhere in scripture is Phinehas represented in the act of prayer. The Phinehas-prayer nexus is explored, with attention to the creative reading of the verb ללפ ???in Ps. 106:31; the significance of prayer in the Rabbinic and Targumic worldview; and the changing role of the priesthood in a post-Temple environment. The article also considers the implications of intercessory prayer as an aspect of Phinehas’ zealotry.