Reviews

Enjoy book reviews by top scholars on wide-ranging topics in religion, archaeology and Biblical studies.

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• How Jewish Is the New Testament?

  Reviewed by James D.G. Dunn   •  04/17/2012

  

  The Jewish Annotated New Testament. Edited by Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler
  This volume introduces the text of the New Testament along with 30 brief essays by some 50   Read more…
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• The Art and Science of Textual Criticism

  Reviewed by James A. Sanders   •  04/17/2012

  

  Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible by Emanuel Tov.
  This third edition of Tov’s enlightening treatise is the necessary handbook for the understanding and practice of the art and science of   Read more…
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• Molten Color

  Reviewed by Dorothy Resig   •  04/17/2012

  

  Molten Color by Karol B. Wight.
  This book was directly inspired by the Molten Color exhibit that Wight installed at the Getty Villa for its reopening in 2006, and virtually all   Read more…
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• Jesus and Biblical Archaeology: Very Short Introductions

  Reviewed by Leonard Greenspoon   •  03/21/2012

  

  Oxford University Press has published more than 300 “short introductions” to almost every imaginable topic (and some, frankly, that I never would have imagined). Among them are the two diminutive   Read more…
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• The Horsemen of Israel: Horses and Chariotry in Monarchic Israel (Ninth–Eighth Centuries B.C.E.)

  Reviewed by Ziony Zevit   •  03/21/2012

  

  Examine the history of horses in Ziony Zevit’s review of Deborah O’Daniel Cantrell’s The Horsemen of Israel: Horses and Charioty in Monarchic Israel.   Read more…
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• Settlement and History in Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine Galilee: An Archaeological Survey of Eastern Galilee

  Reviewed by Michael Eisenberg   •  03/21/2012

  

  Uzi Leibner’s new book reports the results of an archaeological survey of the eastern Galilee. The survey provides important details about Israel in the Roman period, as well as the   Read more…
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• Discovering the Solomonic Wall in Jerusalem: A Remarkable Archaeological Adventure

  Reviewed by Oded Borowski   •  03/21/2012

  

  Eilat Mazar’s new book chronicles her career from its beginnings with her grandfather, famed Israeli archaeologist Benjamin Mazar, to her discovery of King Solomon’s wall at the Ophel in Jerusalem,   Read more…
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• Chronicles of the Land: Archaeology in the Israel Museum Jerusalem

  Reviewed by Steven Fine   •  03/21/2012

  

  Steven Fine reviews the book Chronicles of the Land: Archaeology in the Israel Museum Jerusalem edited by Michal Dayagi-Mendels and Silvia Rozenberg.   Read more…
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• Stone and Dung, Oil and Spit: Jewish Daily Life in the Time of Jesus

  Reviewed by Shaye J.D. Cohen   •  03/21/2012

  

  Shaye J.D. Cohen reviews Jodi Magness’s book Stone and Dung, Oil and Spit: Jewish Daily Life in the Time of Jesus.   Read more…
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• The Sisters of Sinai

  Reviewed by John Merrill   •  03/21/2012

  

  In her book The Sisters of Sinai, author Janet Soskice recounts the remarkable adventure that led to the discovery of the Sinai Palimpsest.   Read more…
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• Knights of Jerusalem: The Crusading Order of Hospitallers

  Reviewed by Adrian Boas   •  03/21/2012

  

  David Nicolle’s new book takes a look at the Order of Hospitallers, a military order of the Christian Crusades.   Read more…
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• The Oxford Handbook of the Dead Sea Scrolls

  Reviewed by Charlotte Hempel   •  03/21/2012

  

  Discovered in the caves above Qumran, the Dead Sea Scrolls have provided scholars with important information about the Jewish communities that resided in the environs of Qumran.   Read more…
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• Reading Genesis: Ten Methods

  Reviewed by Kent Harold Richards   •  03/21/2012

  

  Reading Genesis: Ten Methods edited by Ronald Hendel provides new approaches to Genesis Bible study and is a new tool that explains how to study the Bible effectively.   Read more…
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• The Historical Jesus: An Essential Guide

  Reviewed by John Merrill   •  03/21/2012

  

  In The Historical Jesus: An Essential Guide, New Testament and Dead Sea Scroll scholar James H. Charlesworth uses historical evidence to answer the question: Did Jesus exist?   Read more…
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• Archaeology, Dogs and Gin: Dame Kathleen Kenyon, Digging Up the Holy Land

  Reviewed by Magen Broshi   •  03/21/2012

  

  Magen Broshi reviews Miriam C. Davis’ biography of British archaeologist Dame Kathleen Kenyon, one of the most famous archaeologists to excavate in the Holy Land.   Read more…
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• Excavating the City of David

  Reviewed by Jane Cahill West   •  03/21/2012

  

  Ronny Reich’s book on excavating the City of David, reviewed here by Jane Cahill West, reveals Jerusalem history through the eyes of one of it’s most noted archaeologists.   Read more…
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• The Bible Is for Living

  Reviewed by James F. Strange   •  03/21/2012

  

  Biblical scholar and priest Philip J. King’s has written the book he “always wanted to write” about his spiritual journey, scholarship and Bible interpretations, reviewed here by James Strange.   Read more…
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• Gertrude Bell: Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations

  Reviewed by Julia M. Asher-Greve   •  03/21/2012

  

  Gertrude Bell: archaeologist, feminist, stateswoman and Iraq’s first director of antiquities. Georgina Howell’s Gertrude Bell biography, reviewed here by Julia M. Asher-Greve, documents the life of this fascinating woman.   Read more…
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• City of David

  Reviewed by Jane Cahill West   •  03/21/2012

  

  Ahron Horovitz’s book on the City of David, reviewed here by Jane Cahill West, covers Jerusalem history with lavish illustrations and summaries of archaeological debates about ancient Jerusalem history.   Read more…
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