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Contributors, Jewish Folklore And Ethnology Editors

Jewish Folklore and Ethnology

Author biographies for contributors to this issue.

"Get Me The Girl For A Wife": Feminist Readings Of Genesis 34-35, Jacqueline Sanchez-Small Osb

Obsculta

This essay, originally written for “The Hebrew Scriptures: History, Theology, and Controversy,” considers the story of the rape of Dinah, exploring the text’s history and its traditional interpretations. Drawing on the work of Phyllis Trible’s Texts of Terror, the piece proposes a feminist and liberatory reading of the passage, one that centers the personhood of Dinah and the other women of the story.

A Post-New Perspective Analysis Of Darrell Bock's Views Pertaining To Torah Observance, Andrew Lawrence Prout

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

In the twenty-first century, Messianic Jews generally fall into one of two broad categories: Those who are Torah observant, and those who consider the laws contained in the Mosaic Law as valuable, but optional. Those who hold the latter position may be Torah observant as an evangelistic strategy, as a way of practicing contextualization, or as a means of doing outreach to ethnic Jews. Nonetheless, they do not believe that sustained Torah observance is a necessary/vital component of their Christian faith. Observant Messianic Jews would argue that when Jesus initiated the New Covenant, he did not nullify/abrogate the Mosaic Covenant, …

Exodus Allusions In The Midsection Of The Gospel Of Matthew, Cedric E. W. Vine

Faculty Publications

Matthean scholarship is divided as to whether the first recipients of the Gospel considered themselves to be part of early formative Judaism. Within the context of this debate, this study calls for the recognition of multiple exodus allusions in the midsection of the Gospel. These allusions reveal an Evangelist who either anticipated the possible need for withdrawal from hostile host communities or, equally plausibly, affirmed an ongoing separation process.

Full Issue

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Scholars Speak At Fair Conference

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Scholars from BYU spoke at the recent FAIR (Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research) LDS Apologetics Conference held in August at Utah Valley State College, in Orem, Utah. FAIR, which is not affiliated with BYU or the Institute, is an organization dedicated to defending LDS beliefs and practices with sound scholarship. The theme of the conference was "Turning Stumbling Blocks to Stepping Stones: Responding to Challenging Issues in Mormonism."

First Volumes In New Meti Series Published

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

The Institute's Middle Eastern Texts Initiative has published the first two volumes in its Graeco-Arabic Sciences and Philosophy series: Moses Maimonides' On Asthma and Averroes' Middle Commentary on Aristotle's De anima.

Paul’S Eschatological Joy In Philippians In Its Jewish Background, Shishou Chen

The Journal of Inductive Biblical Studies

Jewish literature regarding eschatology is one of the backgrounds for Paul’s eschatological joy in Philippians. While the OT emphasizes the future joy of a national eschatology, and the Pseudepigrapha develops the moral element, Paul presents a unique triangular concept of eschatological joy between him, the Philippians, and God, emphasizing the communal aspect within believers. His focus shifts from national and moral joy in the Jewish literature to Christ/mission-centered joy. In his already-not-yet eschatological framework, Paul smoothly connects the present joy with the future joy, which is a sharp distinction in the OT, stressing that joy is possible and obligatory for …

Eschatological Consumption Of Leviathan And Behemoth As Revelation Of The Messianic Torah, Andrei Orlov

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

The notion that the righteous would one day feast on Behemoth and Leviathan occupied a prominent place in early Jewish pseudepigraphical accounts, including testimonies found in the Book of the Similitudes, 4 Ezra, and 2 Baruch. Thus, from 1 Enoch 60:24 one learns that “two monsters, prepared according to the greatness of the Lord, will provide food for the chosen and righteous.”

Full Issue

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Nibley Fellowship

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Each year at this time we remind graduate students about the Nibley Fellowship Program and its application deadline. Named in honor of the late eminent Latter-day Saint scholar Hugh Nibley, this program provides financial aid to students enrolled in accredited PhD programs in areas of study directly related to the work and mission of the Maxwell Institute, particularly work done under the name of FARMS—studies of the Book of Mormon, the Book of Abraham, the Old and New Testaments, early Christianity, ancient temples, and related subjects. Applicants cannot be employed at the Institute or be related to an Institute employee.

“Look To God And Live”, Kristian S. Heal

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Near the end of the children of Israel’s journey to the promised land following their miraculous escape from Egypt, they once again began to complain against the Lord and against Moses. As a result of this sin, the Lord sent “fiery serpents” among them (Numbers 21:6). Faced with physical death, the people went to Moses, confessed their sins, and entreated him to pray to the Lord to take the serpents away. However, the serpents were not taken away as requested. Instead, in what may have seemed an expression of deep irony—but was in reality a sacred symbol—Moses was instructed to …

Full Issue

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Institute Supports Graduates And Undergraduates

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

The Maxwell Institute continues to encourage and support the work of graduate and undergraduate students through two funds.

Each year at this time we remind graduate students about the Nibley Fellowship Program and its application deadline. Named in honor of the late eminent Latter-day Saint scholar Hugh Nibley, this pro-gram provides financial aid to students enrolled in accredited PhD programs in areas of study directly related to the work and mission of the Maxwell Institute, particularly work done under the auspices of one department of the Institute, the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, such as studies of the …

“Nebuchadnezzar, My Servant”: A Reexamination Of The Honorific Title “Servant Of The Lord"”, Ian S. Reyes

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

Moses, David, and Joshua are all designated the honorific title “servant of YHWH” in the HB. Even a cursory reading of the HB texts involving these figures would leave little surprise as to why they are bestowed this exclusive moniker. There are only ten individuals who are given this title in the MT, and of these ten, the majority of them do not raise questions, except one—the sixth-century Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar. Some have argued that his inclusion in this list is a result of a scribal error, or that it is limited in scope, as only a description of function. …

Higher Meanings: A Speaker Series Connecting Mathematics And Religion, Lawrence M. Lesser, Patricia S. Barrientos, Ben Zeidman

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

An innovative grant-funded general adult audiences international speaker series on connections between mathematics and religion yielded six 2021 (now archived) presentations. We share reflections and lessons learned, informed by two sets of surveys.

Pathology, Identity, Or Both?: Making Meaning From Early Christian Martyrdom, Matthew J. Recla

University Author Recognition Bibliography: 2022

Partly in response to an earlier ‘pathological approach’ that seemingly stigmatised early Christian martyrdom, recent scholarship has adopted an ‘identity approach’ that explains martyrdom as a normative discourse of self-construction. This explanation of martyrdom as Christian identity-making, not willing death, is insufficient for three reasons. First, this approach implicitly reaffirms the theological claim that religious identity alone makes martyrs. In doing so it reduces the complexity of the individual martyr to ‘Christian’. Second, this approach excises the existential phenomenon of the martyr from martyrdom. Third, the term ‘identity’ has become ubiquitous, and its use to mark both sameness and difference …

Did Abraham Lie About His Wife, Sarai?, Stephen O. Smoot, John Gee, Kerry Muhlestein, John S. Thompson

BYU Studies

Before he journeyed into Egypt, Abraham was instructed by God: “Behold, Sarai [later Sarah], thy wife, is a very fair woman to look upon; therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see her, they will say—she is his wife; and they will kill you, but they will save her alive; therefore see that ye do on this wise: Let her say unto the Egyptians, she is thy sister, and thy soul shall live” (Abr. 2:22–23).

Jews In Ancient Egypt, Stephen O. Smoot, John Gee, Kerry Muhlestein, John S. Thompson

BYU Studies

The Egyptian papyri acquired by Joseph Smith in 1835 can be confidently dated to many centuries after Abraham’s lifetime. Based on several factors, it can be determined that the papyri were written in a period when Egypt was governed by a dynasty of Greek rulers who reigned from circa 300 to 30 BC. A question that readers of the Book of Abraham might have is how a late copy of Abraham’s record originally written sometime around 2,000–1,800 BC could have ended up in the possession of an ancient Egyptian living many centuries later.

Covenant Language In Biblical Religions And The Book Of Mormon, Noel B. Reynolds

BYU Studies

Because twenty-first-century public discourse in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints seems to feature the language of covenant more and more often, it may be helpful to step back and reexamine the scriptural and historical backgrounds for covenant theology and terminology. When the Restoration took shape in the first half of the nineteenth century, it was dependent primarily on the language of the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible and contemporary Protestant teachings for a context in which to interpret the language of Joseph Smith’s revelations and the Book of Mormon. After two centuries of modern linguistic …

Divine Speeches In The Book Of Psalms: Their Role, Placement, And Implication For The Message And Structure Of Selected Psalms, Dragoslava Santrac

Journal of the Adventist Theological Society

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An Exegetical Analysis Of The Johannine Jesus’S Son-Father Relationship In The Fourth Gospel With The Theological Significance And Implications In Contemporary Context, Jing Yih Hsieh

Theses

This exegetical study focuses on the distinctive characteristics of the Johannine Jesus’s unique cognitive perception, his claims of equality with God in the language of oneness in the Son-Father relationship in the Fourth Gospel, and with theological significance and implications in contemporary context.

Prophets, Pagans, And Papyri, Stephen O. Smoot, Kerry Muhlestein

BYU Studies

Egypt has a long history of exchange and contact with a variety of people. Ancient people of diverse ethnic backgrounds made their way into Egypt—whether as war captives, mercenaries, merchants, invading armies, members of diplomatic parties, refugees, or simple migrants—bringing with them their language and culture. One such group was the ancient Jews, whose enslavement at the hands of “a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph” (Ex. 1:8), and exodus under the prophetic leadership of Moses may be the best-remembered incident of a Hebrew presence in Egypt, but it was not the only one.

Abraham And Osiris, Stephen O. Smoot, John Gee, Kerry Muhlestein, John S. Thompson

BYU Studies

Figure 1 of Facsimile 3 of the book of Abraham was interpreted by Joseph Smith as “Abraham sitting upon Pharaoh’s throne, by the politeness of the king, with a crown upon his head, representing the Priesthood, as emblematical of the grand Presidency in Heaven; with the scepter of justice and judgment in his hand.” This interpretation has clashed with those offered by Egyptologists, who have instead identified the figure as the god Osiris. What’s more, two Egyptologists have claimed to arrive at this interpretation from reading the hieroglyphs to the right of figure 1.

“It Kind Of Shows The Terrible Morality Of This Scene": Using Graphic Novels To Encourage Feminist Readings Of Jewish Hebrew Texts With Religious Significance, Talia Hurwich

Journal of Multilingual Education Research

This study considers whether and in what ways graphic novel adaptations of traditional Jewish Hebrew texts can encourage adolescent Modern Orthodox girls to adopt autonomous critical responses when encountering narratives that present women in unequal roles vis a vis men. According to scholars, Jewish literacy should teach students to read traditional Hebrew texts reverently while forming autonomous interpretations and opinions. Instead, Jewish educators teach normative readings posed by approved rabbinic authorities. This is particularly the case when teaching issues relating to gender among Modern Orthodox Jews, a conservative Jewish denomination, strives to synthesize tradition with the values of modern, secular …

Exodus 14–15 As An Anti-Baal Polemic And Its Implications For Interpreting Exodus 15:17 And Dating These Chapters, Brent Olson

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Olson, Brent, M. “Exodus 14–15 as an Anti-Baal Polemic and Its Implications for Interpreting and Dating These Chapters.” Ph.D. diss., Concordia Seminary, 2020. 257 pp.

This dissertation seeks to answer the following questions: What is the relationship of Baal-zephon worship and its governing narrative, the Baal Myth, to the accounts of the Sea Event in Exodus 14–15? Secondly, what are the implications of this relationship for interpreting and dating these chapters? Building upon scholarship’s engagement with these questions since the Ras Shamra discoveries, the dissertation makes the case that Exodus 14–15 function in part as an anti-Baal polemic. Four pieces …

Unity In Christ: An Annotated Bibliography, Kelly E. Budd, Madison S. Schmidt

Liberty Theological Review

A review of the recent book publications related to the spring theme, "Unity in Christ." We include the following titles.

• Alma, Hans et al. Moral and Spiritual Leadership in an Age of Plural Moralities.
• Anatolios, Khaled. Deification through the Cross: An Eastern Christian Theology of Salvation.
• Barrett, Matthew. Canon, Covenant and Christology: Rethinking Jesus and the Scriptures of Israel.
• Beck, William David and Mike Licona. Raised on the Third Day: Defending the Historicity of the Resurrection of Jesus.
• Chia, Edmund Kee-Fook. Confucianism and Christianity: Interreligious Dialogue on the Theology of Mission.
• Emerson, Matthew Y. He …

The Glory Of The Lord Whose Likeness Is As The Appearance Of A Human Being/Adam: A Study Of Ezekiel’S Son Of Man/Adam Anthropology, Timothy R. Schmeling

School of Theology and Seminary Graduate Papers/Theses

Ezekiel has often been criticized as a dehumanizing book. Still it is alternative humanisms that have done so much to dehumanize mankind with the totalitarianism of self-deifying individualism or the totalitarianism of collectively-imposed manmade metanarratives. Far from being a dehumanizing book, the objective of the son of man/Adam is certainly to purge his hearers of all anthropologies of autonomy and license, but this Adamic priestly prophet does this to eschatologically resurrect in them an anthropology of dependence and true freedom. Reasserting the creation theology and anthropology of Genesis, Ezekiel insists that authentic humanism, Edenic humanism (i.e., the original humanism), is …

Abraham’S Amen And Believing In Christ: Possible Applications In The Book Of Mormon Text, Loren Spendlove

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

Following the discovery of delocutive verbs and their likely usage in the Hebrew Bible, Meredith Kline proposed that the verb האמין (he’emin) in Genesis 15:6 — traditionally interpreted as a denominative verb meaning “he believed” — should be understood as a delocutive verb meaning “he declared ‘amen.’” Rather than reading Genesis 15:6 as a passive statement — Abraham believed in Yahweh — Kline argued that we should interpret this verse in the active sense, that Abraham vocally declared his amen in Yahweh’s covenantal promise. In this light, I have analyzed various passages in the Book of Mormon that utilize similar …

Luke Was Not A Christian: Interdisciplinary Perspectives On The Jewish Authorship Of Luke And Acts, Joshua Paul Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation challenges the long-held assumption that the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles were written by a gentile Christian, arguing instead that the author of these texts was an educated follower of “the Way” who was raised and enculturated within a Hellenistic Jewish context. Advancing from a consciously interdisciplinary perspective, it probes the question of Lukan authorship variously from reception history and social memory theory, intertextuality studies, thematic analysis informed by historical and literary criticism, and incorporates emerging insights from the field of cognitive linguistics. It concludes with a reflection upon some of the potential ethical …