Biblical Studies Carnival XLII

Welcome to Biblical Studies Carnival 42, your hitchhiker’s guide to the biblioblogging universe.  In many of the more relaxed corners of the blogosphere, the ‘Biblical Studies Carnival’  has already supplanted the great Wikipedia as the standard repository of all knowledge and wisdom, for though it has many omissions and contains much that is apocryphal, or at least wildly inaccurate, it scores over the older, more populist work in two important respects. First, it has better grammar; and second, this month it has the words ‘DON’T PANIC’ inscribed in large friendly letters on its cover.

In the world of the ancient Near East, Charles Halton of Awilum posted a teaser trailer for his ANES article on allusions within Neo-Assyrian prophecy. Alan Lenzi of Bible and Ancient Near East posted on his reworking of Tablet IV of Ludlul. Jared Calaway at Antiquitopia found evidence to support the circumcision of angelic phalli, while Duane Smith discussed more of his abnormal interests byposting on whether Akkadian lā išaru is better translated as dickless or just impotent. Finally, the  Roumanian, ‘Theophyle,’ put forth a yeoman’s effort this month by posting detailed  summaries  of the theories of the origins of Israel (parts one, two, three, four, five and six), Non-Yahwistic worship in ancient Israel, Canaan in the Pre-Israelite period (parts one and two), the ancient Canaan dwellers (the Canaanites, Moabites, Phoenicians and Philistines), a three part series on Canaanite religion (intro,  Asherah-Astarte, and Baal-Belos), as well as summaries of Ugarit (parts one and two), Ebla (parts one and two) and Mari (parts one, two and three).

In the area of archaeology, Duane Smith posted twice on Rehydroxylation Dating (parts one and two) and its possible implications for pottery dating. John Hobbins of Ancient Hebrew Poetry applauded the recent work of Avraham Faust, Israel Finkelstein, and Amihai Mazar at resetting the discipline of biblical archaeology. Christopher Heard from Higgaion posted on a new Hebrew seal inscription. Dr Claude Mariottini also posted on the seal as well as the Menachem water pitcher inscription.

In Hebrew Bible, J. K. Gayle of The WOMBman’s Bible translated LXX Num 5.11-31 and compared the water ordeal of the sotah to waterboarding.  John Hobbins  responded that it is important for feminist interpreters “to respect the alterity of the texts” for those to whom the Bible is their “light, mirror, and compass,” if their interpretations are to gain an wider audience. Julia M. O’Brien‘s post  The F-word the P-word and bell hooks, though independent of the foregoing discussion might nonetheless be relevant. Steering clear of all such discussions, Douglass Mangum of Biblia Hebraic posted on the message of Malachi. Dr Claude Mariottini posted on the question of Who Was King Lemuel?

We now move from Hebrew Bible to New Testament (or as I will now infamously be known for referring to as: the Jesus Festschrift). April DeConick  at Forbidden Gospels continued her series on how Jesus became God, with posts on (5) motivations of the early Christians,  (6) unfulfilled expectations, (7) “empty tomb” accounts, (8) rereading and remembering, (9) prophetic and martyr traditions, (10) Jesus’ investiture with the Divine Name,  and (11) Jesus’ angelic characteristics. While Ad Cummulus examined early testimony to Jesus as a teacher and wise man in Josephus, Mara Bar Serapion, and Luciano de Samosata. The pseudonymous Polycarp posted a The Logos as the Sword of the Lord – From Isaiah through Wisdom to Revelation over at his blog. Kevin Scull from Paul of Tarsus posted a two part series on Paul’s envoys and letter carriers (parts one and two).

Moving on to methodology, AKM Adam of AKMA’s Random Thoughts blogged drafts of the text for his forthcoming comics-form guide to exegesis (parts one , two, three, and four). Conversely, The Liberal Baptist Rev Chris Ayers explained how it’s fine to  “pick and choose” from Scripture, since Jesus did it first.

Finally, since most of us need to eat (or at least buy books), I really feel we must address the subject of teaching. The recent article on the SBL forum by Michael Bird and Craig Keener, “Jack of All Trades and Master of None: The Case for “Generalist” Scholars in Biblical Scholarship” generated discussion over at Awilum, as well as Biblia Hebraica. Christopher Heard posted on his issues with Blackboad Blecchboard. I noted problems with TurnItIn and SafeAssign (parts one and two). While Charles Halton avoided our virtual issues and posted about physicality in education.

So that is the carnival for the month of May. It is hoped that you all found it to be mostly harmless. Submissions this month seemed light, but I imagine that the end of the spring semester and a new Star Trek movie might have had something to do with this.