Helen K. Bond

E.P. Sanders and the 'Trial' of Jesus

This study outlines E.P. Sanders’ views on the Jewish ‘trial’ of Jesus, paying particular attention to the following topics: ‘who ran what’ at the time of Jesus; the involvement of the Jewish leaders; the role and character of the high priest Caiaphas; what sources we can rely on at this point; and the differences between Sanders’ views in Jesus and Judaism and the later (and more popular) Historical Figure of Jesus. It concludes by suggesting ways in which scholars can build on Sanders’ insights, not only in terms of historical reconstruction but also as a starting point for a fuller appreciation of the evangelists’ narrative and creative art.

Josephus on Herod's Domestic Intrigue in the Jewish War

Abstract This article argues that women and domestic intrigue are prominent within the Herod narrative in Josephus’ Jewish War for a specific rhetorical reason. While the first half of the narrative presents the famous king in encomiastic terms, using him to illustrate Josephus’ contention that Jews generally were content to remain loyal to Rome, the second half of the account subtly presents a rather different thesis. Attention to domestic drama allowed Josephus to suggest that Herod was a man who was unable to control either his own emotions or his turbulent family, and so was unfit to rule. Ultimately for Josephus, the ideal constituency for Judaea is not monarchy (as represented by Herod) but the theocratic reign of priests.

Book Review: Jesus and Manichaeanism

identify Ezra and Nehemiah as products of ‘the Chronicler’s’ pen; well-argued reasons for dating Ezra in the reign of Artaxerxes I; recognition of the possibly monarchist agenda of the books of Chronicles; a cautious refusal to be rushed into too great a dependence on 1 Esdras, or indeed into a firm identification of its genre or purpose; excellent work on the provenance of Ezra 1–6 (the Masoretic text of Deuteronomy 27:4 might have been discussed here in connection with the Samaritan schism); and some good work on Josephus as evidence for this period. To list the entire contents of the book would not be possible in a review of this length. Suffice it to say that each of the many topics discussed is treated with great attention to detail and evidence of wide and thoughtful reading. Hardly a blemish marks the collection (should we understand Judah for ‘Judaea’ on p. 28?), and furthermore it is a feature of Williamson’s writing that he allows himself to speculate where some of his suggested readings of the texts might lead, in re-constructing the social, religious and political ethos of the period, even in the absence of direct evidence. This is only sensible when a solid foundation of common-sense and learned exegesis has been laid, and that is in rich supply in these articles. It may be hoped that one day the author may care to write a connected history of the period, in which all the pieces of this jigsaw can be fitted together to reveal a fuller picture.

Book Reviews : Rethinking the Synoptic Problem

as possible, for anyone who is interested, the most important features of the New Testament’ (ix) with remarkable compression. The volume traces three trajectories, literary, historical and theological. The first looks at the genres of gospel and epistle as the primary forms of communication in the NT. The second seeks to explain the transformation of a Jewish renewal movement into what was to become the separate entity known

Book Reviews : Jesus, Galilee, and Archaeology

Westminster John Knox Press continue their ’Library of Ancient Israel’ with three useful volumes: Reconstructing the Society of Ancient Israel (1999,

Book Reviews : Jesus: Evidence and Significance

27.00, pp. xiv + 284, ISBN 0-664-22132-7) by Paula McNutt; The Religion of Ancient Israel (2000, n.p., pp. xx + 334, ISBN 0-664-22145-9 also SPCK, £27.50, ISBN 0-28105381-2) by Patrick D. Miller; and The Politics of Ancient Israel (2001, £25.00, pp. xvi + 366, ISBN 0-66421977-2) by Norman K. Gottwald. McNutt first discusses ’sources, methods, and models’, and then considers Israelite society during five periods: Iron Age I, origins; Iron Age IA and IB, the ’tribal’ period; Iron Age IC, the rise of the monarchy; Iron Age II, the period of the monarchy; and finally the Babylonian and Persian periods. Perhaps there is an over emphasis on the early periods, but this is a valuable account both of the difficulties and the results of modem study. Patrick D. Miller notes the difficulties in interpreting both literary remains and artefacts and iconographic evidence. His approach is systematic, looking first at God and the gods in Israel and the ancient world and types of religion in ancient Israel, and then giving an extended treatment to three topics: sacrifice, holiness, and leadership (priest, prophet and king). The result is a useful overview, with a large amount of information and sensible comment. Gottwald departs from the usual political histories of ancient Israel which keep close to the Hebrew Bible, though drawing on archaeological sources, and present a chronological narrative, and describes his study as a ’critically imaginative construal of ancient Israelite politics’. He notes recent doubts about the historical value of the biblical texts, but concludes that they give ’trustworthy scenarios’ of the political life of ancient Israel. Israel’s political structures were typical of its time and place and were not shaped by its religion, yet what is distinctive is not its politics but its literature and religion. Each of these volumes is supported by extensive endnotes and good indexes. Scholars as well as students will find much of interest in them, for they move far beyond bald summaries of the evidence. THE EDITOR

Book Reviews : Studies of Jesus and Christology

Schuller focuses on petitionary prayer, arguing that the community’s determinism transformed prayer into a doxological activity, rather than a supplicatory act seeking provision of earthly needs. Discussing hellenization, Hengel notes that, while the community originated in opposition to Greek enculturation, in subtle ways (such as the use of Greek technology in constructing aqueducts) it was touched by the prevailing Zeitgeist (or Spirit of the age). Lim makes a strong case for knowledge of the Greek Old Testament by the writers of the pesherim. Harrington and Kugler both treat Halakhic issues at Qumran. Harrington sees the punctilious observation of purity laws as reflecting the community’s beliefthat in order to receive fresh divine revelation it had

Book Reviews : John's Gospel and the Old Testament

In his monograph The Holy City: Jerusalem in the Theology of the Old Testament (Liturgical Press, 2000,

Pontius Pilate in History and Interpretation

17.95, pp. 191, ISBN 0-8146-5081-3) Leslie J. Hoppe’s point of departure is the uniqueness of Jerusalem as a city sacred to three major religions. He devotes the first chapter to exploring the city’s significance for Judaism, Christianity and Islam. He claims with some justification that the subject is ’of immediate relevance to millions of believers’, and points out that the city’s sacred status ’is

Caiaphas: Friend of Rome and Judge of Jesus?

Using the metaphor of cloth where threads create both the structure and the pattern of the cloth in his study The Anointed and his People: Messianic Expectations from the Maccabees to Bar Kochba (JSPSup 27, Sheffield Academic Press, 1998, £50.00/