Jeremy Corley

Divine Creation and Human Mortality from Genesis to Ben Sira

Despite the differences between the Priestly creation story in Genesis 1 and the Yahwist’s creation narrative in Genesis 2–3, several Second Temple period Jewish texts began to harmonize both accounts. Ben Sira (Sirach) makes selective use of both Genesis creation stories, especially when referring to human mortality. While Sirach 25:24 implies an allusion to sin and death entering the world through Eve, Sirach 17:1–2 appears to pass over the primeval sin and instead seems to regard human mortality as a natural disposition by the Creator who providentially allots humanity a fixed number of days of earthly life. Like some interpretations of Genesis 3 within early Judaism and Christianity, emphasizing human mortality as deriving from the primeval sin, Ben Sira echoes the primeval punishment of humanity (Genesis 3:19) by employing the verb ‘return’ in Sirach 17:1. Thereafter, Sirach 17:2 follows Jewish sapiential reflection (especially Psalm 90) and Stoic teaching to present death as something natural within God’s providential plan.

Biblical Quotations and Allusions in Second Temple Jewish Literature

In short, I wholeheartedly recommend this book to all undergraduate and postgraduate students who are struggling with Schleiermacher. Indeed, I also recommend this book to those who are already quite familiar with his work for one read of this text will certainly lead to a deeper understanding of Schleiermacher’s key themes. It is rare to find an introductory text that is truly introductory but Vial’s Schleiermacher: A Guide for the Perplexed really is such a text and should be placed at the top of the diligent student’s ‘must purchase’ list.

Beyond the Quest for the Historical Jesus: Memoir of a Discovery

1 Thomas L. Brodie, The Gospel According to St John: A Literary and Theological Commentary (Oxford: Oxford University, 1993); idem, Genesis as Dialogue: A Literary, Theological and Historical Commentary (Oxford: Oxford University, 2001); idem, The Birthing of the New Testament (Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix, 2004). In this article, bracketed page references are to the 2012 book being reviewed, and all other references will be footnoted. Review Article

Book Review: Spinoza and the Specters of Modernity: The Hidden Enlightenment of Diversity from Spinoza to FreudSpinoza and the Specters of Modernity: The Hidden Enlightenment of Diversity from Spinoza to Freud. By MackMichael. London: Continuum, 2010. Pp. viii + 222. Price £19.99 (pbk). ISBN 978-1-4411-1872-1.

Anglican McGowan’s Ascetic Eucharists given as part of the historical background (p. 12). Another small criticism I would have is the attribution of the Bobbio Missal to Ireland (p. 252), while the 2004 study published by Hen and Meens casts doubt on any strict connection between the missal and Ireland. Unsurprisingly the evaluation of the 2010 ICEL translation tends to be critical. But this is perhaps the most important contribution of this book. One of the reasons that so much energy was spent on the English translation of the Missal is that this translation, and not the Latin original, will form the basis of many of the minority language translations of the Missal (there are not that many people in the world sufficiently fluent in Latin and Samoan to translate the Missal into Samoan). It is to be hoped that those who are involved in the preparation of vernacular translations for the smaller language groups will have access to this book. It is also to be hoped that the deficiencies in the 2010 translation that are pointed out and the solution proposed will be given serious consideration whenever the next English translation of the Missal will be prepared. Yet at times there could be a more charitable appreciation of the 2010 translation given that it is not easy to translate any work and especially a book of the complexity of the Roman Missal. Also the Commentary itself is not immune from obscure and inelegant phrases, such as this description of the theological meaning of the homily by Mitchell and Yocum: ‘Worth noting here is the fact that this ranking order does not take into account the deacon’s traditional role of “heralds of Christ’s Gospel”’ (p. 177). Another disconcerting element in the book is the editorial decision to use abbreviations for many commonly recurring terms. There is a six-page listing of these at the start of the book and while using certain common abbreviations, such as AAS or GIRM in the footnotes would be fine, the use of some others, such as OM for Ordo Missae, in the body of the book makes it harder to read the work. But, despite any minor quibbles that one might have with some details in the various articles, I wholeheartedly recommend this work. There is nothing like it on the market today and anyone who is serious about understanding the current Roman Catholic Mass cannot afford to ignore this book.

Emotions in the Psalms

Emotions play an important part in the Psalms, more than in other books of the Bible, but until now, the book has not been surveyed in order to make an emotional map. Such a map should show the emotions present in the book and their distribution, the persons experiencing them, and the relationships and situations generating them. It would be hard to draw that map in this article, because there are some basic issues. Psychological theories differ considerably in their description and classification of emotions.1 Can modern psychological theory be of any use in the study of ancient descriptions of emotions? How do the ancient biblical texts express emotions? Are there specific emotional nouns or verbs? Do the texts show emotions in their description of body parts and gestures? May we link emotions to rhetorical structures?2 In this article, I would like to give some answers to the question what one could expect to find by drawing an emotional map of the Psalms. I will explore the field in two ways. First, I will concentrate on human emotions and the link between emotions and psalm genres by describing, as an example, the emotional layer of Psalm 6, an individual lament, and by reflecting on emotional transformations. Second, I will study the emotional world of God, surveying his emotions in Psalms 107–150.