Journal of Biblical Theology and Worldview 5, 1 (2024)

The latest issue of the Journal of Biblical Theology and Worldview, published by BJU Seminary, has recently been made available online.

Contents as below are available from here, with the whole issue available for download as a pdf here.

Jeff Hawkey

Preaching the New Testament One-Another Commands

Cory M. Marsh

Urgency in the Mundane: Present Living in Light of the Parousia Texts in 1 and 2 Thessalonians

Mark Sidwell

J. Wilbur Chapman and American Evangelism

Layton Talbert

Adoring Shulamite as Foil to Adulterous Israel: A Canonical Theology of the Song of Songs

Book Reviews

Themelios 45, 3 (December 2020)

The latest Themelios is online here (and available here as a single pdf), containing the below articles.

Editorial

D.A. Carson

I’m so Grateful That I’m among the Elect

Strange Times

Daniel Strange

J. I. Packer – Fingerprints, Footprints and Reprints

Eric Ortlund

The Wisdom of the Song of Songs: A Pastoral Guide for Preaching and Teaching

This article explores the way in which the Song of Songs instructs its readers in wisdom with regard to romance and marriage. Although neither a straightforward narrative or a simple set of instructions, the poetry of the Song does portray God’s ideal for human love. Special attention is given to the importance of waiting (2:7, 3:5, 8:4), the climactic place of marriage and the subordinate (though still good) role of physical sexuality, the role of the woman, and the non-ultimacy of marriage. The spiritual significance of human romance as a “flame of the Lord” (8:6) is finally discussed with special reference to the sweeping changes in Western sexuality morality in recent decades, and the way in which the Bible’s narrative about love and sexuality is simultaneously more realistic and more beautiful than recent humanly-constructed alternatives. Attention is given throughout to the particular way in which the Song communicates, by adorning and beautifying its subject through poetry, rather than through direct commands.

David M. Cook

The King’s Fear of the Lord as a Theme in the Books of Samuel

Evangelicals have long sought to understand the core difference between David and Saul. The answer exposes a theme touched on elsewhere in the Bible: the role of the fear of the Lord in leadership. As Samuel crowns Saul king, he points readers back to Deuteronomy 17:18–20. There readers will see the importance of a God-fearing king and find four qualities he will bear: obedience to the Lord, good treatment of others, a long rule, and a long dynasty. The writer of 1–2 Samuel then carefully documents Saul failing at all four and David fulfilling all four. Finally, David’s dying words reinforce the virtues of God-fearing leadership, leaving leaders with a profound appeal to learn the fear of the Lord.

Andreas J. Köstenberger

Reconceiving a Biblical Theology of Mission: Salvation to the Ends of the Earth Revisited

Scholarship on the biblical theme of mission has made significant strides in the couple decades since the original publication of my work Salvation to the Ends of the Earth: A Biblical Theology of Mission (co-authored with Peter T. O’Brien) in 2001. The present essay discusses changes made to Salvation to the Ends of the Earth in the second edition (published in 2020) in which T. Desmond Alexander wrote the chapter on mission in the Old Testament. The adjusted flow tracks the development of mission within the framework of the story of Israel, Jesus, and the early Christians, enhancing both the historical and the narrative dimensions of mission. The presentation integrates the Gospels with related New Testament writers – in particular, embedding the Pauline mission within Luke–Acts – resulting in greater cohesiveness and appreciation for the organic interconnections among New Testament voices and leaders of the early Christian mission. It also discusses Paul’s letters in chronological order of writing and considers the contribution of all of his letters to a biblical theology of mission rather than focusing on Paul individually and selecting one book (such as Romans) as the primary focus. Finally, material on mission in the Second Temple period remains in the background (in an appendix) rather than interrupting the biblical-theological flow and canonical connection between the Testaments. In all these ways, readers can gain a sharper vision and more accurate picture of the biblical theology of mission.

Daryn Graham

The Earthquakes of the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ

This article analyses the effects of the earthquakes of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, including possible damage done to the temple, the darkness that accompanied the crucifixion, the splitting of rocks, the opening of tombs and the resurrection of saints, and the responses by the centurion and his accompanying guards. By far the most prevalent method used throughout is that of sociohistorical analysis. In order to draw conclusions about the factual nature of the Gospel of Matthew, this article does not present a discussion of biblical usage of earthquakes generally, but rather tests Matthew’s precise evidence for these two particular seismic events against their contemporaneous geological, archaeological, and historical contexts in an historical manner. By contextualizing the Matthew passage within its wider cultural and historical world in this way, this article finds that this Gospel’s factual basis is strongly supported by extra-biblical data.

Daniel M. Gurtner

Hermeneutics and Historicity in the Matthean Crucifixion Narrative: A Response to Daryn Graham

This short piece takes up some challenges to Daryn Graham’s article, “The Earthquakes of the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.” While the present author agrees with Graham on the historicity of the events in question (Matt 27:51– 54), the author exposes some hermeneutical challenges in Graham’s treatment of the material. In his attempt to answer the question, “What happened?,” Graham risks misunderstanding distinctive hermeneutical nuances pertinent to the answer the question, “What does it mean?”

Obbie Tyler Todd

American Prophets: Federalist Clergy’s Response to the Hamilton–Burr Duel of 1804

More than any event in early American history, the duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr in 1804 revealed Federalist clergy to be the moral guardians of American society and exposed the moral fault lines within the Federalist party itself. In the aftermath of Hamilton’s scandalous death, godly Federalists spoke prophetically to the American people, to politicians, and even to their own party. While other Federalists chose to present Hamilton as something of a political martyr, Federalist clergy broke with the party line in order to issue a nationwide clarion call against the practice of dueling, a clear violation of the sixth commandment. Their prophetic voice helped to end the menace of dueling in America.

Jenny-Lyn de Klerk

“Love One Another When I Am Deceased”: John Bunyan on Christian Behavior in the Family and Society

In the last two decades, Bunyan studies has seen an increase in scholarship that examines his life and thought from various angles, such as the psychological experiences and socio-political convictions found in his allegorical and autobiographical works. This scholarship has greatly enriched our understanding of Bunyan as a whole person living in a particular historical context. However, it has also led to some unwarranted critiques of Bunyan for being tyrannical, cold, and sexually immoral, appealing to his clearer didactic works like Christian Behaviour for proof. One way to balance these extreme views is to examine the context and content of Bunyan’s Christian Behaviour, as well as relevant aspects of his life. In the end, this will show that Bunyan was giving instructions on what he considered to be a primary aspect of the Christian life, that these instructions called for a gentle, warm love both within and outside of the family, and that he sought to follow these instructions himself.

C. Ryan Fields

A Generous Reading of John Locke: Reevaluating His Philosophical Legacy in Light of His Christian Confession

Locke is often presented as an eminent forerunner to the Enlightenment, a philosopher who hastened Europe’s departure from Christian orthodoxy and “turned the tide” toward a modern, secularist orientation. Yet there are reasons to think that such an understanding of Locke has not sufficiently taken into account his Christian faith as it relates to his philosophical project. A more generous reading of Locke requires further grappling with the works which emerged during the final period of his life (1695–1704), works which demonstrate distinctly religious interests and provide greater clarity regarding his proper philosophical legacy. Locke’s views on human nature serve as a case study.

Michael Berhow

Did the New Atheists Rationally Lack Belief?

For those who enjoy debates, there has never been a debate more routinely rehashed than the debate over God’s existence. If you have followed the various iterations of this debate over the past two decades, you might have come across a somewhat influential argument that is definitional in nature – what I call the Definitional Argument For Atheism (DAFA). In short, this argument claims that atheism is not a positive belief system, and therefore requires no justification to be considered rational. Such a claim implies that theists bear the full burden of proof when arguing about God’s existence. In this article, I provide an epistemological and a metaphysical critique of DAFA, and then attempt to show why theism is more reasonable than atheism.

Jonathan D. Worthington

Deep Motivation in Theological Education

“How can I motivate my students more?” In theological education, as in all education, students will gain the most from our classes and programs if they are deeply motivated and therefore engaged. So, the question of motivation is not minor. But the quantitative aspect of the question above – motivate them more – is actually not quite right. Rather, “Are we helping our students be motivated in the best way?” This article explores the basic difference between “intrinsic motivation” and “extrinsic motivation.” Most scholars of education think intrinsic motivation is the most potent for deep learning. It is potent, and important for theological education. But there are actually four types of extrinsic motivation, the final of which is just as deep and potent and essential for transformative theological education as anything. This article lays a theoretical foundation and a few practical ideas toward subsequent crucial practical experiments and suggestions for transformative theological education.

Book Reviews

Currents in Biblical Research 14, 3 (June 2016)

The latest Currents in Biblical Research recently arrived, with titles and abstracts of the main articles as below.

Russell L. Meek

Twentieth- and Twenty-first-century Readings of Hebel (הֶבֶל) in Ecclesiastes

The meaning of הֶבֶל is a crux interpretum for the book of Ecclesiastes. Notwithstanding some variation, Jerome’s vanitas reading of הֶבֶל in Ecclesiastes dominated scholarship for several centuries. Since the rise of modern biblical scholarship, הֶבֶל as ‘vanity’ has been largely rejected; however, little consensus has been reached regarding the word’s meaning. The result has been a rich history of interpretation as scholars develop various suggestions for how הֶבֶל should be understood in Ecclesiastes. This essay briefly sketches the history of interpretation of הֶבֶל, then surveys proposals for the meaning of הֶבֶל in Ecclesiastes during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

Amy Erickson and Andrew R. Davis

Recent Research on the Megilloth (Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther)

Until recently, study of the Megilloth as a coherent canonical grouping has been minimal. On the whole, the lateness and fluidity of the collection within the Jewish canon has negated its value for biblical scholars, who have long preferred texts and categories thought to be ‘early’ or ‘original’. The state of the field has begun to shift, however, as scholars are giving more attention to connections between individual books of the Megilloth and the coherence of the collection as a whole. This new interest coincides with the growing recognition among scholars that the later (re)uses of a biblical text are constitutive of its interpretation; thus the lateness of the Megilloth (if the collection really is late) does not preclude interpretation but shapes it. Recent studies in the Megilloth as a coherent collection include canon-historical approaches, which trace the formation of the Megilloth within the Jewish canon; intertextual approaches, which focus on allusions to earlier biblical traditions and on literary connections within the five scrolls; and theological approaches, which adopt a synchronic method that puts the Megilloth in dialogue with contemporary theological discourse.

Garrick V. Allen

Scriptural Allusions in the Book of Revelation and the Contours of Textual Research 1900-2014: Retrospect and Prospects

This article traces the contours of the past century of discourse surrounding the underlying textual form of allusions embedded in the book of Revelation. Special attention is paid to the rapid developments on this issue in the past thirty years, a period in which New Testament scholarship has grappled with the textual complexity of the Hebrew Bible presented by the scrolls from the Judaean Desert. The question of textual form is of foundational importance for analysing the reuse or interpretation of Scripture in the book of Revelation. Despite this reality, it is common to find assumptions or misconceptions in recent studies that obfuscate the textual reality of the Hebrew Bible and its early Greek versions the first century CE. The appraisal of scholarship on this issue allows scholars to better contextualize their own approaches to the text of allusions in the light of previous research. This analysis also highlights the changing methods and approaches by which scholars analyse the text of allusions and suggests some avenues for future research on the allusions embedded in the Apocalypse.

Patrick Schreiner

Space, Place and Biblical Studies: A Survey of Recent Research in Light of Developing Trends

This article surveys developing research on the nature of space and place. It summarizes the arguments proposed by geographers and philosophers outside biblical studies, and then illustrates how biblical scholars have employed these theories in the study of the biblical text. The review focuses on the theoretical underpinning and then examines a number of scholars who have appropriated what they call ‘critical spatiality’ to historical, sociological, and narratival readings. In short, some now describe space in a tri-part division; the physical world in which people exist, the ideological underpinnings of understanding places, and the lived practices of people within those places that sometimes challenge and sometimes reaffirm the expected uses of such places.

Yael Shemesh

Directions in Jewish Feminist Bible Study

The article highlights various possible directions that Jewish feminist Bible scholarship can take. Even though this field has naturally been influenced by feminist scholarship in general, I believe that it does have a number of unique traits, with regard both to content (such as pointing out the Christian source of certain misogynistic interpretations) and form (commentaries oriented to the weekly Torah portion). The first part of the article deals with these unique features of Jewish feminist Bible scholarship. In the second part I look at four goals shared by feminist Bible scholarship in general and the Jewish subgenre, while focusing on the latter: (1) Emphasizing that the Bible is a patriarchal and androcentric – some would say misogynistic – text; (2) highlighting the voices for equality that can be found in the Bible; (3) focusing on biblical women and recounting her-story rather than the traditional his-tory that has been dominant for generations; (4) discovering the female authors of biblical texts, or at least the women’s voices that emerge from it. In the third section I draw on several Jewish feminist Bible scholars’ treatment of three issues to exemplify how the same underlying data led different readers to different and even contradictory attitudes and assertions about the biblical text. Two of these issues relate to narrative – the characterization of Eve and that of Ruth and Naomi and their relationship. The third issue comes from the legal corpus – the laws of menstrual impurity (Lev. 15.19-24). Here we saw not only the different positions taken by different scholars, but also the change over time in the view of Rachel Adler, which corresponds with the change in her religious perspective and move from one religious denomination to another.

More Videos from the Bible Project

The Bible Project continues to put together a series of helpful short videos, some of which introduce the structure and themes of biblical books, and others of which trace some major themes through the entire Bible.

Since I lost posted on this, several other Bible book videos have been made available (including on Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Song of Songs, and Mark), and a themed video on The Gospel of the Kingdom.

Check them out from here (click on ‘Videos’ or scroll down to the ‘Videos/Study Guides/Posters’ section) or see them all via YouTube here.

Song of Songs

I preached on Song of Songs a couple of Sundays ago. I was asked to do so by a church which is devoting a sermon once a month to a whole book of the Bible, interspersed with a more standard programme of preaching and teaching.

This was an interesting exercise for me – having read a fair bit of scholarly and popular material on Song of Songs over the years, as well as having taught a few sessions on it as part of an undergraduate module on biblical interpretation, and led workshops for lay folk in other contexts too.

In preparation, I struggled most with how much to say about issues to do with interpreting the Song of Songs – which I felt it would be odd to ignore, given the Song’s history of interpretation – and how much to engage directly with passages in the book – which, however, would not be easy to do without some overall framework for approaching them.

In the end, I tried to combine the two. This felt like a good idea in principle, but I’m not sure how well it worked out in practice!

In the introduction to the sermon, trying to use a bit of humour and some self-deprecation, I alluded to the different approaches that have been taken to the book, but in a context of assuming that the Song of Songs is to be taken at face value as a collection of love songs between a man and a woman. Very briefly – in no more than a couple of minutes – I offered three reasons for taking the Song this way:

• Historically – the shared characteristics with ancient love poetry provides a credible historical and cultural context for the Song of Songs.

• Literarily – Song of Songs is what it appears obviously to be – a collection of love poems, in which we are taken across a range of emotions and experiences, with a developed use of imagery and figurative language, symbolism and metaphor.

• Biblically – the link with Solomon places the book in the wisdom tradition (along with Proverbs and Ecclesiastes) where our ‘fear of the Lord’ is expressed in everyday matters, including the more ‘earthy’ ones (I was helped here in that the earlier part of the service this particular Sunday had looked at the portrait of the ‘valiant woman’ in Proverbs 31:10-31).

I then looked at five representative passages under the following headings:

1. Expressions of desire (1:2-4)

2. Affirmations of devotion (1:15-2:7)

3. Invitations to love (2:8-17)

4. Praises of beauty (5:10-16)

5. Requests for security (8:6-7)

My plan in each case was to say a few things about the verses, and to reinforce some of the earlier interpretive points along the way. I think I managed this to some extent, but essentially set us too much to do in the timeframe of a sermon (the church had asked for 30 minutes) and I ended up offering only a fairly superficial sketch of the last three sections.

Towards the end, painfully aware of the passing of time, I made only a few comments on how the Song of Songs may still lead us, finally, to reflect on our relationship with the Lord. But I still closed by encouraging the congregation not to leapfrog too quickly over the Song of Songs to Christ and so miss the significance of the book in affirming and celebrating the lovers’ delight in each other, that the joy of the lovers is a part of God’s provision for humanity – without shame, without prudery, without innuendo, which presents it in the context of a relationship of committed, passionate, reciprocal love, which gives equal place to male and female.

But I fear it was all way too rushed.

I had wanted to say more about the significance and implications of the book for Christians today, so was disappointed that I didn’t manage to do so to any great extent. My sense is that this came down to being overly ambitious in what I could cover in the time allotted and not being strict enough with myself in the preparation process. If I was able to do it again, I would go for two or three representative passages at the most, or perhaps even one longer section, and leave more time to draw out implications for different types of people in the congregation – marrieds, singles, widowed – all within an overall gospel framework of forgiveness for sexual sin and our identity resting finally in Christ.

Carl Trueman on Sex and Song of Songs

Notwithstanding the ‘theological’ readings of ancient and more recent times – even the restrained ones – I’ve been persuaded for many years that (what G. Lloyd Carr calls) a ‘natural’ reading of Song of Songs is more appropriate, and the best fit for the evidence – historically, literarily, and canonically.

Recent years, however, have seen an increasing proliferation of approaches which, in my opinion, then go too far the other way in effectively over-sexualising the poetry of Song of Songs, making it more crude than it probably really is, losing the richness and subtlety – and the romance – in the process. (How easy it is to do that when it comes to sex.)

So, I wholly agree with Carl Trueman in a recent post (‘No Sex Please, I’m British’) when he writes that ‘the turning of the Song of Songs primarily into a sex manual is arguably a greater act of reductionism than jumping straight from the text to Christ and the church’. He helpfully points out that while Scripture does occasionally use crude language to talk about sex, ‘it never uses such language to describe a properly functioning marriage’; he has wise words for those of us who preach and teach, calling us to pay ‘respect to the form which scripture uses to speak of such things’.

Richard M. Davidson on the Song of Songs

Richard M. Davidson, ‘Theology of Sexuality in the Song of Songs: Return to Eden’, Andrews University Seminary Studies 27, 1 (1989), 1-19.

After looking at ‘allegorical’ and ‘literal’ approaches to interpreting the Song of Songs, Richard Davidson notes studies that have analysed the relationship between the early chapters of Genesis and the Song of Songs (5). On this basis, he makes the following points:

Sexuality is Good

‘First, underlying the entire Song is the same high doctrine of creation that forms the backdrop for biblical wisdom literature in general’ (6).

Sexuality is for Couples

‘Secondly, the man and woman are a duality, as in the beginning – a lover and his beloved’ (7).

Sexuality is Egalitarian

‘Third, the lovers in the Song are presented as equals in every way’ (8).

Sexuality is Related to Wholeness

‘Closely related to the motifs of equality/mutuality, we note, fourthly, the concept of wholeness in sexuality’ (10).

Sexuality is a Multidimensional Relationship

‘From the aspect of wholeness and solidarity we are led to a fifth insight into the nature of sexuality: Paradisiacal sexual love means a multidimensional relationship’ (11).

Sexuality is Pleasurable

‘As a sixth insight into the nature of sexuality from the Song of Songs, we note one aspect that is not mentioned. The Song contains no reference to the procreative function of sexuality’ (15-16).

Sexuality is Beautiful

‘This leads us to the final insight and the major statement of the Song of Songs regarding the nature of sexuality. In living pictures sexuality is presented as wholesome, beautiful, and good; something to be celebrated and enjoyed without fear or embarrassment’ (16).

He also notes, in conclusion, that the Song may contain an explicit indication of the divine source of human love – in 8:6-7, translated as:

‘For love is as strong as death,

ardent love as relentless as Sheol;

the flash of it is a flash of fire,

a flame of Yah(weh) himself.

If this is the case, he holds, ‘then true human love is explicitly described as originating in God as “a spark off the original flame” [and] points beyond itself to the Lord of love’ (18).

Davidson thus advocates a typological – as opposed to allegorical – approach to the Song of Songs. While the relationship between husband and wife as described in the Song ‘has independent meaning and value of its own that is affirmed and extolled’, yet ‘at the same time this human love is given even greater significance as it typologically points beyond itself to the divine Lover’ (18).

Davidson returns to Song of Songs in the final two chapters of his 844-page treatment of sexuality in the Old Testament – Flame of Yahweh: Sexuality in the Old Testament (Peabody: Hendrickson, 2007), dealing with similar themes though under a slightly different set of headings.

The final chapter seems to expand the ‘sexuality is beautiful’ dimension under the following points:

• Paradisal love is stunningly beautiful

• Paradisal love is wonderfully sensuous

• Paradisal love is an exuberant celebration

• Paradisal love is a thrilling adventure

• Paradisal love is an exquisite delight

• Paradisal love is highly erotic

• Paradisal love is unashamed and uninhibited

• Paradisal love is restrained and in good taste

• Paradisal love is light-hearted play

• Paradisal love is a romantic love affair

• Paradisal love is powerfully passionate

• Paradisal love is an awe-inspiring mystery

Sherwood Eliot Wirt on Song of Songs

Sherwood Eliot Wirt, ‘Some New Thoughts about the Song of Solomon’, Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 33/4 (1990), 433-36.

I read this short article in the early-1990s when I was doing a lot of work on Song of Songs for a course I was teaching. For me, his discussion of the royal language in the Song was one of those happy moments when lots of cogs click into place and you begin to see things with new eyes.

Here’s a bit:

‘I believe that the song was neither by Solomon nor about him. Rather it is a dramatic love dialogue between a shepherd and a country girl, who use the imagery of royalty to address and describe each other in fantasy. To the Shulammite girl, chaste and beautiful, her young love is King Solomon in all his majesty. She sees him wearing a crown, riding in a chariot and escorted by warriors... The young shepherd on his part imagines his beloved as a prince’s daughter, spreading her perfume at the royal table, admired by queens and surrounded by the “daughters of Jerusalem.” In his fantasy she is as fair as the moon, bright as the sun, and majestic as troops with banners. Among the ladies she is herself the queen’ (435).

Hence:

‘King Solomon, his retinue, his horses and chariots become in this Song nothing but the word pictures and imaginative expressions that lovers use’ (435-36).

Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart on Song of Songs

Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible Book by Book: A Guided Tour (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002), 165:

‘Song of Songs fits into God’s story as a reminder that the sexual love he created is good and should be embraced with godly fidelity and delight.’

Barry G. Webb on The Scrolls

Barry G. Webb, Five Festal Garments: Christian Reflections on the Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes and Esther, New Studies in Biblical Theology No. 10 (Leicester: Apollos, 2000), 151pp., ISBN 0851115187.

[The following is a lightly-edited version of a review first written in November 2000 and published on London School of Theology’s website.]

Barry Webb’s work (in the ‘New Studies in Biblical Theology’ series) takes up the five generally neglected Old Testament books traditionally known as ‘the Scrolls’ – Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther.

His discussion of each book is divided into three parts: first, he looks at the book itself, allowing it to set its own agenda; second, he then reads the book against its wider Old Testament context; then third, because Webb is self-consciously offering ‘Christian reflections’ on these works (as indicated in the volume’s subtitle), he looks at how the book in question relates to the gospel as proclaimed by Jesus and the apostles in the New Testament. As such, the volume provides a concise overview of the books themselves and worked examples of looking at them from a biblical-theological perspective, offering helpful perspectives on what he sees as their themes – Song of Songs as the garment of love, Ruth as the garment of kindness, Lamentations as the garment of suffering, Ecclesiastes as the garment of vexation, and Esther as the garment of deliverance.

A few points for dialogue could be raised. With the possible exception of Ecclesiastes, all books have had considerable input from ‘feminist’ interpreters, but you wouldn’t really know it from Webb’s work. One doesn’t have to agree with all that is said in the name of feminist approaches to the Bible to appreciate some of the challenge such interpretations bring to the contemporary church. Even if one starts from the text (as well we should) rather than impose ideological agendas onto the text, we have to do justice to the significance of the singing voice of the woman in Song of Songs, to the mournful cries of the widowed ‘daughter of Zion’ in Lamentations, to the role of the central female characters in Ruth and Esther – all within a broader biblical-theological reflection on the relationship between men and women in Christ.

Also somewhat lacking is discussion of the interface between Christianity, Judaism and biblical theology (an ongoing and controversial topic in current scholarly debate on biblical theology and Christian theology more widely). This is particularly ironic, as Webb has chosen to tackle these books as the ‘Scrolls’ which are gathered together in the third part of the Hebrew canon (the ‘Writings’) and which were adopted for reading at five major Jewish festivals, but which are separated in the Christian canon (!) and apparently serve no function as a unit.

But these are simply indications that we all still have a lot more work to do. If these volumes and others like them continue to be published, we may be both optimistic and excited for the future of biblical theology.