Beverly-Gaventa

The newest issue of the Journal of Biblical Literature contains Beverly Gaventa’s essay, “Reading Romans 13 with Simone Weil: Toward a More Generous Hermeneutic.” According to the abstract, Simone Weil’s interpretation of the Iliad as a “poem of force” has resonances with Rom 1–8, reinforcing the question of how Rom 13:1–7 belongs in the larger argument of Romans. Seeking a generous reading of 13:1–7 along the lines of the generosity Weil extends to the Iliad, I first take Pharaoh as an example of Paul’s understanding of the relationship between God and human rulers and then propose that Paul’s treatment of human rulers coheres with his refusal in this letter to reify lines between “insider” and “outsider.” I conclude with a reflection on the need for generosity in scholarly research and pedagogy. ...

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include: Itzhak Benyamini, Narcissist Universalism: A Psychoanalytic Reading of Paul’s Epistles, reviewed by Kari Syreeni Wim M. de Bruin, Isaiah 1–12 as Written and Read in Antiquity, reviewed by Ibolya Balla Trevor J. Burke and Brian S. Rosner, eds., Paul as Missionary: Identity, Activity, Theology, and Practice, reviewed by Ronald R. Clark J. Patout Burns Jr., Romans: Interpreted by Early Christian Commentators, reviewed by Daniel Patte and by Adam Ployd Beverly Roberts Gaventa, ed., Apocalyptic Paul: Cosmos and Anthropos in Romans 5–8, reviewed by Timothy Gombis Barbara Green, Jeremiah and God’s Plans of Well-Being, reviewed by Lissa M. Wray Beal Richard H. Hiers, Women’s Rights and the Bible: Implications for Christian Ethics and Social Policy, reviewed by L. Juliana Claassens William S. Kurz, Acts of the Apostles, reviewed by Thomas E. Phillips and by Troy M. Troftgruben A. James Murphy, Kids and Kingdom: The Precarious Presence of Children in the Synoptic Gospels, reviewed by Marianne Blickenstaff Ruth Poser, Das Ezechielbuch als Trauma-Literatur, reviewed by Michael S. Moore Robert M. Price, The Amazing Colossal Apostle: The Search for the Historical Paul, reviewed by Corneliu Constantineanu and by Glenn E. Snyder Ephraim Stern, The Material Culture of the Northern Sea Peoples in Israel, reviewed by Raz Kletter