Richard-Hays

Late last year, Books and Culture interviewed Richard Hays about some of his story and common themes in his work. Stemming from Hays’s similarly titled book, one of the questions addressed is “How is reading backward in a figural sense different from reading prophecy forward?” In response, Hays comments, in part,

To be sure, in the Old Testament, there are a few passages that look forward in hope to a future king who will restore the kingdom, a lot of those particularly in the Psalms. There are also enigmatic passages, of course, in Isaiah that refer to a suffering figure, although that figure is never described there as a Messiah.

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The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

• Victor H. Matthews, The Hebrew Prophets and Their Social World: An Introduction, reviewed by Aren M. Maeir and by Stewart Moore
• Jonathan T. Pennington, Reading the Gospels Wisely: A Narrative and Theological Introduction, reviewed by Joel B. Green
• Iain Provan and Mark J. Boda, eds., Let Us Go Up to Zion: Essays in Honour of H. G. M. Williamson on the Occasion of His Sixty-Fifth Birthday, reviewed by Keith Bodner
• David T. Runia and Gregory E. Sterling, eds., Studia Philonica Annual XXIV, 2012, reviewed by Scott Mackie
• Philippe Wajdenbaum, Argonauts of the Desert: Structural Analysis of the Hebrew Bible, reviewed by Casper J. Labuschagne

New Testament and Cognate Studies

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

• John Barton, The Theology of the Book of Amos, reviewed by Tyler Mayfield and by Heinz-Dieter Neef
• Keith Bodner, Jeroboam’s Royal Drama, reviewed by Matthew Suriano
• Michael D. Coogan and Mark S. Smith, eds., Stories from Ancient Canaan (2nd ed.), reviewed by Henk Potgieter
• Frank Lothar Hossfeld and Eric Zenger, A Commentary on Psalms 101–150 (Psalms, vol. 3), reviewed by Thomas Kraus
• Alice L. Laffey, First and Second Kings, reviewed by Ginny Brewer-Boydston

New Testament and Cognate Studies

To demonstrate the superiority of Jesus’ sacrifice to those previously offered under the Torah, the writer to the Hebrews quotes a version of Ps 40:6–8 (Eng; 40:7–9 HB; 39:7–9 OG; Heb 10:5–9). 1 In so doing, Hebrews fairly clearly situates its rendition of this psalm’s words as Jesus’ own (cf. Heb 10:10). 2 If one were to read the entire psalm in this direction however, 3 problems would seemingly arise (e.g., vv. 12–17 Eng). 4

Nevertheless, in looking at the whole psalm from the perspective of Hebrews’ reading, one might well consider that Jesus “sometimes speaks in the name of our Head; sometimes also He speaks of us who are His members.” 5 In this way, initially problematic elements (e.g., v. 12 Eng) would follow not with respect to him who is the head but with respect to those who are his members. 6 Moreover,