John 5 and the Healing at Bethesda

Steve Bryan has an interesting take here on the healing at Bethesda in John 5.

The Merneptah Stele

Here is a nice overview of an important biblically-related artifact.

Samson as Nazarite

While I would not hold to many of the higher critical assumptions in this article, I found it to be an interesting discussion of Samson as a nazarite.

The Latest Issue of the Review of Biblical Literature

The latest issue of Review of Biblical Literature is out. Reviews can be accessed by clicking the links below but unfortunately you must be a SBL member to read them.

Mika Ahuvia and Alexander Kocar, eds., Placing Ancient Texts: The Ritual and Rhetorical Use of Space (Mohr Siebeck)
Gert T. M. Prinsloo

Christian Bemmerl, Der Jakobusbrief in der Alten Kirche: Eine Spurensuche vom Neuen Testament bis zu Origenes (Mohr Siebeck)
Martin C. Albl 

M. Eugene Boring, Hearing Paul’s Voice: Insights for Teaching and Preaching (Eerdmans)
Michael P. Knowles

Piet van Boxel, Kirsten Macfarlane, and Joanna Weinberg, eds., The Mishnaic Moment: Jewish Law among Jews and Christians in Early Modern Europe (Oxford University Press)
Chanan Gafni

Zorodzai Dube, Jesus, the Best Capernaum Folk-Healer: Mark’s Aretalogy of Jesus in the Healing Stories (Pickwick)
Olugbenga Olagunju

Jean-Luc Fournet, The Rise of Coptic: Egyptian versus Greek in Late Antiquity (Princeton University Press)
Melody Everest

Russell E. Gmirkin, Plato’s Timaeus and the Biblical Creation Accounts: Cosmic Monotheism and Terrestrial Polytheism in the Primordial History (Routledge)
Paavo N. Tucker

David John McCollough, Ritual and Religious Experience in Early Christianities: The Spirit in Between (Mohr Siebeck)
Rikard Roitto

Urmas Nõmmik, Die Erzelternerzählungen im Lichte höfischer Erzählkunst: Motivkritische Studien zu den Überlieferungen von Lot, Isaak, Rebekka und Jakob (Mohr Siebeck)
Kristin Weingart

Jeffrey L. Rubenstein, ed., Studies in Rabbinic Narratives: Volume 1 (Brown Judaic Studies)
Reuven Kiperwasser