Open-Mindedness in the Bible and Beyond

The contributions to this volume, published in honour of Prof. Bob Becking (Religious Studies), reflect upon changing paradigms within biblical scholarship, and in how biblical scholarship is taught. Taken together, they offer a multifaceted and informative indication of how open-mindedness in one's approach can yield fascinating results across the study of the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible.

The range in topic of the contributions is exemplified in the difference between the first chapter, which works from the personal anecdote of the changing opinion of its author to make a wider point about models for Pentateuchal formation, and the third chapter, which comments on the current state of the study of ancient Israel in universities today.

Other contributions include:

• an essay on the subject of space as a social construct in Isaiah 24-27;
• civil courage and whether the Bible allows room for protest;
• the question of monotheism in Persian Judah;
• the historical Ezra, and the telling of the story of Joseph (Genesis 50: 15-21) in children's Bibles in the Netherlands.

The contributors include Hugh Williamson, Ehud Ben Zvi, Rainer Albertz, Karel von der Toorn, and Christoph Uehlinger.

Bob Becking is emeritus Professor of Bible, Religion and Identity at Utrecht University. On 2 September he delivered his farewell lecture on the cultural history of the Leviathan. At this occasion the volume Open-Mindedness in the Bible and Beyond was presented.

• Title: Open-Mindedness in the Bible and Beyond
• Authors: Marjo C.A. Korpel & Lester L. Grabbe (eds.)
• ISBN: 9780567663801
• Publisher: Bloomsbury, 2015