In the last podcast, I recommended the best books and reference sources for understanding the religion and culture of the ANE for OT study. This episode wraps up my overview of taking the Bible’s own context seriously by immersing oneself into the intellectual worldview of the biblical writers by taking a look at books dealing with the literature of the Second Temple period for NT study. Scholars who are steeped in this material have produced fine material for  explaining how the Second Temple period worldview contributes to NT interpretation. My goal in this episode is to direct you to the some of the best reference works and monographs in that regard to enrich your NT study.

Books and Reference Works on Second Temple Texts and Worldview

Most Recommended Reference Works for NT Study in the Context of both the Old Testament and Second Temple Judaism

Green, Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels (The IVP Bible Dictionary Series)

digital version

Hawthorne (ed.), Dictionary of Paul and His Letters (The IVP Bible Dictionary Series)

digital version

Laansma (ed.), Dictionary of the Later New Testament & Its Developments (The IVP Bible Dictionary Series)

digital version

Evans (ed.), Dictionary of New Testament Background (The IVP Bible Dictionary Series)

digital version

van der Toorn, Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, Second Edition

digital version

Levine (ed.), The Jewish Annotated New Testament

Simmons, Peoples of the New Testament World: An Illustrated Guide

Monographs

General Works on Second Temple Context

digital version

digital version

Interpretation of Scripture in New Testament Times

Watson, A History of Biblical Interpretation, Volume 1: The Ancient Period (History of Biblical Interpretation Series)

Beale, Handbook on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament: Exegesis and Interpretation

Moyise, Jesus and Scripture: Studying the New Testament Use of the Old Testament

digital version

Moyise, Paul and Scripture: Studying the New Testament Use of the Old Testament

Moyise, Later New Testament Writings and Scripture, The: The Old Testament in Acts, Hebrews, the Catholic Epistles and Revelation

Greco-Roman / Hellenistic Context

Ferguson, Backgrounds of Early Christianity

Jeffers, The Greco-Roman World of the New Testament Era: Exploring the Background of Early Christianity

digital version

History of the Second Temple Period

Grabbe, An Introduction to Second Temple Judaism: History and Religion of the Jews in the Time of Nehemiah, the Maccabees, Hillel, and Jesus

Schiffman, From Text to Tradition, A History of Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism

Sacchi, The History of the Second Temple Period (Academic Paperback)

Dead Sea Scrolls & Christianity

digital version

digital version

digital version

digital version

digital version

Pseudepigrapha, Apocrypha, and the New Testament

Charlesworth, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha & the New Testament

deSilva, The Jewish Teachers of Jesus, James, and Jude: What Earliest Christianity Learned from the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha

Contextualized New Testament Theology

all three in digital version

Yinger, The New Perspective on Paul

We’ve talked in previous episodes about how the best way to understood the original context of the biblical writers is to immerse yourself in the worldview of the civilizations with which the biblical writers had regular contact.  We’ve already spent several episodes on my recommendations for accessing the texts of the ancient Near East and Second Temple period – the intellectual output of the civilizations and cultures that form the original contexts of the Old and New Testaments. In this episode and the next, I want to recommend the best books and reference sources for understanding the religion and culture of the ANE and Second Temple period. Scholars who are steeped in this material have produced many essays explaining the worldview of these civilizations and how that worldview matters for biblical study and interpretation. My goal is to direct you to the best of those resources. As is our pattern, we’ll devote this episode to the ANE, the context for the OT, before moving to the Second Temple period, the context for the NT, in the next episode of the podcast.

Books and Reference Works on Ancient Near Eastern Texts and Worldview

Most Recommended Reference Works for OT Study in Ancient Near Eastern Context

Sasson (ed.), Civilizations of the Ancient Near East/4 Volumes Bound in 2 Books (v. 1 & 2)

Baker (ed.), Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch (The IVP Bible Dictionary Series)

digital version

Williamson (ed.), Dictionary of the Old Testament: Historical Books (The IVP Bible Dictionary Series)

digital version

Enns (ed.), Dictionary of the Old Testament: Wisdom, Poetry & Writings (The IVP Bible Dictionary Series)

Boda (ed.), Dictionary of the Old Testament: Prophets (IVP Bible Dictionary)

van der Toorn, Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, Second Edition

digital version

Monographs

Ancient Near East

History and Culture:

Hoerth, Mattingly, Yamauchi (eds), Peoples of the Old Testament World

White, Everyday Life in Ancient Egypt

von Soden, The Ancient Orient: An Introduction to the Study of the Ancient Near East

Bertman, Handbook to Life in Ancient Mesopotamia

Mertz, Red Land, Black Land: Daily Life in Ancient Egypt

Van de Mieroop, A History of Ancient Egypt (Blackwell History of the Ancient World)

Van de Mieroop, A History of the Ancient Near East ca. 3000 – 323 BC [Blackwell History of the Ancient World Ser.]

Ancient Mesopotamian Religion (Sumer, Assyria, Babylon):

Schneider, An Introduction to Ancient Mesopotamian Religion (History of Religion)

Bottero, Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia

Jacobsen, The Treasures of Darkness: A History of Mesopotamian Religion

Black, Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary

Ancient Egyptian Religion:

Pinch, Egyptian Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Goddesses, and Traditions of Ancient Egypt

Pinch, Egyptian Myth: A Very Short Introduction

Teeter, Religion and Ritual in Ancient Egypt

Assmann, The Search for God in Ancient Egypt

Old Testament Israel:

The Old Testament Worldview in Ancient Near Eastern Context (General):

Walton, Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament: Introducing the Conceptual World of the Hebrew Bible

digital version

Walton, The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate

Israelite Religion:

Miller, The Religion of Ancient Israel (Library of Ancient Israel)

Smith, The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel (Biblical Resource Series)

digital version

Hess, Israelite Religions: An Archaeological and Biblical Survey

digital version

Mettinger, In Search of God: The Meaning and Message of the Everlasting Names

Culture and Life in Ancient Israel:

Wells, Everyday Law in Biblical Israel: An Introduction

de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions (Biblical Resource)

Dever, The Lives of Ordinary People in Ancient Israel: When Archaeology and the Bible Intersect

Ebeling, Women’s Lives in Biblical Times

The series on Bible study continues with the emphasis on interpreting the Bible in its own context. The context we’re discussing is the world of the ancient Near East (with respect to the OT) and the Second Temple period with respect to the NT. Interpreting the Bible in these contexts means thinking like a person living at these times. The best way to do that is to immerse yourself in the worldview of the civilizations of these eras with which the biblical writers had regular contact.  That is accomplished by immersion in the written sources of these civilizations. The last episode of the podcast dealt with the need to tap into the written material of the ANE since that is the context for the OT. In this episode we’ll turn attention to the NT context, the Second temple period (6th century BC-1st century AD). As in the last episode, all print and online sources I mention in the podcast are found (with links) at the “Bibliography and Resources” tab here on the podcast website.

Ancient Texts in English Translation: Second Temple Period of Judaism (5th century BC – 1st century AD)

Books:

Old Testament Apocrypha

King James Version of the Apocrypha

digital version

The New Oxford Annotated Apocrypha: New Revised Standard Version

digital version

R.H. Charles’ edition: The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament: Apocrypha

digital version (Logos has Charles’ Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha in one set)

New Testament Apocrypha (less relevant, as these come from after the apostolic period):

one-volume edition of M. R. James: The New Testament Apocrypha

two-volume scholarly compendium by Schneemelcher

New Testament Apocrypha, Vol. 1: Gospels and Related Writings Revised Edition

New Testament Apocrypha, Vol. 2: Writings Relating to the Apostles Apocalypses and Related Subjects

Old Testament Pseudepigrapha

digital version (Logos has Charles’ Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha in one set)

James H. Charleworth’s two-volume edition (with introductions to each book): The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha ( 2 Volume set)

digital version

Dead Sea Scrolls (non-biblical texts)

Wise, Abegg, & Cook: The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New Translation

digital version

Geza Vermes: The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English (Penguin Classics)

Garcia-Martinez: The Dead Sea Scrolls Translated: The Qumran Texts in English

digital version (English translations are included in the two volume Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition, which also has the Hebrew texts)

Dead Sea Scrolls (the biblical scrolls in the Hebrew Bible, in English translation)

Abegg, Ulrich, Flint: The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible: The Oldest Known Bible Translated for the First Time into English

digital version

Josephus

Whiston edition: The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged, New Updated Edition

digital version

Paul Maier: The New Complete Works of Josephus

Philo

Yonge, updated by Scholer: The Works of Philo

digital version

Websites (free material, but dated translations from old, public domain sources)

Old Testament Apocrypha

Sacred Texts Archive

Non-Canonical Homepage

Biblos / Apocrypha.org

Pseudepigrapha.com (includes links to OT Apocrypha)

Old Testament Pseudepigrapha

Sacred Texts archive (labels the Pseudepigrapha “other apocrypha”)

Pseudepigrapha.com

Non-canonical Homepage

New Testament Apocrypha

Early Christian Writings

Philo

Early Jewish Writings

Josephus

Early Jewish Writings

The last episode of the podcast dealt with the need to tap into the intellectual output of the ancient Mediterranean world — the Bible’s own context – in order to start thinking the thoughts of the biblical writers. This episode takes this recommendation further by directing listeners to the best volumes and websites for English translations of ancient literature pertinent to biblical studies. The episode focuses on the civilizations that give the OT its context – the civilizations of the ancient Near East (ANE). Dr. Heiser recommends books (whether hard copy or digital form) as well as websites for tapping into ANE literature.

Ancient Texts in English Translation: Ancient Near East

Books: General Collections

The Context of Scripture (COS); 3 volumes

digital version

Ancient Near Eastern Texts (ANET) by Pritchard (one volume hardcover; split into two volumes paperback; vol. 1 and vol. 2)

digital version

Writings from the Ancient World set (amazon link to volumes in the series)

digital version

Egyptian Literature:

Miriam Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature (3 vols)

digital version

Foster, Ancient Egyptian Literature

The Literature of Ancient Egypt: An Anthology of Stories, Instructions, Stelae, Autobiographies, and Poetry; Third Edition by Professor William Kelley Simpson, Professor Robert K. Ritner, The Reverent Dr. Vincent A. Tobin and Professor Edward Wente Jr.

digital version

Mesopotamia (Sumerian, Babylonian, Assyrian)

Foster, Before the Muses: An Anthology of Akkadian Literature

Foster, From Distant Days: Myths, Tales, and Poetry of Ancient Mesopotamia

Dalley, Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, the Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others

Jacobsen, The Harps that Once … Sumerian Poetry in Translation

Ugaritic Texts:

digital version

Gibson, Canaanite Myths and Legends

digital version

Websites

ETANA (Electronic Tools Ancient Near East Archives)

Internet Sacred Texts Archive

Internet Archive

In this second episode of the series on Bible study, Dr. Heiser discusses what interpreting the Bible “in context” really means — taking the Bible’s own primitive context seriously. Rather than filter the Bible through creeds dating from the 17th and 18th centuries, or even the period of early Christianity, the Bible’s actual context is the one that produced the biblical books — the era stretching from the 2nd millennium BC to the first century AD. All other contexts are foreign to the Bible, no matter how persuasive they are in denominational traditions. The student of the Bible must make all foreign contexts subservient to the Bible’s own context. That means replacing our own worldview with that of the biblical writer living during this ancient time span in the ancient Near East and eastern Mediterranean. The way to do that is to immerse ourselves in the intellectual output of those cultures in which the biblical Israelite and later Hellenistic Jews lived when God moved them to write Scripture. The episode ends with suggestions about resources for familiarizing oneself with the literature of all these cultures. These guides are the first step, and set the stage for a discussion of where to find these texts in English translation, as well as informed discussion of that material for enriching Bible study.

Guides to the Literature of the Biblical Context and Worldview:

Old Testament (informed by the Literature of the Ancient Near East)

John Walton, Ancient Israelite Literature in its Cultural Context

Victor Matthews, Old Testament Parallels: Laws And Stories from the Ancient Near East

Kenton Sparks, Ancient Texts for the Study of the Hebrew Bible: A Guide to the Background Literature

New Testament (informed by the literature of Second Temple / “Intertestamental” Judaism)

Larry Helyer, Exploring Jewish Literature of the Second Temple Period: A Guide for New Testament Students (Christian Classics Bible Studies)

Craig Evans, Ancient Texts for New Testament Studies: A Guide to the Background Literature

D. deSilva, Introducing the Apocrypha: Message, Context, and Significance

This episode begins a series on learning how to engage the biblical text in ways that take you beyond merely reading the Bible. Dr. Heiser overviews a popular Naked Bible blog post (“Heiser’s Laws for Bible Study“) as an introduction.  You don’t have to be a scholar to learn to engage the biblical text and move beyond just reading the Bible in English. There are tools that will help you penetrate the text, and techniques for reading more carefully.

This episode builds on the previous one, where Dr. Heiser discussed the context of Paul’s teachings on the Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians 11 — namely, the three chapters prior, 1 Corinthians 8-10. Those chapters show Paul laying out the “fellowship context” of the Lord’s Supper, that Paul wants believers to know that they “partake” of a meal by which they enjoy fellowship (koinoinia) with the Lord. His context for that thought is the partaking of OT priests in sacrificial meat (though not of the sacrifices for atonement or sin offering), and the demonic “fellowship” that is the result of pagan sacrifice. This episode moves into 1 Corinthians 11, where Paul describes the Lord’s Supper in relation to a fellowship meal. This context is crucial to understanding the focus of the Lord’s Supper and the admonitions of Paul in connection with observing the Lord’s Supper.

This episode transitions the discussion of a biblical theology of the Lord’s Supper to the primary passage in the New Testament on the topic: 1 Corinthians 11. The episode focuses on the context of 1 Corinthians 8-10 for informing what Paul says about the Lord’s Supper in chapter 11. The “fellowship context” of the Lord’s Supper is shown to be important for understanding the issues Paul will get into in 1 Corinthians 11. Paul wants believers to know that they “partake” of a meal by which they enjoy fellowship (koinoinia) with the Lord. His context for that thought is the partaking of OT priests in sacrificial meat (though not of the sacrifices for atonement or sin offering), and the demonic “fellowship” that is the result of pagan sacrifice — his primary concern in the disputation over meat sacrificed to idols in 1 Cor 8-10.

Today’s episode continues the problem of John 6, the “bread of life” passage. We explore the rest of the passage, drawing attention to two items: that the second half of the passage needs to be interpreted in light of the first half, and that John 6 is not an account of the Last Supper, which the epistles are clear was the context for the Lord’s Supper or Communion.

When I introduced this topic and series, I said that I’m convinced that this doctrine is one of the least critically examined of all biblical doctrines. This episode gets us into some territory that illustrates the pervasive influence of assumptions about this topic. Anyone who has studied the doctrine knows that it is linked to the Last Supper. They also know about the problem of John 6, the “bread of life” passage. But did you know that John 6 isn’t in the context of the Last Supper? Most students don’t, and the observation begs the question of whether the controversial “eat my flesh and drink my blood” wording in John 6 has anything at all to do with the Lord’s Supper, despite centuries of assuming that it’s central to the topic.