Lieb Michael et al. (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of the Reception History of the Bible

Oxford University Press, 2011. - 752 p. - ISBN-10: 0199204543; ISBN-13: 978-0199204540.This substantial volume is part of the wide-ranging series of Oxford handbooks designed to offer overviews of scholarly research. It arises out of a growing scholarly interest in the reception history of the Bible, that is, the study of how the Bible has been interpreted through the centuries, in fields as diverse as theology, art, literature, politics, and popular culture. This “handbook” is divided into two parts. Part I consists of essays that discuss the content of twelve biblical books “that have been influential in the history of interpretation,” while Part II offers a set of thirty-two case studies of the interpretation of particular biblical books or passages through the centuries (i). Such is the design, but in actual practice the line between the two parts is not clear. Some essays in Part I pay little attention to the content of the biblical books, instead discussing the reception history of those books. It is also unclear why some of the biblical books in Part I were chosen for discussion. One essay in Part I treats Judges, while the book is mentioned only in passing in the essays of Part II. Exodus, which apparently did not merit inclusion in Part I, is the subject of two essays in Part II.About editors:
Michael Lieb is Research Professor of Humanities and Professor of English at the University of Illinois, Chicago.
Dr. Emma Mason is Senior Lecturer in the Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies at the University of Warwick.
Dr. Jonathan Roberts is Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Liverpool.