Book Reviews

The XVII Congress Volume of the IOSCS Published

Every three years the International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament (IOSOT) holds a congress somewhere around the world. And during that congress, a number of other, smaller societies hold their own little get-togethers as a kind of mini-congress. One of the societies that does so is the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies (IOSCS).

Now, if I’ve said it once here, I’ve said it a thousand times: If you are even remotely interested in Septuagint scholarship, you should join the IOSCS immediately. It’s cheap, we’re friendly, and you’ll get the Journal of Septuagint and Cognate Studies shipped to your door.

But I digress. In addition to meeting every three years at this congress, the IOSCS also collects the papers presented and publishes them as a volume in the SBL Septuagint and Cognate Studies series. So I was very pleased to see this (rather formidable) undertaking recently come to light. (more…)

Review: A New Hebrew Reader for the Psalms

It’s been a while since I did a book review, but I want to make sure to highlight a great new resource that is likely to interest my readers. Hendrickson Publishers has just produced A Hebrew Reader for the Psalms: 40 Beloved Texts, compiled and edited by Pete Myers and Jonathan G. Kline.

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Top 10 Books of 2019 (and all the others)

As a professor, it probably comes as no surprise that I enjoy reading. It kind of comes with the territory. Then again, maybe some who read this post will be surprised at the somewhat random nature of the things I do read once you have a look below. There is a reason for that.

In my college and graduate years, I rarely read for pleasure. I simply didn’t think I had the time, so I focused on going deep with my assigned reading. There was nothing inherently wrong with that and, to be sure, I learned a lot with that approach. But I also missed out on a lot, since it is absolutely not the case that I (or you) don’t have the time for pleasure reading. Thankfully, I realized that early on in my doctoral years. That’s when I rediscovered my love of reading broadly — and as my whims led (as Alan Jacobs commends), which is what I make a practice of doing now. I find non-work-related reading particularly life giving, although admittedly there are some fuzzy boundaries with some books. (more…)