Missiology
Southwestern Journal of Theology
Volume 49, No. 2 – Spring 2007
Managing Editor: Malcolm B. Yarnell III
Edited by Darrell
L. Bock and Gregory J. Herrick. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2005. 286 pages. Softcover, $22.99.
This present volume completes an excellent informal trilogy of books by Darrell L. Bock, Research Professor in New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary. In 2002 Bock wrote Studying the Historical Jesus: A Guide to Sources and Methods as an insightful overview of the background and critical studies of the canonical Gospels (reviewed in SWJT 45 [Summer 2003]: 70–71). In the same year he published Jesus according to Scripture: Restoring the Portrait from the Gospel (JAS), in which he examined the canonical portrait of Jesus in a micro (textual examination) and macro (theological portrait based on Gospel themes) basis (reviewed in SWJT 46 [Spring 2004]:85). The coauthor of Jesus in Context is Gregory J. Herrick, a researcher and writer for the Biblical Studies Foundation.
Jesus in Context is a Gospels background reader: a compilation of ancient writings dating both before and after the composition of the canonical Gospels. Other New Testament readers are usually compilations of material arranged by author, such as The New Testament Background: Selected Documents, by C.K. Barrett. In Readings from the First-Century World, Elwell and Yarbrough arrange their readings by topic or by the corresponding New Testament book, and their reader covers the entire New Testament. It is designed to be read from cover to cover in conjunction with the New Testament, as is Bock and Herrick’s book (and JAS). However, Jesus in Context is unique in covering the Gospels only and in organizing the readings according to the chronological events in the Synoptic Gospels as well as John.
Although this is an interesting read, it is also designed as a reference book. Two handy cross-reference guides at the beginning of the book tie each extra-biblical reading with the Gospel passage to which it is pertinent as well as the section of JAS to which it relates (7–12).
So what is the purpose of a reader: just another required reading book for a seminary class? Hardly! The editors cleverly describe it as “a poor man’s Strack-Billerbeck” (15), the monumental six-volume 1928 German commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and Mi- drash. Reading the English translation of this background material to the world of the New Testament gives one a better understanding of the cultural world (e.g., taxes, marriage, and death), religious world (e.g., tithing, fasting, prayer, and alms giving), and sometimes the diversity of opinions present in Jesus’ day (13–14).
This is an enlightening and entertaining read. The Mishnah forbade Jews from clapping hands, slapping their thighs, and stomping their feet on the Sabbath (190, m. Besah 5.2). Obviously they never sang, “If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands!” Sadly, rabbi Aqiba taught divorce is permissible if one finds a prettier woman (85, m. Gittin 9.10). The Mish- nah said a Jew may not cut through the Temple as a shortcut, nor may he spit in the Temple (151, m. Berakot 9.5). Rabbi Hillel allowed one to pray for the sick on the Sabbath, but rabbi Shammai forbade it (81, t. Sabbat 16.22).
This reader is full of sources for teachings of Second Temple Judaism that one has heard but probably never read the specific source. The idea that the Jews added laws to “make a fence around the Torah” (161) is mentioned in Mekilta de Rabbi Ishmael, Pisha 6. One understands why Jesus waited until the fourth day to raise Lazarus from the dead ( John 11:6, 17) after reading Leviticus Rabbah 18.1, which mentions the Jewish belief that the soul hangs around the body of the deceased for three days only, attempting to return, but it is gone by the fourth day due to the body being no longer recognizable (231).
This reviewer found only one mistake: it says “Stephen” was stoned to death in AD 62, and it should say, “James, the brother of Jesus” (28). In ad- dition, here are some improvements that would help the book: (1) put the date of each writing by its title; (2) add footnotes of some important differ- ences in the way to translate some of the writings, such as when Eusebius quoted Aristion saying Mark was Peter’s “interpreter” (29); (3) be more specific about the origin of patristic citations, since the previous quotation from Aristion came to Eusebius via Papias; and (4) since there are so many citations from the Talmud, it would help to explain in detail to the reader how the Talmud came to be, and how and why a rabbi was able to add a new point to a discussion (e.g., 45–47, 49–50, 110–17); otherwise, the long lists of continual additions may be confusing.
This book is a valuable source tool. It will benefit pastors, students, and lay people desiring more firsthand knowledge of the background of the New Testament.
