Bible Review opens the realm of Biblical scholarship to a non-academic audience. World-renown scholars detail the latest in Biblical interpretation and why it matters. These important pieces are paired with stunning art, which makes the text come to life before your eyes. Anyone interested in the Bible should read this seminal magazine.
Scholars of liturgical history in the English-speaking world are particularly skeptical of the “solstice” connection; see Susan K. Roll, “The Origins of Christmas: The State of the Question,” in Between Memory and Hope: Readings on the Liturgical Year (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2000), pp. 273–290, especially pp. 289–290.
Bluestockings objected to performances of sacred text as entertainment in concert halls and even taverns by performers whose personal morals did not necessarily attain to the Anglican ideal. For instance, the contralto and actress Susanna Cibber had conducted a notorious love affair. Nonetheless, a cleric at the Dublin premier is reported to have responded to her rendition of “He was Despised” with the exclamation, “Woman, for this thy sins be forgiven thee!”
In the King James Version, italics are placed not for emphasis but to mark English words without basis in the original Hebrew and Greek inserted for ease of comprehension. For me, one of the most affecting documents in all English literature is the King James preface, “The Translators to the Reader,” in which the committee airs its doubts as to whether it was even possible to render the Bible in English, and whether numerous uncertainties should have been concealed from readers.
Perhaps the gates are to remove their tops entirely. We may compare Joseph’s interpretations of the dreams of Pharaoh’s steward and baker. To each he promises, “Pharaoh will raise your head.” But in the steward’s case this means restoration to honor (Genesis 40:13). In the butler’s it means decapitation (Genesis 40:19).
