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The following new reviews have been added to the Review of Biblical Literature and listed on the RBL blog (http://rblnewsletter.blogspot.com/):

John J. Collins
Beyond the Qumran Community: The Sectarian Movement of the Dead Sea Scrolls
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7404
Reviewed by Philip R. Davies

David Lyle Jeffrey and C. Stephen Evans, eds.
The Bible and the University
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6773
Reviewed by Jeffrey L. Morrow

Timothy Jay Johnson (this is his Marquette dissertation)
Now My Eye Sees You: Unveiling an Apocalyptic Job
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7514
Reviewed by Scott C. Jones

Jason Kalman and Jaqueline S. du Toit
Canada’s Big Biblical Bargain: How McGill University Bought the Dead Sea Scrolls
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7649
Reviewed by Matthew A. Collins

Edward W. Klink III
The Audience of the Gospels: The Origin and Function of the Gospels in Early Christianity
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7491
Reviewed by Theodore J. Weeden Sr.

Daniel A. Machiela
The Dead Sea Genesis Apocryphon: A New Text and Translation with Introduction and Special Treatment of Columns 13-17
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7425
Reviewed by Benjamin Ziemer

Laura Salah Nasrallah
Christian Responses to Roman Art and Architecture: The Second-Century Church amid the Spaces of Empire
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7452
Reviewed by Rosemary Canavan
Reviewed by Lee M. Jefferson

Lawrence H. Schiffman
Qumran and Jerusalem: Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the History of Judaism
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7591
Reviewed by Sidnie White Crawford

Michael E. Stone, Aryeh Amihay, and Vered Hillel, eds.
Noah and His Book(s)
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7661
Reviewed by Emma England
Reviewed by Anthony Swindell

However, I did want to share with you a review I just read covering Margaret Barker’s excellent work, The Hidden Tradition of the Kingdom of God. The review, by Benedict Thomas Viviano, O.P.,  was done for the Society of Biblical Literature’s Review of Biblical Literature. The review is well done, but I heartily disagree with most of what Fr. Viviano has to say.

It’s been a little while now since I had the pleasure of reading Mrs. Barker’s brilliant treatment of the Kingdom of Heaven. However, I remember it being one of her most powerful works — inspirational and enlightening — and I could accept and agree with most everything she said. She had some amazing insights into what happened to the ancient temple tradition and priesthood, including some great ideas concerning the Melchizedek Priesthood.  The Kingdom of Heaven that Christ so often mentioned was, according to Barker, a reference to the Holy of Holies of the ancient temple.

I think most of this, however, is lost on Fr. Viviano, who sees all of this as fanciful and certainly inaccurate. He attributes Barker’s conclusions not to a brilliant mind and ability to see the big picture, but to her “eccentricity.” If I had more time, I would love to pick apart his review for you, but I’ll just give you the link and see what you think. If any of you have read this book, please let me know how you feel about the review.  In Viviano’s defense, he comes from a completely different school of scriptural exegesis — I really wouldn’t expect him to understand someone as innovative (some might say “radical”) as Margaret Barker — she goes against everything he has ever learned.

You can read the review here: http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6764

If you haven’t read The Hidden Tradition of the Kingdom of God, I couldn’t recommend it more highly, despite this review.