EARLY EVANGELICALISM: A GLOBAL INTELLEC-TUAL HISTORY, 1670-1789. By W. R. Ward. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press, 2006. Pp. vi + 220. $85.00,ISBN 0-521-86404-6.

Early Evangelicalism continues the significant historicalcontributions of W. R. Ward, whose book The ProtestantEvangelical Awakening (1992) won wide recognition for itsstudy of the eighteenth century Anglo-American and Euro-pean religious revivals. In contrast, Early Evangelicalism, asthe subtitle suggests, is more narrowly focused in exploringearly evangelical identity and “the common pool of ideas”that influenced evangelicalism, and to which evangelicals ofthe period also contributed. Thus, Ward situates emergingevangelicalism in its larger cultural milieu. As would beexpected, Ward’s study explores continental Pietism andWesleyan Methodism, but goes beyond this to consider thelesser recognized pietistic dimensions of the Reformed tra-dition. J. Edward’s transatlantic contributions to evangelicalidentity are considered as well. Particularly helpful is theattention given to the eclecticism of early evangelicals andtheir ability to regularly reinvent themselves, creating adiverse and variously textured movement. For Ward, thiseclecticism and diversity prevented broader evangelicalcohesion and led to a fragmentation that continues until thepresent. Ward’s command of primary sources is impressive,particularly those in German, and although not everyonewill agree with all of his conclusions, the scholarship isadmirable. Considering the growing emphasis on Pietism’sinfluence on modern evangelicalism and especially on thePentecostal and charismatic movements, Early Evangelical-ism is a valuable resource.

S. David MooreRegent University School of Divinity

AN EDUCATED CLERGY: SCOTTISH THEOLOGI-CAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING IN THE KIRKAND SECESSION, 1560-1850. By Jack C. Whytock.Studies in Christian History and Thought. Carlisle, UK:Paternoster, 2008. Pp. 458. £29.99, ISBN 978-1-84227-512-2.

J. Whytock’s study on the development of theologicaltraining in Scotland yields a thorough overview, stockedwith primary material. He divides his study into three parts,beginning with training for the Presbyterian Church in uni-versities such as Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Edinburgh, shapedby Calvin’s training academy in Geneva. Part two followsparallel efforts by Secession fellowships to provide trainingfor their own ministers. Finally, Whytock presents a casestudy of one Seceeder “Study Hall” for indigenous clergy inNova Scotia, Canada. He covers questions that rise naturallyfrom efforts to train leadership for the church: what shouldbe taught, who should teach, and “what organizing prin-ciples hold it all together?” Whytock shows how educationalinstitutions and presbyteries worked together in thisendeavor. The reader who is unfamiliar with Presbyteriancontroversies of this era may need to look elsewhere to

understand the complex struggles between the kirk, theSeceeders, and their various factions. The study stops,perhaps wisely, before the full force of German “Higher Criti-cism” took hold of biblical scholarship, but does deal withthe influence of Scottish common-sense realism, especiallyin the universities. It also sketches the pietism of Seceederprofessors, influenced by English Puritans. This book willhave value for anyone involved in training students for min-istry. What is the proper balance between academic pursuitsand practical considerations, between church and educa-tional institution? Whytock’s overview of how this worked ineighteenth and nineteenth century Scotland brings perspec-tive for our day.

Stan MitchellRegent University

Judaism: Hellenistic throughLate AntiquitySEPTUAGINT RESEARCH: ISSUES AND CHAL-LENGES IN THE STUDY OF THE GREEK JEWISHSCRIPTURES. Edited by Wolfgang Kraus and R. GlennWooden. Septuagint and Cognate Studies, 53. Atlanta:Society of Biblical Literature, 2006. Pp. xv + 414. $49.95,ISBN 1-58983-204-3.

This volume contains twenty-two papers originally pre-sented at a 2002 conference of North American and GermanSeptuagint scholars, many of whom are currently engaged inthe preparation of the New English Translation of the Septu-agint and the Septuaginta Deutsch. The papers on the wholeattempt to take stock of the current field of Septuagintstudies, both with regard to internal developments in thefield and the widening interest in the Septuagint in relatedfields (e.g., theology, Jewish studies, and linguistics). Thepapers are divided into four parts. Following an introductoryessay by the editors, the first section contains four papersthat examine larger methodological issues regardingunderstanding the Septuagint as a translation. The secondsection includes six papers treating the translation tech-nique and/or Hebrew Vorlage of individual books of the Sep-tuagint. The third section analyzes larger theological issuesin the Septuagint as a whole. The fourth contains sevenpapers that explore the reception history of the Septuagint inearly Judaism and Christianity. The editors and contributorsare to be congratulated for producing a cohesive volume ofpapers that provide critical insight into important trends ina vibrant and growing field of study.

Alex P. JassenUniversity of Minnesota

A HISTORY OF ANCIENT ISRAEL AND JU. By J.Maxwell Miller and John H. Hayes. 2nd ed. Louisville, KY:Westminster John Knox, 2006. Pp. xxii + 562. $39.95, ISBN978-0-664-22358-8.

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The first edition of this work (1986) presented a historyof ancient Israel and Judah that drew the vast majority of itscontent from a careful reading of the biblical text withoutmerely paraphrasing it. The last twenty years have wit-nessed a radical shift in understanding the history of ancientIsrael. Most prominently, a small but very vocal group ofscholars have been claiming that virtually none of the Biblecontains reliable historical data. At the same time, lessextreme approaches have argued for a more criticalapproach to assessing the historical value of the biblicalnarrative and a fuller integration of archaeological data. Thisnew edition from Miller and Hayes therefore stands at apivotal time in the study of ancient Israel. The new editionbasically follows the structure of the first one with very littlemodification to the Miller and Hayes historical reconstruc-tion. It integrates new discoveries (e.g., the Tel Dan inscrip-tion) and recent bibliography, though very little has beensubstantially changed in light of developments in the field.The most significant revision is an expanded treatment (intwo chapters) of the value of biblical, archaeological, andepigraphical evidence in the historical reconstruction of theorigins and history of ancient Israel. While this is clearlydesirable in light of the past two decades of research, it stopsshort of what most us of would like to see in a book dedicatedto the history of ancient Israel.

Alex P. JassenUniversity of Minnesota

JEREMIAH IN THE TALMUD AND MIDRASH: ASOURCE BOOK. By Jacob Neusner. Lanham, MD: Univer-sity Press of America, 2006. Pp. xx + 406. $54.00, ISBN 978-0-7618-3487-8.

This book is the first volume of an ambitious projectundertaken by Neusner to examine the way that biblicalprophetic literature was received and interpreted in rabbinicJudaism. The rabbis, argues Neusner, carefully read, inter-preted, and transformed the Israelite prophetic heritage tocomport with rabbinic ideas and institutions. In this sourcebook, Neusner collects and catalogs references and allusionsto the prophet Jeremiah in the Mishnah and Tosefta, Jerusa-lem and Babylonian Talmuds, and the halakhic and aggadicmidrashim. Neusner provides a translation of the respectivepassages drawn from his own voluminous translations ofthese works. The passages are framed by limited annotationsthat seek to understand how the rabbis conceptualized thecharacter of Jeremiah and his prophetic experience. Fulleranalysis of these issues is found in Neusner’s accompanyingvolume, Rabbi Jeremiah (University Press of America, 2006).This work, like those that have followed (and continue to doso) on all the major biblical prophets, is a very usefulresource for scholars seeking to examine the afterlife ofbiblical literature, and the reception and transformation ofthe Bible and prophecy in rabbinic Judaism.

Alex P. JassenUniversity of Minnesota

ANCIENT ISRAELITE AND EARLY JEWISH LIT-ERATURE. By T. C. Vriezen and A. S. van der Woude.Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2005. Pp. viii + 766. $167.00, ISBN 978-90-04-14181-0.

This work represents an English translation of Vriezen’sand van der Woude’s monumental handbook of Israelite andearly Jewish literature originally published in Dutch in tenrevised editions, most recently in 2000. It is intended as acomprehensive survey of the Hebrew Bible and the literatureof early Judaism. The first half of the book provides a generalintroduction (with bibliography) to each of the books of theHebrew Bible and many of the critical issues involved intheir study. This is complemented by a general introductionto the Bible’s larger Near Eastern literary context and otherliterary evidence relating to ancient Israel (e.g., inscrip-tions). The second half of the book follows the same format inits treatment of Second Temple period papyri collections, theApocrypha, and several of the more prominent books of thePseudepigrapha. The section on the Dead Sea Scrolls focuseson the various literary genres in the scrolls corpus withlimited discussion of the representative texts. This volume isan impressively dense treatment of biblical and early Jewishliterature that will serve as a wonderful resource for English-speaking students and scholars.

Alex P. JassenUniversity of Minnesota

Judaism: MedievalSTORIES OF JOSEPH: NARRATIVE MIGRATIONSBETWEEN JUDIASM AND ISLAM. By Marc S.Bernstein. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press, 2006.Pp. 304. $69.95, ISBN 0-8143-2565-3.

The demise of age-old Jewish communal life in theArab world is a sad but true product of relatively recenthistorical change, but past centuries testify to great sharingof creative and scientific knowledge across religious lines.This relationship produced stories about biblical figuresheld to be prophets by both Judaism and Islam, and revealan environment where not only literary genres and modesof interpretation, but also particular motifs, could beutilized by both cultures. The prophet Joseph is one suchfigure that epitomizes the historical interdependence of theHebraic and Arabic literary traditions. Stories of Josephexamines the historical interdependence of these two tra-ditions through the prism of Hebraic and Arabic literarytreatments of the biblical prophet Joseph. Bernstein analy-ses and focuses on the nineteenth-century Judeo-Arabicmanuscript The Story of Our Master Joseph, an elaboratecomposition that integrates a multitude of sources from anenormous range of time periods and cultures. A notableexample of the migration of cultural artifacts, The Story ofOur Master Joseph is clearly a Jewish text utilizing a formbased on an Islamic prototype (in turn largely based onmidrashic, Hellenistic, and Near Eastern material). This

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