Hearing Distant Echoes
I recently published a new book that has been "in the works" for a couple of years. I sat on it for a while because I kept making editorial changes that altered its overall flow. Those who know me well know that I am fond of series and broad themes because that is how ideas typically develop in my head, and this book is meant to be a follow-up to my "Missing Ingredients" title. In Missing Ingredients: Your Bible Study Recipe, I laid out a strategy and method for a better and deeper exploration of the Bible that anyone can learn and follow. I shared many tools and gave examples of using them by working through selected passages. Now, in "Hearing Distant Echoes," I focus on one of the techniques that I highlighted in the book.
Hearing Distant Echoes: Jewish Voices from the Second Temple Era is all about interpretation without being dogmatic about the specifics. Page after page, I demonstrate how awareness of authentic ideas found in various extrabiblical texts can significantly enhance our understanding of ancient Jewish culture and beliefs. As I offer select commentary, I base my judgments on observed similarities and overlap. I show how extrabiblical sources enhance our ability to understand what mattered most to ancient audiences. It's not about any particular text or a pet belief, but rather about the mindsets of people who lived in a world quite different from our modern one.
I demonstrate this by reading through an array of different passages about the angels, prayer, the Messiah, judgment, sin, repentance, worship, charity, etc. Then I ask questions, connect the dots, draw correlations, and think out loud on possibilities that surface. In doing this, I invite the Bible and other texts into this conversation. In a sense, an extra-biblical passage that engages with similar topics that the Bible already speaks on becomes a possible broader context that many canonical texts do not always offer their readers. You can remain skeptical about the direction I go with these texts, or even my commentary, but you might still enjoy the book...
Why? Because, as an author and guide, I do not point to a painting on a wall and tell you exactly what the artist meant when he painted his masterpiece. Instead, I take you on a tour of several levels of a museum filled with paintings done by other artists who were living down the street from the one you are really curious about. I consider the context that filled his mind. I introduce you to his friends and neighbors. Yes, these artists went to the same school, learned from some of the same teachers, and they probably walked the same trails in the same park after enjoying a similar breakfast. Sometimes they even painted the same landscapes and, in some cases, were influenced by each other. But you would never have met these other artists if you had never decided to come along and tour the entire museum. That is what this book offers: greater awareness of extrabiblical context...
Hearing Distant Echoes
This book captures many ancient voices, a collection of literary excerpts from ancient Jewish books: Jubilees, Josephus, 4 Ezra, Qumran Scrolls, Talmud, Enoch, Baruch, Maccabees, Mishna, Judith, Apocalypse of Moses, Philo, Mishna, Ben Sira, and many others, fifty passages to be exact. The excerpts are mostly short, sometimes even intentionally abbreviated to be easily digested in small bites. They speak about the dynamics of prayer, experiences at the temple, God’s spirit, resurrection, sin, defilement, purity, friendship, heaven, etc. Some focus on the visions of the glorious Messiah; others on the dread of divine judgment to come. Some tell stories, and others seek to express reverence and simply praise God for his mighty works. These selected passages from extrabiblical books are meant to aid inquisitive students of antiquity to peer behind the veil of history and see the nuances of faith and culture, diverse beliefs, and practices of ancient Jews as they themselves expressed them in antiquity.