Oriental And Biblical Studies

Rarely has mastery of a field been combined with such style and lucidity as in the writings of E. A. Speiser. For forty years before his death, in 1965, Dr. Speiser, the renowned author of the Anchor Bible Genesis, was a leading American orientalist. Speiser was at home in the modern as well as the ancient Near East and knew its many cultures intimately. His wide-ranging biblical studies are informed with a profound knowledge of Assyriology, and to both he brought the insights of a brilliant comparative linguist. Speiser's unique vision of the whole of ancient Near Eastern culture resulted in several classic syntheses that are included in these pages. Collected in this volume are thirty-six of his now difficult-to-obtain articles. The reader will discover papers that deal not only with biblical studies and linguistics but also with the civilizations of Mesopotamia, Syria, and Palestine; with law and political science; and with intellectual and social progress in the ancient Near East. "Speiser insisted on the simultaneous concentration upon analysis and synthesis; the first without the second he deemed sterile, the second without the first an empty playing with words. . . . [This insistence], so eloquently exemplified in his own work was . . . the most distinctive and certainly the most enduring part of his legacy as a teacher (from the Appreciation, by J. J. Finkelstein). E. A. Speiser was born in Galicia in 1902. After his graduation from the College of Lemberg, Austria, in 1918, he came to the United States, arriving in 1920. He received his M.A. degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1923 and Ph.D. degree from Dropsie College, Philadelphia, in 1924. During World War II, Speiser was the chief of the Near East section, research and analysis branch of the Office of Strategic Services. Following the war, in 1947, Speiser was named chairman of the Department of Oriental Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1954 he became Abraham M. Ellis Professor of Hebrew and Semitic Languages and Literatures at the University. One year prior to his death, he was named University Professor of Oriental Studies, the highest honor that the University of Pennsylvania awards to distinguished faculty members. Those familiar with one or another aspect of Speiser's contribution will find here a selection and arrangement designed to capture the underlying unity in approach that informed all of his work. And the nonspecialist cannot help but discover the broader, humanistic implications of oriental studies.

The volume contributes a postcolonial perspective to such topics as textual production, commentarial writings and translations in colonial times, and then moves on to inspect Eurocentric notions embedded in current western biblical interpretation especially in projects such as "Jesus Research." It also contains an overview of and introduction to one of the most challenging and controversial theories of our time, postcolonialism--a theory that gives mediation and representation to Third World people. Though long established in cultural studies, postcolonial theory has not previously been seriously applied to Asian biblical interpretation.

Groundbreaking and inspiring, this book offers a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of Asian feminist biblical criticism. It is a gift to the Asian churches and to the theological community. I highly recommend it to all who search for biblical insights to empower women and men to work for justice. --- Kwok Pui-lan, Dean’s Professor of Systematic Theology at Candler School of Theology, Emory University This is a superb collection of the different approaches of feminist biblical scholars in Asia. I found it invigorating and thought-provoking to learn about the multiple ways in which Asian feminists made their "exodus" from Western biblical studies to interpret this foundational text in their own unique contexts. --- Gale A. Yee, Nancy W. King Professor of Biblical Studies Emerita, Episcopal Divinity School This collection of essays by mostly younger Asian biblical scholars is a welcome addition to a small but growing body of Asian feminist studies. The diversity of perspectives, methodologies and creative interpretations makes it an ideal introductory text for anyone wishing to learn more about Asian feminism. --- Simon Chan, Editor, Asia Journal of Theology