Tag: contemporary biblical studies

REVIEW: The Mary We Forgot by Jennifer Powell McNutt

REVIEW: The Mary We Forgot by Jennifer Powell McNutt

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received a free electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Brazos Press in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary and Review

Mary Magdalene is known in scripture for being healed from multiple demons by Jesus and also for being one of the first witnesses of the risen Christ. But there are misunderstandings of her as well. Dr. Powell McNutt is determined to clear up these misunderstandings and present a compelling portrait of this disciple of Jesus and apostle of the early Church.

This book:

  • Addresses the “surprises” of the Bible – Peter and John being called in front of the High Priest in Acts, Jesus as a surprise out of Nazareth, Mary Magdalene – or any woman – mentioned in Scripture.
  • Extensively covers the conflation of Marys (Mary of Bethany, Mary Magdalene) with the woman in Luke 7 which is challenged with multiple sources and logical rationales. And where the Luke 7 woman is distinguished from Mary Magdalene, the woman is honored by the author (as she is by Jesus in the text). I liked that this honored many of the women of the New Testament, not just Mary although she was the focus.
  • Refers to the Gospel of Mary Magdalene as a commentary on the time of its writing.
  • Addresses Mary’s demon possession as well as her inclusion with Jesus’s ministry and followers along with other women healed by Jesus and named by Luke – patronesses of Jesus’s ministry.

Overall I liked this – the writing is conversational and easy to follow. The author sprinkles in some personal stories to tie some of her exploration areas together. And I found the conflation section fascinating, although it seemed to go on for a long time. I think researchers, historians, and students will love the deep dive, but for a newbie like me, it felt like selling past the close. Super detailed proof and examples of how past scholars and historians have blotted out Mary’s role, identity, and place in the followers of Jesus will be fantastic for other scholars, but the point was made sufficiently for me pretty quickly.

The book is also written with the full view of history interjected regularly which may be a distraction for less-informed readers. The book doesn’t necessarily move in a straightforward way from from left to right so to speak. It felt at times like re-reading a favorite series where you read book 3 in light of what you know is coming in book 6. But for those exposed to this material for the first time – like me – those interjections of what is to come may be jarring. This is one of the ways I felt like I am  not the intended audience for this book. My PhD-level colleagues at a seminary would have a lot more context for the material in this book. If this is used in an academic setting, students may need more historical context as well for the Church’s response to Mary.

My only real complaint would be that in my review copy, the endnotes aren’t linked which is frustrating for the reader. Hopefully this will be fixed in the official e-book.

I can recommend this to scholars, researchers, and seminarians. I think it would be a supremely readable textbook for students. More casual readers like me can get a lot out of this, too. This will forever impact my understanding of Mary and her presence in the gospels!

Rating: ♥♥♥♥*

*♥♥♥♥ – Great! Might re-read.

REVIEW: The State of Pauline Studies edited by Nijay Gupta, et al

REVIEW: The State of Pauline Studies edited by Nijay Gupta, et al

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received a free electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Baker Academic in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary and Review

A few years ago, Baker Academic released The State of New Testament Studies, and the contributors felt like they couldn’t devote as much space to Paul as they needed. So this book was developed. It includes chapters on Paul and specific areas of focus – gender, Judaism, the Spirit, etc. – as well as chapters on each of Paul’s letters. The book exists to highlight recent research, study, theories, and debates. Each chapter is essentially a literature review of recent research – and it’s brilliant! This is a deep, heavily researched exploration.

Professors, researchers, students, and practitioners could use this as a one-stop starting place to dig into the contemporary world of Biblical scholarship, specifically around Paul. The content can spin readers off to numerous resources to dig deeper. Each article/essay is heavily end-noted.

As an example, the chapter on Romans is written by Dr. Jennifer Strawbridge, Associate Professor of New Testament Studies at the University of Oxford. The chapter covers topics like justification, Junia and Phoebe, post-colonial readings of Romans, ecological interpretation, queer approaches to Romans, and disability studies.

This could be a fascinating textbook for New Testament courses as well as a stellar resource for students and researchers. I would highly recommend the addition of this to university libraries. And practitioners/pastors could get a lot out of having this in their libraries. Again – this is a STARTING place – far more reading and follow up work would come after reading this. I don’t know that someone preaching on a passage in Romans, for example, would use Strawbridge’s chapter alone and feel they did their due diligence in examining current thinking on Romans. Professors, especially those developing or updating a course on Paul’s work, would be well-served by this resource, again as a starting point to include contemporary research.

Also available from Baker is The State of New Testament Studies (already available) and The State of Old Testament Studies (releasing in November).

As a non-academic reader, I felt clearly that I was not the intended audience for this book. But I was captivated by it anyway. I wanted to follow every end-noted rabbit trail to further reading on a variety of topics. The voice of the introduction is great! As a non-seminarian, I had to look up three words/concepts in the intro alone. Have your phone handy to look up terms you might not know. But anyone who is fascinated by Biblical study will find something to dig into here. My only “complaint” is that the end notes (at least in my review copy) weren’t separated by chapter/article which would have made using them a lot easier.

Rating: ♥♥♥♥½*

♥♥♥♥½ = I loved it! Would re-read.