Ruth. By André LaCocque (Fortress, $28). Although he served for many years in the United States, L. wrote this commentary in his native French, and the original has been ably translated by K. C. Hanson. L. situates the book in the era of Ezra and Nehemiah and understands it as a critique of the negative attitude in post-exilic Judah toward foreigners and as a critique of an ultra-conservative interpretation of "scripture" (especially the Pentateuch) in the service of power. The figure of Ruth is fictional, in L.'s judgment, and the author of the book is probably a woman. The book is doubly subversive as a "feminist" book and as a hermeneutical key to the Torah. While punctilious obedience to the law is meritorious, "steadfast love" surpasses personal merit and becomes contagious. Boaz responds to Ruth's steadfast love with his own, and God employs steadfast love in return. This is indeed a very insightful commentary although the biblical book could also be read against the background of the Davidic era, turning David's problematic Moabite great-grandmother into a considerable political advantage. Ruth also celebrates family loyalty and sees the hand of God behind the "secular" happenings of the story. RWK

Historical Atlas of Islam. By Malise Ruthven, with Azim Nanji (Harvard University Press, $35). No one can underestimate the importance of Islam both religiously and politically in the twenty-first century. One fifth of humanity is Muslim, with Indonesia having the largest Muslim population (182 million). Of the largest six Muslim countries, only Egypt is Arabic-speaking. Eighty-five percent of Muslims are Sunnis. Muslims can be defined as those who follow self-surrender to the will of God as revealed to the prophet Muhammad. This atlas extends from the time of Muhammad to the 2003 Iraqi war. Ninety-four full-color maps and more than fifty pictures of Islamic art and architecture are pulled together by well-informed and relatively brief text (About sixty chapters, most lavishly illustrated, are covered in slightly less than 200 pages). In addition to broad coverage of Islamic history, the religious diversity among Muslims, and political current flash-points, there is attention to the Crusades, European colonialism, mosques in the United States, Islamic arts, and even Muslim cinema and internet use. RWK

Introducing the Apocrypha. By David A. deSilva (Baker Academic, $27.99) and The Old Testament Apocrypha: An Introduction. By Otto Kaiser (Hendrickson, $16.95). These paperback books offer complementary access to current understandings of the apocrypha or deutero-canonical literature. While the books covered are largely the same, deSilva adds 3 and 4 Maccabees and 4 Ezra (2 Esdras) while Kaiser adds 1 Enoch and the Psalms of Solomon. Both offer historical background to this literature, but the books are arranged differently. DeSilva dedicates a chapter to each book but Kaiser arranges them by genre: historical works, narratives, prophetic books, postbiblical psalms, and wisdom books. DeSilva is three times as long as Kaiser and more accessible to an American audience; Kaiser cites primarily German works in his bibliography and has the advantage of giving up-to-date information about German research. In the Foreword to deSilva James Charlesworth cites six outstanding features of the book: its use of information from the Dead Sea Scrolls; its employment of social-scientific and other current methodologies; its explanation of theodicy in this literature; its demonstration that these works are commentaries on Scripture; its proof that the New Testament was often responding to contemporary Jewish works; and its argument that the roots of Jesus' teaching lead back into the soil of this Early Jewish theology. RWK

The Book of Psalms: Composition and Reception. Edited by Peter W. Flint and Patrick D. Miller, J. (Brill, $241). The twenty-seven essays in this book cover a wide range of topics of current interest in Psalter study. In addition to further form critical work and commentaries on specific psalms, there is intensive interest in the sequence of psalms, smaller groupings within the Psalter, acrostic psalms, the fall festival and the psalms, the superscriptions of the psalms with particular attention to the role of David, Psalms in the Old Testament outside the Psalter, the significance of the exile for specific Psalms, the textual history of the Psalter, and the reception of the Psalms in Judaism and Christianity. Walter Brueggemann and Erhard S. Gerstenberger close out the volume with theological essays, with B. focusing on the capacity of Yahweh to be assertive or interrupted and Israel's capacity to be receiving or interrupting, while G. outlines the varying theologies in the Psalms that are determined by the social settings in which they arise. RWK

The Septuagint. By Jennifer M. Dines (T & T Clark, $29.95). This authoritative introduction to the Greek translation of the Old Testament covers a number of topics from an up-to-date perspective. D. describes theories about the origin of the LXX, the various revisions and recensions in the light of new insights from the Dead Sea Scrolls (kaige, Theodotion, Aquila, Origenic and Lucianic recensions), translation technique, the use of the LXX by Philo and Josephus, influence of the LXX on the New Testament, patristic use, the LXX and textual criticism, modern translations of the LXX, and much more. For Augustine the LXX was inspired and infallible and the vehicle of revelation to the gentiles, but Jerome insisted on translating the Hebrew text because it was earlier and more authentic than LXX. Each of the chapters is supplied with ample bibliography. RWK

The Biblical World. Edited by John Barton (Routledge, $84.95). This two-volume, paperback set was first published in 2002. The forty-nine essays by nearly as many authors cover introductory questions, the genres used in the Bible, documents (ancient manuscripts, textual criticism, and early interpretation), historical surveys, institutions (languages, religion, social life and religious practices of the first churches), biblical figures (patriarchs and matriarchs, Moses, David and Solomon, Jesus, and Paul, religious ideas (salvation, death and afterlife, purity), modern translations by Christians and Jews, and methods used in biblical studies today. More than 90 illustrations.

The Keepers. An Introduction to the History and Culture of the Samaritans. By Robert T. Anderson and Terry Giles (Hendrickson, $29.95). The authors present a brief account of the history and religion of the Samaritans, a Jewish sect attested in the New Testament and still existing today, though with very few, but growing members. The Samaritans call themselves "Shomrim," that is "keepers" of the Torah. The Samaritans view themselves as preservers of an orthodoxy traceable to Moses, whereas Jewish interpreters describe the Samaritans as the result of syncretistic origins under the Assyrians in the eighth century BCE. Just as early Christians attempted to make Jesus a second Moses, the Samaritans sought to make Moses a second Jesus. Samaritans claim that Abel built the first altar at Gerizim, and Abraham brought Isaac there to sacrifice him. The messiah will reign from Gerizim, and it will be the setting for the Last Judgment. The community practices animal sacrifice in its celebration of Passover even today. The book concludes with a description of an extensive collection of Samaritan materials that are housed at Michigan State University. RWK

Tradition Kept: The Literature of the Samaritans. By Robert T. Anderson and Terry Giles. (Hendrickson, $34.95). This book introduces and prints significant extracts from the major documents of the Samaritan sect. Part One discusses the Samaritan Pentateuch (expanded like some of the Qumran documents, but with additional sectarian readings favoring Gerizim over Jerusalem, avoiding anthropomorphisms when speaking of the deity, and enhancing the status of Moses), the Samaritan Joshua (that begins with the time of Moses and takes the history down to the Roman occupation), and the Annals and chronicles (that continue the story where the Samaritan Joshua left off and continue the Samaritan story to modern times). Part Two treats Samaritan literature dealing with theology and worship. Tibat Marqe, for example, was written in the third or fourth century CE and draws on the Pentateuch, the New Testament, and certain Jewish and Muslim documents. RWK

Biblical Interpretation at Qumran. Edited by Matthias Henze (Eerdmans, $25.00). The Dead Sea Scrolls have changed our understanding of the text of the Old Testament, the nature and date of the canon, and biblical interpretation during the Second Temple period, with the nine essays in this book devoted to this third issue. Gleanings: In the second century BCE there was a lively debate about the origin of sin, without mentioning "the fall"; the biblical interpreters at Qumran found in the description of Israel at Sinai an ideal community worthy of imitation; pesher exegesis applied biblical texts to post-biblical settings in order to substantiate a theological conviction pertaining to divine reward and punishment; and Psalm 91 was understood as an apotropaic song that possessed the power to safeguard the faithful from malevolent spirits. RWK

Isaiah 56-66. Anchor Bible 19B. By Joseph Blenkinsopp. (Doubleday, $45). With this book B. completes his three-volume commentary on Isaiah in record time (2000-2003). His is a diachronic, historical-critical reading, with ample evidence of the commentator's philological skills. While there is some continuity with the message of Second Isaiah (return from exile and national reintegration), the interest in 56-66 is more focused on concerns internal to the community. The author of these final chapters identifies with those who "tremble at the word of Yahweh" and are called Yahweh's servants; their opponents are the temple priesthood, who are accused of alien cultic practices. Chapters 56-66 do not come from one hand or one time period, and B. speaks of the development of a prophetic succession leading to the emergence of an eschatologically oriented sect within the Persian province of Judah in the mid-fifth century BCE. B., with many others today, recognizes that Isa 1:27-31 forms an inclusion with 66:17-24, thus bringing a superficial order to a book that emerged over the course of three centuries. Blenkinsopp's three-volume commentary goes to the head of the pack on current commentary options for this crucial Old Testament book. RWK

From Joshua to Caiaphas: High Priests after the Exile. By James C. VanderKam (Fortress, $35). This comprehensive study of the high priests in the Second Period examines fifty-one high priests over a six century period. The first six are mentioned in the Old Testament, and Annas and Caiaphas appear in the New Testament. Other sources include the Elephantine papyri, the Dead Sea Scrolls, several works in the Apocrypha, and, most importantly, the works of Josephus. V. negotiates magisterially among these fragmented and sometimes contradictory sources as he attempts to gather and assess all the available information. A secondary aim is to identify those periods when the high priests also exercised civic authority. The title is somewhat misleading since there were actually fourteen high priests after Caiaphas, who served 18-36 or 37 CE. The handsome dust jacket features a picture of an inscribed pomegranate from the eighth century BCE, reading "holy to the priests." Unfortunately, subsequent to the printing of this book, that inscription has now been probably identified as a forgery. RWK

Breathing Space. A Spiritual Journey in the South Bronx. By Heidi B. Neumark ($25). N., who preached the installation sermon for Bishop Mark Hanson, recounts her nineteen-year ministry at Transfiguration Lutheran Church in the South Bronx. As pastor of an African American and Hispanic parish, burdened by poverty, drug use, and attendant miseries, N. mixes anecdotes filled with hope and pain with biblical commentary and a rich knowledge of the giants of spirituality, both ancient and contemporary. She has learned to live "threatened by resurrection." The people she mourns, celebrates, and loves will not allow her to live as though they have not lived. In an Epilogue N. announces that she has taken on a new call at Trinity Lutheran Church in Manhattan. I cannot imagine a better example of the ELCA's program "in the city for good." RWK