The Oxford Companion to the Bible.

Cooper, Alan

Edited by BRUCE M. METZGER and MICHAEL D. COOGAN. New York: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, 1993. Pp. xxi + 874, 14 maps and 7 pages of map indices. $45.

With the publication of this volume, the Bible joins such subjects as Australian children's literature, popular music, chess, animal behavior, and decorative arts as the beneficiary of Oxford's companionship. The volume under review comprises more than seven hundred signed articles by about two hundred fifty contributors. The articles fall under six rubrics, which are designated by the editors as follows (pp. vii-viii): The Formation of the Bible; The Transmission, Diffusion, and Circulation of the Bible; The Biblical World; Biblical Concepts; The Interpretation of the Bible; and The Uses and Influences of the Bible. The editors intend the work to be more comprehensive than "the usual Bible dictionary" (they are no more specific than that) "in its sustained and systematic attention to the role the Bible has played in the ongoing life of various communities of faith, and in the development of the civilizations for which biblical traditions are in part formative" (p. vii).

By and large, the inquisitive laypersons to whom this book is directed should find it both informative and entertaining. Most readers will consult it for information about biblical books, characters, places, institutions, and themes, and the Companion supplies such information in abundance. Scholars will naturally find errors of omission, commission, and interpretation in their areas of specialization, but will have to acknowledge that most of the articles are judicious and reliable. The articles on the books of the Bible, for example, are by such distinguished scholars as R. E. Clements (Deuteronomy), J. E A. Sawyer (Isaiah), D. J. A. Clines (Job), C. A. Moore (Tobit), J. Fitzmyer (Luke), and P. Achtemeier (Romans). The articles on biblical places are similarly authoritative, and they are keyed to fourteen excellent, well-indexed maps (based on those in the Oxford Bible Atlas) that are appended to the volume. The thematic articles are more variable in quality, but some are outstanding; the article on "Translations," for example (pp. 749-78), is the best short survey of that topic that I have ever read.

The editors have not shied away from timely and controversial topics. Contributions in these areas, despite their inevitable brevity, are usually serious and stimulating (such as "African American Traditions and the Bible," pp. 12-14; "Feminism and the Bible," pp. 228-30). The Third World gets short shrift, however: there are no articles on "Communism and the Bible," "Colonialism and the Bible," or "Liberation Theology" - although the last-named is mentioned briefly in the article on "Politics and the Bible" (pp. 600-601), and there are a few passing references to the use of the Bible in missionary activity.

Sometimes the hot-button topics elicit curious treatment. The article on "Abortion" begins arrestingly with the words, "Abortion as such is not discussed in the Bible" (p. 4). If not being discussed in the Bible was a criterion for inclusion in the Companion, one wonders why there are no articles about quantum mechanics and baseball, for example, both of which also have been alleged to be attested in biblical sources (see Genesis 1 and Job 30:8 [KJV], respectively). Somewhat more pernicious is the article on "Ham/Canaan, Cursing of" (p. 268), which seems to attribute to the Talmud an interpretation of Gen. 10:6-14 that "legitimate[s] slavery and oppression of people of African origin." There is no such Talmudic teaching, and it is both irresponsible and incompetent to suggest that there is. See the detailed discussion by David H. Aaron, "Early Rabbinic Exegesis on Noah's Son Ham and the So-Called 'Hamitic Myth'," JAAR 63 (1995): 721-59.

The articles that I found most interesting were those in the area of Bible and Culture, for example, "Art and the Bible" (pp. 56-60), "Literature and the Bible" (pp. 438-60), "Music and the Bible" (pp. 535-38), "Popular Culture and the Bible" (pp. 605-6), and "Printing and Publishing" (pp. 611-19). It is a shame that the editors did not see fit to commission an article on "Cinema and the Bible" (with glossies of Victor Mature and Hedy Lamarr), but at least the subject comes up in the aforementioned article on "Popular Culture."

Another useful feature of the Companion that is not always found in "the usual Bible dictionary" is a comprehensive subject index. The volume includes a brief bibliography as well. In short, I would not hesitate to recommend it to a general audience.

ALAN COOPER THE JEWISH THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY