Here is a pre-publication version of my article appearing in Ancient Near Eastern Studies 46 (2009):  Halton–ANES 46

There are a few minor changes from this version and the printed article–mostly just fixed typos.  I dedicated this article to Daniel Block and David Aaron for their influence upon my appreciation of rhetorical and literary criticism.  Here is the abstract; let me know what you think of the article:

The purpose of this article is to begin the evaluation of the rhetorical aims and
strategies of the use of allusions within Neo-Assyrian oracles. These allusions are
to some of the most prominent texts within the Mesopotamian literary stream of
tradition: Adapa and the South Wind, Atra-Ìasis, and the Gilgames Epic.
The authors borrowed imagery from these works and fused it with their own
rhetorical purposes. Prophets even used allusions that contained a complex set of
apparently conflicting associations. The use of subtle allusions that often contain
complex associations should cause modern readers to more greatly appreciate the
rhetorical abilities of the Neo-Assyrian prophets.

Last week I sent in the proofs for my article, “Allusions to the Stream of Tradition in Neo-Assyrian Oracles” in ANES 46 (2009): 50-61. It should hit the bookshelves in bit and at that time I’ll try to make an electronic offprint available but until then here is the abstract and a teaser trailer. The trailer is only around 30 seconds and it is formatted for play on iPhones.

Abstract:
The purpose of this article is to begin the evaluation of the rhetorical aims and
strategies of the use of allusions within Neo-Assyrian oracles. These allusions are
to some of the most prominent texts within the Mesopotamian literary stream of
tradition: Adapa and the South Wind, Atra-hasis, and the Gilgamesh Epic.
The authors borrowed imagery from these works and fused it with their own
rhetorical purposes. Prophets even used allusions that contained a complex set of
apparently conflicting associations. The use of subtle allusions that often contain
complex associations should cause modern readers to more greatly appreciate the
rhetorical abilities of the Neo-Assyrian prophets.

My short article on a pun I identified in the Samson narrative is now published.  If you are a member of the SBL you can download the volume at the SBL site and you can always find pre-publication versions and offprints of some of my writings on the “My Curriculum Vitae” page.  Let me know what you think.

Here is a pdf version of my article that was published in BBR 18.2.  Let me know what you think.

How Big Was Nineveh?

Waiting for me in my mailbox today was volume 18.2 of the Bulletin for Biblical Research and my article leads off the volume.  You can view the table to contents of the volume here.

Here is the third of what will be a four part series reflecting upon my forthcoming article in BBR 18.2 (2008) entitled: How Big Was Nineveh? Literal versus Figurative Interpretation of City Size. In this part I discuss the major interpretations that I call “creatively literal.” That is, interpretations that try to read the description of the size of Nineveh in Jonah 3:3 as a literal expression, however, these interpretations have to get pretty flexible to make it fit and because of this I would argue that they end up not reading the expression literally at all.

In the last part of the series I will present my view (I’m not the first) that we should read this phrase idiomatically. Also, I will discuss some of the implications of this article since I didn’t really write it to just talk about the size of Nineveh–I had bigger goals than that.

So, here’s part three. It is produced in a Ken Burns-like documentary style so I actually don’t appear in it except for the voice-overs. Tell me what you think.

In case you’re interested here’s a short bio of Donald J. Wiseman whose interpretations I critique in this video–I think very highly of him; I just think he’s wrong on this point.

Here is the second video in the series in which I reflect upon my forthcoming article in the Bulletin for Biblical Research 18.2 (2008). To view the Google Earth map of Nineveh that I discuss, click here (if you already have installed Google Earth). Tell me what you think.

I am producing a series of short videos in which I will discuss some of my writing projects.  First up is my forthcoming article in the Bulletin for Biblical Research 18.2 (2008) entitled, “How Big Was Nineveh? Literal versus Figurative Interpretation of City Size.”  This will be a multi-part series–here’s the first one:

P.S. The last word is a bit hard to hear; it’s “idiom.”