Publications

Authored Books

A More Perfect Torah: At the Intersection of Philology and Hermeneutics in Deuteronomy and the Temple Scroll. Critical Studies in the Hebrew Bible, vol. 1. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2013.

“The Right Chorale”: Studies in Biblical Law and Interpretation. Forschungen zum Alten Testament 54; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2008.

Legal Revision and Religious Renewal in Ancient Israel. New York and Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.


Foreign Translations of Legal Revision and Religious Renewal

Der kreative Kanon: Innerbiblische Schriftauslegung und religionsgeschichtlicher Wandel im alten Israel. Introduction by Prof. Dr. Hermann Spieckermann. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2012. This translation of Legal Revision and Religious Renewal in Ancient Israel is a new edition, revised and expanded for the German context. 2012.

Fino alla quarta generazione: Revisione di leggi e rinnovamento religioso nell’Israele antico. Rome: Gregorian University and Pontifical Biblical Institute Press, 2012.

Revisão legal e renovação religiosa no Antigo Israel. São Paulo, Brazil: Paulus Editora, 2011.

L’Herméneutique de l’innovation: Canon et exégèse dans l’Israël biblique. Preface by Jean Louis Ska. Le livre et le rouleau 24. Brussels: Éditions Lessius, 2005.

Deuteronomy and the Hermeneutics of Legal Innovation. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1997; paperback, 2002.

Korean translation (Hanshin University Press, 2009).

Salo W. Baron Award for Best First Book in Literature and Thought, American Academy for Jewish Research, 1999.

Edited Volumes

Institutionalized Routine Prayers at Qumran: Fact or Assumption? Paul Heger and Bernard M. Levinson. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2019.

The Formation of the Pentateuch: Bridging the Academic Discourses of Europe, Israel, and North America. Co-edited with Jan Christian Gertz, Konrad Schmid, and Dalit Rom-Shiloni. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2016.

Judge and Society in Antiquity. Edited by Aaron Skaist and Bernard M. Levinson. Special double issue of MAARAV: A Journal for the Study of the Northwest Semitic Languages and Literatures 12.1–2 (2005).

Recht und Ethik im Alten Testament: Beiträge des Symposiums “Das Alte Testament und die Kultur der Moderne.” anlässlich des 100. Geburtstags Gerhard von Rad (1901–1971). Eckart Otto, co-editor, with Walter Dietrich. Münster/London: LIT, 2004.


Gender and Law in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East. Victor H. Matthews and Tikva Frymer-Kensky, co-editors. JSOTSup 262. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1998; paperback, 2004.

Commentaries

“Deuteronomy.” Pages 247–313 in The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha: An Ecumenical Study Bible. Fully Revised and Expanded. Fifth edition. Edited by Michael D. Coogan and Marc Z. Brettler. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018.

Deuteronomy.” Pages 240–313 in The New Oxford Annotated Bible. Third edition. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. Augmented edition, 2007. Revised for The New Annotated Bible, with the Apocrypha: An Ecumenical Study Bible. Fully Revised Fourth Edited by Michael D. Coogan. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. Pages 247–312.

“Deuteronomy.” Pages 356–450 in The Jewish Study Bible. Edited by Adele Berlin and Marc Zvi Brettler. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.

Articles and Book Chapters

“The Impact of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Discovery of the “Original” Version of the Ten Commandments upon Biblical Scholarship: The Myth of Jewish Particularism and German Universalism,” in An End to Antisemitism! The Role of Biblical Studies and Jewish Studies. Edited by Armin Lange, Lawrence H. Schiffman, and Karin Finsterbusch. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2020.

“Revisiting the ‘and’ in Law and Covenant in the Hebrew Bible: What the Evidence from Tell Tayinat Suggests about the Relationship between Law and Religion in the Ancient Near East.” In Law, Society, and Religion: Essays in Memory of George E. Mendenhall. Edited by Bernard M. Levinson. Special volume of Maarav: A Journal for the Study of the Northwest Semitic Languages and Literatures 24, 2020.

“Strategies for the Reinterpretation of Normative Texts within the Hebrew Bible,” International Journal of Legal Discourse 3 (2018): 1–31. Online: doi.org/10.1515/ijld-2018-2001.

Introduction to Deuteronomy.” Pages 61–76 in Engaging Torah: Modern Perspectives on the Hebrew Bible. Edited by Walter Homolka and Aaron Panken. Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, 2018.

“Zedekiah’s Release of Slaves as the Babylonians Besiege Jerusalem: Jeremiah 34 and the Formation of the Pentateuch.” Pages 315–27 in The Fall of Jerusalem and the Rise of the Torah. Edited by Dominik Markl, Jean-Pierre Sonnet, and Peter Dubovský. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, forthcoming in 2016.

“Refining the Reconstruction of Col. 2 of the Temple Scroll (11QTa): The Turn to Digital Mapping and Historical Syntax,” Dead Sea Discoveries: A Journal of Current Research on the Scrolls and Related Literature 23:1 (2016): 1–26.

"Deuteronomy," in Oxford Bibliographies in Jewish Studies

“Was Jeremiah Invented? The Relation of an Author to a Literary Tradition.” Pages 213–21 in Jeremiah’s Scriptures: Production, Reception, Interaction, and Transformation. Edited by Hindy Najman and Konrad Schmid. Journal for the Study of Judaism Supplement Series 173. Leiden: Brill, 2016.

“A Post-Priestly Harmonization in the Flood Narrative.” Pages 113–23 in The Post-Priestly Pentateuch: New Perspectives on Its Redactional Development and Theological Profiles. Edited by Federico Giuntoli and Konrad Schmid. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2015.

“Einführung in das Buch Dewarim / Deuteronomium.” Pages 680–694 in Tora. Mit Haftarom (hebräisch-deutsch) in der revidierten Übersetzung Ludwig Philippsons mit Einleitungen in die Fünf Bücher Mose und die Prophetenlesungen. Edited by Walter Homolka, Hanna Liss, Rüdiger Liwak. Freiburg: Herder, 2015.

“Law and Legal Literature in Ancient Israel.” (Co-author: Tina M. Sherman). Pages 394–412 in The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Ancient Israel. Edited by Susan Niditch. Oxford: Wiley Blackwell, 2015.

“‘Better That You Should Not Vow Than That You Vow and Not Fulfill’: Qoheleth’s Use of Textual Allusion and the Transformation of Deuteronomy’s Law of Vows.” Pages 28–41 in Reading Ecclesiastes Intertextually. Edited by Katharine Dell and Will Kynes. Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies, vol. 587. London: T&T Clark, 2014. Read Online.

“Einführung in das Buch Dewarim / Deuteronomium,” in Tora. Mit Haftarot (hebräisch-deutsch) in der revidierten Übersetzung Ludwig Philippsons mit Einleitungen in die Fünf Bücher Mose und die Prophetenlesungen. Edited by Walter Homolka, Hanna Liss, Rüdiger Liwak Freiburg: Herder, June 2015. 15 pages.

“La scoperta goethiana della versione ‘originale’ dei Dieci Comandamenti e la sua influenza sulla critica biblica: Il mito del particolarismo ebraico e dell’universalismo tedesco.” Pages 71–90 in Il roveto ardente: Scritti sull’ebraismo Tedesco in memoria di Francesca Y. Albertini. Edited by Irene Kajon. Rome: Lithos Editrice, 2013.

“The Limitations of ‘Resonance.’ A Response to Joshua Berman on Historical and Comparative Method.” (Co-author: Jeffrey Stackert). Journal of Ancient Judaism 4 (2013): 310–333.

“‘This is the Manner of the Remission’: Legal Exegesis and Eschatological Syntax in 11QMelchizedek.” (Co-author: Michael Bartos). Journal of Biblical Literature 132:2 (2013): 351–371.

“Between the Covenant Code and Esarhaddon’s Succession Treaty: Deuteronomy 13 and the Composition of Deuteronomy.” (Co-author: Jeffrey Stackert). Journal of Ancient Judaism 3 (2012): 123–140.

Die neuassyrischen Ursprünge der Kanonformel in Deuteronomium 13,1.” Pages 23–59 in Viele Wege zu dem Einen: Historische Bibelkritik - Die Vitalität der Glaubensüberlieferung in der Moderne. Edited by Stefan Beyerle, Axel Graupner, and Udo Rüterswörden. Biblisch-theologische Studien 121. Neukirchen Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 2012.

“The Development of the Jewish Bible: Critical Reflections upon the Concept of a ‘Jewish Bible’ and on the Idea of Its ‘Development.’” Pages 377–392 in What is Bible? Edited by Karin Finsterbusch and Armin Lange. Leuven: Peeters Publishers, 2012.

“Esarhaddon’s Succession Treaty as the Source for the Canon Formula in Deuteronomy 13:1,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 130 (2010): 337–347.

“Deuteronomy.” The Encyclopedia of the Bible. Edited by Michael D. Coogan. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011

“The King James Bible at 400: Scripture, Statecraft, and the American Founding.” (Co-author Joshua Berman). The History Channel Magazine, special supplement, November 2010, pp. 1–11.

“The Bible’s Break with Ancient Political Thought to Promote Equality—‘It Ain’t Necessarily so.’” A review article of Joshua Berman, Created Equal: How the Bible Broke with Ancient Political Thought. The Journal of Theological Studies 61:2 (2010): 685–94. Online: doi: 10.1093/jts/flq048.

“The Neo-Assyrian Origins of the Canon Formula in Deuteronomy 13:1.” Pages 25–45 in Scriptural Exegesis: The Shapes of Culture and the Religious Imagination (Essays in Honour of Michael Fishbane). Edited by Deborah A. Green and Laura Lieber. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.

“Reading the Bible in Nazi Germany: Gerhard von Rad’s Attempt to Reclaim the Old Testament for the Church.” Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology 62 (2008): 238–54.

“‘Du sollst nichts hinzufügen und nichts wegnehmen’ (Dtn 13,1): Rechtsreform und Hermeneutik in der Hebräischen Bibel.” Pages 62–94 in Houses Full of All Good Things: Essays in Memory of Timo Veijola. Edited by Juha Pakkala and Martti Nissinen. Publications of the Finnish Exegetical Society, vol. 95. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2008.

“How, When, Where, and Why Did the Pentateuch Become the Torah?” (Co-author: Gary N. Knoppers). Pages 1–19 in The Pentateuch as Torah: New Models for Understanding Its Promulgation and Acceptance. Edited by Bernard M. Levinson and Gary Knoppers. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2007.

“The First Constitution: Rethinking the Origins of Rule of Law and Separation of Powers in Light of Deuteronomy.” Cardozo Law Review 27:4 (2006): 1853–88.

“‘Du sollst nichts hinzufügen und nichts wegnehmen’ (Dtn 13,1): Rechtsreform und Hermeneutik in der Hebräischen Bibel.” Zeitschrift für Theologie und Kirche 102 (2006): 157–83.

“The Manumission of Hermeneutics: The Slave Laws of the Pentateuch as a Challenge to Contemporary Pentateuchal Theory.” Pages 281–324 in Congress Volume Leiden 2004. Edited by André Lemaire. Vetus Testamentum Supplements 109. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2006

“The ‘Effected Object’ in Contractual Legal Language: The Semantics of ‘If You Purchase a Hebrew Slave’ (Exod. xxi 2).” Vetus Testamentum 56 (2006): 485­­–504.

“Deuteronomy’s Conception of Law as an ‘Ideal Type’: A Missing Chapter in the History of Constitutional Law.” In Judge and Society in Antiquity. Edited by Bernard M. Levinson and Aaron Skaist = Maarav: A Journal for the Study of the Northwest Semitic Languages and Literatures 12:1–2 (2005): 83–119.

“The Birth of the Lemma: The Restrictive Reinterpretation of the Covenant Code’s Manumission Law by the Holiness Code (Leviticus 25:44–46).” Journal of Biblical Literature 124 (2005): 617–39.

“The Metamorphosis of Law into Gospel: Gerhard von Rad’s Attempt to Reclaim the Old Testament for the Church.” Bernard M. Levinson and Douglas Dance. Pages 83–110 in Recht und Ethik im Alten Testament. Edited by Bernard M. Levinson and Eckart Otto. Münster/London: LIT Verlag, 2004.

“Is the Covenant Code an Exilic Composition? A Response to John Van Seters.” Pages 272–325 in In Search of Pre-Exilic Israel: Proceedings of the Oxford Old Testament Seminar. Edited by John Day. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament: Supplement Series, vol. 406. London and New York: T. & T. Clark, 2004.

“‘You Must Not Add Anything to What I Command You’: Paradoxes of Canon and Authorship in Ancient Israel.” Numen: International Review for the History of Religions 50 (2003): 1–51.

“Revelation Regained: The Hermeneutics of כי and אם in the Temple Scroll.” Bernard M. Levinson and Molly M. Zahn (co-authors). Dead Sea Discoveries: A Journal of Current Research on the Scrolls and Related Literature 9 (2002): 295–346.

“Goethe’s Analysis of Exodus 34 and Its Influence on Julius Wellhausen: The Pfropfung of the Documentary Hypothesis.” Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 114 (2002): 212–23.

“The Seductions of the Garden: The Genesis of Hermeneutics as Critique.” On Interpretation: Studies in Culture, Law, and the Sacred = Graven Images 5 (2002): 95–99.

“The Reconceptualization of Kingship in Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomistic History’s Transformation of Torah.” Vetus Testamentum 51 (2001): 511–34.

“Textual Criticism, Assyriology, and the History of Interpretation: Deuteronomy 13:7 as a Test Case in Method.” Journal of Biblical Literature 120 (2001): 211–43.

“The Hermeneutics of Tradition in Deuteronomy.” Journal of Biblical Literature 119 (2000): 269–86.

“The Covenant at Mount Sinai: The Argument of Revelation.” Pages 23–27 in The Jewish Political Tradition, vol. 1: Authority. Edited by Michael Walzer, Menachem Lorberbaum, and Noam J. Zohar. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2000.

“Recovering the Lost Original Meaning of ולא תכסה עליו (Deut 13:9).” Journal of Biblical Literature, 115 (1996): 601–20.

“‘But You Shall Surely Kill Him!’: The Text-Critical and Neo-Assyrian Evidence for MT Deuteronomy 13:10.” Pages 37–63 in Bundesdokument und Gesetz: Studien zum Deuteronomium. Edited by Georg Braulik. Herder’s Biblical Studies 4. Freiburg: Herder, 1995.

“The Case for Revision and Interpolation within the Biblical Legal Corpora.” Pages 37–59 in Theory and Method in Biblical and Cuneiform Law: Revision, Interpolation and Development. Edited by Bernard M. Levinson. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament: Supplement Series, vol. 181. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1994.

“The Case for Grounding Biblical Hermeneutics upon the Diachronic Method.” Pages 93–108 in Literary Theory and Biblical Hermeneutics. Edited by Tibor Fabiny. Papers in English and American Studies 4. Szeged, Hungary: Attila Jozsef University, 1992.

“The Human Voice in Divine Revelation: The Problem of Authority in Biblical Law.” Pages 35–71 in Innovation in Religious Traditions: Essays in the Interpretation of Religious Change. Edited by Michael A. Williams, Martin S. Jaffee, and Collett Cox. Religion and Society 31. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 1992.

“‘The Right Chorale’: From the Poetics of Biblical Narrative to the Hermeneutics of the Hebrew". Pages 129–53 (notes on pp. 242–47) in “Not in Heaven”: Coherence and Complexity in Biblical Narrative. Edited by Jason P. Rosenblatt and Joseph C. Sitterson. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991.

“Calum M. Carmichael’s Approach to the Laws of Deuteronomy.” Harvard Theological Review 83 (1990): 227–57.

Reviews, Notes, and Similar

Conference Report on “Betrayal of the Humanities: The University during the Third Reich,” University of Minnesota, April 15–16, 2012. (Co-author: Melissa Kelley). Association of Contemporary Church Historians (ACCH) Quarterly 18:2 (2012) 28–30

Essay review of Jo Ann Hackett, A Basic Introduction to Biblical Hebrew, Review of Biblical Literature (Published 1/2/2011).

Essay review of Michael Fishbane, Sacred Attunement: A Jewish Theology, Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology 64 (2010): 294–300.

Essay review of Susannah Heschel, The Aryan Jesus: Christian Theologian and the Bible in Nazi Germany (Co-author: Tina Sherman), Review of Biblical Literature (2010). 8 pages.

“Bible: Law.” Pages 85–87 in Reader’s Guide to Judaism. Edited by Michael Terry. Chicago and London: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2000. Review of Martha T. Roth, Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 59 (2000): 119–121.

Two dozen entries in Harper’s Bible Dictionary. New York: Society of Biblical Literature, Harper & Row, 1985; second edition, 1997.

“McConville’s Law and Theology in Deuteronomy.” Jewish Quarterly Review 80 (1990): 396–404 (review article).