Exploring New Paradigms in Biblical and Cognate Studies

Essays include: an exploration of the meaning of Matthew 2:15 and conclusions on how its author and community viewed Egypt; an examination of the language of cursing in the ancient Near East; a close reading of Jeremiah 46 and its use of historical information in aims that are theologically propagandistic; the place of Asipu and Asu in the spectrum of healing disciplines in ancient Mesopotamia; and an apologia and test application for a new model of biblical criticism that focuses attention on the use of cultural data as part of a text's literary artifice. These papers illustrate how heterogeneity in methodological approach, when combined with a broad interest in human culture and commitment to the synthesis of available data, can yield significant results for scholars of antiquity. They were presented at the inaugural Colloquium of the Institute for Ancient Near Eastern and Afroasiatic Cultural Research.