Liber Annuus

In 2001, the Regional Survey of the University of Toronto’s Tall Madaba Archaeological Project (TMAP) conducted a topographic and archaeological survey at the site of Masuh in central Jordan. Using total station data and GIS software, this mapping project produced a site plan that incorporates Masuh’s visible archaeological remains (including a possible Roman temple, two churches, cisterns, and inscriptions) into its landscape. A small surface assemblage was also collected, including pottery, lithic tools, glass, a steatite vessel, and an Ottoman pipe. Analysis of these artifacts, especially the plain, painted and glazed ceramics, illustrates the site’s occupational history. There was an Iron II presence at Masuh, but thereafter, the site was apparently abandoned until the late Roman period. The late Byzantine-Umayyad and Mamluk periods are best represented in the surface collection, and occupation continued into Ottoman times, although the site was abandoned by the 19th century. The well-preserved site of Masuh, therefore, holds much promise for investigating village life in central Jordan from Late Antiquity through the Middle Ages.

The article proposes a new interpretation of the mosaic floor on the upper chapel of the priest John in Khirbat al-Mukhayyat near Mount Nebo. After having studied the numerous hunting scenes and venations of late antiquity, it is proposed that the figure of the shepherd with the sling be identified with David, according to the iconography created in the 4th century in the West and repeated many times in paleochristian art production. Inspired by the new proposed reading, it is then argued that among the Christian mosaic scenes of Jordan, paying particular attention to the two places of worship in Umm al-Rasas (namely the church of bishop Sergius and the church of Lions, in which in addition to the representation of the miracle of the healing of the paralytic and of the Phoenix), it would be possible to trace another image of David with the sling.

495 Paganini Simone, La Bibbia che Gesù leggeva. Breve introduzione all’Antico Testamento, EDB, Bologna 2013, 245 pp. (V. Lopasso).

498 Scaiola Donatella, I Dodici Profeti: perché “Minori?”. Esegesi e Teologia, EDB, Bologna 2011, 296 pp. (V. Lopasso).

501 Geiger Gregor, Das hebräische Partizip in den Texten aus der judäischen Wüste (Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah 101), Brill, Leiden - Boston 2012, xvii-591 pp. (A. Niccacci).

504 García Santos Amador Ángel, Diccionario del griego bíblico. Setenta y Nuevo Testamento, Editorial Verbo Divino, Estella (Navarra) 2011, 936 pp. (R. Pierri).

513 Perego Giacomo (a cura di), Marco. Introduzione, traduzione e commento (Nuova versione della Bibbia dai testi antichi 38), Edizioni San Paolo, Cinisello Balsamo 2011, 364 pp. (G. Bissoli).

516 García Serrano Andrés, The Presentation in the Temple. The Narrative Function of Lk 2:22-39 in Luke-Acts (Analecta Biblica 197), Gregorian & Biblical Press, Roma 2012, 447 pp. (L.D. Chrupcała).

520 Reich Keith A., Figuring Jesus. The Power of Rhetorical Figures of Speech in the Gospel of Luke (Biblical Interpretation Series 107), Brill, Leiden - Boston 2011, ix-176 pp. (L.D. Chrupcała).

525 Assaël Jacqueline - Cuvillier Élian, L’Épître de Jacques (Commentaire du Nouveau Testament XIIIa), Labor et Fides, Genève 2013, 290 pp. (G.C. Bottini).

528 Wenger Stefan, Der wesenhaft gute Kyrios. Eine exegetische Studie über das Gottesbild im Jakobusbrief (Abhandlungen zur Theologie des Alten und Neuen Testaments 100), Theologischer Verlag, Zürich 2011, 354 pp. (G.C. Bottini).

530 Loader William, The New Testament on Sexuality (Attitudes towards Sexuality in Judaism and Christianity in the Hellenistic Greco-Roman Era 5), William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids MI - Cambridge U.K. 2012, x-566 pp. (L.D. Chrupcała).

535 Doering Lutz, Ancient Jewish Letters and the Beginnings of Christian Epistolography (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 298), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2012, xiv-600 pp. (L. Giuliano).

542 Pérez Fernández Miguel - Ruiz Morell Olga, El beso de Dios. Midrás de la Muerte de Moisés: מדרש פטירת משה. Edición bilingüe hebreo-español y comentario (Biblioteca midrásica 35), Editorial Verbo Divino, Estella (Navarra) 2013, 201 pp. (G. Bissoli).