a collection of Sandy’s academic work.
Abstract: Sexual violence toward women is a pervasive and global issue. It is therefore a problem to which biblical scholars, theologians, and ministers must attend. The biblical law codes addressing this topic, however, are difficult for the modern reader to access. As a result, many have concluded that Israel’s laws of sexualmisconduct were so embedded in traditional and patriarchal systems that they were unable to provide protection or justice for women then or now. For many, this perceived legal dilemma implicates the character of the Mosaic covenant and Yahweh himself. This article revisits the crime of rape in Israel’s society, contextualizes that law in its ancient Near Eastern milieu, and compares Deuteronomy’s legal response to rape with our own. The conclusion is that within its societal context, the laws of Deuteronomy did indeed protect women, often more effectively than surrounding law codes, and perhaps more effectively than modern legal systems
“Rape in Israel’s World… and Ours: A Study of Deuteronomy 22:23-29” JETS 64.1 (2021): 59-76.
Abstract: The age-old question of the social location(s) of the book of Deuteronomy remains critical to the academic discussion of the book. The thesis of this article is that the culturally embedded economic realities of Urdeuteronomium (forthrightly addressed as an element of narrative or law, alluded to via metaphor or backdrop, or even mistakenly included as anachronism) should have something to teach us regarding the provenance of the book. Toward this end, this article surveys the archaeologically reconstructed picture of the economies of the Iron I, IIA, B, and C in ancient Israel, identifying diagnostic features of each in rural and urban areas, juxtaposes those features to the contents of Urdeuteronomium, and asks what may be discerned of the social setting of the book.
Economics and Urdeuteronomium: A Response to Kåre Berge, Diana Edelman, Philippe Guillaume, and Benedetta Rossi.” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 48.1 (2023): 84–104.
Abstract: The provenance of Urdeuteronomium has been an essential question in biblical scholarship since the days of Julius Wellhausen. In recent years, many have turned to the Persian period to resolve this long-standing debate. This essay is the second part of a project approaching the question from an economic perspective. Assuming that the economic realities described and assumed in the Book of Deuteronomy have much to teach us regarding the book’s social location, in this essay I survey the archaeologically reconstructed economies of the southern Levant in both
urban and rural areas during the Neo-Babylonian and Persian eras and compare those with the literary remains of Urdeuteronomium (defined as Deut 4:44–27:26). There is particular attention to issues involving currency.
The Question of Provenance and the Economics of Deuteronomy: The Neo-Babylonian and Persian Periods” Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 82/4 (2020): 547–66.
Abstract: All indicators are that our planet is currently facing an environmental crisis of unprecedented proportions. The effects may be mapped in every avenue of human existence from food supply and water quality to decimated landscapes and species extinction. Terms such as sustainable agriculture, environmental terrorism, and factory farming have moved into everyday parlance. Does religion and specifically Christianity have a role in shaping a response to this crisis? Is there an ecotheology to be found in the Bible, and how might the community of faith go about applying that biblical paradigm to current issues? This essay attempts to begin to answer these questions by mapping a relationship between the wisdom of the ancients and a current course of action for the Church with particular emphasis on stewardship, Sabbath, and action.
“Environmental Law: Wisdom from the Ancients,” Bulletin for Biblical Research 24.3 (2014): 307–29.
Abstract: Too often the Church dismisses the issue of environmentalism as peripheral, or even alien, to the theological witness of the Bible. Yet the testimony of both Old and New Testaments is that God is invested in the well-being of the earth and its creatures and that humanity bears responsibility as God’s steward of the same. This essay investigates this topic as it is communicated through the politeia of ancient Israel, the book of Deuteronomy. The laws of land tenure, agriculture, warfare, wild creatures, and animal husbandry are examined with an eye toward the larger biblical theological message of the Bible. Israel’s practice is compared to the norms of its ancient society, and modern parallels are proposed.
Abstract:
The location of Deuteronomy’s central sanctuary is an old and important question. This article revisits the question via the lens of the oft’ repeated deuteronomic phrase, lĕšakkēn šĕmô šâm. Recent research indicates that this phrase is a loan-adaptation of Akkadian šuma šakānu, an idiom formulaic to the typology of the Mesopotamian royal monumental tradition, and associated with the inscription and installation of display monuments. Consequently, the frequent description of Deuteronomy’s central sanctuary as hammāqôm ’ăšer yibḥar Yhwh ’ĕlōhêkā lĕšakkēn šĕmô šām indicates that this place was associated in some manner with an inscribed monument. A survey of the theme of inscribed monuments throughout the Book of Deuteronomy confirms this proposition, and points to the deuteronomic identity of “the place” as Mount Ebal identified in chapters eleven and twenty-seven. Although scholarship has tended to discount the significance of the Ebal tradition to the larger message of the Book of Deuteronomy, the literary, archaeological, epigraphic, and geographical data reviewed here confirm the probability that one of the mountains flanking the ancient city of Shechem was indeed the location of Israel’s first central sanctuary. And the installation of Yhwh’s monument there, rather than an obscure mistake of redactional history, is in reality the climax of a critical theme within the book.
“The Place of the Name in Deuteronomy,” Vetus Testamentum 57 (2007): 342–66.
Abstract: This essay briefly considers the seemingly modern topic of creation- care through a biblical theological lens, asking the question: “Is environmentalism a Christian value?” Tracing the narrative of Redemption from the Garden to the New Jerusalem (with particular attention given to the norms of Israelite society as regards land tenure and creature care), this article demonstrates that biblical law from every era communicates a similar theme: the earth, its produce, and its inhabitants belong to God, not to humanity. Moreover, according to Scripture, humanity’s role as regards the creation is that of steward. God takes great pleasure in his creation, has provided for it, and his expectation is that his people will respect and protect it. This becomes a particularly pertinent message to the Church in that we are only beginning to ask the question of how our identity as the redeemed people of God impacts our care of God’s creation. This article attempts to address that question by allowing the cumulative voice of Scripture to be heard in light of current environmental attitudes and practices.
“The Name Theology,” Routledge Dictionary of Ancient Mediterranean Religions. Edited by Jennifer Knust, Eric Orlin, Michael Satlow and Lisbeth Fried. New York and London: Routledge, 2015.
“Religion and the Environment,” Handbook of Religion: A Christian Engagement with Traditions, Teachings, and Practices. Edited by Terry C. Muck et al. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2014.
“The Deuteronomistic History,” Dictionary of the Old Testament: Historical Books. Edited by Bill T. Arnold and H. G. M. Williamson. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2005.
“Covenant,” Eerdmans Companion to the Bible. Edited by Gordon Fee and Robert Hubbard Jr. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2011.