Watts - Publications

Publications by
James W. Watts

“Ritual Rhetoric in Ancient Near Eastern Texts,” in Ancient Non-Greek Rhetorics, ed. Carol Lipson and Roberta Binkley, West Lafayette, IN: Parlor Press, 2009. 39-66.
"Desecrating Scriptures," cast study for the Luce Project in Religion, Media and International Relations at Syracuse University, 2009.
“Ritual Rhetoric in the Pentateuch: The Case of Leviticus 1-16,” in Colloquium Biblicaum Lovaniense 2006: Leviticus and Numbers, ed. Thomas Römer, Beitrage zum Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses, Leuven: Peeters, 2008. 305-318.
"Oracular Rhetoric,” Perspectives in Religious Studies 35 (2008), 185-95.
“The Three Dimensions of Scriptures,” Postscripts 2/2 (2006/2008), 135-159.
Ritual and Rhetoric in Leviticus: From Sacrifice to Scripture, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.

“The Torah as the Rhetoric of Priesthood,” in The Reception of the Torah in the Second Temple Period, ed. Bernard Levinson and Gary Knoppers. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2007. 319-332.
“ ‘Olah: The Rhetoric of Burnt Offerings,” Vetus Testamentum, 66/1 (2006), 125-137.
"Ritual Legitimacy and Scriptural Authority." Journal of Biblical Literature 124/3 (2005), 401-417.
“Poetry, Inset,” in the Dictionary of the Old Testament: Historical Books, ed. Bill T. Arnold and H. G. M. Williamson, Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2005. 798-802.
“Biblical Psalms Outside the Psalter,” in The Book of Psalms: Composition and Reception, ed. Peter W. Flint and Patrick D. Miller, Vetus Testamentum Supplement Series 99, Leiden: Brill, 2004. 288-309.

“Ten Commandments Monuments and the Rivalry of Iconic Texts,” Journal of Religion & Society 6 (2004) online.
“Story, List, Sanction: A Cross-Cultural Strategy of Ancient Persuasion,” in Rhetoric Before and Beyond the Greeks, ed. Carol Lipson and Roberta Binkley, Albany: SUNY Press, 2004. 197-212.
“The Rhetoric of Ritual Instruction in Leviticus 1-7,” in The Book of Leviticus: Composition and Reception, ed. Rolf Rendtorff and Robert Kugler, Vetus Testamentum Supplement Series, Leiden: Brill, 2003. 79-100.
(Editor, with Corrine Patton and Steven Cook) The Whirlwind: Essays on Job, Hermeneutics and Theology in Memory of Jane Morse, JSOTSup Series 336, London: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001.
“The Unreliable Narrator of Job,” in The Whirlwind (see above), pp. 168-80.

(Editor) Persia and Torah: The Theory of Imperial Authorization of the Pentateuch, SBL Symposium Series, Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2001.
(Translator) “Persian Imperial Authorization: A Summary” by Peter Frei, in Persia and Torah (see above), pp. 5-40.
Reading Law: The Rhetorical Shaping of the Pentateuch, Biblical Seminar 59, Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1999. (RBL review; CBQ review).
"Reader Identification and Alienation in the Legal Rhetoric of the Pentateuch," Biblical Interpretation 7/1 (1999) 101-12.
"The Legal Characterization of Moses in the Rhetoric of the Pentateuch," Journal of Biblical Literature 117 (1998) 415-26.
"The Legal Characterization of God in the Pentateuch," Hebrew Union College Annual 67 (1996) 1-14.

(Editor, with Paul R. House) Forming Prophetic Literature: Essays on Isaiah and the Twelve in Honor of John D. W. Watts, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series 235, Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996. (Online JBL summary/review)
"Psalmody in Prophecy: Habakkuk 3 in Context," Forming Prophetic Literature (see above), pp. 209-223.
"Public Readings and Pentateuchal Law," Vetus Testamentum 45/4 (1995) 540-57.
"Rhetorical Strategy in the Composition of the Pentateuch," Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 68 (1995) 3-22.
"Song and the Ancient Reader," Perspectives in Religious Studies 22/2 (1995) 135-47.
"Leviticus," Mercer Commentary on the Bible, ed. Watson E. Mills et al, Macon: Mercer University Press, 1994, pp. 157-74. Reprinted in Mercer Commentary on the Bible, Vol. 1: Pentateuch/Torah, ed. Watson E. Mills et al, Macon: Mercer University Press, 1998.

"`This Song': Conspicuous Poetry in Hebrew Prose,"Verse in Ancient Near Eastern Prose, ed. Johannes C. de Moor and Wilfred G. E. Watson, Alter Orient und Altes Testament 42, Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1993, pp. 345-58.
Psalm and Story: Inset Hymns in Hebrew Narrative, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series 139, Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1992.
"Text and Redaction in Jeremiah's Oracles Against the Nations," Catholic Biblical Quarterly 54 (1992) 432-47.
"Psalm 2 in the Context of Biblical Theology," Horizons in Biblical Theology 12/1 (1990) 73-91.
"HNT: An Ugaritic Formula of Intercession," Ugarit-Forschungen 21 (1989) 443-49.
"The Remnant Theme: A Survey of New Testament Research, 1921-1987," Perspectives in Religious Studies 15/2 (1988) 109-129.
"Narrative Time in Luke's Gospel," Paradigms 1/2 (1985) 65-80

Other Articles:
- “Scripture and Law: Where Ten Commandments will stand is in Supreme Court's hands.” Op-ed, Detroit Free Press, February 21, 2005.
- “Narrative Time in Luke's Gospel,” Paradigms 1/2 (1985) 65-80.

Reviews of various books in biblical studies appeared in the Review of Biblical Literature (2008), (2008), (2007), (2007), (2006), (2003), (1999), Journal of Biblical Literature 120 (2001) 348 [=RBL 2000 online], 118 (1999) 128-28 [=RBL 1999 online], 116 (1997) 541-43 [=RBL 1997 online], Interpretation 61/1 (2007) 98, 61/4 (2007) 446-47, Horizons in Biblical Theology 24/1 (2002) 129-31, Jewish Quarterly Review 91/3-4 (2001) 526-29, Theology Today 55 (1999) 586-88, Hebrew Studies 39 (1998) 236-38, 37 (1996) 166-68, Perspectives in Religious Studies 23 (1996) 75-86, 22 (1995) 87-91, Religious Studies Review 23 (1997) 388, 24 (1998) 59, 283-284, 405, 25 (1999) 71, and Paradigms 1 (1985) 50-52, 118-20, 2 (1986) 136-37, 5 (1989) 68-69, 156-57.