John J. Pilch, The Cultural Dictionary of the Bible.

A Liturgical Press Book. Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1999. Pp. Xiv + 209. Paper. $17.95.

Earlier generations of biblical and theological scholars placed great importance in the publication and dissemination of Theological Dictionaries, works sometimes stretching to multiple volumes and thousands of pages. Gerhard Kitters Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, probably the most famous of the genre, required nine volumes, 105 contributors, and forty-five years to complete. The plan was "to treat every word of religious or theological significance" in the New Testament by marshalling the range of theological and exegetical meanings for these words, which would in turn suggest the first steps of interpretation for ministers and scholars. The enduring achievements of Theological Dictionaries-Kittel's and others-are the breadth of extra-biblical texts and traditions consulted and, of course, the minute analysis that accompanies their lexicography.

But against the backdrop of these achievements many contemporary scholars now see a fundamental shortcoming in the approach of such Theological Dictionaries. John Pilch states this shortcoming early in his Cultural Dictionary of the Bible, and his simple statement becomes the operating thesis of the book: "Words in isolation do not convey meaning" (p. 2). What does convey meaning are words embedded in social and cultural contexts. Thus, a more informed understanding of these contexts becomes the broad ambition of Pilch's handbook. And since social-scientific analysis represents his organizing principle for understanding the people and message of the Bible, Pilch utilizes findings from anthropology related social sciences to fill in our understanding of ancient Mediterranean culture.

The book proceeds by means of short, topical entries, roughly 30 in number, with most topics covered in six or seven pages. The entries represent revisions of Pilch's previously published articles, though their arrangement and presentation in the format of a Cultural Dictionary now seems natural and makes for a handy accompaniment to Bible reading and teaching. Most helpful is Pilch's inclusion at the end of each entry of a short bibliography for further reading on each topic. The entries in the dictionary are multi-layered, by which I mean they often bring a number of other themes or implicitly related issues to bear on the discussion of a topic. For example, the entry entitled "Secrecy" includes some excellent comments on honor/shame values in Mediterranean society; also, the entry entitled "Holy Man" introduces the reader to Pilch's work on altered states of consciousness. To accommodate these textures within the book, the author has provided a table of contents that does not simply list the titled entries but also lists more than three times that number of related themes and issues. These kinds of thoughtful touches-including indexing themes and ideas in the book to the Sunday gospel readings in the three-year liturgical cycle-succeed in making the book eminently useful and reader-friendly.

The author himself mentions the entry entitled "Sheep and Goats" as exemplary of the book's distinctive approach. It is, particularly in the way Pilch's discussion of sheep and goats also illuminates the tensions between honor/shame, men/women, strong/weak, and inside/outside, all of which are recurring themes in the organization of ancient Mediterranean culture. Pilch's discussion of work, coins, drinking and eating, and death also exemplify the accomplishments of the book.

If there is any criticism to level at the book it can only be directed at the author's limited rehearsal of institutions, themes and ideas of the cultures of the Bible. For example, Pilch includes no article entry for "Women," though he includes women in discussions of other topics (e.g., in the entry for "Sheep and Goats" Pilch states, "Women are the most vulnerable point through which a family's honor can be challenged or even taken away" (p. 135); and in the entry for "Spirits," Pilch writes, "The general Mediterranean association of women, goats, and the devil is reflected in the interpretation of sickness as well" (p. 163). Pilch has plenty to say about women in his illumination of the cultures of the Bible, but the discussions are scattered across several articles instead of assembled into a single entry. In addition to an entry for Women, this reviewer was similarly disappointed not to encounter entries on subjects like Faith and Belief, King/Kingdom, Government, War, Land, Inheritance, Family/Children, Debt, and Education. Perhaps these limitations owe to the fact that the book essentially came into being from previously published articles. In any case, Pilch's collection is so successful and his insights into the cultures of the Bible so provocative that he might start contemplating now the notion of casting his net a bit more broadly for a revised, second edition.

Daniel E. Goodman
Palm Beach Atlantic College
West Palm Beach FL 33401