Baylor University Press

All the news, updates, deals, and intelligent thoughts from your favorite book publisher Books for good baylorpress.com

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Our other new release is The Praetorian Guard

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Check out the cover of our new release Where the Aunts Are 

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What is it about the Genesis story that entices people to recreate their own relationships in its image (or their perception of that image)?

Eden's Enduring, Troubling Enticements in The Chronicle of Higher Education By Linda S. Schearing and Valerie H. Ziegler, authors of Enticed by Eden

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We released David Dickinson's The Novel as Church: Preaching to Readers in Contemporary Fiction today! 

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Happy three-day weekend! Enjoy! See you bears Tuesday.

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What positive message can the first couple's story convey to 21st century couples this Valentine's Day? Try looking at their relationship in Genesis 2, when everything was as it "should" be. There, the relationship between Adam and Eve holds the promise of a remedy for the loneliness that is part of the human condition. Man and woman are one flesh -- counterparts of the other. They are naked, yet not ashamed. They are at peace with the natural world and with each other.

Linda S. Schearing and Valerie H. Ziegler, Huffington Post

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... a truly monumental resource for the study of the Targums.

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society (2012, 55:4), review of The Targums: A Critical Introduction by Paul Flesher and Bruce Chilton

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Culture Shocks radio talks interpretations of Adam and Eve

Once, there was a first couple. There names were Adam and Eve. Today, that couple still exists, but in several different - eye-brow-raising - forms. 

Linda Schearing and Valarie Ziegler, authors of Enticed by Eden: How Western Culture Uses, Confuses, (and Sometimes Abuses) Adam and Eve talk with Culture Shocks radio about their new book and the odd ways Americans and American brands have redeployed the "first family" for a more modern audience.

Listen to the full interview online by clicking here.

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Enticed by Eden receives Publishers Weekly starred review

"... hilarious but always thoughtful."

Do you think you know all there is to know about Adam and Eve? If so, you'll want to take a look at Enticed by Eden, the new book by Linda Schearing and Valarie Ziegler.

In yesterday's starred review, Publishers Weekly says, "Beneath the authors' humor can be found serious commentary, not just on the biblical story, but on how modern society views itself through the creation metaphor. The authors do a masterful job of deconstructing the many layers of the legacy of Eden. At times hilarious but always thoughtful, this is a wonderful read, a worthy addition to the literature of religion and culture."

You can read the full review on the Publishers Weekly website.

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What we talk about when we talk about monsters

Scott Poole talks Monsters in America on this air. If you didn't think you could talk about monsters for more than a hour, here are some talking points for you and your friends:

Did monsters inaugurate the contemporary clash between religion and science? 

The definition of monster is ...

Vampires exist in America, right?

Sea serpents and Bigfoot - discuss

Christopher Columbus: Monster Hunter

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Stories of racial passing

The latest issue of The Christian Century features a stunning review of Marcia Dawkins' Clearly Invisible. Reviewer Rachel Stone is no stranger passing. Having grown up amongst a mix of religious and cultural influences, she asks, "So am I Jewish? Am I passing? Does it matter?"

Her story, which is one of many stories of passing in American culture today, leads her exceptionally compassionate review of Clearly Invisible. 

To explore passing as a kind of power, a challenge to forces of oppression, Dawkins tells the story of Ellen and William Craft, who escaped from slavery by passing in the roles of a white male master and his black male slave. As the Crafts traveled and spoke about their journey, audiences struggled to make sense of their story. If passing was possible for slaves, then wasn’t racial identity so “ambiguous and changeable” that race could not possibly be grounds to justify enslavement? Thus passing is a kind of power, a challenge to forces of oppression.

Stone's critique elevates a crux of Dawkins' argument:"But what if a person passes because society is 'passing as just, free, equal or moral'? What if the passer is not sick or bad but simply 'part of a larger society that treats people unequally based on who they are and appear to be'?"

Read the full review online here.

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This one goes out to all you anagram nerds. We know you’re out there.

via Electric Literature and Today and Tomorrow

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We are excited

Because today marks the release of three stellar new books. Each a work of rigorously compiled scholarship in its own right, these books take on intriguing historical and cultural artifacts relevant to readers from all walks of life. So, allow me to introduce ...

Enticed by Eden: How American Culture Uses, Confuses, (and Sometimes Abuses) Adam and Even

Linda Schearing and Valarie Ziegler take on the Western world's curious obsession with the first family - from Christian online dating to "adult" merchandise shops. 

Claiming Exodus: A Cultural History of Afro-Atlantic Identity, 1774-1903

Rhondda Robinson Thomas revels how Afro-Atlantic authors - both well known and seldom discussed - reconstructed the Exodus narrative to craft a new identity. Thomas argues their work justifies analysis as a new literary genre.

The Praetorian Guard: A History of Rome's Elite Special Forces

Sandra Bingham delivers the most up-to-date English history of this historically significant military unit. 

Need to know more? Keep your eyes on the blog for excerpts and news updates about these three books throughout the month of February.

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Chris Evans on Tarantino and the Good Shepherd

Christopher Evans, author or contributor to three Baylor UP volumes, is beginning his "tenure" as a blogger with Huffington Post's Religion section. This week, he takes a look at Quentin Tarantino's newest movie, "Django Unchained". Here is a short excerpt:

Part of what makes "Pulp Fiction" a great film is the way that the movie engages complex theological questions -- theodicy, redemption and grace/forgiveness -- with intelligence, humor and earnestness that transcends the violence and language one encounters on the screen. Through a postmodern lens of nonlinear sequences and less-than-savory characters, Tarantino makes the audience ponder a range of concrete questions about life, death and the moral-ethical paths we choose. For all of the ways that Tarantino has continued to make engaging films that mix and match an eclectic range of cinematic genres, the sophisticated moral-ethical reflection that one finds in a film like "Pulp Fiction" is missing -- a pattern that characterizes his latest film, "Django Unchained."

Read the full piece here.

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Video: Lakesia Johnson and others on the Williams/Wozniacki media frenzy

The body of the black woman has become the subject of some intense discussion. Lakesia Johnson, along with several other heavy hitters, weighs in on the recent news surrounding Serena Williams, Caroline Wozniacki, and the potential of racism in professional tennis. This video conversations comes to you courtesy of Huffington Post Live.

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It seems as though every interviewer this month has asked Adam English about the notorious rumor that Saint Nicholas of Myra slapped/punched the heretic Arius several centuries ago. Adding to the humor of all of this is that Nicholas completed the famed act with his sandal. Unfortunately the rumor cannot be proven, but that doesn't mean we Saint Nicholas fans haven't kept from perpetuating it all the same. This was passed on by one of our editorial staff members yesterday. 

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The act of anonymous gift-giving is contagious.

Adam English, author of The Saint Who Would Be Santa Claus, in an interview with FOX News Live, Spirited Debate