Author Description

The projected thirty-volume Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception (EBR) is intended to serve as a comprehensive guide to the current state of knowledge on the background, origins, and development of the canonical texts of the Bible as they were accepted in Judaism and Christianity. Unprecedented in breadth and scope, this encyclopedia also documents the history of the Bible''s interpretation and reception across the centuries, not only in Judaism and Christianity, but also in literature, visual art, music, film, and dance, as well as in Islam and other religious traditions and new religious movements. The EBR is also available online. Blogger''s Choice - Articles recommended by biblioblogger Jim West (https://zwingliusredivivus.wordpress.com): Laura Battini (Paris, France), Mouth I. Ancient Near East. This contribution focuses on the use of "Mouth" in Ancient Near Eastern texts, i.e., ANE mentions of "the physical mouth" as well as "the symbolic mouth," which is described in this way: "The mouth can be used metaphorically to indicate the entry of a part of the body, of an object, of a building, or of a watercourse. Other texts speak of the mouth in a symbolic way, concerning international relations on one hand and religion on the other"; and in "iconography." It is a well-crafted piece and quite informative. Anna Tchitcherine (Utrecht, The Netherlands), Mouth of Hell II. Visual Arts. One of the more interesting, to me, artistic representations of a biblical citation has to do with the "mouth of hell" which has opened itself wide to receive the condemned (Isa 5:14). In this piece, Tchitcherine begins by noting that "The anthropomorphic image of the mouth of hell emerged in Britain during the 10th-century Monastic Reform and remained popular in Western Art until the advent of Renaissance. The depiction of the entrance to hell is characterized by a disembodied monstrous head with a large gaping mouth." She then delineates the path t