The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and the Arts

Named a Best Print Reference title of 2015 by Library Journal

The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and the Arts (OEBART) is an in-depth, comprehensive reference work that covers the cultural history of biblical texts, themes, characters, images, and the Bible itself in the literary, visual, and musical arts. Appearing in response to the shifting landscape of biblical studies over the last decade, OEBART embraces the broadest possible definition of ＂interpretation,＂ one that includes a cultural-historical perspective. Entries are organized primarily according to specific literary, visual, and musical artists, types of works, and periods (e.g., Mozart, Shakespeare, Children’s Bibles, Early Christian Art), revealing how the Bible figures in each. OEBART contains 148 entries ranging in length from 2,000 to 10,000 words. With bibliographic references and suggestions for further reading, each entry provides scholars and students with a reliable source of specialist information on topics that are not covered by existing general reference works.

OEBART distinguishes itself as the superior reference by providing substantively longer, in-depth articles written not only by leading biblical scholars, but also by prominent scholars in the various fields of art in which the Bible figures, and including information on each subject as well as on the history of the scholarly research concerning that subject; by following a topical organization based on a cultural-historical rather than a reception-historical perspective; and through its integration into a larger suite of reference works from Oxford University Press that will be the go-to digital (through Oxford Biblical Studies Online) and print resources for biblical studies.

Timothy Beal is the Florence Harkness Professor of Religion at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. He has published twelve books, most recently The Rise and Fall of the Bible: The Unexpected History of an Accidental Book, Biblical Literacy: The Essential Bible Stories Everyone Needsto Know, and Religion in America: A Very Short Introduction. In addition to scholarly articles, he has written essays on religion, Bible, and culture for The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN.com, and The Chronicle of Higher Education, among others. He serves on the editorial board for the Bible Odyssey project.