Available October 27 (and at the SBL meeting in Denver):
Introducing Biblical Performance Criticism: Collected Essays
by David Rhoads · Edited by Zechariah Eberhart
(Cascade, 2026)
Rarely in a career does a scholar produce such a seismic impact on a discipline as David Rhoads' contributions to narrative criticism did in Mark as Story in 1982. It is even rarer for a scholar to have such an impact a second time with a distinct approach. Rhoads struck gold again in 2006 with the publication of his two linked essays (Part 1 and Part 2), together called "Performance Criticism: An Emerging Discipline in Second Testament Studies" in Biblical Theology Bulletin. This volume of collected essays includes not only those two foundational works but eight other essays that Rhoads wrote to introduce and influence biblical performance criticism. The book closes with an appendix on teaching with performance, and an afterword by editor Zechariah Eberhart. These last two pieces point in unexplored and underexplored directions for future scholars, performers, and biblical interpreters.