In early January, I set certain goals for International Biblical Studies Writing Month (as Chris Brady designated January 2008). Those goals included completion of two book reviews from my backlogged list of reviews due.

I’m pleased to report that I submitted one of those book reviews just a little while ago. My review of Elliott Rabin’s Understanding the Hebrew Bible should appear in an upcoming issue of The Bible and Critical Theory. The short form: I wasn’t impressed.

As for the other book review … well, as the post title says, I punted. I volunteered to review the book based solely on its title, knowing nothing about the contents. I didn’t expect the book to be all about goddess studies advocacy and “queering” biblical texts. These, um, approaches stand outside my areas of interest and expertise, so I returned the book for assignment to a different reviewer.