The essays collected in Watering the Garden are intended to honor Deirdre Dempsey, a distinguished biblical educator, translator, and scholar. The contributions to this Festschrift mirror Dempsey’s own scholarly interests, including biblical studies, with particular attention to the Old Testament and intertestamental literature, the theology of visual arts, the history of spiritual traditions, and modern theology. The content of the Festschrift closely follows Dempsey's own spiritual and scholarly journey and reflects the breadth and scope of her influence on the academy.
Notes on Contributors .............................................................. xi
Introduction
Andrei A. Orlov ......................................................................... xv
Watering the Garden: A Tribute to Deirdre Dempsey as a
Teacher
Amy E. Richter ........................................................................... 1
Restoring “Jesus” in Jude 5: What Can New Testament Textual
Criticism Learn from the Fathers?
Bogdan G. Bucur ........................................................................ 5
For a Hermeneutics of Referent: On the Sinai Tradition and a Reinterpretation
of “Covenant”
Silviu N. Bunta ......................................................................... 23
Tragedy and Comedy in Saul’s Encounter at Endor
Joshua Ezra Burns .................................................................... 47
Run, Mary, Run! The Figure of Mary Magdalene in the Negro Spirituals
M. Shawn Copeland.................................................................. 67
“The Scholz Effect” on the Dempseys: Explorations on Writing
Commentaries on the Book of Isaiah
Carol J. Dempsey, OP ............................................................... 91
“Always Local and Foreign to One Another”: An Essay on Desire,
Derry Girls, and the Grace of Friendship
Ryan G. Duns, SJ ................................................................... 115
Psalm 23, Modern Catholic Social Teaching, and a Better Economic
Order
Christine Firer Hinze ............................................................... 133
Behold, the Power of Transformed Holy Women
Jennifer Henery ...................................................................... 149
Wisdom for Academics from an Academic Studying Wisdom:
The Theological Insights of a Reluctant Biblical Theologian
Conor M. Kelly ....................................................................... 167
Hagar and the God of the Oppressed: Gen 16:1-16 as Seen from
the Perspective of the “Losers”
Alexandre A. Martins ............................................................. 181
Enfleshing the Word: Divine Revelation in the Lives of the Saints
Danielle Nussberger ................................................................ 201
Insight into Context: Systematic Theological Reading of the Bible
in Africa: The Case of Nigeria
Joseph Ogbonnaya .................................................................. 217
Eschatological Consumption of Leviathan and Behemoth as Revelation
of the Messianic Torah
Andrei A. Orlov ...................................................................... 239
The Consolation of Desolate Landscapes: Hiking in Newfoundland
During the Pandemic
Joseph S. Pagano.................................................................... 287
Redirecting Our Gaze and Rewilding Our Worship: How 1 Enoch
Can Help a Church Address Climate Crisis
Amy E. Richter ....................................................................... 311
The Gospel of She: Gen 3:15 as Militant Queen Mother of the
Bible
Nathanael E. Schmiedicke ....................................................... 337
Teaching Theological Anthropology with Keith Haring’s Untitled,
1983 at the Haggerty Museum of Art
Kate Ward ............................................................................. 363