The New Covenant

It's difficult to make the case for something new in biblical studies, but Willis Barnstone's The New Covenant, Commonly Called the New Testament: The Four Gospels and the Apocalypse is certainly different. In deciding to provide ""a chastely modern, literary version of a major world text,"" Barnstone restores the probable Hebrew and Aramaic names of all of the major characters. Jesus is Yeshua; his parents Miryam and Yosef take him to Yerushalayim each year for the Seder of the Pesach. Such determination to restore the Semitic origins of the New Testament is refreshing, and Barnstone doubles the fun by following the Gospels not with Acts, as would be traditional, but with the Apocalypse, the Book of Revelation. Here is where Barnstone's literary skill shines most clearly, as he renders the Apocalypse as a great epic poem in loose blank verse. Barnstone's biblical interpretation is heavily influenced by former Episcopal bishop John Shelby Spong, but his literary contribution is quite original. (Apr.)