Publications

Major publications include:

  • Monographs:

  • An Unsuitable Book: The Bible as Scandalous Text (Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2005).

  • David as Reader: 2 Samuel 12:1-15 and the Poetics of Fatherhood xiv + 238 pp. (Leiden, E. J. Brill, 1996).
    [The role of the reader in the biblical narrative has been pursued to a new level of subtlety and complexity in this brilliant, insightful and provocative study by Dr Pyper ... astonishing in the breadth and depth shown’ {Prof. Hugh C. White, Rutgers University; Review in The Catholic Biblical Quarterly 60 (1998)}.]

  • A Sense of Adventure [First George Gorman Memorial Lecture] 22 pp. (London, George Gorman Memorial Fund; 1986). Dutch: Gevoel voor Aventuur trans L. van Kampe 36 pp. (Leiden, Een Quaker uitgave, 1987).

  • Mary Hughes: A Friend to All in Need 28 pp. (London, Quaker Home Service, 1985).

  • Forthcoming (under contract)

  • Daniel Volume for the series Readings, edited J. Jarick, for Sheffield Phoenix Press; manuscript due Dec 2007.

  • The Joy of Kierkegaard: Essays on Kierkegaard as a Biblical Reader (London, Equinox); manuscript Dec 2007.

  • Why the Old Testament Matters (Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox); Manuscript due March 2008.

  • Edited Volumes:

  • Key Thinkers in Christian Thought (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2003) editor with Adrian Hastings† and Alistair Mason

  • The Christian Family – A Concept in Crisis xiii +146 pp. (Norwich, The Canterbury Press Norwich, 1996). Editor and contributor of ‘[Preface’ (vii–xiii), and ‘The Family in the Bible’ (14-28).

  • The Oxford Companion to Christian Thought (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2000) Assistant Editor with Adrian Hastings (General Editor) and Alistair Mason; in addition to general editorial work, 30 articles totalling 45 000 words.
    [‘An indispensable resource … one of the best values in print-media reference works on the market … an authoritative and comprehensive guide.’ {B. W. Hamilton; Review in The American Theological Libraries Association Newsletter 49 (2002), 33-35.}]
  • Christian Thought: A Brief History (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2002) editor with Adrian Hastings† and Alistair Mason

  • Chapters in Books

  • ‘The Bible as Children’s Literature: The Metrical Psalms and The Gammage Cup’ in F. Black(ed.) The Recycled Bible: Autobiographical Encounters with Biblical Afterlives [Semeia Studies] (Atlanta GA, Society of Biblical Literature, 2006, 143-160. Reprinted from An Unsuitable Book: The Bible as Scandalous Text (Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2006).

  • ‘“Sarah is the hero”; Kierkegaard’s reading of Tobit in Fear and Trembling.’ in M. Bredin (ed.) The Book of Tobit [Studies in Second Temple Judaism] (London, T&T Clark, 2006). 59-71.

  • ‘Jesus Reads the Scriptures’ in G.Aichele and R. Walsh (eds) Those Outside: Non-Canonical Readings of Canonical Gospels (London, T&T Clark, 2005), 1-16.

  • ‘Other Eyes: Reading and Not Reading the Hebrew Scriptures/Old Testament with a Little Help from Derrida and Cixous.’ In Y. Sherwood, K. Hart (eds) Derrida and Religion: Other Testaments (New York, Routledge, 2005 [sic ]).

  • ‘Ahithophel to Eliam.’ In P. Davies (ed.) Yours Faithfully: Virtual Letters from the Bible (London, Equinox, 2004).

  • ‘Fleshing out the Text.’ In J. Bekkenkamp, Y. Sherwood (eds) Sanctified Aggression: Legacies of Biblical and Post-Biblical Vocabularies of Violence [JSOT Supp Series 400; Bible in the Twenty-first Century Series 3] (London, Continuum/Sheffield Academic Press, 2003), 44-59.

  • ‘Reading David’s Mind: Inference, Emotion and the Limits of Language.’ In P.R. Davies, A. Hunter (eds) Sense and Sensitivity: Essays on Reading the Bible in Memory of Robert Carroll [JSOT Supp. Series 348] (London, Sheffield Academic Press, 2002), 73-86.

  • ‘Jezebel.’ In P. R. Davies (ed.) First Person: Essays in Biblical Autobiography (London, Sheffield Academic Press, 2002), 77-92.

  • ‘The Secret of Succession: Elijah, Elisha, Jesus and Derrida.’ In A. K. M. Adam (ed.) Postmodern Interpretations of the Bible – A Reader (St Louis MO, Chalice Press, 2001), 55-66.

  • ‘My Home is Over Jordan.’ In D. Filipczak (ed) Dissolving the Boundaries (University Press, 2001), 29-34.

  • ‘Listeners on the Stair: Childhood and Otherness in Walter de la Mare.’ In A. Hass, H. Morgan (eds) Self/Same/Other: Revisioning the Subject in Literature and Theology (Sheffield, Sheffield Academic Press, 2000), 70-82; reprinted in The Walter de la Mare Society Magazine 5 (2002), 14-23.

  • ‘The Selfish Text: Memetics and the Bible.’ In J. C. Exum, S. Moore (eds) Biblical Studies/ Cultural Studies (Sheffield, Sheffield Academic Press, 1998), 71-90.

  • ‘Cities of the Dead: The Relation of Person and Polis in Kierkegaard’s Works of Love.’ In G. Pattison, S. Shakespeare (eds) Kierkegaard: The Self in Society (London, Macmillan, 1998), 125-138.

  • ‘Beyond a Joke: Kierkegaard’s Concluding Unscientific Postscript as a Comic Book.’ In R. L. Perkins (ed.) Concluding Unscientific Postscript to ‘Philosophical Fragments’ [International Kierkegaard Commentary vol. 12] (Macon GA, Mercer University Press, 1997), 149-168.

  • ‘The Lesson of Eternity: Christ as Teacher in Hegel and Kierkegaard.’ In R. L. Perkins (ed.) Philosophical Fragments and Johannes Climacus, [International Kierkegaard Commentary vol. 13] (Macon GA, Mercer University Press; 1994), 129-146.

  • ‘Surviving Writing; The Anxiety of Historiography in the Former Prophets.’ In J. C. Exum, D.J.A. Clines (eds) The New Literary Criticism and the Hebrew Bible (Sheffield, JSOT Press/ Valley Forge PA, Trinity Press International, 1993), 227-249.

  • ‘The Apostle, the Genius and the Monkey: Reflections on the Mirror of the Word.’ In G. Pattison (ed.) Kierkegaard on Art and Communication (Basingstoke, The Macmillan Press; 1992), 125-136.

  • 'Without Apology.’ In W. Cooper, R. Fraser (eds) Sexual Ethics: Some Quaker Perspectives(Greensboro, Quaker Theological Discussion Group, 1990), 83-90.

  • Forthcoming (in press):

  • ‘Whose prophecy is it anyway? What Micah 3:12 is doing in Jeremiah 36.’ To appear in D. Burns (ed) Festschrift for P.R. Davies [title forthcoming] (London, T&T Clark, to be published 2005).

  • ‘Kierkegaard’s Canon: The Constitution of the Bible and the Authorship in Concluding Unscientific Postscript.’ To appear in N.J. Cappelørn, H. Deuser, J. Stewart (eds) Kierkegaard Studies Yearbook 2005; Concluding Unscientific Postscript (Berlin, Walter de Gruyter, to be published 2005).
  • Journal Articles

  • ‘“Job the Dog”: Hélène Cixous on Wounds, Scars and the Biblical Text.’ Biblical Interpretation 11 (3/4) ‘Texts, Currents, Hermeneutics’ (2003), 438-448.

  • ‘Forgiving the Unforgivable: Kierkegaard, Derrida and the Scandal of Forgiveness.’ Kierkegaardiana 22 (2002), 7-24.

  • ‘Can there be a Quaker Hermeneutic?’ Quaker Religious Thought 30 (2001), 63-69.

  • ‘The Triumph of the Lamb: Psalm 23 and Textual Fitness.’ Biblical Interpretation 9 (2001), 384-392.

  • ‘Reading Lamentations.’ Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 95 (2001), 55-69.

  • ‘Adam’s Angest: The Myth of Language and the
    Language of Mythology.’ Kierkegaard Studies Yearbook 2001 N.J. Cappelørn, H. Deuser, J. Stewart (eds) (Berlin, Walter de Gruyter, 2001), 78-95.

  • ‘Modern Gospels of Judas: Canon and Betrayal.’ Literature and Theology 15 (2001), 111-122.

  • ‘Resisting the Inevitable: Universal and Particular Salvation in the Thought of Robert Barclay.’ Quaker Religious Thought 29 (1998), 5-18.

  • ‘Speaking Silence: Male Readers, Female Readings and the Biblical Text.’ Literature and Theology 8 (1994), 296-310.

  • ‘Judging the Wisdom of Solomon: The Two-Way Effect of Intertextuality.’ Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 59 (1993), 25-36. Reprinted in J. C. Exum (ed) The Historical Books: A Sheffield Reader (Sheffield, Sheffield Academic Press: 1997), 204-215.

  • ‘The Enticement to Re-read: Nathan and the Woman of Teqoa.’ Biblical Interpretation 1 (1993), 153-166.

  • ‘The Reader in Pain: Job as Text and Pretext.’ Literature and Theology 7 (1993): 111-129. Reprinted in R.P. Carroll (ed) Text as Pretext: Essays in Honour of Robert Davidson (Sheffield, JSOT Press; 1994), 234-256.

  • Entries in Reference Works

  • Entry on ‘God’ in M.Abbott, M.E. Chijoke, P. Dandelion, J. W. Oliver Jr (eds) Historical Dictionary of the Friends (Quakers) [Historical Dictionaries of Religions, Philosophies and Movements Series #44] (Lanham MD, Scarecrow Press, 2003).

  • Entries on ‘Friends, Religious Society of’, ‘Jaffray, Alexander’ and ‘Pemberton, John’ in Cameron N. M. de S. (ed.) The Dictionary of Scottish Church History and Theology (Marshall Pickering, London; 1993): 342, 439, 651.

  • Work in progess

  • Daniel: Commentary for Readings Series, using postcolonial and poststructuralist theories of reading

  • An Unsuitable Book; collection of essays on the subversive power of the bible as text.