JOURNAL OF BIBLIC AND RELIGION, THE. – Official journal of the Protestant National association of biblical instructors for the advancement of religion in education (= NABI, an acronym alluding to nábbi' “prophet”), now circulated throughout the United States, with its headquarters in Baltimore. The Association was founded by Ismar John Peritz in Syracuse (N.Y.) in 1909; from 1919 to 1932 it published its proceedings and articles in Christian education (complete list in J. of B. and R., 18 [1950], pp. 24–26), but from 1933 onward it had its own semiannual journal, Journal of the NABI, which from vol. V (1937) became a quarterly, under its present title.
According to its constitution, the NABI intends to work for more effective biblical and religious instruction, especially in secondary schools, colleges, universities, and theological schools (cf. J. of B. and R., 17 [1949], p. 215 ff.). For the most part it coordinates its meetings with those of the Society of biblical literature and exegesis, publisher of the Journal of biblical literature and exegesis. The orientation of the two periodicals, however, is formulated differently: the latter is devoted to technical and specialized research, whereas the J. of B. and R. seeks to present the results obtained “in a scientific, but not technical, manner.” It is therefore a journal of advanced popularization, but one that is also interesting and up to date in the field of scientific exegesis, with bibliographies and bulletins on biblical problems (Research abstracts, from 1947 onward); it also addresses subjects in the history of religions and religious philosophy.
There is a special editor for biblical archaeology. The journal is markedly “interdenominational,” open to the various ecclesiastical and theological currents; it reflects the doctrine of the “orthodox” Protestants.