Time and space can take on a sacred nature in both Judaism and Christianity accompanied by a permanent critical attitude towards the sacred. Conceptions of sacredness imply a conception of community and of society at large. This study investigates the different attitudes toward sacred time and space from an interdisciplinary perspective, ranging from the Biblical period through Qumran, Patristics, Rabbinics, archaeology and theology to modern and even to post-modern rituals. This approach offers a fascinating insight into both the common heritage of Judaism and Christianity and their mutual...

Purity has long been recognized as one of the essential drives which determines humankind's relationship with the holy. Codes of purity and impurity, dealing with such far-ranging topics as 'external stains' and 'inner remorse', represent the physical and 'bodily' side of religious experience and provide the key to the understanding of human orientation to nature, and the structure of society, including even relationships between the sexes. Starting with the Hebrew Bible, a number of articles study some rather neglected passages from both exegetical and cultural-anthropological standpoints....

This volume deals with the role of saints and exemplary individuals in Judaism and Christianity. Although sharing the Hebrew Bible and recognizing the same Biblical figures there, both religions have developed widely divergent perspectives upon the significance of these figures, although there are occasional common motifs and themes.
Moreover, even the contrasting themes betray an underlying interaction between both religions as is clear from the contributions on, for example, Melchizedek, Elijah, the Desert Fathers, Rabbis on clothing, the Apostle Peter in Jewish tradition, the Maccabees...

A Holy People investigates the various ways in which Jews and Christians define their religious identity, people or community, as being holy. Keeping in mind that historical studies can offer food for thought regarding contemporary issues, the study offers a large collection of essays, relating to the biblical, patristic and medieval period and especially to the modern period. The obvious question of many in the modern world as to whether the attribute of the 'holiness' allows for acknowledgement of authentic religion outside the own religious community, deserves an honest answer and...

This collection of articles honoring eminent classicist and historian Louis H. Feldman brings together a host of prominent scholars from all over the world writing on such fields as biblical interpretation, Judaism and Hellenism, Jews and Gentiles, Josephus, Jewish Literatures of the Second Temple, Mishnah and Talmud periods, History of the Mishnah and Talmud periods, Jerusalem and much more.

This volume contains essays dealing with complex relationships between Judaism and Christianity, taking a bold step, assuming that no historical period can be excluded from the interactive process between Judaism and Christianity, conscious or unconscious, as either rejection or appropriation