Hebrew Biblical narratives are notoriously sparing in their portrayal of character, leaving much to the reader. Here a number of internationally renowned scholars assume the identities of some familiar biblical characters, and use the clues in the text, their own exegetical skills and knowledge of the biblical world, and their readerly imagination to fill in the gaps of the biblical text. In doing so, they remove the point of view of the biblical narrator, allowing the ideology of the text to be affirmed, adjusted or challenged. Contributors to this volume include Francis Landy, Athalya...
Hebrew Biblical narratives are notoriously sparing in their portrayal of character, leaving much to the reader. Here a number of internationally re...
On the Origins of Judaism examines the formation of one of the oldest monotheistic religions. The book covers a diverse range of themes: the identity of those who produced and canonized the Hebrew Bible and subsequently shaped its interpretation; the significance and impact of Second Isaiah and the books of Ezra and Nehemiah; the roots of Jewish apocalyptic literature, and the possible origins of the Exodus story; the ethical systems of the Hebrew Bible and the Athenian tragedians; and the place of food and drink in the Qumran community. On the Origins of Judaism is the most comprehensive...
On the Origins of Judaism examines the formation of one of the oldest monotheistic religions. The book covers a diverse range of themes: the identi...
On the Origins of Judaism examines the formation of one of the oldest monotheistic religions. The book covers a diverse range of themes: the identity of those who produced and canonized the Hebrew Bible and subsequently shaped its interpretation; the significance and impact of Second Isaiah and the books of Ezra and Nehemiah; the roots of Jewish apocalyptic literature, and the possible origins of the Exodus story; the ethical systems of the Hebrew Bible and the Athenian tragedians; and the place of food and drink in the Qumran community. On the Origins of Judaism is the most comprehensive...
On the Origins of Judaism examines the formation of one of the oldest monotheistic religions. The book covers a diverse range of themes: the identi...
One of Italy's foremost experts on antiquity addresses a new issue surrounding the birth of Israel and its historic reality. Many a tale has been told of ancient Israel, but all tales are alike in their quotation of the biblical story in its narrative scheme, despite its historic unreliability. This book completely rewrites the history of Israel through the evaluation of textual and literary critiques as well as archaeological and epigraphic findings. Conceived along the lines of modern historical methodology, it traces the textual material to the times of its creation, reconstructs the...
One of Italy's foremost experts on antiquity addresses a new issue surrounding the birth of Israel and its historic reality. Many a tale has been told...
'His mind and hand went together' said Hemings and Condell of the speed of Shakespeare. But the conceptual language of literary criticism, be it moralistic or political, has long been too slow to the properly responsive to Shakespeare's meaning. With the help of both Renaissance philosophers and present-day actors, Sudden Shakepeare seeks to locate the underlying secrets of Shakespeare's dynamic power. It offers a technical language wihch, close to Shakespeare's own, is capable of responding suddenly to the speed, transforming shape, and power of Shakespeare's way of thinking as it comes into...
'His mind and hand went together' said Hemings and Condell of the speed of Shakespeare. But the conceptual language of literary criticism, be it moral...
The book starts from the problem defined by recent archaeological discovery about the societies that formed the backbone of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, their origins and their relationship. It has become clear that the biblical notion of a 12-tribe 'nation' united by descent and religion does not correspond to these findings. The challenge is not to argue endlessly about how far the differing accounts can be reconciled, as a prolongation of an old debate about biblical 'historicity', but to try and understand what historical, social and cultural process led to the production of the...
The book starts from the problem defined by recent archaeological discovery about the societies that formed the backbone of the kingdoms of Israel ...
This volume offers a systematic approach to the Persian, Ptolemaic, Seleucid and Hasmonean period, correlating social contexts with the biblical and post-biblical literature that each period generated. The list of contributors includes many of the pioneers of the field of Second Temple sociology, including Kenneth Hoglund, John Wright, Lester Grabbe, Richard Horsley, James Pasto, Robert Doran and the editors. The volume, which also includes an introductory essay on the methods and outcomes of this kind of exercise, furnishes an excellent introduction to the agenda of interpreting biblical...
This volume offers a systematic approach to the Persian, Ptolemaic, Seleucid and Hasmonean period, correlating social contexts with the biblical and p...
Prophetic symbolism is one of the key topics of this volume. On Isaiah, John F.A. Sawyer finds radical images of Yahweh, Kenneth T. Aitken looks at the metamorphosis of the key motif of hearing, seeing and understanding, Michael L. Barre examines lions and birds in 31.4-5, and Marvin A. Sweeney re-examines vmes(tm)s in 8.6. The imagery of Ezekiel is explored by Leslie C. Allen (the 'Death Valley' vision) and M.G. Swanepoel (Ezekiel 16 and female images of Israel), and Alan Cooper and Athalya Brenner write on the book of Jonah. Two essays of more general scope deal with the search for unity...
Prophetic symbolism is one of the key topics of this volume. On Isaiah, John F.A. Sawyer finds radical images of Yahweh, Kenneth T. Aitken looks at...
The Bible, argues this book, may belong to the Church or synagogue as an instrument of religious practice. But as the object of academic study it belongs to the world as a whole. Confessional biblical studies belong to a discipline better termed 'scripture', with 'biblical studies' designating a discipline that imposes no religious conditions and includes any form of rational discourse about the bible. A basic requirement of this discipline is to speak not of 'the Bible' but of 'bibles'. A number of exegetical studies suggest how a genuinely academic discourse about biblical writings,...
The Bible, argues this book, may belong to the Church or synagogue as an instrument of religious practice. But as the object of academic study it b...