Kategoria BISAC: Religion >> Biblical Studies - History & Culture

Critical studies and analyses of space are becoming increasingly common in scholarship, although it is not always clear how such studies proceed, what theoretical works inform them, or what are their potential benefits for biblical studies. This volume helps address those questions, by including the work of biblical scholars working in a range of historical periods and locations, from Deuteronomy's idealized spaces to the Qumran community on the shores of the Dead Sea.
Each of the scholars in this volume is actively involved in the critical study of space, having presented work on this...

This book investigates Paul's effort to combat factionalism by his use of the Greco-Roman rhetoric of 'the common advantage' to overcome socio-ethical problems caused by the improper exercise of 'private advantage' in Corinth. Chang examines 'the common advantage', first, as a fundamental principle that defined human and societal relationships in the Greco-Roman world. He explores how the neglect and misunderstanding of this principle lay at the root of relational and societal breakdowns. The book further examines Paul's use of the term and demonstrates that, when properly understood and...

Joseph Blenkinsopp provides a new commentary on Genesis 1-11, the so-called 'Primeval History' in which the account of creation is given.

Blenkinsopp works with the conviction that, from a biblical point of view, creation cannot be restricted to a single event, nor to two versions of an event (as depicted in Genesis 1-3) but, rather, must take in the whole period of creation arranged in the sequence: creation - uncreation - recreation (as can be derived from Genesis 1-11).

Through the course of the commentary, presented in continuous discussion rather than in a rigid...

Tendentious Historiographies surveys ten Jewish literary works composed in Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek between the 8th and the mid-2nd century BCE, and shows that each deals with major problems of the Jewish populations in the Land of Israel or in the dispersions. Michael Chyutin provides insightful and at times surprising explorations of the purpose behind these texts.

Jonah is viewed as a grotesque, a parody of prophetic writing. Ahiqar preaches the breaking of religious, national and familial frameworks and supports assimilation into the local society. Esther calls for Jewish...

New Testament Theology in a Secular World is an important and original new work in Christian apologetics. It is the first book to apply constructivist theory to biblical studies.

Biblical Studies scholar Peter Lampe tackles head on such questions as: What do we understand by "reality?" How does this relate to what theology calls the "reality of God" or the "reality of resurrection?" How can we account for the concept of "revelation"? Lampe argues that in talking about "reality" theologians must make an effort to engage with the concept of "reality" as it is discussed in the fields...

Did authors of Second Temple texts concern themselves with 'salvation'? If so, on what terms? What does one need 'salvation' from? Are the parameters of who is included in or excluded from 'salvation' defined? Gurtner's vision in compiling this collection is to collect contributions on a single topic as it is addressed in individual books from the Second Temple period. Working from a sound methodological basis the contributors assess the theme in different books, acknowledging that the approaches in each text are different, depending on issues of genre and provenance. This allows an acute...

The book represents the collection of the papers presented at the 2004 SBL sessions for the section, Social-Scientific Studies of the Second Temple period, the purpose of which was to create understanding about current historiography as it relates to biblical studies and ancient Israel amidst diverging academic trends. Papers and responses sought to avoid polemics while concurrently bringing to clarification methodological practices of prominent historians in an effort to move beyond hortatory polemics. Those writing papers were asked to specify their own methodology and the assumptions...

The Senses of Scripture reveals the essence of biblical epistemology - the ways in which ancient Israelites thought about and used their sensorium. The theoretical introduction demonstrates that scholars need to liberate themselves from the Western bias that holds a pentasensory paradigm and prioritises the sense of sight. The discussion of the biblical material demonstrates that biblical scholars should follow a similar path.

Through examination of associative and contextual patters the author reaches a septasensory model, including sight, hearing, speech, kinaesthesia,...

Myers addresses John's use of Moses traditions in his characterization of Jesus. Stewart examines the Johannine use of Ps. 82 by merging a broader contextual examination with an analysis of formal logic. Moyise discusses Paul's quotations adn explores their relevance for the scholarly consensus. Lincicum studies Paul's letters and the Temple Scroll and compares their exegetical practice with references to Deuteronomy. Wells discusses the topic of divine and human agency in Pauline theology and soteriology. Luckensmeyer investigates how Paul wove words, phrases, and themes from Obadiah into...

Are there Old Testament roots of the veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary? Margaret Barker traces the roots of the devotion to Mary as Mother of the Lord back to the Old Testament and the first temple in Jerusalem. The evidence is consistent over more than a millennium: there had been a female deity in Israel, the Mother figure in the Royal cult, who had been abandoned about 600BCE. She was almost written out of the Hebrew text, almost excluded from the canon.

This first of two volumes traces the history of the Lady in the Temple, and looks forward to the second volume in which...

The Senses of Scripture reveals the essence of biblical epistemology - the ways in which ancient Israelites thought about and used their sensorium. The theoretical introduction demonstrates that scholars need to liberate themselves from the Western bias that holds a pentasensory paradigm and prioritises the sense of sight. The discussion of the biblical material demonstrates that biblical scholars should follow a similar path.
Through examination of associative and contextual patters the author reaches a septasensory model, including sight, hearing, speech, kinaesthesia,...

Deuteronomy's command to restrict cultic practice to one "chosen place" has occupied a central position in scholars' understandings of the book and their reconstruction of Israelite political and religious history. The debates about the date of Deuteronomy, its proposed connections to "Josiah's reform," and, most profoundly, the "Deuteronomistic History (DH) hypothesis" have dominated study of the idea of "chosen place." These debates have, to a large extent, determined how we read Deuteronomy and the Former Prophets in general. Through a reading of key texts from these corpora, this book...

For over one hundred years International Critical Commentaries have had a special place among works on the Bible. They bring together all the relevant aids to exegesis - linguistic, textual, archaeological, historical, literary, and theological - to help the reader understand the meaning of the books of the Old and New Testaments.

The new commentaries continue this tradition. All new evidence now available is incorporated and new methods of study are applied. The authors are of the highest international standing. No attempt has been made to secure a uniform theological or critical...

Parables of Enoch, Early Judaism, Jesus, and Christian Origins is an interdisciplinary study of the state of the current debate surrounding the Parables of Enoch with regard to their dating as well as their Jewish character and their potential contribution to aspects of early Christian thought.

The role of 1 Enoch in the context of Christian Origins is much discussed amongst Second Temple and New Testament scholars, with the former often attaching more importance to them than the latter. The contributors to the present volume stem from both areas, and together explore the...

This volume makes a positive intervention into maximalist/minimalist debates about Israelite historiography by pointing to the events that happened during the Persian and Hellenistic periods. During this historical epoch, traditions about Israel and Judah's founding became fixed as markers of ethnic identity, and much of the canonical Hebrew Bible came into its present form. Concentrating on these events, a clearer historical picture emerges.
The entire volume is set within the context of Doug Knight's contributions, which have encouraged a rigorous social-scientific and...

The Characterization of the Assyrians in Isaiah is a literary analysis of every text in Isaiah in which the Assyrians explicitly or implicitly feature. In addition, a few texts regarded by dominant voices in scholarship as referring to the Assyrians are discussed. The general approach of this work is to assume a literary synchronic reading in order to appreciate the narrative artistry and meaning conveyed by the final form of the text and to establish a standard from which diachronic inquiry may proceed.
Each chapter is a study in its own right, usually concentrating on a...

This is the fifth volume of a projected six-volume Vulgate Bible. Compiled and translated in large part by Saint Jerome at the turn of the fifth century ce, the Vulgate Bible permeated the Western Christian tradition through the twentieth century. It influenced literature, art, music, and education, and its contents lay at the heart of Western theological, intellectual, artistic, and political history through the Renaissance. At the end of the sixteenth century, professors at a Catholic college first at Douay, then at Rheims, translated the Vulgate Bible into English...