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Vita Daphna Arbel uses critical theories of gender to offer an alternative reading of the multilayered conceptualization of the Song of Song's feminine protagonist: “the most beautiful woman”. Arbel treats “the most beautiful woman” as a culturally constructed and performed representation of “woman,” and situates this representation within the cultural-discursive contexts in which the Song partly emerged. She examines the gender norms and cultural ideologies it both reflects and constructs, and considers the manner in which this complex representation disrupts rigid, ahistorical notions of femininity, and how it consequently indirectly characterizes “womanhood” as dynamic and...
A wide-ranging exploration of the Hekhalot and Merkavah literature, a mystical Jewish tradition from late antiquity, including a discussion of the possible cultural context of this material's creators.
An investigation of religious experience in early Judaism and early Christianity.
The Fourth Gospel has been known as the “spiritual gospel” since the second century, but only recently have biblical scholars attempted to express the unique spirituality found in that sacred text. Surprisingly, no consensus has emerged even after a century of research. Thus, while John’s Gospel is widely admired as a vibrant source of Christian piety, the distinct features of its spirituality remain unclear. Fr. Fiore addresses this problem from the fresh perspective of spiritual theology. Capitalizing on a century of Johannine biblical scholarship, he uses the interdisciplinary methods of spiritual theology to bring new data to the study of the Gospel and solutions to many lingering ...
Beginning in the twelfth century, clergy and laity alike started wondering with intensity about the historical and developmental details of Jesus' early life. Was the Christ Child like other children, whose characteristics and capabilities depended on their age? Was he sweet and tender, or formidable and powerful? Not finding sufficient information in the Gospels, which are almost completely silent about Jesus' childhood, medieval Christians turned to centuries-old apocryphal texts for answers. In The Quest for the Christ Child in the Later Middle Ages, Mary Dzon demonstrates how these apocryphal legends fostered a vibrant and creative medieval piety. Popular tales about the Christ Child ent...
This book examines ancient generative theories, physiological understandings of breast milk, and presentations of prominent mothers to analyze these themes in the New Testament and several early Christian writings. Identifying themselves as members of God's household, ancient Christians utilized motherhood as a theological category and a contested ideal for women disciples.
Secret societies in ancient Judaism -- "Esoteric", mysteries, and secrecy -- Esoteric as a social category -- The social organization of secrecy -- Initiation and graded revelation -- Other secret Jewish groups and traditions -- The social setting of esoteric tradition
Dark Mirrors is a wide-ranging study of two central figures in early Jewish demonology—the fallen angels Azazel and Satanael. Andrei A. Orlov explores the mediating role of these paradigmatic celestial rebels in the development of Jewish demonological traditions from Second Temple apocalypticism to later Jewish mysticism, such as that of the Hekhalot and Shi'ur Qomah materials. Throughout, Orlov makes use of Jewish pseudepigraphical materials in Slavonic that are not widely known. Orlov traces the origins of Azazel and Satanael to different and competing mythologies of evil, one to the Fall in the Garden of Eden, the other to the revolt of angels in the antediluvian period. Although Azazel and Satanael are initially representatives of rival etiologies of corruption, in later Jewish and Christian demonological lore each is able to enter the other's stories in new conceptual capacities. Dark Mirrors also examines the symmetrical patterns of early Jewish demonology that are often manifested in these fallen angels' imitation of the attributes of various heavenly beings, including principal angels and even God himself.
The Fourth Gospel has been known as the “spiritual gospel” since the second century, but only recently have biblical scholars attempted to express the unique spirituality found in that sacred text. Surprisingly, no consensus has emerged even after a century of research. Thus, while John’s Gospel is widely admired as a vibrant source of Christian piety, the distinct features of its spirituality remain unclear. Fr. Fiore addresses this problem from the fresh perspective of spiritual theology. Capitalizing on a century of Johannine biblical scholarship, he uses the interdisciplinary methods of spiritual theology to bring new data to the study of the Gospel and solutions to many lingering ...
This volume comprises the proceedings of the 2014 Conferences on Zoroastrianism in the Levant and the Amorites, held at Oxford, Oriental Institute.