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The aims of this significant study are to present pictures of the past as it manifested itself in Jewish literary works written in the Persian and Hellenistic periods, and to reveal the origin of materials and methods used in them in order to construct historical traditions. The works investigated are literary works of three types: pseudohistorical narratives (i.e. historical legends), visions and their interpretations, and 'rewritten Bibles' (i.e. works retelling the historical tradition of the Bible, with alterations in order to create a new structure of history).
The problem of evil has preoccupied world religions for centuries. The Old Testament contained no uniform dogma on evil powers, launching a fierce debate that has dominated theological and philosophical thought through the centuries to this day. Evil and the Devil brings together contributions from leading inter national scholars to chart that debate, tracing the history of evil from its origins in the Old Testament through early Judaism and the New Testament to the thought of Origen and one of the topic's most influential theologians, Augustine. What role did evil adopt in ancient Judaism? What impact did the association of miracles with demons have upon Matthew's Gospel? Evil and the Devil examines such questions, resulting in a fascinating and comprehensive exploration of portrayals of evil and its power and influence on religious thought.
The mythical story of fallen angels preserved in 1 Enoch and related literature was profoundly influential during the Second Temple period. In this volume renowned scholar Loren Stuckenbruck explores aspects of that influence and demonstrates how the myth was reused and adapted to address new religious and cultural contexts. Stuckenbruck considers a variety of themes, including demonology, giants, exorcism, petitionary prayer, the birth and activity of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the conversion of Gentiles, "apocalyptic" and the understanding of time, and more. He also offers a theological framework for the myth of fallen angels through which to reconsider several New Testament texts--the Synoptic Gospels, the Gospel of John, Acts, Paul's letters, and the book of Revelation.
This volume includes papers on different topics of textual criticism of the Bible, history of the Hebrew text and the Septuagint, and Dead Sea Scrolls studies, contributed by friends and colleagues of Julio Trebolle Barrera to honour him on the occasion of his 65th birthday. The book presents a good selection of current research in the history and composition of the Bible, the Septuagint and the Dead Sea Scrolls, all with the aim of honouring a scholar who has excelled in those areas throughout his career.
What place do the four Gospels give Satan, demons, and Jesus’ human opponents (including Jewish leaders but also Jesus’ disciples) in their accounts of Jesus’ life? This study takes a literary-historical approach to the Gospels, examining them as narratives. It shows how the authors were in the process of developing the devil as a character and determining which roles he filled. New interpretations of individual passages in the Gospels are given as well as new understandings of the theological emphases of each author. This study is also a contribution to redaction criticism and the relative chronology of the Gospels. It employs the theory of Matthean posteriority which revolutionizes our understanding of the literary relations between the Gospels and allows for a new understanding of theological development in early Christianity.
Biblical Psalms are a common heritage of Jewish and Christian cultures. Serving for the common liturgy of the Jerusalem Temple and individual prayers since biblical times they inspired Hebrew poetical language. The Qumran community, as well as Jewish and Christian communities of Late Antiquity attributed to them a special authority and apotropaic function. Quoted and interpreted in various ways in the New Testament and Rabbinic tradition they had a fundamental role in regular liturgies since the Middle Ages. Referred to in medical texts, recited on pilgrimages and at funeral vigils they represented an important aspect of folk religion and the formation of religious identity. The present volume is intended to show the many ways the Psalms were used and enjoyed a lasting popularity in regular and folk religion, collectively and individually, from antiquity until today.
This study examines the date of composition, the social setting, the provenance, and the religious affiliation of the eighteen Greek poems known as the Psalms of Solomon, a Palestinian Jewish pseudepigraphon from the first century B.C.E. The book is divided into two major historical units: Pompeian and pre-Pompeian era Psalms of Solomon. A separate chapter examines the remaining Psalms of which the precise historical backgrounds are uncertain. All chapters include a translation of the psalm under examination, textual notes, and a discussion of all the characters mentioned in the text. The book explores the Psalms of Solomon’s use of poetry to document Pompey’s 63 B.C.E. conquest of Jerusalem through a comparison with contemporary classical texts, Dead Sea Scrolls, and archaeology.
For some years a project has been under way to carry out a thoroughgoing revision of volume V in the series Discoveries in the Judaean Desert (of Jordan). The team of scholars responsible for the new edition - including many who have written monographs or extensive studies on the respective manuscripts for which they have now assumed responsibility - was invited by the Department of Biblical Exegesis of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Copenhagen to meet in Copenhagen in June 2009. The conference offered the opportunity for the presentation of some working papers on topics that were of particular concern to the individual contributors to the revision. The present volume represents the ongoing work on the edition, and reflects the development in approaches and viewpoints since the texts were first published (1968) as well as important aspects of the present Qumran scholarship.
Publisher's description: The volume assembles twenty previously published studies by Devorah Dimant, which have been re-edited, updated, and furnished with an introductory essay written especially for this collection. The studies survey and analyze Jewish works composed in Hebrew, Aramaic or Greek during the Second Temple period, and discuss their contents, ideas, and connections to the Dead Sea Scrolls. Particular attention is paid to central issues, such as the apocalyptic worldview and literature and its relationship to the Dead Sea Scrolls. Among others, specific themes related to the Aramaic Tobit and 1 Enoch are analyzed as well as the links detected between the Hebrew Qumran writings Pseudo-Ezekiel and the Apocryphon of Jeremiah and the later apocalyptic works 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch. The introductory essay provides a general framework and pertinent terminology for discussing the literature in question. Together these essays offer a broad and fresh perspective of the Jewish literary scene in antiquity, with special attention to the one nurtured in the land of Israel.
This interdisciplinary volume looks at one of the central cultural practices within the Jewish experience: translation. With contributions from literary and cultural scholars, historians, and scholars of religion, the book considers different aspects of Jewish translation, starting from the early translations of the Torah, to the modern Jewish experience of migration, state-building and life in the Diaspora. The volume addresses the question of how Jews have used translation to pursue different cultural and political agendas, such as Jewish nationalism, the development of Yiddish as a literary language, and the collection of Holocaust testimonies. It also addresses how non-Jews have translated elements of the Judaic tradition to create an image of the Other. Covering a wide span of contexts, including religion, literature, photography, music and folk practices, and featuring an interview section with authors and translators, the volume will be of interest not only to scholars of Jewish studies, translation and cultural studies, but also a wider interested audience.