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It has often been argued that Zerubbabel, the Jewish governor of Yehud at the time of the rebuilding of the temple (late 6th century BCE), was viewed by the prophets Haggai and Zechariah as the new king in the line of David. In this new study, Rose offers a contrary proposal for the interpretation of the oracles in Haggai 2 and Zechariah 3 and 6. He traces their background in the pre-exilic prophets, pays special attention to often neglected details of semantics and metaphor, and concludes that neither Haggai nor Zechariah designated Zerubbabel as the new king in Jerusalem. Instead, the oracles in Zechariah 3 and 6 should be seen as fully messianic.
“This festschrift honors one of the most important Old Testament scholars in the modern Mennonite tradition, and the essays produced by colleagues and former students reflect Janzen's influence and productivity as both a scholar and a teacher.” —Daniel L. Smith-Christopher, Loyola Marymount University
As the site of several miracles in the Jewish and Christian traditions, the Jordan is one of the world’s holiest rivers. It is also the major political and symbolic border contested by Israelis and Palestinians. Combining biblical and folkloric studies with historical geography, Rachel Havrelock explores how the complex religious and mythological representations of the river have shaped the current conflict in the Middle East. Havrelock contends that the intractability of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict stems from the nationalist myths of the Hebrew Bible, where the Jordan is defined as a border of the Promised Land. Both Israelis and Palestinians claim the Jordan as a necessary boundary ...
Christian popular culture has tremendous influence on many American churchgoers. When we have a choice between studying the Bible and reading novels, downloading movies, or watching television, we become less familiar with Numbers than with Narnia. This book examines popular Christian narratives with rigorous scholarly methods and assumes that they are just as complex, fascinating, and worthy of investigation as the latest secular Netflix series or dystopian novel. While most scholars focus on the religious aspects of Christian texts, this study takes a new approach by analyzing their social responsibility in portraying the complex dynamics of race, class, and gender in a profoundly unequal America. Close readings of six case studies--The Chronicles of Narnia, Francine Rivers's Redeeming Love, Jan Karon's Mitford novels, Left Behind, the films of the Sherwood Baptist Church, and Duck Dynasty--uncover both harmful stereotypes and Christians serving as leaders in social justice.
The Oxford Handbook of Postcolonial Biblical Criticism is a comprehensive treatment of a relatively new form of scholarship-one of the most compelling and contested theories to emerge in recent times, and a topic that actively seeks to expand the ways in which the Bible can be studied, interpreted, and applied. Generally speaking, postcolonialism aims to critique and dismantle hegemonic worldviews and power structures, while giving voice to previously marginalized peoples and systems of thought. This approach, often varied in form, has inevitably engaged with the text and reception of the Bible, a scripture that Western colonizers introduced to-and often imposed upon-their colonial subjects. With a globally diverse list of contributors, the Handbook aims to cover the perspective and context of the authors of the Bible, as well as the modern experiences of imperialism, resistance, decolonization, and nationalism. Moreover, the volume includes both a theoretical overview and an exploration of how the field intersects with related areas, such as gender studies, race, postmodernism, and liberation theology.
The distinguished authors whose essays appear in this volume (marking the seventieth birthday of Ronald Clements,who until his retirement, was the Samuel Davidson Professor of Old Testament Studies, King's College London) include John Barton, Walter Brueggemann, Brevard Childs, John Rogerson, Rolf Rendtorff, Hugh Williamson, the late Norman Whybray, Graeme Auld, Richard Coggins. The theme of the volume reflects Clements's recent interest in 'wisdom' as an interpretative framework, and the essays address the role of theology and hermeneutics in biblical exegesis, through an examination of methods and approaches as well as by application to specific Old Testament writings. While the volume ranges through issues of canon, biblical theology and literary criticism, with several essays on the prophetic books, it maintains a clear focus on the numerous issues and challenges facing the contemporary interpreter of the scriptures.
Essays exploring and explaining how 'queer' reading makes a difference to biblical exegesis. As with feminism, theoretical questions arise such as whether such readings are characterized by certain questions or can only legitimately be done by gay or lesbian readers. The contributors are drawn from a range of backgrounds and a variety of interests--Jewish, Christian, agnostic, male, female, heterosexual, gay and lesbian--and mostly concentrate on individual passages and books. But the volume also contains some theoretical reflections, and it ends with three +critical responses' from scholars with interdisciplinary interests on the place of queer read-ing of the Bible in broader contexts. A book for anyone interested in contemporary issues of bible interpretation or in queer theory generally.
Formerly known by its subtitle “Internationale Zeitschriftenschau für Bibelwissenschaft und Grenzgebiete”, the International Review of Biblical Studies has served the scholarly community ever since its inception in the early 1950’s. Each annual volume includes approximately 2,000 abstracts and summaries of articles and books that deal with the Bible and related literature, including the Dead Sea Scrolls, Pseudepigrapha, Non-canonical gospels, and ancient Near Eastern writings. The abstracts – which may be in English, German, or French - are arranged thematically under headings such as e.g. “Genesis”, “Matthew”, “Greek language”, “text and textual criticism”, “exegetical methods and approaches”, “biblical theology”, “social and religious institutions”, “biblical personalities”, “history of Israel and early Judaism”, and so on. The articles and books that are abstracted and reviewed are collected annually by an international team of collaborators from over 300 of the most important periodicals and book series in the fields covered.
The book of Numbers is a misunderstood book of the Bible. It is about a lot more than just numbers. Rather, it is about the people’s journey with God in the desert. The Hebrew title of the book, Bammidbar, means “In the Desert” indicating that the setting is the most important part of the story. The God who delivered his people from Egypt is the same God who will lead them through the wilderness and give them the Promised Land. But as the book of Numbers shows us, often it is through the experience of being in a desert that God fulfils his purpose. It is the same thing for God’s people today. This commentary opens up the value of this often overlooked Old Testament book to those who find themselves or their churches in a barren place but with the presence of the Lord alongside them. The Asia Bible Commentary Series empowers Christian believers in Asia to read the Bible from within their respective contexts. Holistic in its approach to the text, each exposition of the biblical books combines exegesis and application. The ultimate goal is to strengthen the Body of Christ in Asia by providing pastoral and contextual exposition of every book of the Bible.
This assemblage of feminist theologies represents a series of vital entanglements. Chapters are written from different cultures, geographies and discourses and brought together around themes as specific and wide-ranging as immigration detention, hate crime, discrimination, rites of marriage and partnership, and artistic and religious imagination. The contributors variously echo, celebrate, question and contradict each other. Despite the complexity and allied as they are with liberation, decolonial, ecological, queer and other theologies, these perspectives seek not only to confront and resist the problems, oppressions, and omissions of hegemonic theologies but also to realize better worlds.