Learning the Language of Scripture : Origen, Wisdom, and the Logic of Interpretation /
:
In Learning the Language of Scripture , Mark Randall James offers a new account of theological interpretation as a sapiential practice of learning the language of Scripture, drawing on recently discovered Homilies on the Psalms by the influential early theologian Origen of Alexandria (2nd-3rd c. C.E) Widely regarded as one of the most arbitrary interpreters, James shows that Origen's appearance of arbitrariness is a result of the modern tendency to neglect the role of wisdom in scriptural interpretation. James demonstrates that Origen offers a compelling model of a Christian pragmatism in which learning and correcting linguistic practice is a site of the transformative pedagogy of the divine Logos.
:
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004448544
9789004448537
The world's oldest literature : studies in Sumerian belles-lettres /
:
Literature begins at Sumer, we may say. Given that this ancient crossroads of tin and copper produced not only bronze and the entire Bronze Age, but also by neccesity, the first system of record-keeping and the technique of writing. Scribal schools served to propogate the new technique and their curriculum grew to create, preserve and transmit all manner of creative poetry. In a lifetime of research, the author has studied multiple aspects of this most ancient literary oeuvre, including such questions as chronology and bilingualism, as well as contributing fundamental insights into specific genres such as proverbs, letter-prayers and lamentations. In addition, he has drawn conclusions for the comparative or contextual approach to biblical literature. His studies, widely scattered in diverse publications for nearly fifty years, are here assembled in convenient one-volume format, made more user-friendly by extensive cross-references and indices. \'Well-informed and sober, these essays offer rewarding reading for every area of biblical scholarship.\' A.R. Millard
:
Collection of essays published elsewhere previously between 1962 and 2006. :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789047427278 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
A concise lexicon of late biblical Hebrew : linguistic innovations in the writings of the Second Temple period /
:
The Hebrew language may be divided into the Biblical, Mishnaic, Medieval, and Modern periods. Biblical Hebrew has its own distinct linguistic profile, exhibiting a diversity of styles and linguistic traditions extending over some one thousand years as well as tangible diachronic developments that may serve as chronological milestones in tracing the linguistic history of Biblical Hebrew. Unlike standard dictionaries, whose scope and extent are dictated by the contents of the Biblical concordance, this lexicon includes only 80 lexical entries, chosen specifically for a diachronic investigation of Late Biblical Hebrew. Selected primarily to illustrate the fifth-century 'watershed' separating Classical from post-Classical Biblical Hebrew, emphasis is placed on 'linguistic contrasts' illuminated by a rich collection of examples contrasting Classical Biblical Hebrew with Late Biblical Hebrew, Biblical Hebrew with Rabbinic Hebrew, and Hebrew with Aramaic.
:
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004266438 :
0083-5889 ;
Study on the Synchronistic King List from Ashur /
:
In Study on the Synchronistic King List from Ashur, CHEN Fei conducts a full investigation into that king list, which records all the kings of Assyria and Babylonia in contemporary pairs from the 18th to the 7th century BC. The texts of all the exemplars of the Synchronistic King List are reconstructed anew by the existing studies and the author's personal collations on their sources, and part of the text of the main exemplar is thus revised. The author also looks into the format of the Synchronistic King List and draws the conclusion that the Synchronistic King List was composed by Ashurbanipal, king of Assyria, to support his Babylonian policy.
:
1 online resource. :
9789004430921
9789004430914
Learning to Live: Six Essays on Marcel Proust /
:
In this collection of essays, Maurizio Ferraris explores the world portrayed in Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time. He ponders how memory is tied to self-identification and knowledge; how the passage of time is only perceptible after it has passed; and how life, ultimately, is accurately portrayed in literature in ways that were seen as inconceivable in our youth. Running throughout the book is the sense that memory is all we are; we are what we remember or what others remember of us.
:
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004431232
9789004422551
Esotericism and narrative : the occult fiction of Charles Williams /
:
Esotericism and Narrative: The Occult Fiction of Charles Williams situates the life and fiction of the Inkling Charles Williams in the network of modern occultism, with special focus on his initiatory experiences in A.E. Waite's Fellowship of the Rosy Cross . Aren Roukema evaluates fictional projections of magic, kabbalah, alchemy and ritual experience in Williams's seven novels of supernatural fantasy. From this specific analysis, he develops more broadly applicable approaches to the serious expression of religious experience in fiction. Roukema shows that esoteric knowledge has frequently been blurred into fiction because of its inherent narrativity and adaptability, particularly by authors already attracted to the syncretism, multivalence and lived fantasy of the modern occult experience.
:
1 online resource (318 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004369115 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Revisiting aspect and Aktionsart : a corpus approach to Koine Greek event typology /
:
In Revisiting Aspect and Aktionsart, Francis G.H. Pang employs a corpus approach to analyze the relationship between Greek aspect and Aktionsart . Recent works have tried to predict the meanings that emerge when a certain set of clausal factors and lexical features combine with one of the grammatical aspects. Most of these works rely heavily on Zeno Vendler's telicity distinction. Based on empirical evidence, Pang argues that telicity and perfectivity are not related in a systematic manner in Koine Greek. As a corollary, Aktionsart should be considered an interpretive category, meaning that its different values emerge, not from the interaction of only one or two linguistic parameters, but from the process of interpreting language in context.
:
"This monograph is a revision of my doctoral dissertation (McMaster Divinity College, May 2014)." :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004310889 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Philosophy of language and other matters in the work of Anton Marty : analysis and translations /
:
One of the most important students of Franz Brentano was Anton Marty, who made it his task to develop a philosophy of language on the basis of Brentano's analysis of mind. It is most unfortunate that Marty does not receive the attention he deserves, primarily due to his detailed and distracting polemics. In the analysis presented here his philosophy of language and other aspects of his thought, such as his ontology (which ultimately diverges from Brentano's), are examined first and foremost in their positive rather than critical character. The analysis is moreover supplemented by translations of four important works by Marty, including his entire work On the Origin of Language . These are in fact the first English translations of any substantial writings by him. The resulting picture that emerges from the analysis and translations is that Marty has much to say that proves to be of enduring interest for the philosophy of language on a range of topics, especially the meanings of statements, of emotive expressions, and of names as regards both their communicative and their ontological aspects. The volume will be of interest not only to philosophers and historians of philosophy, but also to historians of linguistics and psychology.
:
1 online resource (xiv, 374 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 351-369) and index. :
9789042031203 :
0167-4102 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
A Corpus of Syriac incantation bowls : Syriac magical texts from Late-Antique Mesopotamia /
:
The Aramaic incantation bowls from Sasanian Mesopotamia are the most important source we have for studying the everyday beliefs of the Jewish, Christian, Mandaean, Manichaean, Zoroastrian and Pagan communities on the eve of the Islamic conquests. In A Corpus of Syriac Incantation Bowls , Marco Moriggi presents new editions of forty-nine Syriac incantation bowls that were originally published between 1853 and 2012, with accompanying introductions, translations, philological notes, photographs and glossaries. Furthermore, there is a detailed analysis of the Estrangela and Manichaean scripts as used on the bowls, together with newly drawn script charts. In gathering, organising and updating most of the published Syriac bowls, this book provides a valuable resource for further research into both their language and content. \'This volume is a significant contribution to the study of the Syriac incantation bowls, and it should be of great interest to scholars of 'magic' in Late Antiquity as well as to those working in Syriac language, literature, and history, since the Syriac incantation bowls are a fascinating-yet often neglected-component of the broader Syriac heritage.\' - Aaron M. Butts , The Catholic University of America - Washington D.C., JNES (October 2015) . \'Moriggi's new book will no doubt become an essential reference work for all interested in Syriac magical texts from late-antiquity. It is also an important contribution not only to our knowledge of the language of the Syriac incantation bowls, but to the whole field of Babylonian Aramaic (JBA and Mandaic).\' - Ohad Abudraham , Ben-Gurion University of the Negev - Beer Sheva, Israel, Orientalia (2015) . \'The volume certainly makes an enormous contribution to furthering studies on Syriac incantation texts, and more generally on incantation bowls. For any scholar who has an interest in incantation bowls, this work is a 'mustʼ\' - Erica C. D. Hunter , SOAS University of London, Orientalistische Literaturzeitung 113.1 (2018) .
:
1 online resource (pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004272798 :
2211-016X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Media, modernity, and dynamic plants in early 20th century German culture /
:
In Media, Modernity and Dynamic Plants , Janet Janzen traces the motif of the "dynamic plant" through film and literature in early 20th century German culture. Often discussed solely as symbols or metaphors of the human experience, plants become here the primary focus and their role in literature and film is extended beyond their symbolic function. Plants have been (and still are) seen as closer to static objects than to living, moving beings. Making use of examples from film and literature, Janet Janzen demonstrates a shift in the perception of plants-as-objects to plants-as-living-beings that can be attributed to new technology and also to the return of Romantic and Vitalistic discourses on nature.
:
1 online resource (208 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 189-203) and index. :
9789004327177 :
2213-0659 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
In the shadow of Bezalel : Aramaic, biblical, and ancient Near Eastern studies in honor of Bezalel Porten /
:
Twenty nine scholars from Israel, Europe and the Americas came together to honor and celebrate Prof. Bezalel Porten's (Emeritus, Dept. of History of the Jewish People, Hebrew University of Jerusalem) academic career. Covering a wide variety of topics within Aramaic, Biblical, and ancient Near Eastern Studies, In the Shadow of Bezalel offers new insights and proposals in the areas of Aramaic language, paleography, onomastica and lexicography; ancient Near Eastern legal traditions, Hebrew Bible, and social history of the Persian period.
:
1 online resource (l, 429 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004240841 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The Hebrew of the Dead Sea scrolls and Ben Sira : proceedings of a symposium held at Leiden University, 11-14 December 1995 /
:
In December 1995 an international symposium was held in Leiden, concerning the subject of the Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the book of Ben Sira. The papers, presented at this symposium, are collected in this volume. The papers deal with various aspects of grammar, syntax, and lexicon of Hebrew texts of the Judean Desert. They include the first publications of a Nahal Hever text, and the important apocryphal book of Ben Sira.
:
Includes papers presented at the first International Symposium on the Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Ben Sira. :
1 online resource (x, 222 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004350274 :
0169-9962 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Jesus the Samaritan : Ethnic Labeling in the Gospel of John /
:
In Jesus the Samaritan: Ethnic Labeling in the Gospel of John , Stewart Penwell examines how ethnic labels function in the Gospel of John. After a review of the discourse history between "the Jews" and "the Samaritans," the dual ethnic labeling in John 4:9 and 8:48 are examined and, in each instance, members from "the Jews" and "the Samaritans" label Jesus as a member of each other's group for deviating from what were deemed acceptable practices as a member of "the Jews." The intra-textual links between John 4 and 8 reveal that the function of Jesus's dual ethnic labeling is to establish a new pattern of practices and categories for the "children of God" (1:12; 11:52) who are a trans-ethnic group united in fictive kinship and embedded within the Judean ethnic group's culture and traditions.
:
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004390706 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
A dialogue between Haizi's poetry and the Gospel of Luke : Chinese homecoming and the relationship with Jesus Christ /
:
In A Dialogue between Haizi's Poetry and the Gospel of Luke Xiaoli Yang offers a conversation between the Chinese soul-searching found in Haizi's (1964-1989) poetry and the gospel of Jesus Christ through Luke's testimony. It creates a unique contextual poetic lens that appreciates a generation of the Chinese homecoming journey through Haizi's poetry, and explores its relationship with Jesus Christ. As the dialogical journey, it names four stages of homecoming-roots, vision, journey and arrival. By taking an interdisciplinary approach-literary study, inter-cultural dialogue and comparative theology, Xiaoli Yang convincingly demonstrates that the common language between the poet Haizi and the Lukan Jesus provides a crucial and rich source of data for an ongoing table conversation between culture and faith.
:
Based on the author's dissertation (doctoral)--University of Divinity, Australia, 2015. :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004363113 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The unheard prayer : religious toleration in Shakespeare's drama /
:
Titus shoots his arrows bearing petitions for justice to the gods; Claudius asks 'what form of prayer can serve my turn?'; Lear wishes he could crack the vault of heaven with his prayers. Again and again, Shakespeare dramatises the scenario of the unheard prayer, in which the one who prays does so full well in the knowledge that no one is listening, interested, or even there at all. The scenario is keyed to the anxieties that surrounded the act of praying itself, so full as it was with controversy, the centrepiece of sectarian dispute over what was good and bad religion. This study reads the unheard prayer scenario as itself an appeal for a vision of tolerance, unobtainable perhaps, but nevertheless desired and imagined.
:
1 online resource (xxxi, 187 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004230064 :
1877-3192 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The class reunion : an annotated translation and commentary on the Sumerian dialogue, Two scribes /
:
In The Class Reunion-An Annotated Translation and Commentary on the Sumerian Dialogue Two Scribes, J. Cale Johnson and Markham J. Geller present a critical edition, translation and commentary on the Sumerian scholastic dialogue otherwise known as Two Scribes, Streit zweier Schulabsolventen or Dialogue 1. The two protagonists, the Professor and the Bureaucrat, each ridicule their opponent in alternating speeches, while at the same time scoring points based on their detailed knowledge of Sumerian lexical and literary traditions. But they also represent the two social roles into which nearly all graduates of the Old Babylonian Tablet House typically gained entrance. So the dialogue also reflects on larger themes such as professional identity and the nature of scholastic activity in Mesopotamia in the Old Babylonian period (ca. 1800-1600 BCE).
:
1 online resource (xiii, 362 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references ([301]-314) and index. :
9789004302105 :
0929-0052 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Aldous Huxley and Alternative Spirituality /
:
Aldous Huxley and Alternative Spirituality offers an incisive analysis of the full range of Huxley's spiritual interests, spanning both mysticism (neo-Vedanta, Taoism, Mahayana and Zen Buddhism) and Western esotericism (mesmerism, spiritualism, the paranormal). Jake Poller examines how Huxley's shifting spiritual convictions influenced his fiction, such as his depiction of the body and sex, and reveals how Huxley's use of psychedelic substances affected his spiritual convictions, resulting in a Tantric turn in his work. Poller demonstrates how Huxley's vision of a new alternative spirituality in Island , in which the Palanese select their beliefs from different religious traditions, anticipates the New Age spiritual supermarket and traces the profound influence of Huxley's ideas on the spiritual seekers of the twentieth century and beyond.
:
1 online resource :
9789004406902
The verbal system of the Aramaic of Daniel : an explanation in the context of grammaticalization /
:
This book explains the verbal system of the Aramaic of Daniel in the context of current research on grammaticalization, which, though first mentioned by Meillet in 1912, did not flourish until the beginning of the 1980's, and has only more recently been applied to the study of Ancient Near Eastern languages. Although various aspects of the Aramaic of Daniel have been subject of numerous studies, including a few exhaustive studies on the verbal system in the last century, it remains among the most difficult to explain. The explanation offered here is coherent with the historical development of Aramaic as well as the observable tendencies in the development of human languages in general.
:
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [176]-185) and indexes. :
9789047440086 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The Devotion and Promotion of Stigmatics in Europe, c. 1800-1950 : Between Saints and Celebrities /
:
In the nineteenth century a new type of mystic emerged in Catholic Europe. While cases of stigmatisation had been reported since the thirteenth century, this era witnessed the development of the 'stigmatic': young women who attracted widespread interest thanks to the appearance of physical stigmata. To understand the popularity of these stigmatics we need to regard them as the 'saints' and religious 'celebrities' of their time. With their 'miraculous' bodies, they fit contemporary popular ideas (if not necessarily those of the Church) of what sanctity was. As knowledge about them spread via modern media and their fame became marketable, they developed into religious 'celebrities'.
:
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004439351
9789004439191
Plants and literature : essays in critical plant studies.
:
Myth, art, literature, film, and other discourses are replete with depictions of evil plants, salvific plants, and human-plant hybrids. In various ways, these representations intersect with "deep-rooted" insecurities about the place of human beings in the natural world, the relative viability of animalian motility and heterotrophy as evolutionary strategies, as well as the identity of organic life as such . Plants surprise us by combining the appearance of harmlessness and familiarity with an underlying strangeness. The otherness of vegetal life poses a challenge to our ethical, philosophical, and existential categories and tests the limits of human empathy and imagination. At the same time, the resilience of plants, their adaptability, and their integration with their habitat are a perennial source of inspiration and wisdom. Plants and Literature: Essays in Critical Plant Studies examines the manner in which literary texts and other cultural products express our multifaceted relationship with the vegetable kingdom. The range of perspectives brought to bear on the subject of plant life by the various authors and critics represented in this volume comprise a novel vision of ecological interdependence and stimulate a revitalized sensitivity to the relationships we share with our photosynthetic brethren.
:
1 online resource (270 pages) : color illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references at the end of each chapters and index. :
9789401209991 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.