Proverbs and the African tree of life : grafting Biblical proverbs on to Ghanaian Eve folk proverbs /
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In Proverbs and the African Tree of Life Dorothy BEA Akoto-Abutiate juxtaposes chosen sayings from Proverbs and selected Ewe Folk proverbs using the agricultural metaphor of "grafting," which she calls a "hermeneutic of grafting." Though these two sets of sayings come from completely different cultural contexts, Akoto argues that folk sayings/proverbs, which abound in Africa, should be considered as an already mature, established tree on to which a piece of the biblical tree is spliced or engrafted to produce hybridized fruits that have uniquely different tastes than the fruits of each tree individually. This metaphorical grafting process allows the message of the Bible (in Proverbs) to be understood, imbibed and appropriated in Africa.
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1 online resource (pages) :
9789004274471 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Expectations of the end : a comparative traditio-historical study of eschatological, apocalyptic, and messianic ideas in the Dead Sea scrolls and the New Testament /
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Since a fuller range of Qumran sectarian and not clearly sectarian texts and recensions has recently become available to us, its implications for the comparative study of eschatological, apocalyptic and messianic ideas in the Dead Sea Scrolls and in the New Testament need to be explored anew. This book situates eschatological ideas in Qumran literature between biblical tradition and developments in late Second Temple Judaism and examines how the Qumran evidence on eschatology, resurrection, apocalypticism, and messianism illuminates Palestinian Jewish settings of emerging Christianity. The present study challenges previous dichotomies between realized and futuristic eschatology, wisdom and apocalypticism and provides many new insights into intra-Jewish dimensions to eschatological ideas in Palestinian Judaism and in the early Jesus-movement.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [473]-509) and index. :
9789047425090 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Jesus for Zanzibar : narratives of Pentecostal (non-)belonging, Islam, and nation /
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In Jesus for Zanzibar: Narratives of Pentecostal (Non-)Belonging, Islam, and Nation Hans Olsson offers an ethnographic account of the lived experience and socio-political significance of newly arriving Pentecostal Christians in the Muslim majority setting of Zanzibar. This work analyzes how a disputed political partnership between Zanzibar and Mainland Tanzania intersects with the construction of religious identities. Undertaken at a time of political tensions, the case study of Zanzibar's largest Pentecostal church, the City Christian Center, outlines religious belonging as relationally filtered in-between experiences of social insecurity, altered minority / majority positions, and spiritual powers. Hans Olsson shows that Pentecostal Christianity, as a signifier of (un)wanted social change, exemplifies contested processes of becoming in Zanzibar that capitalizes on, and creates meaning out of, religious difference and ambient political tensions.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004410367
The Torah ark in Renaissance Poland : a Jewish revival of classical antiquity /
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The volume explores the stone carved shrines for the scrolls of the Mosaic Law from the mid-sixteenth to the mid-seventeenth century synagogues in the former Polish Kingdom. Created on the margin of mainstream art and at a crossroad of diverse cultures, artistic traditions, aesthetic attitudes and languages, these indoor architectural structures have hitherto not been the subject of a monographic study. Revisiting and integrating multiple sources, the author re-evaluates the relationship of the Jewish culture in Renaissance Poland with the medieval Jewish heritage, sepulchral art of the Polish court and nobles, and earlier adaptations of the Christian revival of classical antiquity by Italian Jews. The book uncovers the evolution of artistic patronage, aesthetics, expressions of identities, and emerging visions among a religious minority on the cusp of the modern age.
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1 online resource (xxviii, 240 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004244405 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
"Truth" is a divine name : hitherto unpublished papers of Edward A. Synan, 1918-1997 /
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This volume contains essays on an array of topics originally presented orally by a master teacher and scholar. With characteristic rhetorical elegance, Msgr. Synan, late professor at the Pontifical Institute in Toronto, delivered these papers in a variety of settings on issues relating to his specialty of mediaeval Christian philosophy and to his interest in Jewish-Christian dialogue, on the theology of sanctity and of death, and on morally significant historical events. Medieval figures represented here include Aquinas, Augustine, Abelard, and Godfrey of St. Victor; some topics treated are war and peace, philosophical innovations, ecclesiology, evil, goliardic verse, law and abortion, Church councils and Jews in the Middle Ages, and convictions uniting Jews and Christians. This book also contains representative sermons-including a Month's Mind for Etienne Gilson, an introduction detailing Synan's background and professional contributions, an updated bibliography of his published works, and an extensive index. Especially appealing to those who knew Synan are three posthumous tributes and thirteen photographs from throughout his life. The selections in this volume are scholarly but non-technical, intended for anyone moved to seek elucidation of the topics discussed.
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1 online resource (xxxiv, 264 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 229-238) and index. :
9789042031555 :
0929-8436 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Judaism and Christianity : new directions for dialogue and understanding /
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This volume treats the interrelationship between Judaism and Christianity from the first centuries and into modern times, paying particular attention to these faiths' social, cultural, and theological interactions. The issues covered range from the formation of Jewish and Christian ideology in the context of Roman paganism to the ways in which Christian culture and theology of the medieval and modern periods form a backdrop to the creation of Jewish identity. While the historical periods and issues discussed are diverse, the result is to suggest the importance of our recognizing the close development of Judaism and Christianity. Written by top scholars in Judaic and Christian studies, these essays reflect on how the two faiths related to and were shaped by each other as they evolved in shared historical and cultural contexts, even as each maintained its own distinctive ideologies and beliefs.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789047441731 :
1571-5000 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The mission of the church in Paul's letter to the Philippians in the context of ancient Judaism /
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Paul seemingly nowhere in his letters commands his congregations to preach the gospel. Therefore many scholars have concluded that Paul's thinking had little or no place for a mission of the church. This study undertakes a fresh investigation of the question by devoting close attention to a text hitherto overlooked in discussion of early Christian mission, Paul's letter to the Philippians. The Jewish context of Paul's thought in Philippians is the key to unlocking his understanding of church and mission in the letter. The study accordingly begins in Part One with an investigation of conversion of gentiles in ancient Judaism. Part Two, drawing upon this Jewish context, focuses on close exegesis of Philippians, revealing the crucial place of the mission of the church in Paul's thought. The questions addressed by this study go to the heart of our understanding of Paul and of mission in earliest Christianity.
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1 online resource (xv, 380 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047415831 :
0167-9732 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Christianity and the notion of nothingness : contributions to Buddhist-Christian dialogue from the Kyoto school /
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This publication by Muto Kazuo is a significant Christian contribution to the predominantly Buddhist "Kyoto School of Philosophy." Muto proposes a philosophy of religion in order to overcome the claim for Christian exclusivity, as proposed by Karl Barth and others. On such a foundation, he investigates the possibilities for mutual understanding between Buddhism and Christianity. Thereby he engages in a critical exchange with the Kyoto School philosophers Nishida, Tanabe, and Nishitani. Throughout his discourse, Muto applies their method of logical argument (the "dialectic" of soku ) to the dialogue between Christianity and Buddhism. He thus opens up new perceptions of Christian faith in the Asian context and, together with his Buddhist teachers, challenges the modern Western dialectical method of reasoning.
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1 online resource (244 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004228429 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The serpent kills or the serpent gives life the kabbalist Abraham Abulafia's response to Christianity /
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Abraham Abulafia (1240 - c. 1291) founded an enormously influential branch of Jewish mysticism, referred to as the prophetic or ecstatic kabbalah. This book, from several perspectives, explores the impact of Christianity upon Abulafia. His copious writings evince an intense fascination with Christian themes, yet Abulafia's frequent diatribes against Jesus and Christianity reveal him to be deeply conflicted in his relationship to his southern European religious neighbors. This book undertakes a careful study of Abulafia's writings, suggesting that the recognition of an inner dynamic of attraction and revulsion toward the forbidden other provides a crucial key to understanding Abulafia's mystical hermeneutic and his meditative practice. It also demonstrates that Abulafia's uneasy relationship to Christianity shaped the very core of his mystical doctrine.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004194472 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Eusebius and the Jewish authors : his citation technique in an apologetic context /
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Eusebius and the Jewish Authors examines Eusebius of Caesarea's use of non-biblical Jewish texts (e.g. Philo, Josephus, Aristobulus) in his Praeparatio evangelica and Demonstratio evangelica . In the first part, Sabrina Inowlocki looks at the citation process in Ancient Greek Literature and in Eusebius' own double apologetic work. She also analyzes Eusebius' conception of Judaism. The second part is devoted to a detailed study of Eusebius' methodology in appropriating these texts from both a philological and a philosophical/theological perspective. Through the lens of his exploitation of Jewish quotations, this book defies the traditional perception of Eusebius as being a mere compiler and nuances the manner in which his presentation of the relation between Judaism and Christianity is often seen. This study will be very useful to readers interested in the reception of Jewish texts in Christian literature, in the relations between Judaism and Christianity, and in Christian apologetics. This translation was made possible through a generous grant from the Fondation Universitaire in Brussels (www.fondationuniversitaire.be).
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Revision of the author's thesis--University of Brussels, 2003. :
1 online resource (xx, 337 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 299-318) and indexes. :
9789047408994 :
1871-6636 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Religious pluralism and pragmatist theology : openness and resistance /
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Inspired by pragmatism, this book addresses religious plurality with the aim of bringing forth how it may be approached constructively by Christian theology. Accordingly, not doctrine, but practices are focussed in its analyses of interreligious topics. Henriksen argues that engagement with the diversity of religious traditions should be grounded in openness towards the other, and resistance against making others similar to oneself. Accordingly, the book presents a theological approach where interaction between religious practitioners is considered a benefit and a necessity for the positive future of religious traditions. It will be of interest to anyone who is interested in the understanding of religious pluralism from the point of view of Christian theology.
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Includes index. :
1 online resource. :
9789004412347
Saints and role models in Judaism and Christianity /
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This volume deals with the role of saints and exemplary individuals in Judaism and Christianity. Although sharing the Hebrew Bible and recognizing the same Biblical figures there, both religions have developed widely divergent perspectives upon the significance of these figures, although there are occasional common motifs and themes. Moreover, even the contrasting themes betray an underlying interaction between both religions as is clear from the contributions on, for example, Melchizedek, Elijah, the Desert Fathers, Rabbis on clothing, the Apostle Peter in Jewish tradition, the Maccabees in Christian tradition and the Biblical examples in Saint Antony the Hermit. The book examines Jewish and Christian perspectives upon saints and role models from the Biblical period to the present time. It will be of special importance to scholars and general readers interested in an interdisciplinary approach to theology, rabbinics, history, art history and much more.
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1 online resource :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789047401605
9789004126145
Scripture and traditions : essays on early Judaism and Christianity in honor of Carl R. Holladay /
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This volume contains twenty-two essays in honor of Carl R. Holladay, whose work on the interaction between early Christianity and Hellenistic Judaism has had a considerable impact on the study of the New Testament. The essays are grouped into three sections: Hellenistic Judaism; the New Testament in Context; and the History of Interpretation. Among the contributions are essays dealing with conversion in Greek-speaking Judaism and Christianity; 3 Maccabees as a narrative satire; retribution theology in Luke-Acts; church discipline in Matthew; the Exodus and comparative chronology in Jewish and patristic writings; corporal punishment in ancient Israel and early Christianity; and Die Judenfrage and the construction of ancient Judaism.
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1 online resource. :
"Publications of Carl R. Holladay": pages ([457]-459).
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789047442011 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Common words in Muslim-Christian dialogue : a study of texts from the common word dialogue process /
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In Common Words in Muslim-Christian Dialogue Vebjørn L. Horsfjord offers an analysis of texts from an international dialogue process between Christian and Muslim leaders. Through detailed engagement with the Muslim dialogue letter A Common Word between Us and You (2007) and a large number of Christian responses to it, the study analyses the dialogue process in the wake of the Muslim initiative and shows how the various texts gain meaning through their interaction. The author uses tools from critical discourse analysis and speech act analysis and claims that the Islamic dialogue initiative became more important as an invitation to Muslim-Christian dialogue than as theological reflection. He shows how Christian leaders systematically chose to steer the dialogue process towards practical questions about peaceful coexistence and away from theological issues.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004358232 :
0923-6201 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
New perspectives on Jewish-Christian relations : in honor of David Berger /
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The delicate balance between toleration and repulsion of the Jews, a tiny minority living within the Christian world, stands at the center of studies of religion and society. The development of this difficult relationship on many levels, theological, institutional, and individual, is a matter of continuing relevance in religious history from ancient to contemporary contexts. This volume, written by the leading scholars of Jewish-Christian engagement, seeks to revisit the question in light of new sources and re-readings of older sources. The old view of two implacable enemies battling for their version of truth, of Jews living as insular pariahs within a hostile world, the tale of persecution by the mighty of the weak, has given way to a much more nuanced understanding of areas of congruence, of cultural, economic, and social interchange. The volume examines changes in the Christian posture toward the Jews occurring in a time and place of tremendous cultural and religious creativity in Western European society. It seeks to understand how Jews integrated elements of Christian culture into their own. The volume spans some of the key turning points in the Jewish-Christian relationship and re-examines critical texts, religious disputations, and cultural interactions.
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1 online resource (ix, 547 pages) : illustrations (some color) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004221185 :
1571-5000 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Die Bibel bei den Manichäern und verwandte Studien /
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The Manichaen religion, which was founded by Mani in the Third century AD, adapted various elements from mainstream Christianity. For this reason the relationship between the texts of the two religions remains a lively topic of research today. This volume contains the until-now unpublished dissertation and three further articles of Alexander Böhlig (*1912 † 1996), who was one of the leading scholars in Manichaean studies. In the introduction Peter Nagel offers a biography detailing Böhlig's academic pursuits. The main part of the book reproduces the revised dissertation \'Die Bibel bei den Manichäern\', originally completed in 1947. Written shortly after the discovery of the Medinet Madi Library, the pioneering study weighed the influence of the Bible on Manichaeism. At the end three related articles of Alexander Böhlig, which cannot be found in the collections of selected papers, are reprinted. Die von ihrem Stifter Mani im 3. Jh. gegründete manichäische Religion übernahm aus dem Christentum verschiedenste Elemente, deren Bestimmung und Bewertung bis heute einen Schwerpunkt in der Manichäismusforschung bilden. Der vorliegende Band enthält die bis dato unpublizierte Dissertation sowie drei weitere Artikel von Alexander Böhlig (*1912 † 1996), der einer der führenden Wissenschaftler in der Manichäismusforschung war. In der Einleitung des Buches beschreibt Peter Nagel mit großer Detailkenntnis den wissenschaftlichen Werdegang Böhligs. Der Hauptteil enthält die in den Anmerkungen ergänzte Dissertation "Die Bibel bei den Manichäern", die 1947 abgeschlossen wurde. Kurz nach dem Handschriftenfund von Medinet Madi verfaßt, wurde darin der Einfluß biblischer Schriften auf der Grundlage gänzlich neuen Materiales untersucht. Am Ende des Bandes wurden drei weitere Artikel zum Thema Manichäismus und Christentum aufgenommen, die nicht in den diversen Aufsatzsammlungen des Autoren zu finden sind.
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German with ancient Greek excerpts.
"Die Bibel bei den Manichäern" is Alexander Böhlig's doctoral thesis, originally presented to the Unversität Münster in 1947--Cf. Vorwort, pages [vii]. :
1 online resource (xi, 211 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004236271 :
0929-2470 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Jewish and Christian communal identities in the Roman world /
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Jews and Christians under the Roman Empire shared a unique sense of community. Set apart from their civic and cultic surroundings, both groups resisted complete assimilation into the dominant political and social structures. However, Jewish communities differed from their Christian counterparts in their overall patterns of response to the surrounding challenges. They exhibit diverse levels of integration into the civic fabric of the cities of the Empire and display contrary attitudes towards the creation of trans-local communal networks. The variety of local case studies examined in this volume offers an integrated image of the multiple factors, both internal and external, which determined the role of communal identity in creating a sense of belonging among Jews and Christians under Imperial constraints.
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"This volume presents revised versions of lectures given in October 2013 at a Jerusalem symposium on Jewish and Christian Communal Identities in Antiquity. The Hebrew University's Scholion Center for Interdisciplinary Research in the Humanities and Jewish Studies together with the editorial board of Brill's Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity series kindly co-sponsored the symposium in memory of our colleague Friedrich Avemarie."--Preface. :
1 online resource (xi, 286 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004321694 :
1871-6636 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Identity matters : John, the Jews and Jewishness /
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This book challenges current scholarly consensus concerning John's references to the Jews in two ways. First, the author suggests that John's portrayal of the Jews cannot be understood as a response to the violent policy of John's opponents. Second, the author claims that John's portrayal of Jewishness is much more ambivalent than is often claimed today. The first part of the book offers a detailed criticism on the so called two-level reading strategy which claims that John's references to the Jews emerge from the conflict with rabbinic Judaism. The second part examines in detail John's relationship to some basic markers of Jewishness. The book contributes to the ongoing discussion of anti-Judaism in John and efforts to understand John's historical setting.
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1 online resource (x, 291 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p.[243] - 274) and indexes. :
9789047407256 :
0167-9732 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The imperial cult and the development of church order : concepts and images of authority in paganism and early Christianity before the Age of Cyprian /
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Recent studies have re-assessed Emperor worship as a genuinely religious response to the metaphysics of social order. Brent argues that Augustus' revolution represented a genuinely religious reformation of Republican religion that had failed in its metaphysical objectives. Against this backcloth, Luke, John the Seer, Clement, Ignatius and the Apologists refashioned Christian theology as an alternative answer to that metaphysical failure. Callistus and Pseudo-Hippolytus gave different responses to Severan images of imperial power. The early, Monarchian theology of the Trinity was thus to become a reflection of imperial culture and its justification that was later to be articulated both in Neo-Platonism, and in Cyprian's view of episcopal Order. Contra-cultural theory is employed as a sociological model to examine the interaction between developing Pagan and Christian social order.
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1 online resource (xxii, 369 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 331-343) and indexes. :
9789004313125 :
0920-623X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Frontiers of faith : the Christian encounter with Manichaeism in the Acts of Archelaus /
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Taking as their common subject the key early Christian anti-Manichaean work, the Acts of Archelaus ( Acta Archelai ), the contributors to this volume offer a systematic exploration of what the text has to tell us about inter-religious contact, conflict, and comprehension at a crucial moment in religious history: the encounter between Christianity and Manichaeism along the political and cultural frontier zone of West Asia in the early fourth century CE. The contributions examine the text's structure, apologetic and polemical strategies, and possible sources, and through these analyses challenge received notions of 'orthodoxy' and 'heresy' in the mutual construction of identity that took place between these two claimants to the Christian heritage.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [167]-171) and indexes. :
9789047421535 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.