The law of agriculture in the Mishnah and the Tosefta : translation, commentary, theology /
:
This project presents in three volumes the Mishnah's and the Tosefta's first division, Zera'im (Agriculture), organized in eleven topical tractates, together with a systematic history of the law of Zeraim in the Mishnah. To the exposition of the Halakhah on the chosen topic, the Mishnah-tractates are primary but complemented by the Tosefta's presentation of its collection of glosses of the Mishnah's law and supplements to that law. The Mishnah's and the Tosefta's tractates are integrated, with the Tosefta's complement given in the setting of the Mishnah's rules, and the whole is given in English translation. The presentation in each case encompasses an introduction, a form-analytical translation and commentary, a systematic integration of the Tosefta's compositions into the Mishnah's laws, an explanation of the details of the law, and an inquiry into how the Halakhah of the Mishnah and that of the Tosefta intersect, item by item.
:
1 online resource (3 volumes (2,787 pages)) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047416371 :
0169-9423 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Biblical perspectives : early use and interpretation of the Bible in light of the Dead Sea scrolls : proceedings of the First International Symposium of the Orion Center for the St...
:
This volume explores the use and interpretation of the Bible in the Dead Sea Scrolls and associated apocryphal, early Christian and rabbinic literature. Interpretive interests, techniques and traditions are examined in many types of ancient works: rewritten bibles, pseudepigrapha, legal codes, prayers, sapiential texts, admonitions and historical treatises. The authors highlight the contribution of the new finds from the Judean Desert to such major issues as attitudes to the Bible and the Law in antiquity, continuity and innovation vis a vis the biblical world, common and unique dimensions of interpretation among different groups in the Second Temple and Rabbinic periods in particular, the Qumran sectarians and their opponents, New Testament authors and rabbinic Sages.
:
1 online resource (viii, 291 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004350298 :
0169-9962 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Christian faith and Greek philosophy in late antiquity : essays in tribute to George Christopher Stead, Ely Professor of Divinity, University of Cambridge (1971-1980), in celebrati...
:
This volume is a collection of thirteen essays offered in dedication to Professor C.G. Stead on his 80th birthday. Their theme is the philosophy underlying the presentation of Christian teaching in Late Antiquity. The essays deal with individual theologians (Augustine, Ambrose, Dionysius the Areopagite, Gregory of Nyssa), with ideological background (Christian and Roman universalism), and with the discussion of particular texts. A bibliography and brief appreciation of Professor Stead's contribution to Patristic studies are included.
:
English and German. :
1 online resource (x, 266 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 247-255) and indexes. :
9789004312852 :
0920-623X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Judaism in late antiquity.
:
What, in Judaism - a religion so concerned with social norms and public policy - can we possibly mean by "law"? That is the thoroughly fresh perspective with which this work commences. It proceeds with two chapters on Second Temple Judaism, and two on the special subject of the Dead Sea library. Learning withers when criticism is substituted by political consensus, and when other than broadly accepted viewpoints find a hearing only with difficulty, if at all. The editors, therefore, invited colleagues from the USA, Europe, and Israel to systematically outline their views in one account and set it alongside contrary ones. The several participants explain how, in broad and sweeping terms, they see the state of learning in their areas of special interest. The volume provides first an overview, followed by a systematic, critical account of the fading consensus. In a number of accounts, the different perspectives are presented in scholarly debate. Because of the willingness of contending parties to meet one another in a single frame of discourse, the work is able to portray with considerable breadth the presently contending viewpoints concerning the use of Rabbinical literature for historical purposes. Besides this sustained and vigorous debate, precipitated by historical-critical reading of the rabbinical literature, other issues have attracted attention, such as, for example, feminist interests.
:
Pt. 3, volume 4 edited by Alan J. Avery-Peck and Jacob Neusner.
Pt. 5, volume 1-2 edited by Alan J. Avery-Peck, Jacob Neusner and Bruce D. Chilton. :
1 online resource (xii, 196 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004294172 :
0169-9423 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Judaism in late antiquity.
:
The authors have asked of the documents of the Dead Sea Library found at Qumran a simple question: how does each participate in a single Judaic religious system? They propose a reading of the Scrolls from the hypothesis that all of them, in one way or another, rest upon one, authoritative, Judaism. Their analysis of the Dead Sea Scrolls describes how diverse writings hold together to make a single coherent statement, to stand for a religious system possessed of integrity and wisdom. This account of the world view of Judaism covers principal questions addressed to any Judaic religious system: the doctrine of God, the Torah, and matters of history, wisdom, and mysticism. When it comes to the way of life, they include the evidence of the material culture of the community as well as practical matters of religious conduct. How the community's world view comes to realization is suggested by its treatment of the calendar, by its provision of laws that concern women, by questions of cultic and secular purity, by its piety and forms of worship and views of Temple, sacrifice, and the like. Finally, with the community's definition of 'Israel' and of itself in relationship to 'Israel', inclusive of Israelites excluded from this 'Israel', an account is gained of the theory of who and what is Israel that animates the particular Judaism represented in these writings.
:
Pt. 3, volume 4 edited by Alan J. Avery-Peck and Jacob Neusner.
Pt. 5, volume 1-2 edited by Alan J. Avery-Peck, Jacob Neusner and Bruce D. Chilton. :
1 online resource (xii, 196 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004294189 :
0169-9423 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Demons and illness from antiquity to the early-modern period /
:
In many near eastern traditions, including Christianity, Judaism and Islam, demons have appeared as a cause of illness from ancient times until at least the early modern period. This volume explores the relationship between demons, illness and treatment comparatively. Its twenty chapters range from Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt to early modern Europe, and include studies of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. They discuss the relationship between 'demonic' illnesses and wider ideas about illness, medicine, magic, and the supernatural. A further theme of the volume is the value of treating a wide variety of periods and places, using a comparative approach, and this is highlighted particularly in the volume's Introduction and Afterword. The chapters originated in an international conference held in 2013.
:
Includes index. :
1 online resource. :
9789004338548 :
2211-016X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
A history of Zoroastrianism /
:
This volume traces the history of Zoroastrianism at times and places where its existence has previously been largely ignored, or treated only episodically. Literary, archaeological and numismatic evidence has been drawn on (some of it only recently brought to light), and local developments are distinguished. In Iran itself some 200 years of Macedonian rule had little effect on the national religion. To the east, Zoroastrianism survived in the Greco-Bactrian kingdoms and under Mauryan suzereinty, where it came into contact with Buddhism. In Eastern Mediterranean lands it was maintained by Iranian expatriates well down into Roman imperial times. They adopted Greek for their written tongue, and Zoroastrian doctrines thus became known in the Greco-Roman world. Study is made accordingly of Zoroastrian contributions to Hellenistic thought, and to Judaism, Christianity and Mithraism; and an excursus provides a thorough reassessment of the Zoroastrian pseudepigrapha.
:
Vol. 3 written by Mary Boyce and Frantz Grenet, with a conritution by Roger Beck. :
1 online resource (xx, 596 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004293915 :
0169-9423 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Judaism in late antiquity.
:
What, in Judaism - a religion so concerned with social norms and public policy - can we possibly mean by \'law\'? That is the thoroughly fresh perspective with which this work commences. It proceeds with two chapters on Second Temple Judaism, and two on the special subject of the Dead Sea library. Learning withers when criticism is substituted by political consensus, and when other than broadly accepted viewpoints find a hearing only with difficulty, if at all. The editors, therefore, invited colleagues from the USA, Europe, and the State of Israel to systematically outline their views in one account and set it alongside contrary ones. The several participants explain how, in broad and sweeping terms, they see the state of learning in their areas of special interest. The volume provides first an overview, followed by a systematic, critical account of the fading consensus. In a number of accounts, the different perspectives are presented in scholarly debate. *** Because of the willingness of contending parties to meet one another in a single frame of discourse, the work is able to portray with considerable breadth the presently contending viewpoints concerning the use of Rabbinical literature for historical purposes. *** Besides this sustained and vigorous debate, precipitated by historical-critical reading of the rabbinical literature, other issues have attracted attention, such as, for example, feminist interests.
:
Pt. 3, volume 4 edited by Alan J. Avery-Peck and Jacob Neusner.
Pt. 5, volume 1-2 edited by Alan J. Avery-Peck, Jacob Neusner and Bruce D. Chilton. :
1 online resource (xii, 180 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004294165 :
0169-9423 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Studies in the cult of Yahweh.
:
These two volumes collect some of the most influential and important scholarly essays by the late Morton Smith (1915-1991), for many years Professor of Ancient History at Columbia University in New York City. Smith was admired and feared for his extraordinary ability to look at familiar texts in unfamiliar ways, to re-open old questions, to pose new questions, and to demolish received truths. He practiced the \'hermeneutics of suspicion\' to devastating effect. His answers are not always convincing but his questions cannot be ignored. The essays of Volume I center on the Hebrew Bible (\'Old Testament\'), Ancient Israel and Ancient Judaism, of Volume II on the Christian Bible (\'New Testament\'), Early Christianity and Ancient Magic. Volume II also contains an assessment of Smith's scholarly achievement and a complete list of his publications.
:
1 online resource (viii, 292 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004301443 :
0927-7633 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Henosis : L'union à Dieu chez Denys L'Aréopagite /
:
In the first part of this study, the theme of the union ( henosis ) is analysed in Dionysius the Areopagite's De Divinis Nominibus . The starting point of this inquiry is the trinitarian theology of Dionysius. He distinguishes between Union ( henosis ) and distinction ( diakrisis ), ad intra of the divine Persons and ad extra of the divines names, understood as powers. The movement of procession and conversion of the divine names follows the very structure of the treatise: from the Union to the One, a movement called \'the circle of love\'. In a second moment, the word henosis or the formula henosis hyper noun , \'union above the intellect\', are analysed in the De divinis nominibus , where they allude to the \'union without confusion\' of the ideas one with the other, or to the union of intellect with God in the unknowledge. The second part is dedicated to the union with God in the De Mystica Theologia . The author first studies Moses' ascension and his entrance in the Darkness within the tradition of the commentaries of Exodus , such as Philo's or Gregory of Nyssa's treatises De Vita Mosis ; she analyses the progress of negative theology towards the mystical union and she tries to identify the \'unknown God\' with whom the intellect becomes unified in the neoplatonician theory and also in the context of Paul's discourse on the Areopage. She concludes with an examination of the unio mystica and its major features in Pseudo-Dionysius.
:
1 online resource (xv, 510 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 457-479) and index. :
9789004320963 :
0079-1687 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Wrestling with angels : a study of the relationship between angels and humans in ancient Jewish literature and the New Testament /
: 1 online resource. : Includes bibliographical references (p. 237-254) and indexes. : 9789047412809 : 0169-734X ; : Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Reconsidering Eusebius : collected papers on literary, historical, and theological issues /
:
Over the last decades, Eusebius has been the focus of a great deal of attention. New light has been shed both on his writings and on his personality, which has led to a welcome re-assessment of his significance. As a result, he is no longer perceived as a mere compiler but as a powerful author who largely contributed to the construction of the orthodox Church's triumphalism. This volume seeks to contribute to the ongoing re-evaluation of Eusebius as an active participant to the construction of late antique history, theology, and literature. The result is an interdisciplinary collection of articles by an international team of scholars who offer innovative papers on one of the most important late antique author.
:
Papers presented at a workshop held Mar. 3, 2008, at the Centre interdisciplinaire d'étude des religions et de la laïcité, Université libre de Bruxelles. :
1 online resource (xii, 254 pages, [12] pages of plates) : illustrations, maps. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004206540 :
0920-623X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The Jewish dialogue with Greece and Rome : studies in cultural and social interaction /
:
Twenty-seven interdisciplinary essays on aspects of Judaism in the Greco-Roman world, exemplifying a wide range of techniques, by a well-known scholar. Three are previously unpublished, including a reappraisal of the Judaism and Hellenism debate and a study of the Sardis synagogue. The book's overall coherence derives from the author's long-standing interests in the analysis of texts as documents of cultural and religious interaction, and in how Jewish communities were woven into the social fabric of Greek cities in the Hellenistic and Roman East. The four sections are: Greeks and Jews, Josephus, The Jewish Diaspora and Epigraphy, and finally Beyond the Greeks and Romans, essays which extend into Christian literature and on to the nineteenth century reception of the Judaism/Hellenism dichotomy. Scholars and students from a wide variety of backgrounds will benefit. This publication has also been published in paperback, please click here for details.
:
1 online resource (xix, 579 pages cm) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047400196 :
0169-734X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Ephraem der Syrer und Basilios der Grosse, Justinian und Edessa : Die Begegnung griechischer und syrischer Traditionsautorität in der Ephraemvita und der miaphysitisch-chalkedonisc...
:
In Ephraem der Syrer und Basilios der Große, Justinian und Edessa untersucht Nestor Kavvadas die syrische Vita des Heiligen Ephraem, die in Edessa zum Höhepunkt des Konflikts zwischen der syrischen miaphysitischen Bewegung und der pro-chalkedonischen Kirchenpolitik Justinians komponiert wurde, und vergleicht sie mit einigen früheren griechisch-kappadokischen Hagiographien um Ephraem und Basilios von Caesarea, der in Ephraems Vita gleichsam als dessen Patron erscheint. Der Autor zeigt, dass während diese griechischen Hagiographien dazu bestimmt waren, Ephraem als Vater der chalkedonischen, byzantinischen orthodoxen Kirche zu reklamieren, die edessenische Ephraemvita Teil eines Versuchs der syrischen miaphysitischen Bewegung war, Exklusivrecht auf Ephraem sowie Basilios, und damit auf das Erbe der Kirchenväter, zu beanspruchen. Dann stellt der Autor heraus, wie die Ephraemvita, einmal "entschlüsselt", ihr historisches Umfeld in ein neues Licht stellen kann. In Ephrem der Syrer und Basilios der Große, Justinian und Edessa , Nestor Kavvadas examines the Syriac "Life" of Saint Ephrem, composed in Edessa at the time when the Syriac Miaphysite movement was opposing Justinian's pro-Chalcedonian politics, and compares it with several earlier Greek Cappadocian hagiographies about Ephrem and Basil of Caesarea, who is presented almost as Ephrem's patron in the latter's "Life". The author shows that while the Greek hagiographies were meant to (re)claim Ephrem as a Father of the (Chalcedonian) Byzantine Orthodox Church, Ephrem's Syriac "Life" was part of an attempt by the Syriac Miaphysite movement to claim exclusive rights on both Ephrem and Basil as representatives of the entire legacy of the Church Fathers. Then, the author points out how the "Life", once de-coded, can in turn shed light on its historical setting.
:
1 online resource (208 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004362581 :
0920-623X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The spirit in first century Judaism /
:
Conceptions of the divine spirit underwent complex metamorphoses in Jewish biblical interpretation during the Greco-Roman era. This monograph explores those permutations in the writings of Philo Judaeus, Josephus, and Pseudo-Philo ( Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum ). The first section, 'An Anomalous Prophet', unfolds surprisingly divergent transformations of the inspiration of Balaam. The second section, 'An Eclectic Era', unearths both faint and conspicuous traces of Greco-Roman conceptions in early Jewish interpretations. The third section, 'An Extraordinary Mind', undermines the view that the spirit was associated primarily with ecstasy rather than with intellectual insight. By analyzing these interpretations in light of other contemporary Greco-Roman and Jewish writings, this volume offers original and essential data for further study of inspiration in Antiquity, including early Judaism, early Christianity, and the Greco-Roman world. This publication has also been published in paperback, please click here for details.
:
1 online resource (xiv, 302 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 276-279) and indexes. :
9789004332829 :
0169-734X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Perspectives in the study of the Old Testament and early Judiasm : a symposium in honour of Adams S. van der Woude on the occasion of his 70th birthday /
:
This volume contains the papers presented to a symposium organized by the Theological Faculty of the University of Groningen on the occasion of the seventieth birthday of Adam S. van der Woude, former Professor of Old Testament and Early Judaism and former head of the Qumran Institute at the same Faculty. The essays, eight in English and four in German, explore (through case studies) the developments over the last few years in the different areas of study of the Old Testament and of Early Judaism, observe the new perspectives opened in these areas and map the directions in which the research will be moving in the third millennium. The volume also includes a German version of the public lecture on the significance of the Dead Sea Scrolls for the Study of Old Testament and of Early Judaism delivered in Dutch by Van der Woude during the symposium.
:
Papers presented at the symposium on Oct. 17-18, 1997 at the Theological Faculty of Groningen. :
1 online resource (xi, 284 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004275980 :
0083-5889 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Das Selbstverständnis der jüdischen Diaspora in der hellenistisch-römischen Zeit /
:
Fifteen years after his death the last book by Willem Cornelis van Unnik (1910-1978) is now published. This great scholar presents here the results of his thorough investigation of self-definition in the Jewish diaspora of late antiquity. After an introductory chapter which includes a brief history of research, Van Unnik investigates the semantic field of the Greek term diaspora , the use of this word in the Septuagint and the New Testament, the history of the term in post-biblical Jewish and Christian writings, and the theological understanding of the term. Van Unnik concludes that in Jewish circles living in the diaspora has always been regarded as an essentially negative and frightening phenomenon, much more so than many modern investigations would have us believe. The main text of this book. The main text of this book is completely from the pen of Van Unnik; only the footnotes were missing. The editor has added footnotes and an extensive biographical-bibliographical introduction and appendices.
:
1 online resource (200 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004332706 :
0169-734X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Judaism in late antiquity.
:
The authors have asked of the documents of the Dead Sea Library found at Qumran a simple question: how does each participate in a single Judaic religious system? They propose a reading of the Scrolls from the hypothesis that all of them, in one way or another, rest upon one, authoritative, Judaism. Their analysis of the Dead Sea Scrolls describes how diverse writings hold together to make a single coherent statement, to stand for a religious system possessed of integrity and wisdom. This account of the world view of Judaism covers principal questions addressed to any Judaic religious system: the doctrine of God, the Torah, and matters of history, wisdom, and mysticism. When it comes to the way of life, they include the evidence of the material culture of the community as well as practical matters of religious conduct. How the community's world view comes to realization is suggested by its treatment of the calendar, by its provision of laws that concern women, by questions of cultic and secular purity, by its piety and forms of worship and views of Temple, sacrifice, and the like. Finally, with the community's definition of 'Israel' and of itself in relationship to 'Israel', inclusive of Israelites excluded from this 'Israel', an account is gained of the theory of who and what is Israel that animates the particular Judaism represented in these writings.
:
Pt. 3, volume 4 edited by Alan J. Avery-Peck and Jacob Neusner.
Pt. 5, volume 1-2 edited by Alan J. Avery-Peck, Jacob Neusner and Bruce D. Chilton. :
1 online resource (xii, 276 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004294196 :
0169-9423 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
From temple to church : destruction and renewal of local cultic topography in late antiquity /
:
Destruction of temples and their transformation into churches are central symbols of late antique change in religious environment, socio-political system, and public perception. Contemporaries were aware of these events' far-reaching symbolic significance and of their immediate impact as demonstrations of political power and religious conviction. Joined in any "temple-destruction" are the meaning of the monument, actions taken, and subsequent literary discourse. Paradigms of perception, specific interests, and forms of expression of quite various protagonists clashed. Archaeologists, historians, and historians of religion illuminate "temple-destruction" from different perspectives, analysing local configurations within larger contexts, both regional and imperial, in order to find an appropriate larger perspective on this phenomenon within the late antique movement "from temple to church".
:
1 online resource (xi, 378 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789047443735 :
0927-7633 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
L'apologie de Jérôme contre Rufin : un commentaire /
:
In the three books of his Contra Rufinum , a work dating back to his mature period (401-402), Jerome (ca 347-420) fought against his erstwhile friend turned rival, Rufinus: the two Latin monks, one settled in Bethlehem, the other in Jerusalem, had come to confront each other on such issues as the timeliness and ways (translation, commentary...) of transmitting an Oriental heritage to the West, Greek (in particular the works of Origen [ca. 185-ca. 253], whose Peri Archôn they both translated in competition) as well as Jewish (the biblical hebraica veritas which Jerome championed). They were also at variance on the appreciation of profane culture (the Latin classics). Jerome's Contra Rufinum is a masterpiece by a brilliant polemist and an important document as to a knowledge of the actors and the vicissitudes of a controversy which mobilised many Christians, Eastern and Western alike, on the eve of the sacking of Rome by the Barbarians. This commentary seeks to analyse the treatise in all its facets (historical and theological, philological and rhetorical), and to elucidate its connections with the different traditions (classical, biblical, patristic) to which it belongs. The Contra Rufinum thus turns out to be a remarkable vantage point from which to illuminate the entire corpus of an author whose work, spread over nearly half a century, was immensely influential during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
:
1 online resource (xxxii, 564 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004312814 :
0920-623X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.