Reading the Bible ethically : recovering the voice in the text /
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All interpretive systems deal with the author. Modern systems consider the text to be autonomous, so that it is disconnected from the author's interests. In Reading the Bible Ethically , Eric Douglass reconsiders this connection. His central argument is that the author is a subject who reproduces her culture and her subjectivity in the text. As the author reproduces her subjectivity, the text functions as the author's voice. This allows Douglass to apply ethical principles to interpretation, where that voice is treated as a subject for conversation, and not an object for manipulation. He uses this to texture the reading process, so that an initial reading takes account of the author's communication, while a second reading critiques that communication.
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1 online resource (301 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 277-293) and indexes. :
9789004282872 :
0928-0731 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The organization of the pyramid texts : typology and disposition /
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The ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts form the oldest sizable body of religious texts in the world. Discovered in the late nineteenth century, they had been inscribed on the interior stone walls of the pyramid tombs of third-millennium kings and queens. From their content it is clear that they were concerned with the afterlife state of the tomb owner, but the historical meaning of their emergence has been poorly understood. This book weds traditional philological approaches to linguistic anthropology in order to associate them with two spheres of human action: mortuary cult and personal preparation for the afterlife. Monumentalized as hieroglyphs in the tomb, their function was now one step removed from the human events that had motivated their original production.
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1 online resource (2 volumes in 1 (xxxiv, 712 pages)) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004227491 :
0169-9601 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Eating in Isaiah : approaching the role of food and drink in Isaiah's structure and message /
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In Eating in Isaiah Andrew Abernethy employs a sequential-synchronic approach to explore the role of eating in the structure and message of the book of Isaiah. By focusing on 'scaffolding' chapters (Isaiah 1; 36-37; 55; 65-66), avenues open for exploring how eating operates within the major sections of Isaiah and how the motif enhances the book's coherence. Furthermore, occurrences of eating in Isaiah create networks of association that grant perspective on significant topics in the book's message, such as Zion, YHWH's kingship, and YHWH's servants. Amidst growing scholarly interest in food and drink within biblical literature, Eating in Isaiah demonstrates how eating can operate at a literary level within a prophetic book.
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1 online resource (xiii, 234 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 191-211) and indexes. :
9789004280861 :
0928-0731 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Studies in Matthew's gospel : literary design, intertextuality, and social setting /
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These Studies in Matthew's Gospel by Wim J.C. Weren are the result of scholarly work carried out using recent methods in Biblical exegesis such as structural analysis, text semantics and intertextuality. Part One presents a new proposal regarding the macrostructure of Matthew's Gospel and discusses meanings of textual units from this Gospel on the basis of synchronic research. In Part Two, intertextual theories are described and practical tools are developed that enable us to identify various types of relations between texts from Matthew's Gospel and co-generic or co-thematic textual units from the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint and early Jewish and early Christian writings. Part Three answers the question to what extent the ways in which the disciples are portrayed in Matthew is related to 'real' groups in the Matthean communities. The three successive steps are deliberately chosen and are in a complementary relationship to each other.
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1 online resource (x, 345 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 303-326) and index. :
9789004280519 :
0928-0731 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Creation, covenant, and the beginnings of Judaism : reconceiving historical time in the Second Temple period /
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This study examines the relationship between time and history in Second Temple literature. Numerous sources from that period express a belief that Jewish history began with an act of covenant formation and proceeded in linear fashion until the exile, an unprecedented event which severed the present from the past. The authors of Ben Sira, Jubilees , the Animal Apocalypse , and 4 Ezra responded to this theological challenge by claiming instead that Jewish history began at creation. Between creation and redemption, history unfolds as a series of static, repeating patterns that simultaneously account for the disappointments of the Second Temple period and confirm the eternal nature of the covenant. As iterations of timeless, cyclical patterns, the difficult post-exilic present and the glorious redemption of the future emerge as familiar, unremarkable, and inevitable historical developments.
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1 online resource (xii, 216 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 191-208) and index. :
9789004281653 :
1384-2161 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The Danielic discourse on empire in Second Temple literature /
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In The Danielic Discourse on Empire in Second Temple Literature , Alexandria Frisch asks: how did Jews in the Second Temple period understand the phenomenon of foreign empire? In answering this question, a remarkable trend reveals itself-the book of Daniel, which situates its narrative in an imperial context and apocalyptically envisions empires, was overwhelmingly used by Jewish writers when they wanted to say something about empires. This study examines Daniel, as well as antecedents to and interpretations of Daniel, in order to identify the diachronic changes in perceptions of empire during this period. Oftentimes, this Danielic discourse directly reacted to imperial ideologies, either copying, subverting, or adapting those ideologies. Throughout this study, postcolonial criticism, therefore, provides a hermeneutical lens through which to ask a second question: in an imperial context, is the Jewish conception of empire actually Jewish?
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004331310 :
1384-2161 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The text of the Hebrew Bible and its editions : studies in celebration of the fifth centennial of the complutensian polyglot /
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In The Text of the Hebrew Bible and its Editions some of the top world scholars and editors of the Hebrew Bible and its versions present essays on the aims, method, and problems of editing the biblical text(s), taking as a reference the Complutensian Polyglot, first modern edition of the Hebrew text and its versions and whose Fifth Centennial was celebrated in 2014. The main parts of the volume discuss models of editions from the Renaissance and its forerunners to the Digital Age, the challenges offered by the different textual traditions, particular editorial problems of the individual books of the Bible, and the role played by quotations. It thus sets a landmark in the future of biblical editions.
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"This conference was convened in Madrid the first week of November 2014 to honor and creatively remember the fifth centennial of the Complutensian Polyglot, Cisneros' Bible"--ECIP introduction. :
1 online resource (xx, 526 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004335028 :
2214-5958 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Empire, power, and indigenous elites : a case study of the Nehemiah memoir /
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Ancient Near Eastern empires, including Assyria, Babylon and Persia, frequently permitted local rulers to remain in power. The roles of the indigenous elites reflected in the Nehemiah Memoir can be compared to those encountered elsewhere. Nehemiah was an imperial appointee, likely of a military/administrative background, whose mission was to establish a birta in Jerusalem, thereby limiting the power of local elites. As a loyal servant of Persia, Nehemiah brought to his mission a certain amount of ethnic/cultic colouring seen in certain aspects of his activities in Jerusalem, in particular in his use of Mosaic authority (but not of specific Mosaic laws). Nehemiah appealed to ancient Jerusalemite traditions in order to eliminate opposition to him from powerful local elite networks.
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1 online resource (xii, 327 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 285-314) and indexes. :
9789004292222 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Scribal culture in Ben Sira /
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In Scribal Culture in Ben Sira Lindsey A. Askin examines scribal culture as a framework for analysing features of textual referencing throughout the Book of Ben Sira (c.198-175 BCE), revealing new insights into how Ben Sira wrote his book of wisdom. Although the title of "scribe" is regularly applied to Ben Sira, this designation presents certain interpretive challenges. Through comparative analysis, Askin contextualizes the sage's compositional style across historical, literary, and socio-cultural spheres of operation. New light is shed on Ben Sira's text and early Jewish textual reuse. Drawing upon physical and material evidence of reading and writing, Askin reveals the dexterity and complexity of Ben Sira's sustained textual reuse. Ben Sira's achievement thus demonstrates exemplary, "excellent" writing to a receptive audience.
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1 online resource (x, 311 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004372863 :
1384-2161 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Talmudic transgressions : engaging the work of Daniel Boyarin /
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Talmudic Transgressions is a collection of essays on rabbinic literature and related fields in response to the boundary-pushing scholarship of Daniel Boyarin. This work is an attempt to transgress boundaries in various ways, since boundaries differentiate social identities, literary genres, legal practices, or diasporas and homelands. These essays locate the transgressive not outside the classical traditions but in these traditions themselves, having learned from Boyarin that it is often within the tradition and in its terms that we can find challenges to accepted notions of knowledge, text, and ethnic or gender identity. The sections of this volume attempt to mirror this diverse set of topics. Contributors include Julia Watts Belser, Jonathan Boyarin, Shamma Boyarin, Virginia Burrus, Sergey Dolgopolski, Charlotte E. Fonrobert, Simon Goldhill, Erich S. Gruen, Galit Hasan-Rokem, Christine Hayes, Adi Ophir, James Redfield, Elchanan Reiner, Ishay Rosen-Zvi, Lena Salaymeh, Zvi Septimus, Aharon Shemesh, Dina Stein, Eliyahu Stern, Moulie Vidas, Barry Scott Wimpfheimer, Elliot R. Wolfson, Azzan Yadin-Israel, Israel Yuval, and Froma Zeitlin.
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"Originated in a conference held at the University of California, Berkeley, in April 2014"--From the editors. :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004345331 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Calendar and chronology, Jewish and Christian : biblical, intertestamental and patristic studies /
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Judaism and Christianity are both religions of history and remembrance and rely on calendars and accurate chronologies to recall and reenact the signal events in their histories. The import of dividing the day and night, of knowing the moment of Sabbath and Lord's Day, of properly timing Passover and Easter cannot be overstated. Throughout the history of both religions, these issues were central to worship and practice of religion and had far-reaching effects from messianism to prophecy. But their very centrality meant they were issues of controversy and debate. Roger Beckwith looks carefully at the Jewish and Christian records concerning calendar and chronology, compares, contrasts, and challenges rival solutions to these complex questions. His breath of research - from the ancient Near East to Qumran, from Josephus and Philo to the Maccabean writings, and from the points of view of Paul and Jesus to the Fathers of the church - and his focus on the more controversial issues of dating make Calendar and Chronology an essential book for any serious scholar of history, liturgy, worship, and interpretation. This publication has also been published in paperback, please click here for details.
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1 online resource (xv, 333 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004332874 :
0169-734X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.