Jewish cultural encounters in the ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern world /
:
The essays in this volume originate from the Third Qumran Institute Symposium held at the University of Groningen, December 2013. Taking the flexible concept of "cultural encounter" as a starting point, the essays in this volume bring together a panoply of approaches to the study of various cultural interactions between the people of ancient Israel, Judea, and Palestine and people from other parts of the ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern world. In order to study how cultural encounters shaped historical development, literary traditions, religious practice and political systems, the contributors employ a broad spectrum of theoretical positions (e.g., hybridity, métissage, frontier studies, postcolonialism, entangled histories and multilingualism), to interpret a diverse set of literary, documentary, archaeological, epigraphic, numismatic, and iconographic sources.
:
1 online resource. :
9789004336919 :
1384-2161 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Homeland and exile : biblical and ancient Near Eastern studies in honour of Bustenay Oded /
:
This volume is a scholarly tribute to Bustenay Oded's distinguished career from some of the many contemporaries, colleagues, and former students who not only admire, and keep being inspired by his achievements, but who also count him as a friend. The title points to the remarkable span of Bustenay Oded 's research and research interests. Accordingly, the Festschrift's thirty original contributions deal with a wide range of topics, focusing on the Assyrian Empire, as well as on the Hebrew Bible and other cultural contents.
:
1 online resource. :
"Works by Professor Bustenay Oded": pages [xi]-xvi.
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789047441243 :
0083-5889 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The Gospels in first-century Judaea : proceedings of the Inaugural Conference of Nyack College's Graduate Program in Ancient Judaism and Christian Origins, August 29th, 2013 /
:
In The Gospels in First Century Judaea experts of Greco-Roman Judaism employ their expertise to offer fresh and innovative interpretations of gospel texts. Each study examines closely a passage from one of the four canonical gospels in order to shed light on it from various pertinent subject areas (e.g., linguistics, archaeology, fine art). The studies presented in this volume follow on the heels of more than forty years of research into the Jewish backgrounds of the New Testament, with one innovative development, namely, reading and interpreting the gospels as accounts that originate in the first century Judaea and play a more integral role in the body of ancient Jewish literature.
:
Includes index. :
1 online resource. :
9789004305434 :
1388-2074 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The intertextual reception of Genesis 1-3 in Irenaeus of Lyons /
:
In The Intertextual Reception of Genesis 1-3 in Irenaeus of Lyons , Stephen Presley explores the intertextual nature of Irenaeus' interpretation of Genesis 1-3 by drawing on contemporary discussions on the topic. Irenaeus interprets the creation accounts, Presley argues, in continuity with the rest of the scriptural witness through a series of reading strategies including: a literary sense, prophetic fulfillment, typology, philological associations, organizational strategies, narratival arrangements, prosopological interpretation, illustrative identification, and general-to-particular reasoning. Irenaeus' perspective competes with his Gnostic interlocutors who utilize similar methods of interpretation, but fashion distinctive textual relationships between Genesis 1-3 and other texts. These reading strategies circumscribe precisely how Irenaeus' intertextual exegesis is applied to these creation texts within the integrative structure of his theological perspective.
:
1 online resource (xiii, 303 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004294523 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Authoritative scriptures in ancient Judaism /
:
Many scholars of the Second Temple period have replaced the concept of canonization by that of canonical process. Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls has been crucial for this new direction. Based on this new evidence taxonomic terms like biblical, nonbiblical or parabiblical seem anachronistic for the period before 70 C.E. The notion of authoritative Scriptures plays an important part in the new paradigm of canonical process, but it has not yet been sufficiently reflected upon and is in need of clarification. Why were some texts more authoritative than others? For whom and in what contexts were texts authoritative? And what are our criteria to determine to what extent a text was authoritative? In short, what do we mean by "authoritative"? This volume focuses on specific texts or corpora of texts, and approaches the notion of authoritative Scriptures from sociological, cultural and literary perspectives.
:
"This volume is a collection of contributions that reflect on the issue of the authoritativeness of Scriptures in Second Temple period Judaism. They result from a conference that the Qumran Institute organized on 28-29 April 2008"--Preface. :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004190740 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The king and the cemeteries : toward a new understanding of Josiah's reform /
:
This book presents new examinations of the reports of Josiah's reform in 2 Kgs. 23:4-20 + 24 and 2 Chron. 34:3-7 and related biblical passages (especially 1 Kgs.12:33-13:32), concentrating on the likely compositional history of this material and its usefulness as a source for reconstructing the likely history of Josiah's reign. Chapter 1 introduces the inquiry, reviewing the state of the question and methodological caveats. Chapters 2-6 are devoted to issues of composition and redaction, Chapters 7-10 to issues of historical context and circumstance. Both literary and archaeological materials are considered. These studies contribute fresh analyses and new propositions to the scholarly discussion of this seminal moment in the history of biblical Israel.
:
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [222]-256) and indexes. :
9789004276147 :
0083-5889 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Calendar and chronology, Jewish and Christian : biblical, intertestamental and patristic studies /
:
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.
:
1 online resource (xv, 333 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004332874 :
0169-734X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
ha-Ish Moshe : studies in scriptural interpretation in the Dead Sea Scrolls and related literature in honor of Moshe J. Bernstein /
:
The eighteen studies in this volume in honor of Moshe Bernstein on the occasion of his 70th birthday mostly engage with Jewish scriptural interpretation, the principal theme of Bernstein's own research career as expressed in his collected essays, Reading and Re-Reading Scripture at Qumran (Brill, 2013). The essays develop a variety of aspects of scriptural interpretation. Although many of them are chiefly concerned with the Dead Sea Scrolls, the significant contribution of the volume as a whole is the way that even those studies are associated with others that consider the broader context of Jewish scriptural interpretation in late antiquity. As a result, a wider frame of reference for scriptural interpretation impinges upon how scripture was read and re-read in the scrolls from Qumran.
:
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004355729 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The Jerusalem Temple in diaspora : Jewish practice and thought during the Second Temple period
:
In The Jerusalem Temple in Diaspora, Jonathan Trotter shows how different diaspora Jews' perspectives on the distant city of Jerusalem and the temple took shape while living in the diaspora, an experience which often is characterized by complicated senses of alienation from and belonging to an ancestral homeland and one's current home. This book investigates not only the perspectives of the individual diaspora Jews whose writings mention the Jerusalem temple (Letter of Aristeas, Philo of Alexandria, 2 Maccabees, and 3 Maccabees) but also the customs of diaspora Jewish communities linking them to the temple, such as their financial contributions and pilgrimages there.
:
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004409859
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.
The mission of the church in Paul's letter to the Philippians in the context of ancient Judaism /
:
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.
:
1 online resource (xv, 380 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047415831 :
0167-9732 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Philippi : Stadt und Christengemeinde zur Zeit des Paulus /
:
The Roman colony of Philippi is the site upon which Paul founded his first European congregation. There, he encountered a political entity which bore the stamp of Roman culture through and through. Part I describes Philippi's political and religious situation based on numismatic, epigraphical, archaeological and literary sources. Part II reconstructs the relationship between Paul, the congregation, and the city of Philippi, and demonstrates the influence which the Roman environment exerted on the church's organization and preaching. The work reaches the conclusion that the Philippean community assumed an active and self-confident role in implementing its mission. In so doing, it clashed with the Roman authorities and their insistence upon a religious praxis that did not call into question the principles or existence of the Roman State. The book contributes to the interpretation of the Epistle to the Philippians as well as to the history of early Christianity and the history of Religions during the first century.
:
Originally presented as the author's thesis (doctoral), Frankfurt am Main, 1993. :
1 online resource (ix, 248 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 225-237) and index. :
9789004267244 :
0167-9732 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Empire, power, and indigenous elites : a case study of the Nehemiah memoir /
:
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.
:
1 online resource (xii, 327 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 285-314) and indexes. :
9789004292222 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Martha from the margins : the authority of Martha in early Christian tradition /
:
In the popular imagination Martha has become synonymous with the harried housewife, fretting over excessive preparations. The Martha known to early Christians is far removed from this stereotype. Martha was better known for her role in the story of the raising of Lazarus and as apostle and witness of the resurrection. This book gathers and assesses the early traditions about Martha in text, liturgy and iconography. It shows that the significance of Martha has been seriously underestimated and recovers an important and widespread tradition of Martha as apostle and authority figure for early Christians. The analysis of Martha traditions with attention to issues of gender and authority render this book an important contribution to studies on women in early Christianity.
:
1 online resource (xix, 369 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 307-340) and indexes. :
9789004186873 :
0920-623X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The place of the law in the religion of ancient Israel /
:
Over a hundred years ago, Wellhausen's revolutionary aim in his \'Prolegomena\' was to prove that the Priestly legal sections of the Pentateuch reflect postexilic Judaism and must be considered a deviation from the prophetic religion which preceded it. The present study points out the biased assumptions underlying Wellhausen's theory and the fallacies in this thesis. A strong case is made for the antiquity of the Priestly Code and its antedating the Book of Deuteronomy in light of many parallels between the Priestly Law and ritual texts from the Ancient Near East, and an examination of the mythic outlook in P which distinguishes it from both Deuteronomy and Second Isaiah.
:
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [125]-137) and indexes. :
9789047402954 :
0083-5889 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Nazirites in late Second Temple Judaism : a survey of ancient Jewish writings, the New Testament, archaeological evidence, and other writings from late antiquity /
:
Nazirites appear in a number of sources relevant to Judaism of the late Second Temple period. This book surveys the pertinent evidence and assesses what it reveals regarding the role of the Nazirite within Judaism of the late Second Temple and early Christian era. The survey is arranged according to three primary sections: "Direct Evidence for Nazirites"; "Possible and Tangential Evidence for Nazirites"; and a final section, "Making Sense of the Evidence." It concludes by arguing that the role of the Nazirite portrayed in sources was that of a religious devotee, and concomitant with biblical law, Nazirite devotion typically involved flexibility, personal freedom of expression, and adaptation to outside cultural norms. Those interested in the Nazirite vow as portrayed in the New Testament and other relevant sources will find this study useful, as will those interested in Bible translation and interpretation in late Second Temple and early rabbinic literature.
:
Revision of the author's thesis (doctoral)--University of Oxford, 2002. :
1 online resource (x, 196 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047407874 :
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 /
:
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.
:
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [473]-509) and index. :
9789047425090 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The despoliation of Egypt in pre-rabbinic, rabbinic and patristic traditions /
:
This work examines the role played by the biblical motif of the despoliation of Egypt in the understanding Gentiles had of Jews, and how Jews defended themselves, their heroes and their God in the face of anti-Jewish slander. It also examines the manner in which Christians learned from their rabbinic counterparts how to defend Moses and his God against the gnostic challenge. Beginning with Philo and based on haggadic additions, the embarrassment of the episode was 'healed' through allegory and became a critically important biblical justification for the Christian appropriation of the 'Egyptian treasures' of their Greco-Roman cultural heritage. This work describes how Christians borrowed exegetical traditions from rabbis not only to defend their sacred texts against gnostic attacks but to justify their interest in and appropriation of non-Christian philosophy in their theological understandings.
:
1 online resource (viii, 305 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 281-298) and indexes. :
9789047433569 :
0920-623X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Wisdom and Torah : the reception of "Torah" in the wisdom literature of the Second Temple period /
:
A proper assessment of the manifold relationships that obtain between "wisdom" and "Torah" in the Second Temple Period has fascinated generations of interpreters. The essays of the present collection seek to understand this key relationship by focusing attention on specific instances of the reception of "Torah" in Wisdom literature and the shaping of Torah by wisdom. Taking the concepts of wisdom and torah in the various literary strata of the book of Deuteronomy as a point of departure, the remainder of the book examines the relationship between wisdom and Torah in Wisdom literature of the Second Temple period, including Proverbs, Qohelet, Ps 19 and 119, Baruch, Ben Sira, Wisdom, sapiential and rewritten scriptural texts from Qumran, and the Wisdom of Solomon.
:
"The present volume presents papers which were given at an international symposium at Humboldt-universitat zu Berlin in September, 2011"--Introduction. :
1 online resource (vi, 340 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004257368 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.