The book of Genesis : composition, reception, and interpretation /
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Written by leading experts in the field, The Book of Genesis: Composition, Reception, and Interpretation offers a wide-ranging treatment of the main aspects of Genesis study. Its twenty-nine essays fall under four main sections. The first section contains studies of a more general nature, including the history of Genesis in critical study, Genesis in literary and historical study, as well as the function of Genesis in the Pentateuch. In the second portion, scholars present commentary on or interpretation of specific passages (or sections) of Genesis, as well as essays on its formation, genres, and themes. The third part includes essays on the textual history and reception of Genesis in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The final section explores the theologies of the book of Genesis, including essays on Genesis and ecology and Genesis in the context of Jewish thought.
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1 online resource (xxiii, 763 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004226579 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Seeking a homelan d sojourn and ethnic identity in the ancestral narratives of Genesis /
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Sojourn is a Leitwort in the ancestral narratives of Genesis, repeatedly accentuated as an important descriptor of the patriarchs' identity and experience. This study shows that despite its connotations of alienation, sojourn language in Genesis contributes to a strong communal identity for biblical Israel. An innovative application of Anthony D. Smith's theory of ethnic myth utilizes the categories of ethnoscape, election, and communal ethics as analytical tools in the investigation of the Genesis sojourn texts. Close exegetical treatment reveals sojourn to strengthen Israel's ethnic identity in ways that are varied and at times paradoxical. Its very complexity, however, makes it particularly useful as a resource for group identity at times when straightforward categories of territorial and social affiliation may fail.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [243]-255) and index. :
9789004214705 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Closure in Biblical narrative /
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There has been much discussion of narrative aspects of the Bible in recent years, but the ends of biblical narratives - how the ends contribute to closure for their stories and how the ending strategies affect the whole narrative - have not been studied comprehensively. This study shows how the writers and editors of short narratives in Genesis gave their stories a sense of closure (or in a few cases, the sense of non-closure). Multiple and sometimes unexpected, forms of closure are identified; together these form a set of closural conventions. This contribution to narrative poetics of the Hebrew Bible in the light of source criticism will also be valuable to those who are interested in narrative and in concepts of closure.
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1 online resource (xii, 232 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004221307 :
0928-0731 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The value of human life : a study of the story of the flood (Genesis 6-9) /
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This book examines the way in which the story of the flood in Genesis 6-9 presents the ethical question of the value of human life. The sources J and P are examined to see how their combination in the canonical text enhances interpretation. Several themes of the story are studied including the causes of the flood, the righteousness of Noah, God's repentance, creation and uncreation, the covenant and the image of God. The work concludes by arguing that the value of human life is found in man's relation to God (Gen. 9:6).
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [215]-228) and indexes. :
9789004275881 :
0083-5889 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Cain and Abel in text and traditio n Jewish and Christian interpretations of the first sibling rivalry /
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The story of Cain and Abel narrates the primeval events associated with the beginnings of the world and humanity. But the presence of linguistic and grammatical ambiguities coupled with narrative gaps provided translators and interpreters with a number of points of departure for expanding the story. The result is a number of well established and interpretive traditions shared between Jewish and Christian literature. This book focuses on how the interpretive traditions derived from Genesis 4 exerted significant influence on Jewish and Christian authors who knew rewritten versions of the story. The goal is to help readers appreciate these traditions within the broader interpretive context rather than within the narrow confines of the canon.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004205826 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The return of the repressed : Pirqe de-Rabbi Eliezer and the Pseudepigrapha /
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This study analyzes mythic narratives, found in the 8th century midrashic text Pirqe de-Rabbi Eliezer (PRE), that were excluded, or 'repressed', from the rabbinic canon, while preserved in the Pseudepigrapha of the Second Temple period. Examples include the role of the Samael (i.e. Satan) in the Garden of Eden, the myth of the Fallen Angels, Elijah as zealot, and Jonah as a Messianic figure. The questions are why these exegetical traditions were excluded, in what context did they resurface, and how did the author have access to these apocryphal texts. The book addresses the assumptions that underlie classic rabbinic literature and later breaches of that exegetical tradition in PRE, while engaging in a study of the genre, dating, and status of PRE as apocalyptic eschatology.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004180611 :
1384-2161 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Genesis, Isaiah, and Psalms : a festschrift to honour Professor John Emerton for his eightieth birthday /
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Genesis, Isaiah and Psalms are three key texts in the Hebrew Bible and represent the lifelong interests of Professor John Emerton, Emeritus Regius Professor of Hebrew in the University of Cambridge, for whom this volume is written on the occasion of his eightieth birthday. The contributors have all enjoyed academic relationships with John over the years and represent a truly international group. The contributions include comparison of biblical texts with ancient Near Eastern counterparts and evaluation of them in the light of archaeology. They include intertextual work on a literary level, and traditional literary-historical approaches to texts. Many move beyond the Hebrew Bible itself to consider other texts and versions or to draw out interpretations of texts by scholars ancient and modern - and even by novelists. The result is a refreshing group of articles that indicate the broad range of approaches that characterize the discipline of Old Testament study in the present day.
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1 online resource. :
"Bibliography of the works of John Adney Emerton, 1996-2008": pages [xi]-xiv.
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004182349 :
0083-5889 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Scripture in transition : essays on Septuagint, Hebrew Bible, and Dead Sea scrolls in honour of Raija Sollamo /
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Altogether 46 essays in honour of Professor Raija Sollamo contribute to explore various aspects of the rich textual material around the turn of the era. At that time Scripture was not yet fixed; various writings and collections of writings were considered authoritative but their form was more or less in transition. The appearance of the first biblical translations are part of this transitional process. The Septuagint in particular provides us evidence and concrete examples of those textual traditions and interpretations that were in use in various communities. Furthermore, several biblical concepts, themes and writings were reinterpreted and actualised in the Dead Sea Scrolls, illuminating the transitions that took place in one faction of Judaism. The topics of the contributions are divided into five parts: Translation and Interpretation; Textual History; Hebrew and Greek Linguistics; Dead Sea Scrolls; Present-Day.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789047442479 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Abraham, the nations, and the Hagarite s Jewish, Christian, and Islamic perspectives on kinship with Abraham /
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Jews, Christians and Muslims describe their origins with close reference to the narrative of Abraham, including the complex story of Abraham's relation to Hagar. This volume sketches the history of interpretation of some of the key passages in this narrative, not least the verses which state that in Abraham all the nations of the earth will be blessed. This passage, which features prominently in Christian historiography, is largely disregarded in ancient Judaism, prompting the question how the relation between Abraham and the nations was perceived in Jewish sources. This focus is supplemented with the question how Islamic historiography relates to the Abraham narrative, and in particular to the descent of the Arabs from Abraham through Ishmael and Hagar. In studying the traditional readings of these narratives, the volume offers a detailed yet wide-ranging analysis of important aspects of the accounts of their origins which emerged within the three Abrahamic religions.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004216495 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Jacob's wealt h an examination into the nature and role of material possessions in the Jacob-cycle (Gen 25:19-35:29) /
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Various biblical studies on wealth and poverty have been published over the last thirty years. Some of these studies touch on the wealth of the patriarchs in Genesis 12-50, but they focus predominantly on other parts of the Bible. Scholars who have studied the patriarchal narratives in detail comment on aspects of patriarchal wealth, but do not offer an in-depth analysis of this topic. This book on Jacob's wealth shows that such an analysis is warranted. In the Jacob story, material possessions and their associated attitudes and actions are essential to understand the various relationship dynamics. Often, possessions are the cause of conflict, but they also play a role in conflict resolution. As a result, this study contributes to a fuller understanding of the Jacob-cycle.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [325]-342) and indexes. :
9789004209596 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Abraham in the Book of Jubilees : the rewriting of Genesis 11:26-25:10 in the Book of Jubilees 11:14-23:8 /
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In Abraham in the Book of Jubilees , Jacques van Ruiten offers a systematic analysis of one of the most important and extensive Second Temple Jewish treatments of the figure of Abraham (Jub. 11:14-23:8). Given the importance of representations and reinterpretations of Abraham within Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, a careful analysis of this early source is an important contribution to research both on the evolving images of biblical patriarchs and on the history of biblical interpretation. There are many references to Jubilees in articles and books on images of Abraham. They are chosen for exegetical motifs, with little attention for its own literary and narrative dynamics, or for the specific writing and reading practices that it embodies and attests. Van Ruiten's careful analysis thus provides important context and corrective.
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1 online resource (383 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004236837 :
1384-2161 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Primeval histor y Babylonian, biblical, and Enochic : an intertextual reading /
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Most cultures have myths of origin. The Babylonians were the first to combine blocks of traditions about primeval time into primeval histories where humans had a central role. In the first millennium there were different versions that influenced the concepts of primeval history within Jewish religion, both in the Bible and in the parallel Enochic tradition. Atrahasis and the traditions of primeval dynasties had crucial impact on Genesis; the traditions of the primeval apkallus as cosmic guardians were lying behind the Enochic Watcher Story. The book offers a comprehensive analytic comparison between the images of primeval time in these three traditions. It presents new interpretations of each of these traditions and how they relate to each other.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004196124 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The exegetical encounter between Jews and Christians in late antiquity /
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The 'Exegetical Encounter between Jews and Christians in Late Antiquity' is a collection of essays examining the relationship between Jewish and Christian biblical commentators. The contributions focus on analysis of interpretations of the book of Genesis, a text which has considerable importance in both Christian and Jewish tradition. The essays cover a wide range of Jewish and Christian literature, including primarily rabbinic and patristic sources, but also apocrypha, pseudepigrapha, Philo, Josephus and Gnostic texts. In bringing together the studies of a variety of eminent scholars on the topic of 'Exegetical Encounter', the book presents the latest research on the topic and illuminates a variety of original approaches to analysis of exegetical contacts between the two sets of religious groups. The volume is significant for the light it sheds on the history of relations between Jews and Christians in Late Antiquity.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004182189 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.