Method and theory in the study of religion : working papers from Hannover /
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Since the downfall of the phenomenology of religion as the leading paradigm in the study of religion in the 1960s, theoretical and methodological discussions surrounding the nature and identity of the study of religion as an academic discipline have proliferated. The essays included in this volume approach these debates from a variety of angles. Based on a series of talks held at the University of Hannover over the last few years, the essays are intended to be understood as diagnostic works in progress and thus as working papers, all of which strive to point out important problems and perspectives in the field of theories and methodology and to draw attention to the future of the discipline. Using developments in Hanover as a launch pad, the volume forms the basis for further insights into the direction of the study of religion as a discipline at large.
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1 online resource (ix, 276 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004347878 :
2214-3270 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Early Buddhist transmission and trade networks mobility and exchange within and beyond the northwestern borderlands of South Asia /
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This exploration of early paths for Buddhist transmission within and beyond South Asia retraces the footsteps of monks, merchants, and other agents of cross-cultural exchange. A reassessment of literary, epigraphic, and archaeological sources reveals hisorical contexts for the growth of the Buddhist saṅgha from approximately the 5th century BCE to the end of the first millennium CE. Patterns of dynamic Buddhist mobility were closely linked to transregional trade networks extending to the northwestern borderlands and joined to Central Asian silk routes by capillary routes through transit zones in the upper Indus and Tarim Basin. By examining material conditions for Buddhist establishments at nodes along these routes, this book challenges models of gradual diffusion and develops alternative explanations for successful Buddhist movement.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004194588 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Religion or halakha : the philosophy of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik /
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Joseph B. Soloveitchik's philosophy plays a significant role in twentieth century Jewish thought. This book focuses on the first stages of Soloveitchik's philosophy, through a systematic and detailed discussion of his essay Halakhic Man. Schwartz analyzes this essay at three main levels: first, he considers its complex writing style and relates it to Soloveitchik's aims in the writing of this work. Second, the author compares Halakhic Man to other contemporary writings of Soloveitchik. Third, he lays out the essay's philosophical background. Through this analysis, Schwartz successfully exposes hidden layers in Halakhic Man, which may not be immediately evident. This book is also available in paperback.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [359]-363) and indexes. :
9789047419990 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Transformations of the Inner Self in Ancient Religions /
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This collection of papers from two workshops - held in Heidelberg, Germany, in July 1996 and Jerusalem, Israel, in October 1997 - is concerned with anthropological rather than theological aspects of the Near Eastern and Mediterranean religions, ranging from the 'primary' religions of the archaic period and their complex developments in Egypt and Mesopotamia to the 'soteriological' movements and 'secondary' religions that emerged in Late Antiquity. The first part of the book focuses on \'Confession and Conversion\', while the second part is devoted to the topic of \'Guilt, Sin and Rituals of Purification\'. The primary purpose of this volume is to convey a sense of the dynamics and dialectical relationships between the various Near Eastern and Mediterranean religions from the archaic period to Late Antiquity.
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Two contributions in German, one in French. :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9789004379084 :
0169-8834 ;
New approaches to the study of biblical interpretation in Judaism of the Second Temple period and in early Christianity : proceedings of the Eleventh International Symposium of the...
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2007 marked the 60th anniversary of the discovery of the first Dead Sea Scrolls. The 11th International Orion Symposium (January, 2007), "New Approaches to the Study of Biblical Interpretation in the Second Temple Period and in Early Christianity," provided a measure of the ways in which the discovery of the scrolls has altered the paradigms for textual and historical studies in the intervening six decades. The papers in this volume address such issues as the connections and distinctions between Jewish interpretation within the Land of Israel and outside of it; between Jewish and Christian exegesis in earlier and later periods; between biblical interpretation in literature and in art; between interpretation and the formation of the biblical canon.
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Includes index. :
1 online resource (xiv, 302 pages) :
9789004245006 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Text, thought, and practice in Qumran and early Christianity : proceedings of the Ninth International Symposium of the Orion Center for the Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Assoc...
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The 13 papers comprising this volume represent the fruits of the first Orion Center Symposium devoted to the comparison of the Dead Sea and early Christian texts. The authors reject the older paradigm which configured the similarities between Qumran and early Christian literature as evidence of "influence" from one upon the other. They raise fresh methodological possibilities by asking how insights from each of these two corpora illuminate the other, and by considering them as parallel evidence for broader currents of Second Temple Judaism. Topics addressed include specific exegetical and legal comparisons; prophecy, demonology, and messianism; the development of canon and the rise of commentary; and possible connections between the Gospel of John and the Dead Sea Scrolls.
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Includes indexes. :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789047440161 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Jews and Christians in the first and second centuries : how to write their history /
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The papers in this volume are organized around the ambition to reboot the writing of history about Jews and Christians in the first two centuries CE. Many are convinced of the need for a new perspective on this crucial period that saw both the birth of rabbinic Judaism and apostolic Christianity and their parting of ways. Yet the traditional paradigm of Judaism and Christianity as being two totally different systems of life and thought still predominates in thought, handbooks, and programs of research and teaching. As a result, the sources are still being read as reflecting two separate histories, one Jewish and the other Christian. The contributors to the present work were invited to attempt to approach the ancient Jewish and Christian sources as belonging to one single history, precisely in order to get a better view of the process that separated both communities. In doing so, it is necessary to pay constant attention to the common factor affecting both communities: the Roman Empire. Roman history and Roman archaeology should provide the basis on which to study and write the shared history of Jews and Christians and the process of their separation. A basic intuition is that the series of wars between Jews and Romans between 66 and 135 CE - a phenomenon unrivalled in antiquity - must have played a major role in this process. Thus the papers are arranged around three focal points: (1) the varieties of Jewish and Christian expression in late Second Temple times, (2) the socio-economic, military, and ideological processes during the period of the revolts, and (3) the post-revolt Jewish and Christian identities that emerged. As such, the volume is part of a larger project that is to result in a source book and a history of Jews and Christians in the first and second centuries.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004278479 :
1877-4970 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
African and European readers of the Bible in dialogue : in quest of a shared meaning /
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Far too long, the relationship between European and African biblical scholarship has been a non-relationship. Divergent insights into how biblical texts should be interpreted and made fruitful for the current context, cultural differences, colonial past and post-colonial future, radically different social situations - this all made companionship and real interaction difficult. This rich and multilayered volume (result of a Stellenbosch conference 2006) attempts to disclose new modes of dialogue between readers of the Bible from those two worlds. More than twenty theologians from Africa and Europe reflect together on how readers from radically different contexts - professional and ordinary alike -, may become allies in an ethically accountable way of relating the biblical text to their current (global) situations and how a process of mutual learning may be established. This book provides important insights in intercultural hermeneutics, the relationship between classical historico-literary approaches and new forms of interpretation. It also gives examples of new forms of how to read the Bible in the secularised European context and the HIV/Aids stricken Africa. Particularly enriching is that every contribution is followed by a personal letter of response of another contributor to the book, giving impulses for further dialogue and debate. The book is useful for all biblical scholars and students, in particular for those interested in how to do contextual exegesis in a manner that also takes into account the context of the other.
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Result of a conference held in Stellenbosch, South Africa in January 2006. :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047442400 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The reception and interpretation of the Bible in late antiquity : proceedings of the Montréal colloquium in honour of Charles Kannengiesser, 11-13 October 2006 /
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The volume is a Festschrift offered to Charles Kannengiesser on the occasion of his 80th birthday and honours him for his numerous scholarly accomplishments. Its twenty-five contributions discuss some of the major issues pertaining to the reception and interpretation of the Bible in late antique Christianity and Judaism. They focus on the ways in which communities and individuals understood the Bible and interpreted its traditions to address their historical, social, and theological requirements. Since the Bible was by far the most important book during these centuries, a discussion of its influence in such contexts will illuminate significant aspects of the formation of western civilisation.
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1 online resource. :
"Bibliography of the works of Charles Kannengiesser": pages [543]-560).
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789047442127 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Constructing tradition means and myths of transmission in Western esotericism /
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The question of constructing tradition, concepts of origin, and memory as well as techniques and practices of knowledge transmission, are central for cultures in general. In esotericism, however, such questions and techniques play an outstanding role and are widely reflected upon, in its literature. Esoteric paradigms not only understand themselves in elaborated mytho-poetical narratives as bearers of "older", "hidden", "higher" knowledge. They also claim their knowledge to be of a particular origin. And they claim this knowledge has been transmitted by particular (esoteric) means, media and groups. Consequently, esotericism not only involves the construction of its own tradition; it can even be understood as a specific form of tradition and transmission. The various studies of the present voume, which contains the papers of a conference held in Tübingen in July 2007, provide an overview of the most important concepts and ways of constructing tradition in esotericism.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004216372 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.