Protest or propaganda : war in the Old Testament book of Kings and in contemporaneous ancient Near Eastern texts /
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In this study, the war stories from the Old Testament book of Kings are compared to ten extrabiblical texts. Narratological analysis is applied to deconstruct the ideology of the respective literary compositions. The Old Testament ideology of war seems to be neither typically Israelite, as Gerhardt von Rad put it, nor commonly Ancient Near Eastern, as Manfred Weippert thought it to be. This poses the question whether the reading experience of biblical war stories is so very different from, for instance, Assyrian royal inscriptions, both in terms of its literary value and its ideological bias. Narratological analysis turns out to be a strong tool for explaining the similarities and distinctive features of the respective texts.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [689]-700) and indexes. :
9789047443414 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The Temple scroll and the Bible : the methodology of 11QT /
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That the Temple Scroll is re-written Torah is recognised, but discussion of how the Torah is used has been hampered by absence of detailed analysis of the Scroll. This volume addresses this lack by careful examination of major portions of the Scroll. Representative portions of each division of the Scroll are analyzed, first to establish precisely which biblical texts are used, and then to show how these texts are placed in relation to each other. From this study, a specific editorial methodology is uncovered. The final chapter summarises the conclusions and discusses implications for wider Qumran studies. This book provides data essential not only to further the discussion on the exegetical methodology of this Scroll, but also for insight into the transition from "inner-biblical" exegesis to rabbinic commentary.
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Revision of the author's thesis--University of Manchester, 1990. :
1 online resource (x, 268 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 245-258) and index. :
9789004350168 :
0169-9962 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Egyptianizing figurines from Delos : a study in Hellenistic religion /
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This book investigates Hellenistic popular religion through an interdisciplinary study of terracotta figurines of Egyptian deities, mostly from domestic contexts, from the trading port of Delos. A comparison of the figurines' iconography to parallels in Egyptian religious texts, temple reliefs, and ritual objects suggests that many figurines depict deities or rituals associated with Egyptian festivals. An analysis of the objects' clay fabrics and manufacturing techniques indicates that most were made on Delos. Additionally, archival research on unpublished notes from early excavations reveals new data on many figurines' archaeological contexts, illuminating their roles in both domestic and temple cults. The results offer a new perspective on Hellenistic reinterpretations of Egyptian religion, as well as the relationship between "popular" and "official" cults.
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1 online resource (xix, 731 pages, [80] pages of plates) : illustrations (some color) :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004222663 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
From a virgin womb : the Apocalypse of Adam and the virgin birth /
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Scholarly researches on the virgin birth have often focussed rather narrowly on the theological and historical difficulties it tends to raise. The Nag Hammadi Apocalypse of Adam, however, provides for the first time a glimpse into the wider background of ideas and myths to which it belonged. Prophecies there concerning a universal 'Illuminator' mention his birth 'from a virgin womb'. Several of the stories, drawn from Iranian and other sources , also appear in apocalyptic and testamental literature contemporary with Christian origins. The book centrally analyses a body of extraordinarily detailed narrative parallels between a cluster of stories in the Apocalypse and the infancy narratives of Mt. 1-2, concluding that these stories serve to identify Jesus as the True Prophet who is the fulfilment of history - though not as Son of God. The question of Mt.'s special tradition and its relation to Lk. is also cast in a new light.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [211]-217) and index. :
9789047423577 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The Dead Sea Genesis Apocryphon : a new text and translation with introduction and special treatment of columns 13-17 /
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The so-called Genesis Apocryphon (1Q20) from Qumran Cave 1 has suffered from decades of neglect, due in large part to its poor state of preservation. As part of a resurgent scholarly interest in the Apocryphon, and its prominent position among the Aramaic Dead Sea Scrolls, this volume presents a fresh transcription, translation, and exstenive textual notes drawing on close study of the original manuscript, all available photographs, and previous publications. In addition, a detailed analysis of columns 13-15 and their relation to the oft-cited parallel in the Book of Jubilees reveals a number of ways in which the two works differ, thereby highlighting several distinctive features of the Genesis Apocryphon. The result is a reliable text edition and a fuller understanding of the message conveyed by this fragmentary but fascinating retelling of Genesis.
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Revision of author's thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Notre Dame, 2007 under title: The Genesis Apocryphon (1Q20) : a reevaluation of its text, interpretive character, and relationship to the Book of Jubilees. :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [307]-313) and indexes. :
9789047443018 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Themistius' paraphrase of Aristotle's Metaphysics 12 : a critical Hebrew-Arabic edition of the surviving textual evidence, with an introduction, preliminary studies, and a commenta...
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Themistius' (4th century CE) paraphrase of Aristotle's Metaphysics 12 is the earliest surviving complete account of this seminal work. Despite leaving no identifiable mark in Late Antiquity, Themistius' paraphrase played a dramatic role in shaping the metaphysical landscape of Medieval Arabic and Hebrew philosophy and theology. Lost in Greek, and only partially surviving in Arabic, its earliest full version is in the form of a 13th century Hebrew translation. In this volume, Yoav Meyrav offers a new critical edition of the Hebrew translation and the Arabic fragments of Themistius' paraphrase, accompanied by detailed philological and philosophical analyses. In doing so, he provides a solid foundation for the study of one of the most important texts in the history of Aristotelian metaphysics.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004400443
Wisdom in loose form : the language of Egyptian and Greek proverbs in collections of the Hellenistic and Roman periods /
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This book examines Ancient Egyptian and Greek proverbs, as they are found in wisdom collections, circulating in Egypt and Greece of the Hellenistic and Roman periods. Its examination compares the proverbs' grammar, structure, style, theme and usage within the collections. This multi-leveled comparison results in the indentification of a great number of similarities and differences that are interpreted in cultural terms, that is, through their association with the cultural context of production and usage of the proverbs. Hence this study offers an original insight into the literary production in Ancient Egypt and Greece, comparing the manner Egyptian and Greek authors conveyed timeless wisdom and reconsidering the status of cultural contact between these two ancient Mediterranean civilizations.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047420538 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Wealth in the Dead Sea scrolls and in the Qumran community /
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This volume is concerned with exploring sectarian attitudes toward wealth and the economic practices that gave rise to and issued from those attitudes. An introductory chapter establishes the state of the question. Three subsequent chapters focus on major sectarian texts: the Damascus Document, the Rule of the Community, and 4QInstruction A. Other sectarian and non-sectarian texts that mention wealth are discussed in a fifth chapter, while archaeological evidence from the Qumran region and contemporary documentary texts are introduced in chapters seven and eight. Finally, ancient secondary testimony on Essene economic practices is discussed. The book breaks new ground in arguing for several biblical rationales for the practice of shared wealth. Its integration of archaeological and documentary evidence sheds surprising new light on the economic organization of the Qumran community.
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1 online resource (xxi, 672 pages, 10 pages of plates) : illustrations, maps. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 541-571) and index. :
9789047400653 :
0169-9962 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Instructions for the netherworld : the Orphic gold tablets /
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Orphic gold tables are key documents for the knowledge of rites and beliefs of Orphics, an atypical group that configured a highly original creed and that influenced powerfully over other Greek writers and thinkers. The recent discovery of some tablets has forced a noteworthy modification of some points of view and a review ofthe different hypothesis proposed about them. The book presents a complete edition of the texts, their translation and some fundamental keys for their interpretation, in an attempt at updating our current knowledge on Orphic ideas about the soul and the Afterlife stated in those texts. The work is improved with an appendix of iconographic annotations in which some plastic representations in drawings are reproduced related to the universe of tablets, selected and commented on by Ricardo Olmos.
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1 online resource (xii, 379 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047423744 :
0927-7633 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
John the Physician's Therapeutics : a medical handbook in vernacular Greek /
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The Therapeutics of John the Physician is a medical handbook from the thirteenth century, holding important new evidence on medicine as craft. Of particular interest is a vernacular version of the text, which also contains a commentary. Here, an unknown reviser vividly describes cases and medical procedures, a type of knowledge rarely encountered in scholarly texts. In the present volume, the Therapeutics is published for the first time, along with a translation and an introduction to the topic. Apart from insights into medical history, the text also yields a large quantity of new material on the medical terminology used in everyday language and brings to life the development from ancient to modern Greek. The editorial technique may be of interest to those working on digital humanities.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789047430674 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Material and Digital Reconstruction of Fragmentary Dead Sea Scrolls : The Case of 4Q418a /
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This book presents an innovative and comprehensive method for reconstructing fragmentary scrolls in a digital environment. The method enables extracting maximum information from the fragments. It is exemplified on the scroll 4Q418a, a fragmentary copy of Instruction.
Scholars working with ancient scrolls seek ways to extract maximum information from the multitude of fragments. Various methods were applied to that end on the Dead Sea Scrolls as well as on other ancient texts. The present book augments these methods to a full-scale protocol, while adapting them to a new computerized environment. Fundamental methodological issues are illuminated as part of the discussion, and the potential margin of error is provided on an empirical basis, as practiced in the sciences. The method is then exemplified with regard to the scroll 4Q418a, a copy of a wisdom composition from Qumran.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004473058
9789004473041
Judaism and Hellenism reconsidered /
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This book is a collection of 26 previously published articles, with a number of additions and corrections, and with a long new introduction on "The Influence of Hellenism on Jews in Palestine in the Hellenistic Period." The articles deal with such subjects as "Homer and the Near East," "The Septuagint," "Hatred and Attraction to the Jews in Classical Antiquity," "Conversion to Judaism in Classical Antiquity," "Philo, Pseudo-Philo, Josephus, and Theodotus on the Rape of Dinah," "The Influence of the Greek Tragedians on Josephus," "Josephus' Biblical Paraphrase as a Commentary on Contemporary Issues," "Parallel Lives of Two Lawgivers: Josephus' Moses and Plutarch's Lycurgus," "Rabbinic Insights on the Decline and Forthcoming Fall of the Roman Empire."
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [813]-843) and indexes. :
9789047408734 :
1384-2161 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The Jewish Neo-Aramaic dialect of Challa /
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Aramaic has been spoken uninterruptedly for more than 3000 years, yet a generation from now most Aramaic dialects will be extinct. The study of the Northeastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA) dialects has increased dramatically in the past decade as linguists seek to record these dialects before the disappearance of their last speakers. This work is a unique documentation of the now extinct Jewish Neo-Aramaic dialect of Challa (modern-day Çukurca, Turkey). It is based on recordings of the last native speaker of the dialect, who passed away in 2007. In addition to a grammatical description, it contains sample texts and a glossary of the dialect. Jewish Challa belongs to the cluster of NENA dialects known as 'lishana deni' and reference is made throughout to other dialects within this group.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [307]-314). :
9789047430261 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Discovering Tutankhamun : from Howard Carter to the Golden City /
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"Penned by one of the world's best known Egyptologists, former Egyptian minister of state for antiquities Zahi Hawass, who was personally involved in research into the enigmatic young pharaoh, this revised and updated edition of Discovering Tutankhamun reviews the current state of our knowledge about the life, death, and burial of Tutankhamun in light of the latest investigations and newest technology, including the CT scans that finally revealed the identity of Tutankhamun's mother. Hawass places the king in the broader context of Egyptian history, unraveling the intricate and much debated relationship between various members of the royal family, and the circumstances surrounding the turbulent Amarna period. He also succinctly explains the religious background and complex beliefs in the afterlife that defined and informed many features of Tutankhamun's tomb. The history of the exploration of the Valley of the Kings is discussed, as well as the background and mutual relationships of the main protagonists. The tomb and its most important treasures are described and illustrated, and the modern X-raying and CT-scanning of the king's mummy are presented in detail. The description of the latest DNA examination of the mummies of Tutankhamun and members of his family, much of which was never made known to the public, is one of the most absorbing parts of the book and demonstrates that scientific methods may produce results that cannot be paralleled by traditional Egyptology. This updated and revised edition recounts untold stories from 1922 about Howard Carter and his momentous discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb. It also includes a whole new chapter dedicated to the Golden City, which was founded by Amenhotep III, shedding new light on our knowledge of Thebes' landscape in the reign of Tutankhamun and the end of the New Kingdom."-- Provided by publisher.
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"A book for the centennial of the discovery." :
317 pages : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 29 cm. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9781649034632
Reading the Fifth Veda Studies on the Mahabharata-- Essays by Alf Hiltebeitel. Volume 1.
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Often spoken of as the 'Fifth Veda', id est, as a text in continuity with the four Vedas and outweighing them all in size and import, the Mahābhārata presents a complex mythological and narrative landscape, incorporating fundamental ethical, social, philosophic, and pedagogic issues. In a series of position pieces and essays written over a span of 30 years, Alf Hiltebeitel, Columbian Professor of Religion, History, and Human Sciences at The George Washington University, articulates a compelling new approach to the epic: as a literary work of fundamental theological and philosophical significance rich in metaphor and meaning. In this three-part volume, the editors gather some of Hiltebeitel's seminal writings on the epic along with new pieces written especially for the volume. This two volume edition collects nearly three decades of Alf Hiltebeitel's researches into the Indian epic and religious tradition. The two volumes document Hiltebeitel's longstanding fascination with the Sanskrit epics: volume 1 presents a series of appreciative readings of the Mahābhārata (and to a lesser extent, the Rāmāyaṇa), while volume 2 focuses on what Hiltebeitel has called "the underground Mahābhārata," id est, the Mahābhārata as it is still alive in folk and vernacular traditions. Recently re-edited and with a new set of articles completing a trajectory Hiltebeitel established over 30 years ago, this work constitutes a definitive statement from this major scholar. Comprehensive indices, cross-referencing, and an exhaustive bibliography make it an essential reference work. For more information on the second volume please click here .
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004216204 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Plutarch and the New Testament in Their Religio-Philosophical Contexts : Bridging Discourses in the World of the Early Roman Empire /
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How to read Plutarch in the context of New Testament studies? Almost 50 years after the seminal project on the topic led by Hans Dieter Betz, this volume elevates once again the issue's priority. Bridging discourses is a fitting description both of the religio-philosophical spirit of Plutarch, the Platonist philosopher and priest of Apollo at Delphi, and the task of bringing his writings into fruitful dialogue with the writings of the New Testament, Hellenistic Judaism, and Early Christianity. Taken together, these authors constitute the religious Platonism of the early imperial era. Contributions from the fields of New Testament, classics, philosophy, religious studies, and patristics explore various ways of how to establish these bridges.
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"Three meetings of the CHNT-group at annual meetings of the SBL from 2014-2016 were devoted to the topic of this volume.... A selection of the papers delivered at these meetings are being published in this volume, together with additional contributions." :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004505070
9789004505063
The unity of the church : a theological state of the art and beyond /
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In contrast to its original name, Ecclesia Reformata, ecclesiology did not develop into a major theme within the Reformed tradition. Notwithstanding the undeniable schismatic tendency and the ecclesial embarrassment about disunity, the unity of the church did not rise to prominence as a theological topic. This volume challenges this traditional low-key attitude towards the unity of the church. It investigates theological aspects that contributed to a weak sensus unitatis, and explores approaches that remedy the disease of division. It discusses the role played by scripture, the sacraments, confessions, and discipline; it searches for the best theological practices within other Christian traditions; it links the unity of the church to the unity of God and reformulates the nature of the church.
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The articles in this volume stem from contributions to the Seventh Biannual Conference of the academic network of International Reformed Theological Institute (IRTI) held in Cluj-Napoca, Romania from 3 to 8 July 2007. :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047443988 :
1571-4799 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The Message of the Jerusalem Council in the Acts of the Apostles : A Linguistic Stylistic Analysis /
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By applying a stylistic analysis within a systemic-functional linguistic framework, this study argues that Luke's construal of the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 and its co-thematic passages attempt to persuade Jewish believers of Luke's audience not to separate from multi-ethnic churches, a goal that is accomplished through subverting the value orientations of a prominent Noahic tradition within Second Temple Jewish literature that promotes strict Jewish isolation from Gentiles. As a result, this study breaks fresh methodological ground in the linguistic study on the New Testament and also advances critical scholarship on the book of Acts.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004510180
9789004510081
The Message of the Jerusalem Council in the Acts of the Apostles : A Linguistic Stylistic Analysis /
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By applying a stylistic analysis within a systemic-functional linguistic framework, this study argues that Luke's construal of the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 and its co-thematic passages attempt to persuade Jewish believers of Luke's audience not to separate from multi-ethnic churches, a goal that is accomplished through subverting the value orientations of a prominent Noahic tradition within Second Temple Jewish literature that promotes strict Jewish isolation from Gentiles. As a result, this study breaks fresh methodological ground in the linguistic study on the New Testament and also advances critical scholarship on the book of Acts.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004510180
9789004510081
Aëtiana : the method and intellectual context of a doxographer /
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The theme of this study is the Doxography of problems in physics from the Presocratics to the early first century BCE attributed to Aëtius. Part I focuses on the argument of the compendium as a whole, of its books, of its sequences of chapters, and of individual chapters, against the background of Peripatetic and Stoic methodology. Part II offers the first full reconstruction in a single unified text of Book II, which deals with the cosmos and the heavenly bodies. It is based on extensive analysis of the relevant witnesses and includes listings of numerous doxographical-dialectical parallels in other ancient writings. This new treatment of the evidence supersedes Diels' still dominant source-critical approach, and will prove indispensable for scholars in ancient philosophy.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047425373 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.