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Hellenistic Influence and Twins in the Gospel of Mark: Fiery Angels examines Jesus'twin disciples James and John. Jesus gives them the name Boanerges, “Sons of Zeus” referring to the Dioscuri, mythological figures known for their saving action in times of human danger and distress. This book addresses various questions prompted by Jesus'naming of James and John. Is the author embracing Hellenistic myth and mythology as part of his story? Does he portray Jesus as one who himself is influenced by Hellenistic culture, and if so, to what extent? To gain insight into these questions, Jeffrey B. Pettis examines various sources—dioscuric figures in Second Maccabees 3, three visitors in Genesis 18-19, traces of dioscurism in the Markan boat stories. Major themes include fire and sacrifice, theophany, personal saviors, and old and new religion. Of particular interest is the extent to which myth and mythology grasp the hearer's attention and occur as something which makes an impression. Does the author of Mark make use of myth for just this reason—to capture attention and to make and awaken his community to a larger world?

Aron Freidenreich offers evidence of a dynamic stage of mutual influence and parallel growth during the Pentateuch's formation process when Priestly and non-Priestly scribes expanded their works in response to one another. His critical examination of five key cases in Genesis and Exodus shows each passage to have been supplemented onto its Priestly or non-Priestly context under the influence of the competing literature even as the two corpora still existed separately. These case studies provide insight into the practices of scribal communities in Persian period Yehud as tradents selectively incorporated elements of the alternative tradition into their own writings while simultaneously rebuffing ideas and beliefs that they opposed. Such scribal activity was pivotal in precipitating the most crucial moment in the Pentateuch's development: the combination of its Priestly and non-Priestly materials.

In this refreshing exploration of Judah's identity formation, the emphasis is placed on the psychological underpinnings of Judah's sentiments towards Israel, aiming to illuminate the significance of Judah's appropriation of Israel. Richly contextual, this book draws parallels observed in Asian contexts, notably those of North and South Korea, and China with its marginal Others. Central to the thesis is that Judah's perceived inferiority to Israel played a crucial role in its quest to appropriate Israel's legacy and identity. Adopting a functionalist lens, Judah's rewriting of Israel's ancestral past is examined. The Abraham and Jacob traditions are understood as competing'identity narratives,'serving as critical discursive tools to construct their pasts. The study scrutinizes how the southern Abraham tradition fundamentally reoriented the Jacob tradition, North Israel's standalone ancestral myth. Set against the broader canvas of continued efforts to redefine and embody'Israel'within the history of Judeo-Christian religions, this exploration underscores how Judah's pivotal appropriation of Israel has established a paradigm for all future endeavors of'becoming Israel.'

Consacrée à l'histoire des religions du Proche-Orient ancien, Mythopoeïa est une revue trilingue, pluridisciplinaire, transculturelle et loin de toute appartenance institutionnelle. Quand les études proche-orientales antiques reposent essentiellement, depuis le XIXe siècle, sur les questionnements de l'archéologie et de la linguistique, sa dimension également historico-anthropologique répond à deux objectifs : tout d'abord, offrir aux chercheurs un cadre d'expression cohérent dans une perspective de dialogue entre les différentes aires culturelles et religieuses du Proche-Orient ancien ; ensuite, permettre la diffusion auprès d'un large public de travaux universitaires novateurs.

An examination of MT Esther's relationship to the Joseph story, this study employs recent advances in author-oriented biblical intertextuality to address the debate concerning the religious purpose of the Scroll. While previous scholarship has seen Esther's divine silence indicating God's hidden hand, the characters'or readers'quiet faiths, or the secular concerns of an ancient Jewish nationalism, key aspects of Esther's allusive character illustrate how the book purposefully constructs a theology of divine absence. As good-looking Israelites continue to rise in foreign courts to deliver themselves and their people from imminent dangers, the patterns God initiated in the Egyptian past are shown to extend into the Persian present even when the divine remains out of sight. Since this diachronically-oriented analysis suggests this theological interest was developed by Esther's authors, it engages with Esther's ancient Greek witnesses to demonstrate that the MT redactors altered an earlier version of the Scroll to position the Hebrew Megillah alongside Joseph's instructive backdrop. By attending to these historical and interpretive issues, this work thus speaks to both Scroll scholarship and the study of inner-biblical allusions.

The essays in this volume, which has emerged from the Persian Period Seminar of the Society of Biblical Literature, explore biblical and comparative evidence to show how the Iron Age institutions of monarchy and temple shifted in both form and function in the Persian period. The weight given to the Davidic monarchy and Jerusalem temple in the historiography of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament invites a new examination of attitudes towards the same in Achaemenid Yehud in comparative perspective. The essays uncover new attitudes relating to the monarchy and cultic site as well as the influence, but also rejection of, Persian ideas and contribute to scholarly interest in the extent of Persian influence on the literature of ancient/biblical Israel. As such, the volume participates in, lays the groundwork for, and also shapes discussions of Persian period Yehud and its literature.

The contextual approach and form criticism are two well-established methodologies in Biblical Studies, but the natural affinities between the two have historically gone under-appreciated. Yet the substantial reconsideration of classic tenets of form-criticism that has transpired in recent memory has further separated these two like-minded methods. Through a series of case studies that carefully consider certain Old Testament texts contextually, Silhouettes of Scripture: Considering the Contextual Approach with Form-criticism considers important methodological critiques and fuse elements of both methods in order to not only re-focus natural affinities but also more precisely define how contextual studies could proceed. Initiated by a literary trigger, Schreiner and Holland's method navigates between what has been called'parallel-o-mania'and'parallel-anonia'to consider a range of similarities and differences in terms of broad and narrow convergences. The result is a work that not only looks upon well-known parallels with fresh eyes but also seeks to establish new trajectories.

Urmas Nõmmik untersucht die Anfänge der Erzelternerzählungen im Kontext der Königshöfe im alten Israel und Juda. Die mit Literar- und Redaktionskritik kombinierte Motivgeschichte bzw. Motivkritik erlaubt einen Einblick in die Verbindungen zwischen den ältesten Genesis-Texten, anderen alttestamentlichen Texten und den altorientalischen Hoftraditionen. Einzelne Jakoberzählungen in Gen 25•, 27•, 28• und 32• sowie ihre älteste Kombination im Zyklus Gen 25-33•, aber auch die Isaakerzählung in Gen 26• und die Lot-Sodom-Erzählung in Gen 19• liefern zahlreiche Motivverbindungen zu nordwestsemitischen und mesopotamischen Texten. Besonders sind aber die strukturellen Parallelen in alttestamentlichen (Gen, Num, 1-2 Sam, 1-2 Kön), hethitischen und mesopotamischen Überlieferungen hervorzuheben. Unter den letzten sticht zumal die Gilgamesch-Tradition heraus, die sich mehr oder weniger in den Jakob-, Isaak-, Rebekka- und Lot-Erzählungen widerspiegelt.

A revealing account of the three main disciples of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, an essential figure in Orthodox Judaism in America Orthodox Judaism is one of the fastest-growing religious communities in contemporary American life. Anyone who wishes to understand more about Judaism in America will need to consider the tenets and practices of Orthodox Judaism: who its adherents are, what they believe in, what motivates them, and to whom they turn for moral, intellectual, and spiritual guidance. Among those spiritual leaders none looms larger than Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, heir to the legendary Talmudic dynasty of Brisk and a teacher and ordainer of thousands of rabbis during his time as a Talmud teacher at Yeshiva University from the Second World War until the 1980s. Soloveitchik was not only a Talmudic authority but a scholar of Western philosophy. While many books and articles have been written about Soloveitchik's legacy and his influence on American Orthodoxy, few have looked carefully at his disciples in Torah and Talmud study, and even fewer at his disciples in Jewish thought and philosophy. Soloveitchik's Children: Irving Greenberg, David Hartman, Jonathan Sacks, and the Future of Jewish Theology in America is the first book to study closely three of Soloveitchik's major disciples in Jewish thought and philosophy: Rabbis Irving (“Yitz”) Greenberg, David Hartman, and Jonathan Sacks. Daniel Ross Goodman narrates how each of these three major modern Jewish thinkers learned from and adapted Soloveitchik's teachings in their own ways, even while advancing his philosophical and theological legacy. The story of religious life and Judaism in contemporary America is incomplete without an understanding of how three of the most consequential Jewish thinkers of this generation adapted the teachings of one of the most consequential Jewish thinkers of the previous generation. Soloveitchik's Children tells this gripping intellectual and religious story in a learned and engaging manner, shining a light on where Jewish religious thought in the United States currently stands—and where it may be heading in future generations.

Recent scholarship on Hebrews has focused on Christ's sacrifice, resurrection, atonement, and priesthood. Though these discussions focus on the pre-and-post ascension mediatorial role of Jesus, there has been minimal attention paid to'intercession'as the present mediatorial task of Jesus in heaven. In this volume, Abeneazer G. Urga examines the background and nature of Jesus'heavenly intercession in the Epistle to the Hebrews. He demonstrates that the author of Hebrews has primarily depended on the LXX and some texts of the New Testament - while remaining cognizant of the theme of intercession in Second Temple Literature - in the formulation of the motif of Jesus'high priestly intercession. Urga also argues that Jesus'heavenly intercession is vocalis et realis, and that his intercession is made in order to procure help and the forgiveness of sin for God's people in their time of need.

Nesta introdução abrangente às Escrituras, Leland Ryken organiza passagens bíblicas em gêneros literários que abarcam narrativas, poesia, provérbios, drama e mostra que conhecer as características de um gênero enriquece o entendimento de passagens individuais. Esta obra está repleta de excelentes considerações sobre livros e passagens do Antigo e Novo Testamentos, considerações que a maioria dos comentaristas não trata. Este é um livro fundamental de crítica literária da Bíblia. Seu formato é simples: combina comentários teóricos sobre diversos aspectos literários da Bíblia com exposições de textos selecionados para ilustrar a teoria. A intenção do autor é que essa combinação de teoria e ilustração forneça uma metodologia para que seus leitores possam também aplicá-la a outros textos bíblicos. Aqueles que estudam, pregam ou ensinam as Escrituras acrescentarão este livro a suas obras de referência mais consultadas e o manterão sempre à mão.

Nesta história notável e aclamada do desenvolvimento do monoteísmo, Mark S. Smith explica como a religião de Israel evoluiu de um culto a Yahweh como uma divindade primária entre muitos a uma fé monoteísta totalmente definida com Yahweh como único deus. Repudiando a visão tradicional de que Israel era fundamentalmente diferente em cultura e religião de seus vizinhos cananeus, este livro provocador argumenta que a religião israelita se desenvolveu, pelo menos em parte, a partir da religião de Canaã. Com base em fontes epigráficas e arqueológicas, Smith demonstra convincentemente que a religião israelita não era uma rejeição total dos deuses pagãos estrangeiros, mas, antes, era o resultado do estabelecimento progressivo de uma identidade israelita distinta.

This interdisciplinary collection of essays explores the use and manipulation of ancient textual sources from different settings across the ancient Mediterranean as a key to understanding the dissemination of religious and mythological knowledge in different historical contexts. In a series of case studies focusing on texts and artifacts from ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Israel, Greece, and Rome, and their ancient as well as modern reuse, this volume displays multiple approaches to and perspectives on strategies of incorporation of derivative materials in antiquity and beyond. Contributors: Ilaria Andolfi, Heike Behlmer, Francesca Boldrer, Laura Carlson Hasler, Michael Chen, Silvia Gabrieli, Szilvia Jáka-Sövegjártó, Gina Konstantopoulos, Chiara Meccariello, Tonio Mitto, So Miyagawa, Dustin Nash, Przemys?aw Piwowarczyk, Jennifer Singletary, Georgios Vassiliades, Nereida Villagra, Mathias Winkler, David P. Wright, Marie Young, Carlos Gracia Zamacona

Neste excelente comentário de Levítico (1º lugar nas mais importantes listas de comentários de Levítico), Gordon Wenham trata com igual seriedade tanto o sentido original do texto quanto seu significado teológico perene. No empenho de recuperar o sentido original, Wenham se fundamenta em estudos dos rituais e sacrifícios do Antigo Testamento que comparam e contrastam os costumes bíblicos com as práticas de diversas culturas do Oriente Próximo. Ele também examina detidamente a obra de antropologistas sociais e se utiliza, com maestria, de métodos da crítica literária para trazer à tona os interesses especiais do autor bíblico. No seu empenho de ressaltar o valor teológico permanente de Levítico, Wenham trata, ao final de cada seção, de como as passagens do Antigo Testamento estão relacionadas ao Novo Testamento e ao cristianismo contemporâneo. Ao fazê-lo, ele não somente mostra que Levítico é um livro muito presente no Novo Testamento, mas também realça de maneira muito prática o chamado contínuo e repetido de Deus à santidade na vida dos cristãos hoje.

This volume presents essays by Adela Yarbro Collins on the Gospel of Mark originally published between 1993 and 2021. The earlier ones were written while preparing to write the Hermeneia commentary on Mark, published in 2007. The later ones reflect the author's continuing interest in the interpretation of this Gospel. Major foci of the collection are the genre of Mark and of the passion narrative, and the meaning of the death of Jesus. She approaches the portrayal of Jesus in Mark by analyzing a particularly striking miracle-story, the walking on the water; the title Son of God; Jesus's action in the temple; the messianic secret; and particular aspects of Jesus's Jewishness. Another important topic is the significance of the empty tomb, that is, how the author of Mark envisioned the resurrected life of Jesus. Clues to this are found in the cultural contexts in which the Gospel was written.

The contributors to this volume address three central approaches in biblical interpretation: historical settings, intertextuality, and biblical theology. The first section traces and reassesses the multifaceted aspects relevant to the historical settings of the ancient texts, writers, and worlds. The second section describes the comparative analysis of biblical literature, with inner-biblical or non-biblical texts, not only to improve textual meanings but also to deepen the relationship between biblical texts and their contexts. The final section highlights theological approaches to the Hebrew Bible, addressing the themes of Jewish theology, justice, theophany, loss, and trauma, while confronting significant ethical and theological challenges.

The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Religion is the first to bring together an extensive interdisciplinary engagement with the multiple ways in which the concepts and practices of translation and religion intersect.The book engages a number of scholarly disciplines in conversation with each other, including the study of translation and interpreting, religion, philosophy, anthropology, history, art history, and area studies. A range of leading and emerging international specialists critically engage with changing understandings of the key categories ‘translation'and ‘religion'as discursive constructs, thus contributing to the development of a new field of academic study, translation and religion. The 28 contributions, divided into six parts, analyze how translation constructs ideas, texts, or objects as ‘sacred'or for ‘religious purposes', often in competition with what is categorized as ‘non-religious.'The part played by faith communities is treated as integral to analyses of the role of translation and religion. It investigates how or why translation functions in re-constructing and transforming religion(s) and for whom and examines a range of ‘sacred texts'in translation— from the written to the spoken, manuscript to print, paper to digital, architectural form to objects of sacred art, intersemiotic scriptural texts, and where commentary, exegesis and translation interweave.This Handbook is an indispensable scholarly resource for researchers in translation studies and the study of religions.

The discourse of prayer responds to the abiding lure of transcendence. From Gilgamesh to the primordial human beings in Eden to Odysseus, the quest for ultimate truths has summoned forth all manner of human effort - courageous, desperate, pious, impious, successful, failed, invited, forbidden - and like all such lures, one can never be certain whether the glimmer of transcendence is that of a bright and shining star that illuminates the shadows or only a shiny object that seduces one into an inescapable darkness (a fishing lure, for example). In this study, Samuel E. Balentine demonstrates how prayer's invocation of God transgresses the limits of human beings. The author shows how inviting, let alone commanding God to speak may be the'acme of bardic pretention,'but in the ancient world such transgression characterizes the audacity of prayer.

A Trindade, obra premiada em sua primeira edição, aparece agora atualizada, revisada e ampliada. Faltava uma obra de peso sobre aquela que é a doutrina mais importante da teologia cristã: a doutrina da Trindade. E foi Robert Letham quem realizou essa missão, oferecendo uma cuidadosa pesquisa sobre'Aquele que é totalmente transcendente e incompreensível'. Depois de examinar os fundamentos bíblicos da doutrina, Letham traçou seu desenvolvimento histórico, enfrentou o debate contemporâneo e abordou quatro questões fundamentais sobre a Trindade: (1) a encarnação, (2) adoração e oração, (3) criação e missões e (4) pessoas. Esta nova edição também trata dos avanços nos estudos de Agostinho, do ensino da Trindade e da eleição na obra de Barth, das relações entre Oriente e Ocidente e dos debates entre evangélicos acerca da relação entre o Filho e o Pai.

Untangling the growth of the Jacob Cycle and the historical realities behind it is of enduring interest, as the studies on the Jacob Cycle in recent years indicate. It seems to be one of the oldest origin traditions preserved in the Hebrew Bible. In spite of the previous consensus in the field, new studies and current archaeological findings have scrutinized several of the previous'certainties', leading to a debate on whether some of the basic assumptions should be modified or even rejected. This volume comprises seven articles from renowned international specialists in the field that offer comprehensive insights into new approaches and current research questions. The unique perspective lays in its combining of literary, archaeological, and historical approaches in order to understand and to evaluate the historical realities behind the Jacob Cycle and its traditions.

Uma das características marcantes do Senhor, Deus de Israel, como personagem protagonista na narrativa sobre o êxodo – contada nos últimos quatro livros do Pentateuco – é que ele fala. Focando somente no livro do Êxodo, trata-se, pois, da ação mais frequente de Deus: setenta e sete introduções aos discursos diretos chamam a atenção do leitor para os discursos divinos. Dentro da macronarrativa sobre o êxodo, alguns discursos diretos do Senhor adquirem importância ímpar pelo fato de neles Deus se referir a seu nome e, assim, insistir em sua presença e disposição de relacionar-se com seu povo. Nesse sentido, também o que se ouve ou se lê em Ex 34,6c-7d chama a atenção do leitor. De um modo especial, chama a atenção, logo no início do discurso, a dupla presença do tetragrama (יהוה), conjunto de quatro consoantes hebraicas que formam o nome de Deus. O resultado das pesquisas apresentadas neste livro visa proporcionar ao leitor o estudo do discurso direto atribuído ao Senhor, Deus de Israel, contido em Ex 34,6c-7d, em que, segundo a macronarrativa do êxodo, as palavras desse discurso foram proferidas enquanto o povo hebreu, recém-libertado da escravidão no Egito, se encontrava acampado no Monte Sinai (Ex 34,6c-7d). No caso, por meio de suas palavras, o Senhor, ao passar por Moisés, se apresentou a este último, pondo em destaque um conjunto de qualidades suas, que iriam nortear seu comportamento frente àqueles que ele se propunha a pôr em liberdade.

Walton guia o leitor em uma viagem pelo mundo da Bíblia hebraica e faz com que os textos antigos ganhem vida. Nesta obra, John H. Walton, coautor do Comentário histórico-cultural do AT, investiga como os povos vizinhos de Israel pensavam sobre os deuses e seus templos, sobre a formação do universo, sobre os seres humanos e seus governantes e até mesmo sobre sua produção cultural, a fim de desvendar como tudo isso moldou a forma como Israel pensava acerca de si, do mundo e de Deus. Walton vai além do academicismo e mantém um objetivo prático ao longo da obra: ajudar seus leitores a aperfeiçoar a exegese do Antigo Testamento com base em informações do mundo antigo. Com dezenas de ilustrações e quadros com análises comparativas, Pensamento do antigo Oriente Próximo é um recurso indispensável para todos que desejam estudar e expor o texto bíblico fielmente.

Esta brilhante exposição de Beale ilumina o tema do Tabernáculo e do Templo ao longo da Bíblia e revela como seu significado e simbolismo podem ser mais bem compreendidos à luz do contexto e dos pressupostos do antigo Oriente Próximo. Beale apresenta não só novas percepções sobre o significado do templo no Antigo e no Novo Testamento, mas mostra como a visão do templo em Apocalipse 21 e 22 se relaciona com os cristãos e com nosso papel no cumprimento da missão da igreja. Como afirma Beale,'Nós, como povo de Deus, já começamos a ser o templo de Deus do fim dos tempos, onde a presença dele é manifesta ao mundo, e devemos ampliar os limites do novo jardim-templo até que Cristo retorne, quando, finalmente, esses limites se estenderão a todo o mundo'.

A mais completa análise feita até hoje dos textos bíblicos relacionados à homossexualidade. Com argumentos incisivos e bem articulados, Robert Gagnon demonstra que a Bíblia é unânime em definir a relação homossexual como pecado. Ao mesmo tempo, o autor estabelece um diálogo rigoroso com estudiosos da Bíblia e historiadores que se posicionam contra ou a favor desse entendimento. Gagnon também demonstra sistematicamente por que as tentativas de classificar a posição conservadora cristã em relação à homossexualidade como inaplicável aos dias de hoje não fazem justiça aos textos bíblicos. Suas conclusões são claras e compassivas, pois adverte os leitores de todos os lados do debate contra um evangelho mutilado, desafiando-nos a uma visão holística do mandamento de amar a Deus e ao próximo.

This volume discusses the topics of sin, suffering, and evil in the Hebrew Bible. It gathers fresh and innovative perspectives provided by internationally renowned biblical scholars that not only demonstrate ways in which these topics are dealt with in the Hebrew Bible itself, but also map out their lasting impact on human experience of suffering throughout history. Put into dialogue with the thought-provoking work of Fredrik Lindström, the volume provides a diversity of methodological approaches to the question of human suffering and God's role in it, ranging from discussions of monism in the Hebrew Bible, through deconstructive readings of evil in the Exodus narrative, to the processing of suffering at the Dachau concentration camp, and ways that the dynamics of good and evil might play out in a technological future dominated by artificial intelligence.

Few topics are as broad or as daunting as the God of Israel, that deity of the world's three monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, who has been worshiped over millennia. In the Hebrew Bible, God is characterized variously as militant, beneficent, inscrutable, loving, and judicious. Who is this divinity that has been represented as masculine and feminine, mythic and real, transcendent and intimate? The Origin and Character of God is Theodore J. Lewis's monumental study of the vast subject that is the God of Israel. In it, he explores questions of historical origin, how God was characterized in literature, and how he was represented in archaeology and iconography. He also brings us into the lived reality of religious experience. Using the window of divinity to peer into the varieties of religious experience in ancient Israel, Lewis explores the royal use of religion for power, prestige, and control; the intimacy of family and household religion; priestly prerogatives and cultic status; prophetic challenges to injustice; and the pondering of theodicy by poetic sages. A volume that is encyclopedic in scope but accessible in tone and was honored with all three of the major awards in the field in three seperate disciplines (American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR) 2020 Frank Moore Cross Award, 2021 American Academy of Religion Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion, 2021 Biblical Archaeology Society Biennial Publication Award for the Best Book Relating to the Hebrew Bible), The Origin and Character of God is an essential addition to the growing scholarship of one of humanity's most enduring concepts.

Die Zeit des Dritten Reichs stellte die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft vor die Existenzfrage. Die völkische Ideologie, die mit der nationalsozialistischen Machtübernahme staatstragend geworden war, verwarf die Schriften des Alten Testaments als jüdisches Buch. Die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft sah sich deshalb gezwungen, ihre Arbeit inhaltlich und theologisch zu legitimieren. Viele Alttestamentler versuchten daher, eine bleibende Bedeutung des Alten Testaments mit der in ihm zum Ausdruck kommenden besonderen Stellung des Volksgedankens zu begründen. Cornelia Weber untersucht die Entstehung des völkischen Gedankens und den sogenannten'Streit um das Alte Testament'. Sie konzentriert sich dabei auf Person und Werk des Alttestamentlers Johannes Hempel (1891-1964), der sich als Professor für Altes Testament und als Herausgeber der Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft in der Zeit der Weimarer Republik einen Namen gemacht hat. Der Weg seines politischen Engagements führte Johannes Hempel 1933 zu den Deutschen Christen und machte in der Nachkriegszeit eine wissenschaftliche Karriere weitgehend unmöglich. Vor diesem Hintergrund reflektiert Cornelia Weber das wissenschaftliche Werk Hempels und macht deutlich, wie sehr sich in der Auslegung des biblischen Volksbegriffs während des Nationalsozialismus wissenschaftliche Fragestellungen mit biographischen und politisch-zeitbedingten Aspekten verbanden. Johannes Hempel sah nämlich keinen Widerspruch zwischen seiner Arbeit am Alten Testament und seinem politischen Engagement für den nationalsozialistischen Staat. Er entnahm den alttestamentlichen Schriften den göttlichen Auftrag, sich für die eigene Volksgemeinschaft verantwortlich zu fühlen.

The tale of the combat between the Storm-god and the Sea that began circulating in the early second millennium BCE was one of the most well-known ancient Near Eastern myths. Its widespread dissemination in distinct versions across disparate locations and time periods - Syria, Egypt, Anatolia, Ugarit, Mesopotamia, and Israel - calls for analysis of all the textual variants in order to determine its earliest form, geo-cultural origin, and transmission history. In undertaking this task, Noga Ayali-Darshan examines works such as the Astarte Papyrus, the Pišaiša Myth, the Songs of Hedammu and Ullikummi, the Baal Cycle, Enūma eliš, and pertinent biblical texts. She interprets these and other related writings philologically according to their provenance and comparatively in the light of parallel texts. The examination of this story appearing in all the ancient Near Eastern cultures also calls for a discussion of the theology, literature, and history of these societies and the way they shaped the local versions of the myth.

Five Pentateuchal texts (Lev 24:10-23; Num 9:6-14; Num 15:32-36; Num 27:1-11; Num 36:1-12) offer unique visions of the elaboration of law in Israel's formative past. In response to individual legal cases, Yahweh enacts impersonal and general statutes reminiscent of biblical and ancient Near Eastern law collections. From the perspective of comparative law, Dylan R. Johnson proposes a new understanding of these texts as biblical rescripts: a legislative technique that enabled sovereigns to enact general laws on the basis of particular legal cases. Typological parallels drawn from cuneiform and Roman law illustrate the complex ideology informing the content and the form of these five cases. The author explores how latent conceptions of law, justice, and legislative sovereignty shaped these texts, and how the Priestly vision of law interacted with and transformed earlier legal traditions.

The underlying perspective of the present volume contributes to the recent historical debate on Yahwistic diversity in the Persian and the Hellenistic periods. A broad variety of different Yahwistic (and not necessarily Jewish) groups existed inside and outside Judah during the sixth to first century BCE, for example in Egypt (Elephantine/Jeb and Alexandria), Babylonia (al-Yahudu), Samaria, and Idumea. The main objective of the volume lies in the literary-historical implications of this diversity: How did these groups or their interactions with one another influence the formation of the Hebrew Bible as well as its complex textual transmission? This perspective has not been sufficiently pursued in the more religious and historically oriented research before. The volume comprises thirteen articles by renowned international specialists in the field, which aim at closing this gap in the scholarly discussion.

Reinhard Gregor Kratz befasst sich mit dem antiken Judentum der persischen und hellenistisch-römischen Zeit. Im Zentrum steht die von Eduard Meyer und Julius Wellhausen aufgeworfene Frage nach der Entstehung des Judentums.'[...] Kratz'exemplarische Studien zeigen den Facettenreichtum der Problematik und die ungeheure Bedeutung dieser Epoche für das Judentum, aber auch für die jüdische und christliche Bibel und so auch für das Christentum auf. Ob man nun mehr an der Historie oder an der biblischen Theologie interessiert ist, in jedem Fall ist dieser Sammelband eine willkommene und hoch spannende Lektüre.'Thomas Hieke in Bibel und Liturgie 78 (2005) S.146-147

Dieser Band umfaßt grundlegende Aufsätze des Jerusalemer Bibelwissenschaftlers Isac Leo Seeligmann, eines der herausragenden Exegeten des vorigen Jahrhunderts. Die hier vorgelegten Studien präsentieren das breite Spektrum seiner Forschungen von der biblischen Geschichtsüberlieferung und dem biblischen Recht über Untersuchungen zu Prophetie und Psalmen bis hin zur Text- und Auslegungsgeschichte der jüdischen Bibel. Wegweisend sind unter anderem seine Arbeiten zu dem Phänomen der innerbiblischen Auslegung und seine meisterhafte Verbindung literarhistorischer Fragen und textgeschichtlicher Analysen. In singulärer Weise kommt in Seeligmanns Untersuchungen eine umfassende Kenntnis der jüdischen Traditionsliteratur, aber auch der klassisch-antiken Literatur zum Tragen. Unübertroffen ist die Intensität, in der traditionelle und neuzeitliche jüdische Auslegungen mit der modernen, im protestantischen Bereich entstandenen Bibelwissenschaft ins Gespräch gebracht werden. Der Sammelband enthält neben acht bisher deutsch bzw. englisch publizierten Arbeiten zehn hebräische Aufsätze in deutscher Übersetzung, die damit erstmals einer breiteren wissenschaftlichen und theologisch interessierten Öffentlichkeit zugänglich werden. Ein für diesen Band geschriebener Beitrag von Rudolf Smend stellt Person und Werk I.L. Seeligmanns vor.

A constant re-evaluation of the new archaeological and textual material unearthed and edited in recent decades is a recurrent duty of ancient and modern scholars. Since the overwhelming amount of available data and the complexity of new methodologies can be competently handled only by specialized scholars, such a re-evaluation is no longer possible for a single scholar. For this reason, archaeologists, cuneiform and biblical scholars as well as classicists joined forces at an international conference in Rome in May 2017 to share their accumulated knowledge. The results of the proceedings are presented here in the oral stage along with the Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, and Greco-Roman periods.

The figure Balaam has interested exegetes and scribes for millennia. Jonathan Miles Robker examines the different versions of the literary character Balaam as attested in biblical and epigraphic literature. By contrasting the distinct information about Balaam presented in the various sources (the plaster inscription from Deʿir Alla, Numbers 22-24; 31; Deuteronomy 23; Joshua 13; 24; Judges 11; Micah 6; and Nehemiah 13), the author seeks to trace the development of characterizations of Balaam from the oldest available material to the youngest in the Hebrew Bible. In this way, Jonathan Miles Robker advances discourse about the literary and tradition-historical development of the texts that became the Hebrew Bible. Beyond the text of the Hebrew Bible, he also traces the continued development of Balaam's characterization through the texts of Qumran and the New Testament. To this end, the author contributes discussions of the history of religion in Antiquity.

James A. Sanders has been at the forefront of the study of canon formation, history of interpretation, and textual criticism, specializing in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the use of the Old Testament in the New. Like no one else, he is able to bring together exegetical detail with hermeneutical and theological insight. He moves deftly from exegetical, critical detail to hermeneutical options and overarching theological implications. In this important collection of essays we have the mature fruit of decades of research, including careful engagement with ancient texts and fair-minded ecumenical discourse with the greatest minds in the field. These studies laid the foundation on which today's scholarly discussion is focused.

Despite the attention that has already been paid to the theme of creation in the book of Sirach, scholarship has yet to provide a comprehensive analysis of Ben Sira's instruction regarding the cosmic order and its role in the divine bestowal of wisdom upon human beings.This book, which consists of two parts, fills a lacuna in scholarship by offering such an analysis. The first part of this study examines Ben Sira's three main treatments of the created world, thus providing a comprehensive description and synthesis of Ben Sira's doctrine concerning the created order of the cosmos. The second part of this work analyzes the place of human beings in general, and the Jewish people in particular, within the cosmic order. This second part includes an analysis of the role of the created order in Ben Sira's wisdom instruction in 1:1-10 and 24:1-34 as well as an elucidation of the way in which his treatments of various kinds of people—civic leaders, wives, doctors, manual laborers, scribes, and cultic personnel—are integral to Ben Sira's doctrine of creation. This study demonstrates that the created order is a fundamental category that Ben Sira relies upon in articulating his instructions about wisdom and wise behavior.

Ausgehend von den eherechtlichen Klauseln in altbabylonischen und mittelassyrischen Rechtstexten und einem Blick auf die Alalah-Texte, Texte aus der Euphratschleife (Emar) und die Amarnabriefe untersucht Reinhard Hillmann das Eherecht in Ugarit, wobei er auch im Alten Testament der Eisenzeit eine eherechtliche Verbindung mit der vorhergehenden babylonisch-mittelassyrischen Tradition nachzuweisen sucht. Genesis 34:11b-12 erfährt eine neue Behandlung. Der Autor entkräftet die Meinung, dass in Ugarit der Brautpreis vom Vater der Braut an die Familie des Ehemanns zurückgegeben wird. Daneben ergeben sich durch seine Analyse verschiedene Aspekte ugaritischer Ehebräuche, wobei der Nikkal-Text (CAT 1.24) sowie CAT 1.100 im Mittelpunkt stehen. Hillmann deutet CAT 1.100 als Libretto zu einem mythologischen Spiel bei akuter Schlangengefahr, die durch die Vermählung von Horon mit der Beschützerin des Weideviehs beseitigt wird.

The presence in the Bible of texts (i.e. Exo 21; Num 25; Deu 7) about violence and pointing to God as its direct agent raises many doubts in the contemporary reader. These texts understood literally can be read as an encouragement to aggression and hatred. A closer study of this type of texts based on modern research methods (i.e. historical criticism) allows a deeper understanding of their meaning and loosens their relation to God. The study of texts points that the Bible or any part of it cannot be a pretext for any kind of aggression or hatred.

The Genesis story of Cain's murder of Abel is often told as a simplistic contrast between the innocence of Abel and the evil of Cain. This book subverts that reading of the Biblical text by utilising Giorgio Agamben's concepts of homo sacer, the state of exception and the idea of sovereignty to re-examine this well-known tale of fratricide and bring to the fore its political implications. Drawing from political theory, philosophy, and psychoanalysis, this book creates a theoretical framework from which to do two things: firstly, to describe and analyse the history of interpretation of Genesis 4:1-16, and secondly to propose an alternative reading of the Biblical text that incorporates other texts inside and outside of the Biblical canon. This intertextual analysis will highlight the motives of violence, law, divine rule, and the rejected as they emerge in different contexts and will evaluate them in an Agambenian framework. The unique approach of this book makes it vital reading for any academic with interests in Biblical Studies and Theology and their interactions with politics and ethics.

Between 1780 and 1937, Jews in Germany produced numerous new translations of the Hebrew Bible into German. Intended for Jews who were trilingual, reading Yiddish, Hebrew, and German, they were meant less for religious use than to promote educational and cultural goals. Not only did translations give Jews vernacular access to their scripture without Christian intervention, but they also helped showcase the Hebrew Bible as a work of literature and the foundational text of modern Jewish identity. This book is the first in English to offer a close analysis of German Jewish translations as part of a larger cultural project. Looking at four distinct waves of translations, Abigail Gillman juxtaposes translations within each that sought to achieve similar goals through differing means. As she details the history of successive translations, we gain new insight into the opportunities and problems the Bible posed for different generations and gain a new perspective on modern German Jewish history.

'Rev. Dr. Justin Sabia-Tanis is a creative queer theologian and activist with a wealth of pastoral experience. His classic, Transgendered--Theology, Ministry and Communities of Faith, is now available again for faith communities and university students struggling to include trans-people. It is a primer for understanding the spiritual journeys of transgendered people, examining the biblical support for inclusion, and provides faith communities guidelines for hospitality. His notion of'gender as a calling'is a creative theological proposal for all of us to recognize our own gender calling and the diverse callings of the marginalized. Sabia-Tanis imaginatively uses the image of twilight space of dawn and dusk, in-between space occupied by trans-people. His theology impacted my own commitment to transgendered rights and inclusion. At this time of conservative religious targeting the advances of trans-gendered people, we need the prophetic theological voice of Justin Sabia-Tanis'compassionate inclusion.'--Rev. Dr. Robert E. Shore-Goss Queer Theologian and author of Jesus Acted Up'Justin gives tremendous insight into life at the intersection of gender identity and faith. As a transgender Latina religious leader and psychotherapist, I have referenced Justin's book in workshops and discussion groups to help allies and advocates of the transgender community to understand and promote acceptance of the transgender community. Justin's book is a must-read for clergy who want to integrate transgender community members in to their congregations.'--Nicole M. Garcia, MDiv, MA LPC'Transgendered: Theology Ministry and Communities of Faith remains a trailblazing work in the exploration of transgender identities, gender variance and Scripture, and responses of exclusion and inclusion conveyed by communities of faith. Dr. Sabia-Tanis'wide-ranging research and candid conversations about transgender persons seeking faithful spiritual identity provides a helpful framework for transgender people; and for families, friends, and communities who want to support us. Outlining explicit and implicit barriers to participation, Sabia-Tanis challenges faith communities to offer genuine hospitality and welcome to transgender and gender non-conforming people, offering several ways to extend such welcome, including liturgical resources created specifically for the transgender community. This text continues to be a valuable resource for my parish ministry, pastoral care, professional writing, and personal reflection. I am grateful to see it back in print.'--Rev. Dr. David Weekley

The present volume contains the proceedings of an international colloquium held in February 2015 at the Arts Faculty of the KU Leuven that brought together specialists in (late) ancient philosophy and early Christian studies. Contributors were asked to reflect on the reception of two foundational texts dealing with the origin of the world - the third book of Plato's Timaeus and the Genesis account of the creation. The organizers had a double aim: They wished to offer a forum for furthering the dialogue between colleagues working in these respective fields and to do this by studying in a comparative perspective both a crucial topic shared by these traditions and the literary genres through which this topic was developed and transmitted. The two reference texts have been studied in antiquity in a selective way, through citations and essays dealing with specific issues, and in a more systematic way through commentaries. The book is divided into three parts. The first one deals with the so-called Middle- and Neoplatonic tradition. The second part is dedicated to the Christian tradition and contains papers on several of the more important Christian authors who dealt with the Hexaemeron. The third part is entitled'Some Other Voices'and deals with authors and movements that combine elements from various traditions. Special attention is given to the nature and dynamics of the often close relationship between the various traditions as envisaged by Jewish-Christian authors and to the remarkable lack of interest from the Neoplatonists for'the other side'.

The Pentateuch lies at the heart of the Western humanities. Yet despite nearly two centuries of scholarship, its historical origins and its literary history are still a subject of intense discussion. Critical scholarship has isolated multiple layers of tradition, inconsistent laws, and narratives that could only have originated from separate communities within ancient Israel, and were joined together at a relatively late stage by a process of splicing and editing. Recent developments in academic biblical studies, however, jeopardize the revolutionary progress that has been accomplished over the last two centuries. The past forty years of scholarship have witnessed not simply a proliferation of intellectual models, but the fragmentation of discourse within the three main research centers of Europe, Israel, and North America. Even when they employ the same terminology (redactor, author, source, exegesis), scholars often mean quite different things. Concepts taken for granted by one group of scholars (such as the existence of the Elohist source) are dismissed out of hand by other scholarly communities. In effect, independent and sometimes competing scholarly discourses have emerged in Europe, Israel, and North America. Each centers on the Pentateuch, each operates with its own set of working assumptions, and each is confident of its own claims. This volume seeks to stimulate international discussion about the Pentateuch in order to help the discipline move toward a set of shared assumptions and a common discourse. With the wide range of perspectives examined, this publication is an invaluable resource for subsequent research.

In this study, Jonathan S. Milgram demonstrates that the transformation of inheritance law from the biblical to the tannaitic period is best explained against the backdrop of the legal and social contexts in which the tannaitic laws were formulated. Employing text and source critical methods, he argues that, in the absence of the hermeneutic underpinnings for tannaitic innovations, the laws were not the result of the rabbinic imagination and its penchant for inventive interpretation of Scripture. Turning to the rich repositories in biblical, ancient near eastern, Second Temple, Greek, Elephantine, Judean desert, and Roman sources, the author searches for conceptual parallels and antecedents as well as formulae and terminology adopted and adapted by the tannaim. Since the tannaitic traditions reflect the social and economic contexts of the tannaitic period - the nuclear family on privatized landholdings in urban centers - the author also considers the degree to which tannaitic inheritance laws may have emerged out of these contexts.

This book collects twenty two previously published essays and one new one by Erich S. Gruen who has written extensively on the literature and history of early Judaism and the experience of the Jews in the Greco-Roman world. His many articles on this subject have, however, appeared mostly in conference volumes and Festschriften, and have therefore not had wide circulation. By putting them together in a single work, this will bring the essays to the attention of a much broader scholarly readership and make them more readily available to students in the fields of ancient history and early Judaism. The pieces are quite varied, but develop a number of connected and related themes: Jewish identity in the pagan world, the literary representations by Jews and pagans of one another, the interconnections of Hellenism and Judaism, and the Jewish experience under Hellenistic monarchies and the Roman empire.

​This book addresses the need to create an “axiological epistemology”. This term refers to knowledge of what is axiological, i.e. everything related to human values, and the know-how on how to manage the study of values. In knowledge societies, we know and live axiological projects that we do not receive from anyone, but that we must construct ourselves in a situation of continuous change. In view of the fact that the axiological crisis in which we are immersed is the most serious one that humanity has suffered over its long history, the seriousness and urgency of the issue in question is evident. Adequate knowledge is required to solve this problem, which is at the root of all the problems we are experiencing. This work offers a potential solution that, in contrast to the past, cannot be definitive, but must be transformed throughout the continuous changes to ways of life as a result of technoscience. It will prove of great value to all those who must operate within human values and motivate groups, as well as to those interested in spirituality.