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Jacob: Conflicted Twin, Aggrieved Patriarch
Published: Jun 2025
Original price was: £70.00.£30.00Current price is: £30.00.
George Savran brings his narrative interpretive approach to look closely at Jacob’s shifting identity. Jacob is indelibly linked to his brother Esau in the Genesis narrative, and their complex relationship as twins foregrounds this problematic connection. Jacob’s lineage is examined—he differs noticeably from his ancestors and his offspring in the complexity of his changing character. At times he is a “simple man” at the mercy of the demands of others; elsewhere he is a devious trickster eager to use his wits to achieve personal success. His search for a coherent identity, as it unfolds in this study, leads to his emergence as the patriarch of his family, compelled to make peace with his brother and his sons in the midst of ongoing conflict.
This study brings out how Jacob’s mature identity is clarified further by his reactions to three unusual and unexpected encounters which shed light on his ability to recalibrate his self-understanding.
- The first is his struggle with the man/angel at the Jabbok, where he receives a blessing with the name Israel, and comes to realize that his relationship to God is more complicated (and less predictable) than he had previously thought.
- An additional insight comes the following day during his reunion with Esau, as he learns to appreciate him in a new way and compares beholding his face to “seeing the face of God”. This is a remarkable admission by a brother who thought only the worst of his twin.
- Jacob’s rethinking his own self-importance emerges later in the Joseph story, when he is compelled to realizes that his insistence on his personal concerns will lead to the dissolution of his family.
Savran’s interpretation of these reactions underscores their significance in Jacob’s development, revealing a character of depth and resilience and giving new meaning to his role as the avatar of Israel.
Sale
Jacob: Conflicted Twin, Aggrieved Patriarch
Original price was: £70.00.£30.00Current price is: £30.00.
George Savran brings his narrative interpretive approach to look closely at Jacob’s shifting identity. Jacob is indelibly linked to his brother Esau in the Genesis narrative, and their complex relationship as twins foregrounds this problematic connection. Jacob’s lineage is examined—he differs noticeably from his ancestors and his offspring in the complexity of his changing character. At times he is a “simple man” at the mercy of the demands of others; elsewhere he is a devious trickster eager to use his wits to achieve personal success. His search for a coherent identity, as it unfolds in this study, leads to his emergence as the patriarch of his family, compelled to make peace with his brother and his sons in the midst of ongoing conflict.
This study brings out how Jacob’s mature identity is clarified further by his reactions to three unusual and unexpected encounters which shed light on his ability to recalibrate his self-understanding.
- The first is his struggle with the man/angel at the Jabbok, where he receives a blessing with the name Israel, and comes to realize that his relationship to God is more complicated (and less predictable) than he had previously thought.
- An additional insight comes the following day during his reunion with Esau, as he learns to appreciate him in a new way and compares beholding his face to “seeing the face of God”. This is a remarkable admission by a brother who thought only the worst of his twin.
- Jacob’s rethinking his own self-importance emerges later in the Joseph story, when he is compelled to realizes that his insistence on his personal concerns will lead to the dissolution of his family.
Savran’s interpretation of these reactions underscores their significance in Jacob’s development, revealing a character of depth and resilience and giving new meaning to his role as the avatar of Israel.
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Identity and Loyalty in the David Story: A Postcolonial Reading
Published: Oct 2008
Original price was: £40.00.£16.50Current price is: £16.50.
In this volume, Uriah Kim examines King David in a new light — the politics of identity and loyalty. He reads the David story from the North American context, in which millions of Americans are compelled to make a choice between their multiple heritages, which are inseparably encoded in their genetic or cultural makeup. In making this choice, their loyalty to their nation and to their particular racial/ethnic community is questioned if they do not define themselves with a single identity.
Kim sees a David who was radically inclusive: an egalitarian who was open to making connections with people across various boundaries and differences and who was thus able to build a multi-ethnic kingdom. Rather than basing his rule on his own tribal identity, David built his kingdom by attracting the loyalty of diverse constituents and by putting together an eclectic coalition of ethnic, tribal, and religious groups based on loyalty. It was only later, as part of the identity formation of ancient Israel, that people who were equally part of David's hybridized kingdom were separated into 'real' Israelites as opposed to 'the other' in the narrative.
In this reading, Kim leads the reader to a new understanding of David: he did not just use Realpolitik and the sword, nor did he depend totally on God's providence to establish his kingdom; rather, he practised the transgressive power of hesed ('loyalty and kindness') to forge his kingdom.
Sale
Identity and Loyalty in the David Story: A Postcolonial Reading
Original price was: £40.00.£16.50Current price is: £16.50.
In this volume, Uriah Kim examines King David in a new light — the politics of identity and loyalty. He reads the David story from the North American context, in which millions of Americans are compelled to make a choice between their multiple heritages, which are inseparably encoded in their genetic or cultural makeup. In making this choice, their loyalty to their nation and to their particular racial/ethnic community is questioned if they do not define themselves with a single identity.
Kim sees a David who was radically inclusive: an egalitarian who was open to making connections with people across various boundaries and differences and who was thus able to build a multi-ethnic kingdom. Rather than basing his rule on his own tribal identity, David built his kingdom by attracting the loyalty of diverse constituents and by putting together an eclectic coalition of ethnic, tribal, and religious groups based on loyalty. It was only later, as part of the identity formation of ancient Israel, that people who were equally part of David's hybridized kingdom were separated into 'real' Israelites as opposed to 'the other' in the narrative.
In this reading, Kim leads the reader to a new understanding of David: he did not just use Realpolitik and the sword, nor did he depend totally on God's providence to establish his kingdom; rather, he practised the transgressive power of hesed ('loyalty and kindness') to forge his kingdom.
Sale
Longing for Egypt and Other Unexpected Biblical Tales
Published: Aug 2008
Original price was: £50.00.£22.50Current price is: £22.50.
Readers of all persuasions have a tendency to privilege simple interpretations over complex, unsettling, readings. The more fraught the issue, the more often we find in the history of interpretation that a simple reading has been generated that masks its complexity.
'Longing for Egypt and Other Unexpected Biblical Tales' explores seven cases of textual complexity masked by simple readings. One chapter uncovers a counter-intuitive longing for Egypt alongside the Exodus account of liberation from persecution. Another shows how what appears to be a critical attitude in the Bible towards other gods may reflect inner-Israelite tensions rather than some principled antipathy toward others.
Yet another confronts the praise of God as a perfect king with the use of the language of divine kingship as a vehicle for constructive criticism. All seven chapters share a focus on the formation of identity. Arguably the Bible's most sensitive subject, for its authors and for present-day readers, this topic has generated a host of simple readings that conceal immense complexity.
Sale
Longing for Egypt and Other Unexpected Biblical Tales
Original price was: £50.00.£22.50Current price is: £22.50.
Readers of all persuasions have a tendency to privilege simple interpretations over complex, unsettling, readings. The more fraught the issue, the more often we find in the history of interpretation that a simple reading has been generated that masks its complexity.
'Longing for Egypt and Other Unexpected Biblical Tales' explores seven cases of textual complexity masked by simple readings. One chapter uncovers a counter-intuitive longing for Egypt alongside the Exodus account of liberation from persecution. Another shows how what appears to be a critical attitude in the Bible towards other gods may reflect inner-Israelite tensions rather than some principled antipathy toward others.
Yet another confronts the praise of God as a perfect king with the use of the language of divine kingship as a vehicle for constructive criticism. All seven chapters share a focus on the formation of identity. Arguably the Bible's most sensitive subject, for its authors and for present-day readers, this topic has generated a host of simple readings that conceal immense complexity.
Sale
Identity and Interaction in the Ancient Mediterranean: Jews, Christians and Others. Essays in Honour of Stephen G. Wilson
Published: Oct 2007
Original price was: £50.00.£22.50Current price is: £22.50.
Stephen G. Wilson was Professor of Religion at Carleton University, Ottawa, and Director of the College of Humanities until his retirement in 2007. His contributions to the study of the religious identities of Jews, Christians, and Gentiles in the first three centuries of the Common Era are widely acknowledged; his interests have been no less in the contrasting and sometimes conflicting religious identities within each of these three groups.
Among his best-known publications are The Gentiles and the Gentile Mission in Luke —Acts (1973), Luke and the Law (1983), Related Strangers: Jews and Christians 70 —170 CE (1995), and Leaving the Fold: Defectors and Apostates in Antiquity (2004). The present collection of essays develops further Wilson's researches on the general theme of identity and interaction.
The sixteen contributors to this Festschrift include Kim Stratton on curse rhetoric, Adele Reinhartz on Caiaphas, Willi Braun on meals and social formation, Philip Harland on meals and social labelling, Richard Ascough on missionizing associations, John Barclay on Judaean identity in Josephus, John Kloppenborg on the recipients of the Letter of James, Laurence Broadhurst on ancient music, Larry Hurtado on manuscripts and identity, Edith Humphey on naming in the Apocalypse, Michele Murray on the Apostolic Constitutions, Roger Beck on the Late Antique 'Horoscope of Islam', Graydon Snyder on the Ethiopian Jews, Alan Segal on Daniel Boyarin, Robert Morgan on theology vs religious studies, and William Arnal on scholarly identities in the study of Christian Origins.
Sale
Identity and Interaction in the Ancient Mediterranean: Jews, Christians and Others. Essays in Honour of Stephen G. Wilson
Original price was: £50.00.£22.50Current price is: £22.50.
Stephen G. Wilson was Professor of Religion at Carleton University, Ottawa, and Director of the College of Humanities until his retirement in 2007. His contributions to the study of the religious identities of Jews, Christians, and Gentiles in the first three centuries of the Common Era are widely acknowledged; his interests have been no less in the contrasting and sometimes conflicting religious identities within each of these three groups.
Among his best-known publications are The Gentiles and the Gentile Mission in Luke —Acts (1973), Luke and the Law (1983), Related Strangers: Jews and Christians 70 —170 CE (1995), and Leaving the Fold: Defectors and Apostates in Antiquity (2004). The present collection of essays develops further Wilson's researches on the general theme of identity and interaction.
The sixteen contributors to this Festschrift include Kim Stratton on curse rhetoric, Adele Reinhartz on Caiaphas, Willi Braun on meals and social formation, Philip Harland on meals and social labelling, Richard Ascough on missionizing associations, John Barclay on Judaean identity in Josephus, John Kloppenborg on the recipients of the Letter of James, Laurence Broadhurst on ancient music, Larry Hurtado on manuscripts and identity, Edith Humphey on naming in the Apocalypse, Michele Murray on the Apostolic Constitutions, Roger Beck on the Late Antique 'Horoscope of Islam', Graydon Snyder on the Ethiopian Jews, Alan Segal on Daniel Boyarin, Robert Morgan on theology vs religious studies, and William Arnal on scholarly identities in the study of Christian Origins.
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Incarnate Word, Inscribed Flesh: John’s Prologue and the Postmodern
Published: Aug 2007
Original price was: £50.00.£19.95Current price is: £19.95.
The pre-existent, transcendent Logos, the principal character in the prologue of John's Gospel, is a prime example of a unified and centred concept, such as denounced as illusory by deconstruction. In this ground-breaking study, Nutu offers an unremittingly postmodern scrutiny of the Logos as the incarnate word that becomes visible as it is inscribed in human flesh. Within view also is the reverse process, of becoming 'children of God', which signifies human beings willingly accepting God's word, his tattoo, upon their flesh in order to pertain to the realm of the Logos.
A second strand of this book is Nutu's tracing the fragmented afterlives of John's Prologue and their different effects on the formation of subjects (with a particular focus on homo religiosus and feminine 'I's) through postmodern film. At the dawn of a new millennium, films continue to play an important role in the cultural development of society; even moving away from the self-confessed biblical films, new productions like The Pillow Book, The Fifth Element and The Matrix (all engaged here) mediate elements of biblical narrative, theology, allegory, ethics and identity.
As the Bible continues its influence on society and the formation of subject positions, biblical texts are re-interpreted, recycled within many discourses. This is a study that skilfully interweaves a number of contemporary theoretical currents such as deconstruction, psychoanalytical criticism, gender and cultural studies and initiates a new approach to interpretation, namely postcommunist, influenced by the writer's own experience of growing up in Romania.
Sale
Incarnate Word, Inscribed Flesh: John’s Prologue and the Postmodern
Original price was: £50.00.£19.95Current price is: £19.95.
The pre-existent, transcendent Logos, the principal character in the prologue of John's Gospel, is a prime example of a unified and centred concept, such as denounced as illusory by deconstruction. In this ground-breaking study, Nutu offers an unremittingly postmodern scrutiny of the Logos as the incarnate word that becomes visible as it is inscribed in human flesh. Within view also is the reverse process, of becoming 'children of God', which signifies human beings willingly accepting God's word, his tattoo, upon their flesh in order to pertain to the realm of the Logos.
A second strand of this book is Nutu's tracing the fragmented afterlives of John's Prologue and their different effects on the formation of subjects (with a particular focus on homo religiosus and feminine 'I's) through postmodern film. At the dawn of a new millennium, films continue to play an important role in the cultural development of society; even moving away from the self-confessed biblical films, new productions like The Pillow Book, The Fifth Element and The Matrix (all engaged here) mediate elements of biblical narrative, theology, allegory, ethics and identity.
As the Bible continues its influence on society and the formation of subject positions, biblical texts are re-interpreted, recycled within many discourses. This is a study that skilfully interweaves a number of contemporary theoretical currents such as deconstruction, psychoanalytical criticism, gender and cultural studies and initiates a new approach to interpretation, namely postcommunist, influenced by the writer's own experience of growing up in Romania.