Postcolonial Interventions: Essays in Honor of R.S. Sugirtharajah
Published: Aug 2009
£60.00
This collection of essays, with contributions by many long-term colleagues and collaborators of R. S. Sugirtharajah, Professor of Biblical Hermeneutics in the University of Birmingham, is meant to review, evaluate, celebrate, and honour his many scholarly contributions. The title of the collection signifies that the volume focusses not only on how we read socio-political interventions, but also on how reading can itself be a form of intervention. This focus on reading and intervention is in many ways most fitting, as Professor Sugirtharajah's biblical and theological hermeneutics have indeed been a significant force of intervention. His work has confronted and challenged many to see beyond a parochial mainstream, to perceive imperial and colonial dynamics in the Bible and in biblical studies, and to remain open to the transformative possibilities of reading from new sites as well as with new sights.
Postcolonial Interventions: Essays in Honor of R.S. Sugirtharajah
£60.00
This collection of essays, with contributions by many long-term colleagues and collaborators of R. S. Sugirtharajah, Professor of Biblical Hermeneutics in the University of Birmingham, is meant to review, evaluate, celebrate, and honour his many scholarly contributions. The title of the collection signifies that the volume focusses not only on how we read socio-political interventions, but also on how reading can itself be a form of intervention. This focus on reading and intervention is in many ways most fitting, as Professor Sugirtharajah's biblical and theological hermeneutics have indeed been a significant force of intervention. His work has confronted and challenged many to see beyond a parochial mainstream, to perceive imperial and colonial dynamics in the Bible and in biblical studies, and to remain open to the transformative possibilities of reading from new sites as well as with new sights.
The Dan Debate: The Tel Dan Inscription in Recent Research
Published: Aug 2009
£45.00
The Tel Dan inscription was found in three fragments on Tel Dan in northern Israel in 1993 and 1994. It is one of the most controversial textual archaeological finds since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Most scholars agree that the text, which is written in Old Aramaic, is to be dated to the late ninth century BCE. It refers to a war between the Aramaeans and the northern kingdom of Israel. The text is apparently represented as authored by King Hazael of Damascus, and many scholars have discerned the names of the kings Jehoram and Ahaziah of Israel and Judah in the fragmented text.
There has been an extremely lively, and even heated, debate over both its language and its content, and it is time that a full survey of the debate should be undertaken. In his previous book, The Tel Dan Inscription: A Critical Investigation of Recent Research on its Palaeography and Philology (2006)--now distributed by Sheffield Phoenix Press--Hallvard Hagelia has examined those more technical aspects of the debate. In the present corollary volume, The Dan Debate: The Tel Dan Inscription in Recent Research, Hagelia analyses the debate on all the other more general aspects of the inscription. His own view is to support the joining of the fragments as it is done by the editors, Biran and Naveh, and to translate the controversial term bytdwd as 'House of David'.
The debate on the Tel Dan is interesting and significant in itself, but it can also be viewed as a case study of the wider debate between the so-called 'minimalists' and 'maximalists' in Hebrew Bible scholarship. In particular Hagelia's two books offer an notable exchange of views with George Athas's The Tel Dan Inscription: A Reappraisal and a New Interpretation (2003).
The Dan Debate: The Tel Dan Inscription in Recent Research
£45.00
The Tel Dan inscription was found in three fragments on Tel Dan in northern Israel in 1993 and 1994. It is one of the most controversial textual archaeological finds since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Most scholars agree that the text, which is written in Old Aramaic, is to be dated to the late ninth century BCE. It refers to a war between the Aramaeans and the northern kingdom of Israel. The text is apparently represented as authored by King Hazael of Damascus, and many scholars have discerned the names of the kings Jehoram and Ahaziah of Israel and Judah in the fragmented text.
There has been an extremely lively, and even heated, debate over both its language and its content, and it is time that a full survey of the debate should be undertaken. In his previous book, The Tel Dan Inscription: A Critical Investigation of Recent Research on its Palaeography and Philology (2006)--now distributed by Sheffield Phoenix Press--Hallvard Hagelia has examined those more technical aspects of the debate. In the present corollary volume, The Dan Debate: The Tel Dan Inscription in Recent Research, Hagelia analyses the debate on all the other more general aspects of the inscription. His own view is to support the joining of the fragments as it is done by the editors, Biran and Naveh, and to translate the controversial term bytdwd as 'House of David'.
The debate on the Tel Dan is interesting and significant in itself, but it can also be viewed as a case study of the wider debate between the so-called 'minimalists' and 'maximalists' in Hebrew Bible scholarship. In particular Hagelia's two books offer an notable exchange of views with George Athas's The Tel Dan Inscription: A Reappraisal and a New Interpretation (2003).
Women in the Pentateuch: A Feminist and Source-Critical Analysis
Published: Aug 2009
£50.00
For the first time, literary source criticism and feminist biblical interpretation are here brought together systematically. Taking into account recent trends in Pentateuchal source criticism, Shectman divides the narrative into priestly and non-priestly threads, tracing the portrayal of women in each. In both sources, as Moses comes to the fore, women recede increasingly into the background, with the result that far fewer women appear in Exodus —Numbers than appear in Genesis.
A stark contrast between the sources also emerges from this study: non-P contains many more fully developed narrative traditions focused on women, particularly those involving childbirth, pointing to an original genre of narratives unique to biblical women. However, with the combination of traditions in the Pentateuch, these traditions are absorbed into the patriarchal ones, culminating in Genesis 17, P's programmatic statement of the promise and covenant. P significantly limits the roles of women that were preserved in non-P. This difference between the sources is primarily the result of increased centralization: whereas the non-P material reflects a period before centralization had become entrenched, in P, centralization has taken hold, with the result that women's roles are more limited.
In addition to a new and detailed source-critical analysis of women in the Pentateuch, this book also provides a detailed overview of feminist biblical criticism, from the work of Elizabeth Cady Stanton up to the present, which will be useful for those interested in the history of biblical, particularly feminist, interpretation.
Women in the Pentateuch: A Feminist and Source-Critical Analysis
£50.00
For the first time, literary source criticism and feminist biblical interpretation are here brought together systematically. Taking into account recent trends in Pentateuchal source criticism, Shectman divides the narrative into priestly and non-priestly threads, tracing the portrayal of women in each. In both sources, as Moses comes to the fore, women recede increasingly into the background, with the result that far fewer women appear in Exodus —Numbers than appear in Genesis.
A stark contrast between the sources also emerges from this study: non-P contains many more fully developed narrative traditions focused on women, particularly those involving childbirth, pointing to an original genre of narratives unique to biblical women. However, with the combination of traditions in the Pentateuch, these traditions are absorbed into the patriarchal ones, culminating in Genesis 17, P's programmatic statement of the promise and covenant. P significantly limits the roles of women that were preserved in non-P. This difference between the sources is primarily the result of increased centralization: whereas the non-P material reflects a period before centralization had become entrenched, in P, centralization has taken hold, with the result that women's roles are more limited.
In addition to a new and detailed source-critical analysis of women in the Pentateuch, this book also provides a detailed overview of feminist biblical criticism, from the work of Elizabeth Cady Stanton up to the present, which will be useful for those interested in the history of biblical, particularly feminist, interpretation.
Nahum, Second Edition
Published: July 2009
£15.00 – £35.00
In its wanton celebration of violence, the book of Nahum poses ethical challenges to the modern reader. O'Brien offers the first full-scale engagement with this dimension of the book, exploring the ways in which the artfulness of its poetry serves the book's violent ideology, highlighting how its rhetoric attempts to render the Other fit for annihilation.
She then reads from feminist, intertextual and deconstructionist angles and uncovers the destabilizing function of the book's aesthetics.
Finally, she demonstrates how mining Nahum's ambiguities and tensions can contribute to an ethical response to its violence.
This is a reprint of the 2002 edition.
Nahum, Second Edition
£15.00 – £35.00
In its wanton celebration of violence, the book of Nahum poses ethical challenges to the modern reader. O'Brien offers the first full-scale engagement with this dimension of the book, exploring the ways in which the artfulness of its poetry serves the book's violent ideology, highlighting how its rhetoric attempts to render the Other fit for annihilation.
She then reads from feminist, intertextual and deconstructionist angles and uncovers the destabilizing function of the book's aesthetics.
Finally, she demonstrates how mining Nahum's ambiguities and tensions can contribute to an ethical response to its violence.
This is a reprint of the 2002 edition.
On Earth as it is in Heaven: Temple Symbolism in the New Testament
Published: Jun 2009
£12.50
As more and more is being discovered about the beginnings of Christianity, a whole new understanding of the context of Christian origins is emerging. Any serious student now needs a knowledge of the traditions of the temple. This book, a supplement to Margaret Barker's The Gate of Heaven: The History and Symbolism of the Temple in Jerusalem, breaks further new ground, showing how the symbols and rituals of the temple shaped the lives of the early Christians, and illustrates the striking relevance of temple theology to the New Testament.
The influence of the temple cult has to be reconstructed by drawing on the increasing number of non-biblical texts now available. These include those written in the early churches; fragments from among the Dead Sea Scrolls; and Jewish texts written in the early Christian period. Piece by piece the world of the temple is emerging from this material. Through this close study of the Pseudepigrapha and other non-canonical writings, Margaret Barker examines four symbols of temple theology: Light, Life, Blood, and the Robes of Glory. She shows how details missing from the Old Testament descriptions can be recovered from other ancient texts to throw new light upon many significant passages of the Bible.
This is a reprint of the volume published by T. & T. Clark in 1995.
On Earth as it is in Heaven: Temple Symbolism in the New Testament
£12.50
As more and more is being discovered about the beginnings of Christianity, a whole new understanding of the context of Christian origins is emerging. Any serious student now needs a knowledge of the traditions of the temple. This book, a supplement to Margaret Barker's The Gate of Heaven: The History and Symbolism of the Temple in Jerusalem, breaks further new ground, showing how the symbols and rituals of the temple shaped the lives of the early Christians, and illustrates the striking relevance of temple theology to the New Testament.
The influence of the temple cult has to be reconstructed by drawing on the increasing number of non-biblical texts now available. These include those written in the early churches; fragments from among the Dead Sea Scrolls; and Jewish texts written in the early Christian period. Piece by piece the world of the temple is emerging from this material. Through this close study of the Pseudepigrapha and other non-canonical writings, Margaret Barker examines four symbols of temple theology: Light, Life, Blood, and the Robes of Glory. She shows how details missing from the Old Testament descriptions can be recovered from other ancient texts to throw new light upon many significant passages of the Bible.
This is a reprint of the volume published by T. & T. Clark in 1995.
Psalms
Published: May 2009
£15.00 – £35.00
The Book of Psalms is often seen as an anthology of prayers and hymns from which the reader may extract a selection as need or interest dictates. However, a recent development in Psalms scholarship has been a discussion of whether the collection of psalms has some overall structure. Is the whole of the Book of Psalms greater than the sum of its individual parts? This commentary argues that it is and presents a continuous reading of the Book of Psalms.
Moreover, the long-standing tradition, found within both Judaism and Christianity, of associating the psalms with David is used as a reading strategy. In this volume, the Psalms are presented sequentially. Each has its place in the collection but thirty-five are treated at greater length. They are read, at least in the first two books (Psalms 1 —72), as if they were David's words. Beyond that a more complex and developed association between David and the Psalms is demanded. David becomes a figure of hope for a different future and a new royal reign reflecting the reign of Yahweh. Throughout, David remains a model of piety for all who seek to communicate with God in prayer. It is in the light of this that later disasters in the life of Israel, especially the Babylonian Exile, can be faced. In the Book of Psalms, the past, in terms of both David's life and the history of Israel, is the key to future well-being and faithfulness.
Psalms
£15.00 – £35.00
The Book of Psalms is often seen as an anthology of prayers and hymns from which the reader may extract a selection as need or interest dictates. However, a recent development in Psalms scholarship has been a discussion of whether the collection of psalms has some overall structure. Is the whole of the Book of Psalms greater than the sum of its individual parts? This commentary argues that it is and presents a continuous reading of the Book of Psalms.
Moreover, the long-standing tradition, found within both Judaism and Christianity, of associating the psalms with David is used as a reading strategy. In this volume, the Psalms are presented sequentially. Each has its place in the collection but thirty-five are treated at greater length. They are read, at least in the first two books (Psalms 1 —72), as if they were David's words. Beyond that a more complex and developed association between David and the Psalms is demanded. David becomes a figure of hope for a different future and a new royal reign reflecting the reign of Yahweh. Throughout, David remains a model of piety for all who seek to communicate with God in prayer. It is in the light of this that later disasters in the life of Israel, especially the Babylonian Exile, can be faced. In the Book of Psalms, the past, in terms of both David's life and the history of Israel, is the key to future well-being and faithfulness.
Jesus’ Twofold Teaching about the Kingdom of God
Published: May 2009
£50.00
Recent research on Jesus' teaching about the Kingdom of God has in common the assumption that it remains the same throughout the time of his proclamation of it. The data that cannot be harmonized are usually judged to be inauthentic, originating from Christian prophets in the early church.
Smith shows in closely argued detail how essential it is to differentiate two historical contexts for Jesus' teaching about the Kingdom of God. The nature of the Kingdom of God is conditional upon its acceptance and the acceptance of its messenger —which is to say, Jesus' teaching about the Kingdom of God is hypothetical. This is the non-rejection context of Jesus' teaching about the Kingdom of God.
But some of Jesus' teaching about the Kingdom of God presupposes a context of the rejection of his message by the majority of Jews and especially the Jewish authorities. In this new context, Jesus teaches that the Kingdom will still come but not in the way first delineated, in the non-rejection context. This can be called the rejection context of Jesus' teaching about the Kingdom of God.
No attempt should be made to assimilate all the data into one historical context. Distinguishing two contexts for Jesus' teaching about the Kingdom of God allows us to appreciate how Jesus modifies his teaching in the light of the rejection of the Kingdom. Without this differentiation of two historical contexts, it is impossible to make sense of Jesus' teaching about the Kingdom of God.
Jesus’ Twofold Teaching about the Kingdom of God
£50.00
Recent research on Jesus' teaching about the Kingdom of God has in common the assumption that it remains the same throughout the time of his proclamation of it. The data that cannot be harmonized are usually judged to be inauthentic, originating from Christian prophets in the early church.
Smith shows in closely argued detail how essential it is to differentiate two historical contexts for Jesus' teaching about the Kingdom of God. The nature of the Kingdom of God is conditional upon its acceptance and the acceptance of its messenger —which is to say, Jesus' teaching about the Kingdom of God is hypothetical. This is the non-rejection context of Jesus' teaching about the Kingdom of God.
But some of Jesus' teaching about the Kingdom of God presupposes a context of the rejection of his message by the majority of Jews and especially the Jewish authorities. In this new context, Jesus teaches that the Kingdom will still come but not in the way first delineated, in the non-rejection context. This can be called the rejection context of Jesus' teaching about the Kingdom of God.
No attempt should be made to assimilate all the data into one historical context. Distinguishing two contexts for Jesus' teaching about the Kingdom of God allows us to appreciate how Jesus modifies his teaching in the light of the rejection of the Kingdom. Without this differentiation of two historical contexts, it is impossible to make sense of Jesus' teaching about the Kingdom of God.
Mark, Second Edition
Published: Apr 2009
£15.00 – £35.00
In this commentary, Broadhead explores the Gospel of Mark for literary designs that might guide modern readers. He gives special attention to structure, strategy, significance and the appropriation of meaning, and his analysis shows the Gospel as a sequential account which employs a strategy of reciprocity among its episodes. Clear signs are created within this Gospel, the meaning of which is negotiated by the first readers in the aftermath of the Temple's fall. Modern readers are encouraged to connect these signs to their own world and to initiate a new performance of this Gospel.
This Second Edition is a reprint, with altered pagination, of the volume first published in 1991 by Sheffield Academic Press.
Mark, Second Edition
£15.00 – £35.00
In this commentary, Broadhead explores the Gospel of Mark for literary designs that might guide modern readers. He gives special attention to structure, strategy, significance and the appropriation of meaning, and his analysis shows the Gospel as a sequential account which employs a strategy of reciprocity among its episodes. Clear signs are created within this Gospel, the meaning of which is negotiated by the first readers in the aftermath of the Temple's fall. Modern readers are encouraged to connect these signs to their own world and to initiate a new performance of this Gospel.
This Second Edition is a reprint, with altered pagination, of the volume first published in 1991 by Sheffield Academic Press.
From the Margins 1: Women of the Hebrew Bible and Their Afterlives
Published: Apr 2009
£40.00
Biblical women who are given only a few lines in the Bible, who are named only as the wife or sister or child of a man, can nonetheless play pivotal roles and cast long shadows. This volume brings together scholars, writers and art historians, who probe texts and trace reception history in exegesis, midrash, literature and the visual arts as they breathe life again into these biblical characters.
A companion volume is entitled From the Margins 2: Women of the New Testament and their Afterlives.
From the Margins 1: Women of the Hebrew Bible and Their Afterlives
£40.00
Biblical women who are given only a few lines in the Bible, who are named only as the wife or sister or child of a man, can nonetheless play pivotal roles and cast long shadows. This volume brings together scholars, writers and art historians, who probe texts and trace reception history in exegesis, midrash, literature and the visual arts as they breathe life again into these biblical characters.
A companion volume is entitled From the Margins 2: Women of the New Testament and their Afterlives.
The Exposure of Infants Among Jews and Christians in Antiquity
Published: Apr 2009
£45.00
This practice, so distasteful to the modern conscience, and shocking when we encounter it in reading about the ancient world, was nevertheless a normal feature of life in classical antiquity. There can be little doubt that both Jews and Christians, like their neighbours, must have practised the exposure of infants, whether for economic reasons, or because the child was of the wrong gender, or because of its illegitimacy. Otherwise, one can hardly explain the rich variety of arguments against the custom in rabbinic and patristic literature.
In this novel and penetrating study, Koskenniemi reviews the evidence for the practice from Graeco-Roman, Jewish and Christian sources, and then, in the major part of the book, examines the rejection of the custom by Jewish authors like Philo and Josephus and by Christian writers such as Clement, Justin, Tertullian, Origen, Chrysostom and Augustine, many of whom adopted the arguments of their Jewish counterparts.
The Exposure of Infants Among Jews and Christians in Antiquity
£45.00
This practice, so distasteful to the modern conscience, and shocking when we encounter it in reading about the ancient world, was nevertheless a normal feature of life in classical antiquity. There can be little doubt that both Jews and Christians, like their neighbours, must have practised the exposure of infants, whether for economic reasons, or because the child was of the wrong gender, or because of its illegitimacy. Otherwise, one can hardly explain the rich variety of arguments against the custom in rabbinic and patristic literature.
In this novel and penetrating study, Koskenniemi reviews the evidence for the practice from Graeco-Roman, Jewish and Christian sources, and then, in the major part of the book, examines the rejection of the custom by Jewish authors like Philo and Josephus and by Christian writers such as Clement, Justin, Tertullian, Origen, Chrysostom and Augustine, many of whom adopted the arguments of their Jewish counterparts.
Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism 5 (2008)
Published: Apr 2009
£80.00
This is the fifth volume of the hard-copy edition of a journal that has been published online (www.jgrchj.net) since 2000. Volume 1 was for 2000, Volume 2 was for 2001 —2005, Volume 3 for 2006, Volume 4 for 2007, and Volume 5 for 2008. As they appear, the hardcopy editions will replace the online materials. The scope of JGRChJ is the texts, language and cultures of the Graeco-Roman world of early Christianity and Judaism. The papers published in JGRChJ are designed to pay special attention to the 'larger picture' of politics, culture, religion and language, engaging as well with modern theoretical approaches.
Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism 5 (2008)
£80.00
This is the fifth volume of the hard-copy edition of a journal that has been published online (www.jgrchj.net) since 2000. Volume 1 was for 2000, Volume 2 was for 2001 —2005, Volume 3 for 2006, Volume 4 for 2007, and Volume 5 for 2008. As they appear, the hardcopy editions will replace the online materials. The scope of JGRChJ is the texts, language and cultures of the Graeco-Roman world of early Christianity and Judaism. The papers published in JGRChJ are designed to pay special attention to the 'larger picture' of politics, culture, religion and language, engaging as well with modern theoretical approaches.
Matthew, Second Edition
Published: Apr 2009
£15.00 – £35.00
Margaret Davies takes up the insights of reader-response criticism to explore how the conventions and strategies of the Gospel of Matthew draw the reader into the world that the text creates. There is a recognition also of the text's significance as authoritative scripture for modern Christians, and the bias that this gives to any interpretative strategy. This is a reprint of the 1993 edition.
Matthew, Second Edition
£15.00 – £35.00
Margaret Davies takes up the insights of reader-response criticism to explore how the conventions and strategies of the Gospel of Matthew draw the reader into the world that the text creates. There is a recognition also of the text's significance as authoritative scripture for modern Christians, and the bias that this gives to any interpretative strategy. This is a reprint of the 1993 edition.
The Way the World Ends? the Apocalypse of John in Culture and Ideology
Published: Mar 2009
£60.00
The richly varied collection of 15 essays in this volume showcase the afterlife of the Book of Revelation. It is a biblical book that has left its mark in many fields of intellectual endeavour: literature, film, music, philosophy, political theology, and religious ideology. It is perhaps paradoxical that this book, which promises God's punishment upon anyone expanding on its contents, has nevertheless accumulated to itself over two millennia vast amounts of commentary, exposition, and appropriation.
Offered at the close of the 'Blair/Bush years', this volume also exposes and highlights the often deeply ironic resonances generated while studying the reception history of Revelation during a period when the book has both significant public currency and a potentially terrifying global impact.
The Way the World Ends? the Apocalypse of John in Culture and Ideology
£60.00
The richly varied collection of 15 essays in this volume showcase the afterlife of the Book of Revelation. It is a biblical book that has left its mark in many fields of intellectual endeavour: literature, film, music, philosophy, political theology, and religious ideology. It is perhaps paradoxical that this book, which promises God's punishment upon anyone expanding on its contents, has nevertheless accumulated to itself over two millennia vast amounts of commentary, exposition, and appropriation.
Offered at the close of the 'Blair/Bush years', this volume also exposes and highlights the often deeply ironic resonances generated while studying the reception history of Revelation during a period when the book has both significant public currency and a potentially terrifying global impact.
With Wisdom as a Robe: Qumran and Other Jewish Studies in Honour of Ida Fröhlich
Published: Nov 2008
£60.00
Professor Ida Fröhlich, Professor of Hebrew Studies and Ancient Near Eastern History in the Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Budapest, is a celebrated scholar who has been in the forefront of the remarkable development of Hebrew and Jewish studies in recent decades in Hungary. Among her important publications are 'Time and times and half a time': Historical Consciousness in the Jewish Literature of the Persian and Hellenistic Eras (1996), and, more recently, the first translation of the corpus of the Dead Sea Scrolls into Hungarian. Her current major project is, in collaboration with a group of younger scholars, to prepare a Hungarian translation of all the apocryphal and pseudepigraphical materials.
In this very substantial volume, presented to her on the occasion of her sixtieth birthday, the essays of 38 international scholars are arranged in three sections: (1) Hebrew Bible / Old Testament, (2) Apocrypha —Pseudepigrapha and Qumran, and (3) Jewish Studies / Christian Interpretation.
With Wisdom as a Robe: Qumran and Other Jewish Studies in Honour of Ida Fröhlich
£60.00
Professor Ida Fröhlich, Professor of Hebrew Studies and Ancient Near Eastern History in the Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Budapest, is a celebrated scholar who has been in the forefront of the remarkable development of Hebrew and Jewish studies in recent decades in Hungary. Among her important publications are 'Time and times and half a time': Historical Consciousness in the Jewish Literature of the Persian and Hellenistic Eras (1996), and, more recently, the first translation of the corpus of the Dead Sea Scrolls into Hungarian. Her current major project is, in collaboration with a group of younger scholars, to prepare a Hungarian translation of all the apocryphal and pseudepigraphical materials.
In this very substantial volume, presented to her on the occasion of her sixtieth birthday, the essays of 38 international scholars are arranged in three sections: (1) Hebrew Bible / Old Testament, (2) Apocrypha —Pseudepigrapha and Qumran, and (3) Jewish Studies / Christian Interpretation.
Identity and Loyalty in the David Story: A Postcolonial Reading
Published: Oct 2008
£40.00
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.
Identity and Loyalty in the David Story: A Postcolonial Reading
£40.00
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.
Recent Research on the Major Prophets
Published: Oct 2008
£60.00
Given the many new methods and approaches for interpreting biblical literature that have appeared in the past several decades, it is hardly surprising that our understanding of the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel has expanded and diversified at a rapid pace. Historical-critical understandings and perspectives have been challenged and often dramatically altered. New approaches, such as social-scientific criticism, rhetorical criticism, feminist criticism, reader response criticism, literary analysis, anthropological analysis, structuralist criticism, ideological criticism, and deconstructionist criticism have both challenged old approaches and shed new light on the texts being studied.
In this volume, Alan Hauser presents eleven articles, each with an extensive bibliography, that survey the variety and depth of recent and contemporary scholarship on these three prophets. Five of them are new to this volume. All are written by experts in each area of scholarship, including Marvin Sweeney, Paul Kim, Roy Melugin, Robert P. Carroll, Peter Diamond, Katheryn Pfisterer Darr and Risa Levitt Kohn. Hauser introduces the volume with a comprehensive summary and overview of the articles.
Recent Research on the Major Prophets
£60.00
Given the many new methods and approaches for interpreting biblical literature that have appeared in the past several decades, it is hardly surprising that our understanding of the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel has expanded and diversified at a rapid pace. Historical-critical understandings and perspectives have been challenged and often dramatically altered. New approaches, such as social-scientific criticism, rhetorical criticism, feminist criticism, reader response criticism, literary analysis, anthropological analysis, structuralist criticism, ideological criticism, and deconstructionist criticism have both challenged old approaches and shed new light on the texts being studied.
In this volume, Alan Hauser presents eleven articles, each with an extensive bibliography, that survey the variety and depth of recent and contemporary scholarship on these three prophets. Five of them are new to this volume. All are written by experts in each area of scholarship, including Marvin Sweeney, Paul Kim, Roy Melugin, Robert P. Carroll, Peter Diamond, Katheryn Pfisterer Darr and Risa Levitt Kohn. Hauser introduces the volume with a comprehensive summary and overview of the articles.
Job
Published: Sep 2008
£15.00 – £35.00
This commentary on the book of Job is a non-technical commentary but it is full of Whybray's most mature reflections on the book.
The Introduction deals with the nature and purpose of the book, its specific and distinctive theology, its themes and its various parts and their mutual relationship. Thereafter, Norman Whybray, who is renowned for his insightful commentaries, usually comments on small sections of the text, and verse-by-verse in some especially difficult passages.
As a whole, his commentary is illustrative of the fact that the book of Job is more concerned with the nature of God than with the problem of suffering.
This is a reprint of the original edition in 1998.
Job
£15.00 – £35.00
This commentary on the book of Job is a non-technical commentary but it is full of Whybray's most mature reflections on the book.
The Introduction deals with the nature and purpose of the book, its specific and distinctive theology, its themes and its various parts and their mutual relationship. Thereafter, Norman Whybray, who is renowned for his insightful commentaries, usually comments on small sections of the text, and verse-by-verse in some especially difficult passages.
As a whole, his commentary is illustrative of the fact that the book of Job is more concerned with the nature of God than with the problem of suffering.
This is a reprint of the original edition in 1998.
Lions and Ovens and Visions: A Satirical Reading of Daniel 1-6
Published: Sep 2008
£55.00
Are the stories of Daniel at the court of the Persian king simply cheerful tales of a clever and successful courtier, as many assume? Valeta doubts it, insisting that the playful and fantastic storyline must have a more serious meaning.
The key to these narratives lies in their genre. These tales of lions and ovens and the like are examples of Menippean satire, argues Valeta, an ancient genre foregrounded in modern literary study by Bakhtin, who saw in the characteristic interplay of voices in the Menippean satire a prime instance of his 'dialogism'. Especially typical of the Menippean satire is an indecorous mixing of styles and elements, which may be the explanation why the Daniel narratives are both comic and serious, Hebrew and Aramaic, episodic and unified.
Viewed as satire, the Daniel narratives emerge in their true colours as resistance literature to the regime of Antiochus IV —and so form a perfect accompaniment to the visions of Daniel 7 —12.
Lions and Ovens and Visions: A Satirical Reading of Daniel 1-6
£55.00
Are the stories of Daniel at the court of the Persian king simply cheerful tales of a clever and successful courtier, as many assume? Valeta doubts it, insisting that the playful and fantastic storyline must have a more serious meaning.
The key to these narratives lies in their genre. These tales of lions and ovens and the like are examples of Menippean satire, argues Valeta, an ancient genre foregrounded in modern literary study by Bakhtin, who saw in the characteristic interplay of voices in the Menippean satire a prime instance of his 'dialogism'. Especially typical of the Menippean satire is an indecorous mixing of styles and elements, which may be the explanation why the Daniel narratives are both comic and serious, Hebrew and Aramaic, episodic and unified.
Viewed as satire, the Daniel narratives emerge in their true colours as resistance literature to the regime of Antiochus IV —and so form a perfect accompaniment to the visions of Daniel 7 —12.
The Book of Esther: A Classified Bibliography
Published: Sep 2008
£60.00
This comprehensive bibliography to scholarly works on the biblical book of Esther contains over 1900 references. It includes titles of books, collected works, Festschriften, theses, journal articles, essays in collections, encyclopaedia and dictionary articles, and online material. It is a classified bibliography, arranged in three main categories -- commentaries, biblical chapters and verses, and subject headings in alphabetical order.
The scope of the bibliography is international, and its focus is on research from the last hundred years. Scholars, students, clergy, and librarians -- among them literary scholars, psychologists, sociologists, historians, linguists, art historians, political scientists, feminists, and Christian and Jewish scholars -- will find this unique volume an indispensable resource and stimulus to further research.
A special feature of the bibliography is its extensive coverage of Jewish sources. This volume received a 'Honorable Mention' in the 2008 Judaica Reference and Bibliography Awards.
The Book of Esther: A Classified Bibliography
£60.00
This comprehensive bibliography to scholarly works on the biblical book of Esther contains over 1900 references. It includes titles of books, collected works, Festschriften, theses, journal articles, essays in collections, encyclopaedia and dictionary articles, and online material. It is a classified bibliography, arranged in three main categories -- commentaries, biblical chapters and verses, and subject headings in alphabetical order.
The scope of the bibliography is international, and its focus is on research from the last hundred years. Scholars, students, clergy, and librarians -- among them literary scholars, psychologists, sociologists, historians, linguists, art historians, political scientists, feminists, and Christian and Jewish scholars -- will find this unique volume an indispensable resource and stimulus to further research.
A special feature of the bibliography is its extensive coverage of Jewish sources. This volume received a 'Honorable Mention' in the 2008 Judaica Reference and Bibliography Awards.
Genesis, Second Edition
Genesis, Second Edition