Outline : In these stormy times, voices from all fronts call for change. But what kind of revolution brings true freedom to both society and the human soul? Cultural observer Os Guinness explores the nature of revolutionary faith, contrasting between secular revolutions such as the French Revolution and the faith-led revolution of ancient Israel. He argues that the story of Exodus is the highes…
In this title, Shirley Lucass examines the history of the concept of messiah in biblical, and post-biblical traditions. For 2000 years, Judaism and Christianity have been at odds with one another. The problem at the heart of the division is the concept of messiah. Shirley Lucass looks directly at the concept of messiah from an historical perspective and examines its roots in ancient Jewish lite…
Outline : "Messiah" is one of the most contested terms in Christian reflection, with many people reading the concept back into early Old Testament texts. In The One Who Is to Come Joseph Fitzmyer contradicts that misreading, carefully tracing the emergence of messianism in Judaism to a much later date -- the second century B.C.
Through this ""Handbook of Patristic Exegesis"", the reader will obtain a balanced and cohesive picture of the Early Church. It gives an overall view of the reception, transmission, and interpretation of the Bible in the life and thought of the Church during the first five centuries of Christianity, the so-called patristic era. The handbook offers the context and presuppositions necessary for u…
Thoroughly exploring the history of the conflict between Christians and Jews from medieval to modern times, this wide-ranging volume includes newly uncovered material from the recently opened post-Soviet archives. Anna Sapir Abulafia delineates controversial issues of inter-faith confrontation, and a number of eminent scholars from around the globe discuss openly and objectively the dynamics of…
College students have some familiarity with interpreting written texts from high school English classes. But after years of watching TV, movies, and music videos, most college students are more comfortable with visual media than written texts. Before even opening a Bible, I introduce interpretation using a visual text, such as a political poster from a different country or historical era...
This book examines how the priestly editors of the book of Numbers created a narrative of the forty-year journey through the wilderness to achieve their agenda. The book also focuses on politics, collective memory and transmission of tradition.
In this new edition of a best-selling classic, Shaye Cohen offers a thorough analysis of Judaism's development from the early years of the Roman Empire to the formative period of rabbinic Judaism. Cohen's synthesis of religion, literature, and history offers deep insight into the nature of Judaism at this key period, including the relationship between Jews and Gentiles, the function of Jewish r…
Describes those features of Intertestamental Judaism believed to be most relevant to the interpretation of the New Testament. Provides the context of Intertestamental Judaism and its beliefs that provide a background for Christian customs and issues.
We are approaching the day when advances in biotechnology will allow parents to "design" a baby with the traits they want. The continuing debate over possibilities of genetic engineering has ben spirited, but so far largely confined to the realms of bioethics and public policy. Design and Destiny approaches the question in religious terms, discussing human germline modification (the generic mod…
This book is not a personal memoir. Rather, to coin a term, it is a conceptual memoir. It is an attempt, based on cumulative life experience, to develop a frame of reference within which to understand the mysteries of the Jewish condition and the interaction, or rather friction, of the Jewish people and the rest of the world. I have devoted much of my professional career to studying these arena…
Before we can define “Judaism” for the purpose of our study of the New Testament, we had best say what we mean by any religion, the genus of which Judaism forms a species (and, we shall argue, with earliest Christianity as a subspecies of that same species of religion). Defining religion comes before defining a particular religion, just as defining a particular religion takes priority over …
Everyone has heard of of the Dead Sea Scrolls, but amidst the conspiracies, the politics, and the sensational claims, it can be difficult to separate myth from reality. Here, Timothy Lim explores the cultural and historical background of the scrolls, and examines their significance for our understanding of the Old Testament and the origins of Christianity and Judaism. Lim tells the fascinating …
Country Western singer Kinky Friedman often performs a song entitled "They Ain't Making Jews Like Jesus Anymore," and New Testament professor Amy–Jill Levine would agree. In fact, her career is dedicated to helping Christians and Jews understand the Jewishness of Jesus, thereby deepening the understanding of him, and facilitating greater interfaith dialogue. In this book, she shows how libera…
Written by the Orthodox historian Rabbi Berel Wein, The Oral Law of Sinai is an extraordinary and beautifully illustrated book that explores the Talmud—a law book that is a faithful transmission of the Oral Law of Sinai. As Rabbi Wein explains, the Talmud is two separate books comprising the Oral Law. This work offers an explanation of the first book of the Talmud, the Mishnah
In the old crenellated church of Mary of Zion in Aksum, Ethiopia, an object is kept that emperors, patriarchs, and priests have assured the world is the most important religious relic of all the Ark of the Covenant. Are the legends true? Or is this story a monumental deception? In a triumph of historical detective work the acclaimed Ethiopia expert Stuart Munro-Hay traces the extraordinary lege…
A wide ranging survey of the secondary literature on the books of Proverbs, Job, Qoheleth, Ben Sira, and the Wisdom of Solomon in which the author summarizes not only modern scholarship, but also Church Fathers, Medieval authorities, and contemporary interpretations by artists and theologians.
A study of animal sacrifice within Greek paganism, Judaism, and Christianity during the period of their interaction between about 100 B.C. and 200 A.D.
How do science and religion interact? This study examines the ways in which two minorities in Britain - the Quaker and Anglo-Jewish communities - engaged with science. Drawing on a wealth of documentary material, Geoffrey Cantor charts the participation of Quakers and Jews in many different aspects of science.
The second edition of this fascinating book is the ideal introduction to the importance of the Dead Sea Scrolls from Qumran and their impact on our understanding of the rise of Christianity.:.; Introduces the Qumran Scrolls to the uninitiated general reader.; Explains how revolutionary the discovery of the Scrolls was and their enduring significance.; Sets the Scrolls within the wider context o…
Time in the Book of Ecclesiastes offers a detailed analysis of the theme of time in Ecclesiastes. The book of Ecclesiastes engages at length with this theme and presents a sophisticated exploration of humanity's temporal situation. Ecclesiastes depicts the temporal reality as extremely problematic for human attempts to live meaningfully. This is especially due to the tension which the book's na…
Outline: This book examines Christian ethnographic writing about the Jews in early modern Europe, offering a systematic historical analysis of this literary genre and arguing its importance for understanding both the period in general and Jewish-Christian relations in particular. The book focuses on nearly 80 texts from Western Europe (mostly German) that describe the customs and ceremonies of …
Outline: Whether it's terrorists in the Middle East who claim inspiration from Islam and express their hatred for the West, or the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, or the violence done by the religious extremists in the United States, it seems religion too often leads to lethal results. Charles Kimball, the author of When Religion Becomes Evil, builds on his bestselling book …
Outline: Stan Telchin, a Messianic Jew and former pastor, explores in depth the heart and soul of Messianic Judaism. He exposes the motive behind its creation, its controversial doctrines and its ineffectiveness in Jewish evangelism. Messianic Judaism has grown significantly in fewer than four decades. While intended originally to appeal to Jewish people, unexpectedly it appeals also to Gentile…
Outline: In this book, the author provides a Hebrew Bible textbook admirably suited to college and university courses in religious studies. At one accessible and comprehensive, this book approaches the Bible through the categories of comparative religion, carefully distinguishing the religion of ancient Israel from the religion represented in the Bible and discussing such dimensions of religio…
Overview: Dedicated to Norman Kretzmann - a major figure within medieval philosophy and a leader in the redifinition of philosophy of religion - this book presents important new essays by fourteen eminent philosophers. Examining aspects of the rationality of faith or bringing philosophical techniques to bear on particular religious texts or doctrines, each chapter deepens our understanding of …
Overview: Covering over a thousand years of history, this book makes an important contribution to the fields of Jewish studies, biblical studies, ancient Near Eastern studies, Samaritan studies, and early Christian history by challenging the oppositional paradigm that has traditionally characterized the historical relations between Jews and Samaritans. Only by recognizing the close ties that d…