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Substantial insights into various identity discourses reflected in the biblical prayers This collection of essays from an international group of scholars focuses on how biblical prayers of the Persian and early Hellenistic periods shaped identity, evoked a sense of belonging to specific groups, and added emotional significance to this affiliation. Contributors draw examples from different biblical texts, including Genesis, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah, Psalms, Jonah, and Daniel. Features Thorough study of prayers that play a key role for a biblical book’s (re)construction of the people’s history and identity An examination of ways biblical figures are remodeled by their prayers by introducing other, sometimes even contradictory, discourses on identity An exploration of different ways in which psalms from postexilic times shaped, reflected, and modified identity discourses
In Revelations of Ideology, G. Anthony Keddie proposes a new theory of the social function of Judaean apocalyptic texts produced in Early Roman Palestine (63 BCE–70 CE). In contrast to evaluations of Jewish and early Christian apocalyptic texts as “literature of the oppressed” or literature of resistance against empire, Keddie demonstrates that scribes produced apocalyptic texts to advance ideologies aimed at self-legitimation. By revealing that their opponents constituted an exploitative class, scribes generated apocalyptic ideologies that situated them in the same exploited class as their constituents. Through careful historical and ideological criticism of the Psalms of Solomon, Parables of Enoch, Testament of Moses, and Q source, Keddie identifies an internally diverse tradition of apocalyptic class rhetoric in late Second Temple Judaism.
In Lament in the Letter of James, Grant Flynn presents the first book-length study of lament in James. After exploring the contours and development of Old Testament lament, Flynn examines the lament material in James, including a reference to an act of lament, allusions to Old Testament laments, and exhortations to lament. The author then proposes that the choice to use Job as a model of perseverance implies that Job’s lament-shaped perseverance informs James’s understanding of the virtue. By rereading the epistle's opening call to consider trials as “pure joy” with this Joban perseverance in mind, Flynn concludes that James envisions an ongoing cycle of lament and joy that reflects both the pain of human suffering and the hope of eschatological perfection.
The Orion Center Bibliography of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Associated Literature (2000–2006) is the fifth official Scrolls bibliography, following volumes covering the periods 1948-1957 (W. S. LaSor), 1958-1969 (B. Jongeling), 1970-1995 (F. García Martínez and D. W. Parry), and 1995-2000 (A. Pinnick). The interdisciplinary cast of the Bibliography reflects the current emphasis in Scrolls scholarship on integrating the knowledge gained from the Qumran corpus into the larger picture of Second Temple Judaism. The volume contains over 4100 entries, including approximately 850 reviews; source, subject, and language indices facilitate its use by scholars and students within and outside the field. This work is based on the On-Line Bibliography maintained by the Orion Center for the Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Jerusalem.
Modern study of biblical prophecy frequently defines prophecy as a message from God and has focused almost exclusively on prophets' words. But prophecy was always also embodied. Anathea E. Portier-Young insists on the synergy of word and body in biblical prophecy. Prophets did more than reveal knowledge: the prophetic body connected God and people, making them present to one another, channeling divine power, traveling between realms. Drawing insights from disciplines ranging from neurobiology to cultural studies, the author examines stories of prophetic commissioning, bodily transformation, asceticism and ecstasy, mobility and immobility, affect and emotion, revealing the body's centrality to prophetic mediation.
The book of Isaiah is without doubt one of the most important books in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, as evidenced by its pride of place in both Jewish and Christian traditions as well as in art and music. Most people, scholars and laity alike, are familiar with the words of Isaiah accompanied by the magnificent tones of Handel's 'Messiah'. Isaiah is also one of the most complex books due to its variety and plurality, and it has accordingly been the focus of scholarly debate for the last 2000 years. Divided into eight sections, The Oxford Handbook of Isaiah constitutes a collection of essays on one of the longest books in the Bible. They cover different aspects regarding the formation, interpretations, and reception of the book of Isaiah, and also offer up-to-date information in an attractive and easily accessible format. The result does not represent a unified standpoint; rather the individual contributions mirror the wide and varied spectrum of scholarly engagement with the book. The authors of the essays likewise represent a broad range of scholarly traditions from diverse continents and religious affiliations, accompanied by comprehensive recommendations for further reading.
Paperback edition available from the Society of Biblical Literature (www.sbl-site.org).
Werline encourages us to look at prayer in the following way: to attempt to understand how prayers are tied to particular cultural and social settings. Prayers are part of and expressions of a collection of cultural ideas that have been arranged within a system that seems coherent and obvious to those writings the biblical texts. Prayers participate in and express a person's worldview. Werline shows the ways that--though many biblical prayers are familiar to us--biblical texts and contemporary readers come from different worlds. The Hebrew Bible and the New Testament contain many prayers. Large volumes have been written on prayer within a single book, or within the writings of one author, li...