This title identifies 'pericopal theology' as the bridge between ancient text and modern application and shows how it may be derived and how it functions in the exercise of preaching. A fundamental issue for preachers of the Bible has always been achieving an approach that is both faithful to the textual intention as well as fitting for the listening audience. What is historical and distant (the text) is, in preaching, made contemporary and near (praxis). Particularly pertinent is how this transaction may be conducted with respect to the self-contained and well-defined quantum of the scriptural text that is regularly employed in liturgical contexts - the pericope. This book answers the question: in a sermon intending to proclaim application from a pericope, what is the hermeneutical basis for moving validly from text to praxis, i.e., with authority and relevance?The concept of theology as a bridge between text and praxis has not been specifically researched or rigorously substantiated. Kuruvilla seeks to do both, utilizing as entrees language philosophy, literary criticism, and a thorough understanding of 'ordinary' language. Drawing from a variety of hermeneutical resources, he establishes 'pericopal theology' as the intermediary between text and praxis. How this theology is discerned from the text and how application may be determined therefrom form the crux of this book. This novel approach lends validity to the movement from text to praxis and promises to be useful for any approach to the biblical text intended to culminate in application. Kuruvilla's approach provides a substantial technical basis for such an operation.Thus the preacher must be a 'theologian-homiletician'. It is the working out of this nomenclature, especially the 'theologian' half of the appellation, that is the essence of this work, uniting as it does in one portfolio the responsibility of negotiating the demands of both hermeneutics and homiletics. Formerly the "Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement", a book series that explores the many aspects of New Testament study including historical perspectives, social-scientific and literary theory, and theological, cultural and contextual approaches. "The Early Christianity in Context" series, a part of JSNTS, examines the birth and development of early Christianity up to the end of the third century CE. The series places Christianity in its social, cultural, political and economic context. "European Seminar on Christian Origins" and "Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus Supplement" are also part of JSNTS.

The Qur'an is the scripture of Islam, sacred to over one billion Muslims worldwide. It is regarded by Muslims as the direct word of God, timeless and unchanged. Muslims turn to the Qur'an not only for prayer and worship but also to understand the essence of their relationship with God. Mona Siddiqui considers how the Qur'an has been understood by Muslims in the intellectual traditions of Islam as well as in popular worship. She explores the "big themes" of prophecy, law, sin, and salvation, and what the Qur'an teaches about the particular place of Islam as God's last revelation in human history. Siddiqui's central concern is that Muslims must look to the Qur'an to breathe new life into the social and ethical relations between Muslims and non-Muslims.

In this groundbreaking study, Avi Sagi outlines a broad spectrum of answers to important questions presented in Jewish literature, covering theological issues bearing on the meaning of the Torah and of revelation, as well as hermeneutical questions regarding understanding of the halakhic text.This is the first volume to attempt to provide a comprehensive map of the available views and theories concerning the theological, hermeneutical, and ontological meaning of dispute as a constitutive element of Halakhah. It offers an attentive reading of the texts and strives to present, clearly and exhaustively, the conscious account of Jewish tradition in general and of halakhic tradition in particular concerning the meaning of halakhic discourse. The Robert and Arlene Kogod Library of Judaic Studies publishes new research which serves to enhance the quality of dialogue between Jewish classical sources and the modern world, to enrich the meanings of Jewish thought and to explore the varieties of Jewish life.

In this groundbreaking study, Avi Sagi outlines a broad spectrum of answers to important questions presented in Jewish literature, covering theological issues bearing on the meaning of the Torah and of revelation, as well as hermeneutical questions regarding understanding of the halakhic text.This is the first volume to attempt to provide a comprehensive map of the available views and theories concerning the theological, hermeneutical, and ontological meaning of dispute as a constitutive element of Halakhah. It offers an attentive reading of the texts and strives to present, clearly and exhaustively, the conscious account of Jewish tradition in general and of halakhic tradition in particular concerning the meaning of halakhic discourse.The Robert and Arlene Kogod Library of Judaic Studies publishes new research which serves to enhance the quality of dialogue between Jewish classical sources and the modern world, to enrich the meanings of Jewish thought and to explore the varieties of Jewish life.

Who is Israel? Who were the priestly authors of the Pentateuch? This anthropological reading of the Bible, by a world-renowned scholar, starts by asking why the Book of Numbers lists the twelve tribes of Israel seven times. Mary Douglas argues that the editors, far from being a separate elite unconcerned with their congregation's troubles, cherished a political agenda, a religious protest against the government of Judah's exclusionary policies. The priestly theology depends on God's Covenant with all the descendants of Jacob, including the sons of Joseph. It would have been unpatriotic, even subversive, to speak against the wars with Samaria. This book suggest an explanation of the editors' disappearance from the history of Israel.

The first five books of the Hebrew Bible contain a significant number of texts describing ritual practices. Yet it is often unclear how these sources would have been understood or used by ancient audiences in the actual performance of cult. This volume explores the processes of ritual textualization (the creation of a written version of a ritual) in ancient Israel by probing the main conceptual and methodological issues that inform the study of this topic in the Pentateuch. This systematic and comparative study of text and ritual in the first five books of the Hebrew Bible maps the main areas of consensus and disagreement among scholars engaged in articulating new models for understanding the relationship between text and ritual and explores the importance of comparative evidence for the study of pentateuchal rituals. Topics include ritual textualization in ancient Anatolia, Egypt, Greece, and Mesopotamia; the importance of archaeology and materiality for the study of text and ritual in ancient Israel; the relationship between ritual textualization and standardization in the Pentateuch; the reception of pentateuchal ritual texts in Second Temple writings and rabbinic literature; and the relationship between text and ritual in the Dead Sea Scrolls. In addition to the editors, the contributors to this volume include Dorothea Erbele-Kuster, Daniel K. Falk, Yitzhaq Feder, Christian Frevel, William K. Gilders, Dominique Jaillard, Giuseppina Lenzo, Lionel Marti, Patrick Michel, Rudiger Schmitt, Jeremy D. Smoak, and James W. Watts.

The author gave a series of inspired talks on the Bhagavad Gita in three separate seminars, during 1992 and 1993 in Italy. To her Bhagavad Gita is very sacred because it deals with the organic wholeness of life; and the inbuilt complexity of life, It affirms the interplay between the micrecosm and macrocosm and persuadesus to remain united with the ultimate reality, not only to intellectual understanding, but through everything that we do, at every moment.

Bodhidharma, its first patriarch, reputedly said that Zen Buddhism represents "a special transmission outside the teaching/Without reliance on words and letters." This saying, along with the often perplexing use of language (and silence) by Zen masters, gave rise to the notion that Zen is a
"lived religion" based strictly on practice. This collection of previously unpublished essays argues that Zen actually has a rich and varied literary heritage. Among the most significant texts are hagiographic accounts and recorded sayings of individual Zen masters, koan collections and
commentaries, and rules for monastic life. This volume offers learned yet accessible studies of some of the most important classical Zen texts, including some that have received little scholarly attention (and many that are accessible only to specialists). Each essay provides historical, literary,
and philosophical commentary on a particular text or genre.

Perfect for students, Reading Isaiah is a practical and nontechnical literary introduction to the book of Isaiah as a poem. Peter Quinn-Miscall translates much of the Hebrew text and focuses upon parallelism, figurative language, and the use of imagery.

This is the complete A-Z concordance to the currently-in-print version of Crowley's *The Book of the Law*. Easy to use. A great reference piece.

Searching for Meaning in Midrash explores the fascinating body of Jewish literature called Midrash-creative interpretations of the Bible that are designed to reveal hidden or deeper meaning in Scripture. Each of the over 50 midrashim sit next to its corresponding biblical text so that readers can compare them, along with commentary on the times and insights of the Rabbis who wrote each midrash. Readers are given guidance for answering "What does this text mean to me?"

"The Bedside Torah" guides you into the wisdom, counsel, and holiness of the sacred text that is the center of Jewish spirituality. Rabbi Bradley Artson, one of the truly inspirational and knowledgeable teachers of Torah of our time, weaves together the insights of ancient rabbis and sages, medieval commentators and philosophers, and modern scholars and religious leaders. The reflections in this collection offer three different commentaries on each of the 50 Torah portions, enlightening you into the Torah's infinite layers of meaning and offering opportunities to discover interpretations of your own..

""The Bedside Torah" is an introduction to Jewish text study that is both learned and engaging . . . The language is conversational, the insights provocative, and the chapters are just the right length for reading before an inspired night's sleep."
. --Anita Diamant, author of "The New Jewish Wedding," "Choosing a Jewish Life," "How to Be a Jewish Parent," "The Red Tent," and "Good Harbor," .

"Bradley Artson is one of the most insightful and articulate rabbis of his generation, as this volume clearly attests."
--Rabbi Harold Kushner, author of "When Bad Things Happen to Good People," .

"In "The Bedside Torah," Rabbi Artson combines wisdom garnered from traditional Jewish sources and commentaries with anecdotes and insights drawn from his own life as well as the lives of all those he has served. In so doing, he has turned each weekly Torah portion into a series of revelations for the reader. "The Bedside Torah" is a treasure that will surely enrich the religious life of Jews as well as all those who seek comfort and guidance from Jewish scriptures."
--Rabbi DavidEllenson, Ph.D., president, Hebrew Union College--Jewish Institute of Religion.

This study, based on a careful examination of hundreds of authoritative rabbinic writings, offers a very different picture of the textual reality of, and the rabbinic beliefs about the Torah. B. Barry Levy explores exactly how perfect or imperfect these rabbis thought the text to be. He demonstrates conclusively that many of the same rabbinic figures whose teachings inform other contemporary Orthodox doctrines were quite open about the fact that their Bible texts, even their Torah scrolls, were not completely accurate. Moreover, though many of the variations are of little exegetical significance, these rabbis often acknowledged that, textually speaking, the situation was beyond repair.

The Kalacakratantra is the latest and most comprehensive Buddhist Tantra that is available in its original Sanskrit. This will be the first thorough academic work to be published on this Tantra. The Kalacakratantra's five chapters are classified into three categories: Outer, Inner, and Other Kalacakratantra. The present work concentrates on the Inner Kalacakratantra, which deals with the nature of a human being.

Recent years have seen a remarkable surge in interest in the book of Genesis - the first book of the Bible - and a foundational text of Western culture. In this new commentary, Thomas Brodie offers a complete and accessible overview of Genesis from literary, theological, and historical standpoints. Brodie's work is organized around three main ideas: the first is that the primary subject of Genesis is human existence - while full of historical echoes, it is primarily a sophisticated portrayal of the progress and pitfalls of human life. His second thesis is that Genesis' basic organizational unity is binary, or diptych: building on older insights that Genesis is somehow dialogical, he argues that the entire book is composed of diptychs - accounts which, like some paintings, consist of two parts or panels. Finally, Brodie contends that many of Genesis' sources still exist, and can be identified and verified.

Using a series of intriguing and suspenseful narratives, Woman at the Window explores universal female postures, responses, and language which underlie the collective feminine experience. Drawing from traditional Biblical readings and feminist explorations, this text offers a series of creative, analytical retellings of Biblical stories focusing on women's roles. The ancient tales are used to highlight the archetypal characteristics, forms of conduct, psychic reactions, and inner motivations of the contemporary. woman. Aschenasy's insightful and careful reading of the old texts, combined with the aid of modern perspectives on social and individual behaviors, genetic and environmental influences, and modern literary theories, help augment and deepen the understanding of the Biblical tales as well as women's roles within them.

This volume is a comprehensive but accessible guide to the major questions raised by the Hellenistic Jewish work, Joseph and Aseneth. Joseph and Aseneth is an excellent example of the controverted issues of text, dating and Sitz im Leben, when such decisions must be largely based on internal evidence. It provides an entre into the vexed question of genre, given the numerous literary links that have been suggested for it. Its mysterious but engaging plot, and its female protagonist, evoke ongoing sociological and feminist debate. It is thus strongly commended for careful study to students and scholars of Judaism, New Testament, sociology and narratology. Intended as a sound basis for such exploration, this guide also offers a fresh narrative reading in which the revelatory character of Joseph and Aseneth is brought to the forefront.>

The Temple Scroll and Related Texts, one of the series Companion to the Qumran Scrolls, is a comprehensive roadmap to the Temple Scroll, the longest and one of the most complex of the manuscripts from Qumran. The central chapter contains a discussion of the contents of the Temple Scroll, including sections on the Temple and its courts, purity regulation, the festival calendar, and the Deuteronomic Paraphrase with the Law of the King. The Companion also includes a chapter on the Description of the New Jerusalem, as well as one on the relationship of the Temple Scroll to the Book of Jubilees, 4QMiqsat Ma'aseh ha-Torah, and the Damascus Document. Written in accessible language and featuring extensive bibliographies, this Companion is ideal for undergraduate and graduate classes.>

Jews, Christians, and Muslims trace their roots to Abraham and yet it is a shock to many Bible readers that some of the characters and stories in their sacred text are also found in the pages of Islam's sacred text, the Qur'an. By exploring the relationship between the Bible and the Qur'an in Ishmael Instructs Isaac, John Kaltner challenges Bible readers to think about their sacred book in new, exciting ways. In doing so, he leads all to a better appreciation of Islam. After a brief overview of the text, themes, structure, and use of the Qur'an, Kaltner focuses on traditions that are shared with the Bible. He explains that the Bible and Qur'an contain many of the same themes, figures, and episodes. However, at times, there are significant differences in their descriptions of the same event or figure. By discussing such topics and figures as God, humanity, prophecy, creation, life after death, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Mary, Kaltner examines the similarities and differences between the two texts. This comparative method allows readers to better appreciate both what is distinctive about Islam and what it shares with Judaism and Christianity. Jews and Christians view Isaac as the son of Abraham in whom the family line continued. Muslims, on the other hand, view Isaac's brother Ishmael as the rightful heir. This difference must not obscure what is held in common: a belief in the one God and a family - albeit distant - relationship. Written for undergraduate and seminary courses on Islam, the Qur'an, comparative religions, inter-religious dialogue, world scriptures, and biblical interpretation, Ishmael Instructs Isaac is also a useful resource for discussion groups in churches, synagogues, and mosques. Includes English translations of the Qur'anic texts discussed. John Kaltner, PhD, is assistant professor of religious studies at Rhodes College where he teaches courses in the Bible and Islam. He has worked in the Middle East with the Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America.

The Damascus document is one of the most important texts from the Qumran caves. Part One of this Companion offers a lucid and up-to-date introduction to all the manuscripts, including the eight recently published from Qumran Cave 4. It also provides a review of the key areas of scholarly research on this important Qumran text. Part Two is devoted to the recently published text 4QMiscellaneous Rules (4Q265; olim Serekh Damascus). This text has already become the subject of intense interest among students of the Dead Sea Scrolls because of its unique relationship to both the Community Rule and the Damascus Document.

The volume contributes a postcolonial perspective to such topics as textual production, commentarial writings and translations in colonial times, and then moves on to inspect Eurocentric notions embedded in current western biblical interpretation especially in projects such as Jesus Research. It also contains an overview of and introduction to one of the most challenging and controversial theories of our time, postcolonialism--a theory that gives mediation and representation to Third World people. Though long established in cultural studies, postcolonial theory has not previously been seriously applied to Asian biblical interpretation.

Volume 1 of the Mercer Commentary on the Bible (MCB) comprises commentaries on Genesis -- Deuteronomy plus appropriate articles from the Mercer Dictionary of the Bible (MDB). This convenient text is for the classroom and for anyone who wishes to focus on the study of the Pentateuch/Torah. Other fascicles in the series focus on other appropriate groups of canonical and deuterocanonical writings. Already available are volumes 4 (Prophets), 6 (Gospels), and 7 (Acts and Pauline Writings). Other volumes will follow in due course (see the list on p. vii). Each volume includes both MCB commentaries and appropriate articles from MDB.

This fascicle edition of the massive Mercer Commentary on the Bible (1994/1995), with selections from the Mercer Dictionary of the Bible (1990), is intended primarily for students in the classroom, and already is meeting the need for a convenient yet comprehensive text in classes on the Prophets, the Gospels, and so forth. Church study groups also are finding these volumes to be convenient and helpful curriculum pieces for ongoing study courses and in Sunday school or church school.

Mercer University Press intends these texts to be available, appropriate, and helpful for Bible students both in and out of the classroom, and indeed for anyone seeking guidance in uncovering the abundant wealth of the Scriptures.

This study written by Bishop Kenneth Cragg, one of the world's leading Islamicists, is an introduction to the New Testament that takes into account the issues of central interest to Muslims. Exploring the significance of the figure of Jesus not only in the Christian Bible, but also in the Qur'an, Muslim poetry and Muslim devotion.

Volume 2 of the Mercer Commentary on the Bible (MCB, 1994), the fascicle edition, comprises commentaries on the so-called "historical" books of the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, along with several appropriate articles from the Mercer Dictionary of the Bible (MDB, 1990; 5th corrected printing, August 1997). This convenient yet thorough text is for the classroom and for anyone who wishes to focus on the study of the Old Testament "historical" books. Other volumes in the series focus on other appropriate groups of canonical and deuterocanonical writings (Prophets, Torah, Gospels, and so forth -- see p. vii for list). Each volume includes the complete MCB commentaries on the focus texts and several relevant articles from MDB.

"The editors have performed a great service in making widely available a documentary history of the interpretation of the Eve and Adam story." Publishers Weekly

"This fascinating volume examines Genesis 1-3 and the different ways that Jewish, Christian, and Muslim interpreters have used these passages to define and enforce gender roles.... a 'must'... " Choice

"Wonderful A marvelous introduction to the ways in which the three major Western religious traditions are both like, and unlike one another." Ellen Umansky, Fairfield University

No other text has affected women in the western world as much as the story of Eve and Adam. This remarkable anthology surveys more than 2,000 years of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim commentary and debate on the biblical story that continues to raise fundamental questions about what it means to be a man or to be a woman. The selections range widely from early postbiblical interpretations in the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha to the Qur an, from Thomas Aquinas to medieval Jewish commentaries, from Christian texts to 19th-century antebellum slavery writings, and on to pieces written especially for this volume."