This volume gathers together studies on various ""engagements"" between Judaism and Christianity. Following an introduction on ""my odyssey in New Testament interpretation,"" Professor Davies examines such topics as the nature of Judaism, canon and Christology, Torah and dogma, law in Christianity, and the promised land in Jewish and Christian tradition. Part II focuses on Paul and Judaism, with special attention to Paul and the exodus, Paul and the law, and the allegory of the two olives in Romans 11:13-24. Part III looks at the background and origins of the Gospels, centering specifically on Matthew and John. Part IV takes up an exclusively American engagement with Judaism, that is, the Mormon's claim to be Christian and their assertion that they are genealogically connected with Jews and therefore physically a recovered, restored, and reinterpreted Israel. The volume concludes with a discussion and critique of ""mystical anti-Semitism,"" that is, ascribing to ""The Jews"" (not to ""Jews"") the central role in the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth, leading to a view of ""The Jews"" as essentially satanic or demonic. This collection of seminal essays by a preeminent New Testament scholar highlights the encounter of two great religious traditions and stimulates the dialogue between them. W. D. Davies was Emeritus Ivey Professor of Advanced Studies and Research in Christian Origin at Duke University. He was the author of many books, including Paul and Rabbinic Judaism and Jewish and Pauline Studies.

The Rabbis of the first five centuries of the Common Era loom large in the Jewish tradition. Until the modern period, Jews viewed the Rabbinic traditions as the authoritative contents of their covenant with God, and scholars debated the meanings of these ancient Sages words. Even after the eighteenth century, when varied denominations emerged within Judaism, each with its own approach to the tradition, the literary legacy of the talmudic Sages continued to be consulted.
In this book, Michael S. Berger analyzes the notion of Rabbinic authority from a philosophical standpoint. He sets out a typology of theories that can be used to understand the authority of these Sages, showing the coherence of each, its strengths and weaknesses, and what aspects of the Rabbinic enterprise it covers. His careful and thorough analysis reveals that owing to the multifaceted character of the Rabbinic enterprise, no single theory is adequate to fully ground Rabbinic authority as traditionally understood.
The final section of the book argues that the notion of Rabbinic authority may indeed have been transformed over time, even as it retained the original name. Drawing on the debates about legal hermeneutics between Ronald Dworkin and Stanley Fish, Berger introduces the idea that Rabbinic authority is not a strict consequence of a preexisting theory, but rather is embedded in a form of life that includes text, interpretation, and practices. Rabbinic authority is shown to be a nuanced concept unique to Judaism, in that it is taken to justify those sorts of activities which in turn actually deepen the authority itself.
Students of Judaism and philosophers of religion in general will be intrigued bythis philosophical examination of a central issue of Judaism, conducted with unprecedented rigor and refreshing creative insight.

The Companion to Ancient Israel offers an innovative overview of ancient Israelite culture and history, richly informed by a variety of approaches and fields. Distinguished scholars provide original contributions that explore the tradition in all its complexity, multiplicity and diversity. * A methodologically sophisticated overview of ancient Israelite culture that provides insights into political and social history, culture, and methodology * Explores what we can say about the cultures and history of the people of Israel and Judah, but also investigates how we know what we know * Presents fresh insights, richly informed by a variety of approaches and fields * Delves into religion as lived, an approach that asks about the everyday lives of ordinary people and the material cultures that they construct and experience * Each essay is an original contribution to the subject

Unlocking the Garden: A Feminist Jewish Look at the Bible, Midrash, and God, is a collection of 15 articles which are exemplars of the state of the art of feminist Jewish interpretation of biblical texts. In these articles Naomi Graetz explores some of the reasons why biblical women are extolled in post-biblical sources when they adhere to their prescribed roles yet deprecated by these same midrashic sources when they speak up. The author demonstrates that much of present-day thinking about Jewish marriage is conditioned by metaphors. She discusses the theological implications of the dangerous marriage metaphor which describes God and Israel in an abusive husband and wife relationship and addresses the problem of God's responsibility for Israel's suffering. Graetz combats the approach of rabbinical midrash, not only by critique, but by writing Jewish midrash that is consciously feminist in its intent. Naomi Graetz is the author of The Rabbi's Wife Plays at Murder (Shiluv Press, 2004); S/He Created Them: Feminist Retellings of Biblical Stories (Gorgias Press, 2003) and Silence is Deadly: Judaism Confronts Wifebeating (Jason Aronson, 1998). She has written many articles about women and metaphor in the Bible and Midrash. Graetz teaches critical reading skills at Ben-Gurion University in the English Department and describes herself as a feminist Jew who is grounded both in Jewish tradition and feminist thought who has to grapple with problems of modernity while seeing the value of tradition.

Judaism, Christianity and Islam: An Introduction to Monotheism shows how a shared monotheistic legacy frames and helps explain the commonalities and disagreements among Judaism, Christianity and Islam and their significant denominations in the world today. Taking a thematic approach and covering both historical and contemporary dimensions, the authors discuss how contemporary geographic and cultural contexts shape the expression of monotheism in the three religions. It covers differences between religious expressions in Israeli Judaism, Latin American Christianity and British Islam. Topics discussed include scripture, creation, covenant and identity, ritual, ethics, peoplehood and community, redemption, salvation, life after death, gender, sexuality and marriage. This introductory text, which contains over 30 images, a map, a timeline, chapter afterthoughts and critical questions, is written by three authors with extensive teaching experience, each a specialist in one of the three monotheistic traditions.

This book outlines what the Bible teaches about the Jewish people and religion. Jewish Themes in the New Testament is an examination of what the New Testament teaches about the Jewish people in the era of the New Covenant. The core of that teaching is an affirmation of God's continued faithfulness to them. In a day when opinions regarding the Jewish people are increasingly polarised as some stress their position centre-stage and others consign them to the dustbin of history, this book seeks to demonstrate from the New Testament that both extremes are wrong. This unique book considers the theological issues, but it is concerned for much more; it is about Jewish people and the Jews as a people, as the New Testament sees them.

This third edition of Historical Dictionary of Judaism covers the history of the Jewish religion, ranging from its biblical roots, through its formulation in the era of the Talmud, to the present day. This collection covers the development of Judaism in the medieval Christian and Islamic worlds, its varied responses to Enlightenment and modernity, the creation of new philosophies of Judaism in the wake of the Holocaust, and the establishment of the State of Israel, and contemporary issues such as feminism, secularism, and the ethics of war and medicine. This is done through a chronology, an introductory essay, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 800 cross-referenced entries on important personalities in Jewish religious history, including biblical personalities with an emphasis on how they are understood in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic tradition. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Judaism.

This volume of the Jerusalem Talmud comprises the fourth and fifth tractates of the Second Order. Pesahim introduces the prescriptions regarding Passover; Yoma covers regulations related to Yom Kippur, especially the role of the Kohen Gadol and the order of services. The tractates are vocalized by the rules of Rabbinic Hebrew with an English translation. They are presented with full use of existing Genizah texts and with an extensive commentary explaining the Rabbinic background necessary for understanding the texts.

Remembering the Holocaust in Germany, Austria, Italy and Israel: "Vergangenheitsbewaltigung" as a Historical Quest offers an account on post-war coming-to-terms with the Holocaust tragedy in some European countries, such as Germany, Austria, and Italy. The subject has attracted more attention in recent years, since the long transition to liberal democracy seems to have put an end to the main theme of the memory of the Second World War. The main point of the volume is the making of a new generational memory after the "end of history". What is to be done after the making of a globalised world? What about the memorialisation of the last century?

Jewish Languages in Historical Perspective is devoted to the diverse array of spoken and written language varieties that have been employed by Jews in the Diaspora from antiquity until the twenty-first century. It focuses on the following five key themes: Jewish languages in dialogue with sacred Jewish texts, Jewish languages in contact with the co-territorial non-Jewish languages, Jewish vernacular traditions, the status of Jewish languages in the twenty-first century, and theoretical issues relating to Jewish language research. This volume includes case studies on a wide range of Jewish languages both historical and modern and devotes attention to lesser known varieties such as Jewish Berber, Judeo-Italian, and Karaim in addition to the more familiar Aramaic, Judeo-Arabic, Yiddish, and Ladino. "On top of Brill's Journal of Jewish Languages and a number of recent publications providing systematic overviews of Jewish languages as well as related theoretical discussions, this volume is a valuable addition to the increasing interest in Jewish languages and linguistics." -Wout van Bekkum, Groningen, Bibliotheca Orientalis LXXVI 3-4 (2019)

Following the failure of the Bar-Kokhba revolt in the second century, the majority of the Jewish population of Palestine migrated northward away from Jerusalem to join the communities of Jews in Galilee and the Golan Heights. Although rabbinic sources indicate that from the second century onward the demographic center of Jewish Palestine was in Galilee, archaeological evidence of Jewish communities is found in the southern part of the country as well. In The Ancient Synagogues of Southern Palestine, 300-800 C.E., Steve Werlin considers ten synagogues uncovered in southern Palestine. Through an in-depth analysis of the art, architecture, epigraphy, and stratigraphy, the author demonstrates how monumental, religious structures provide critical insight into the lives of those who were strangers among Christians and Muslims in their ancestral homeland.

There can be little doubt that the Holocaust was an event of major consequence for the twentieth century. While there have been innumerable volumes published on the implications of the Holocaust for history, philosophy, and ethics, there has been a surprising lack of attention paid to the theoretical and practical effects of the Shoah on biblical interpretation.

Strange Fire addresses the implications of the Holocaust for interpretation of the Hebrew Bible, bringing together a diverse and distinguished range of contributors, including Richard Rubenstein, Elie Wiesel, and Walter Brueggemann, to discuss theoretical and methodological considerations emerging from the Shoah and to demonstrate the importance of these considerations in the reading of specific biblical texts. The volume addresses such issues as Jewish and Christian biblical theology after the Holocaust, the ethics of Christian appropriation of Jewish scripture, and the rethinking of biblical models of suffering and sacrifice from a post-Holocaust perspective.

The first book of its kind, Strange Fire will establish a benchmark for all future work on the topic.

A detailed examination of Proverbs 1-9, an early Jewish poetic work. Stuart Weeks incorporates studies of literature from ancient Egypt and from the Dead Sea scrolls, but his focus is on the background and use of certain key images in the text. Proverbs 1-9 belongs to an important class of biblical literature (wisdom literature), and is less well known as a whole than the related books of Job and Ecclesiastes, partly because it has been viewed until recently as a dull and muddled school-book. However, parts of it have been profoundly influential on the development of both Judaism and Christianity, and occupy a key role in modern feminist theology. Weeks demonstrates that those parts belong to a much broader and more intricate set of ideas than older scholarship allowed.

Mystic Trends in Judaism analyzes the development of the Jews' relationship to God as expressed in kabbala, messianism, hasidism, the cult of the tzadikim and, finally, as reflected in three classic Yiddish writers. The twofold significance of the kabbala-as a mystical conception of a cosmic world, and as a nationalist concept of the Jewish people-merged, in the conviction that this people was chosen to bring universal redemption to all people, on earth. Arnold Posy notes that the mystical revelations of the kabbala and the empirical conclusions of modern science share an awareness of the existence of a world beyond the world of matter as perceived by the physical senses.

This volume brings together Jewish and Christian scholars with perspectives on Creation in the Bible (Tanakh, Old Testament, New Testament), in ancient Egypt and Israel, and at Qumran, as well as contemporary theological, philosophical and political issues raised by the biblical, Jewish and Christian concepts of creation.

Religious violence has become one of the most pressing issues of our time. Robert Eisen provides the first comprehensive analysis of Jewish views on peace and violence by examining texts in five major areas of Judaism - the Bible, rabbinic Judaism, medieval Jewish philosophy, Kabbalah, and modern Zionism. He demonstrates that throughout its history, Judaism has consistently exhibited ambiguity regarding peace and violence.
To make his case, Eisen presents two distinct analyses of the texts in each of the areas under consideration: one which argues that the texts in question promote violence toward non-Jews, and another which argues that the texts promote peace. His aim is to show that both readings are valid and authentic interpretations of Judaism. Eisen also explores why Judaism can be read both ways by examining the interpretive techniques that support each reading.
The Peace and Violence of Judaism will be an essential resource not only for students of Judaism, but for students of other religions. Many religions exhibit ambiguity regarding peace and violence. This study provides a model for analyzing this important phenomenon.

The best-selling author of The Essential Kabbalah nowoffers readers the best introduction to the Zohar.

The splendor and enigmatic appeal of the Zohar, the major text of the Jewish mystical tradition, has never intrigued readers of all faiths more than it does today. But how can we truly understand it?

Daniel C. Matt brings together in one place the most important teachings from the Zohar, the cornerstone of Kabbalah described as a mixture of theology, mystical psychology, anthropology, myth, and poetry alongside facing-page stories, notes, and historical background that illuminate and explain the text. Ideal for the first-time reader with no prior knowledge of Jewish mysticism.

Guides readers step-by-step through the texts that make up the Zohar midrash, mystical fantasy, commentary, and Hebrew scripture and explains the inner meanings of this sacred text, recognized by kabbalists as the most important work of mystical teaching, in a way that is both spiritually enlightening and intellectually fascinating."

Tis title provides impressive dossier on the phenomenon of Saturnism, offering a new interpretation of aspects of Judaism, including the emergence of Sabbateanism. This book explores the phenomenon of Saturnism, namely the belief that the planet Saturn, as described by ancient astrology, influenced Jews, reverberating into Jewish life. Taking into consideration the astrological aspects of Judaism, Moshe Idel demonstrates that they were instrumental in the conviction that Sabbatei Tzevei, the mid-17th-century messianic figure in Rabbinic Judaism, was indeed the Messiah. Offering a new approach to the study of this mass-movement known as Sabbateanism, Idel also explores the possible impact of astrology on the understanding of Sabbath as related to sorcery and thus to the concept of the encounter of witches in the late 14th and early 15th century. This book further analyzes aspects of 20th-century scholarship and thought influenced by Saturnism, particularly lingering themes in the works of Gershom Scholem and seminal figure Walter Benjamin. "The Robert and Arlene Kogod Library of Judaic Studies" publishes new research which provides new directions for modern Jewish thought and life and which serves to enhance the quality of dialogue between classical sources and the modern world. This book series reflects the mission of the Shalom Hartman Institute, a pluralistic research and leadership institute, at the forefront of Jewish thought and education. It empowers scholars, rabbis, educators and layleaders to develop new and diverse voices within the tradition, laying foundations for the future of Jewish life in Israel and around the world.