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 phrase "Daughter of Zion" is in recent Bible translations often rendered "Daughter Zion". The discussion behind this change has continued for decades, but lacks proper linguistic footing. Parlance in grammars, dictionaries, commentaries and textbooks is often confusing. The present book seeks to remedy this defect by treating all relevant expressions from a linguistic point of view. To do this, it also discusses the understanding of Hebrew construct phrases, and finds that while there is a morphological category of genitive in Akkadian, Ugaritic and Arabic, Hebrew, Aramaic and Syriac do not display it. The use of this term as a syntactical category is unfortunate, and the term should be avoided in Hebrew grammar. Metaphor theory and the use of irony are also tools in the discussion of the phrases. As a result of the treatment, the author finds that there are some Hebrew construct phrases where nomen regens describes the following nomen rectum, and the description may be metaphorical, in some cases also ironical. This seems to be the case with "Daughter of Zion" and similar phrases. This understanding calls for a revision of the translation of the phrases, and new translations are suggested.

Despite the undeniable importance of anti-evolutionism in American cultural history, and the plethora of publications since the 1980s, few libraries have collected more than the occasional book or pamphlet on creationism and early creationist periodicals are almost impossible to find. This collection makes available works on creationism by such stalwarts as Arthur I. Brown, William Bell Riley, Harry Rimmer, Byron C. Nelson, George McCready Price, Harold W. Clark and Frank Lewis Marsh. It also reprints three of the earliest and rarest creationist journals in America: the Creationist, the Bulletin of Deluge Geology and the Forum for the Correlation of Science and the Bible. The collection as a whole plays an important part in the continuing debate in America over science and religion. There is a new preface to all volumes by the series editor Ronald L. Numbers.

This fascinating narrative illustrates and clarifies rabbinic views relating to more than 250 topics. The Talmud has been a source of study and debate for well over a millennia. What the Rabbis Said: 250 Topics from the Talmud brings that discussion out of the yeshiva to describe and clarify the views of the talmudic rabbis for modern readers. Much more than a compilation of isolated rabbinic quotations, the book intersperses talmudic statements within the narrative to provide a thoroughly engaging examination of the rabbinic point of view. Exploring the development of traditional Jewish thought during its formative period, the book summarizes the major rabbinic comments from the vast expanse of the Talmud and midrashic literature, demonstrating, among other things, that the rabbis often took divergent positions on a given issue rather than agreeing on a single "party line." As it delves into such broad topics as God, the Torah, mitzvot, law and punishment, synagogue and prayer, and life-cycle events, What the Rabbis Said will help readers understand and appreciate the views of those who developed the rabbinic Judaism that persists to the present day. Numerous endnotes provide a wealth of information for the scholarly reader without interrupting the flow of the text A glossary of lesser-known terms facilitates understanding

Talmuda de-Eretz Israel: Archaeology and the Rabbis in Late Antique Palestine brings together an international community of historians, literature scholars and archaeologists to explore how the integrated study of rabbinic texts and archaeology increases our understanding of both types of evidence, and of the complex culture which they together reflect. This volume reflects a growing consensus that rabbinic culture was an "embodied" culture, presenting a series of case studies that demonstrate the value of archaeology for the contextualization of rabbinic literature. It steers away from later twentieth-century trends, particularly in North America, that stressed disjunction between archaeology and rabbinic literature, and seeks a more holistic approach.

Lament, mourning, and the transmissibility of a tradition in the aftermath of destruction are prominent themes in Jewish thought. The corpus of lament literature, building upon and transforming the biblical Book of Lamentations, provides a unique lens for thinking about the relationships between destruction and renewal, mourning and remembrance, loss and redemption, expression and the inexpressible. This anthology features four texts by Gershom Scholem on lament, translated here for the first time into English. The volume also includes original essays by leading scholars, which interpret Scholem's texts and situate them in relation to other Weimar-era Jewish thinkers, including Walter Benjamin, Franz Rosenzweig, Franz Kafka, and Paul Celan, who drew on the textual traditions of lament to respond to the destruction and upheavals of the early twentieth century. Also included are studies on the textual tradition of lament in Judaism, from biblical, rabbinic, and medieval lamentations to contemporary Yemenite women's laments. This collection, unified by its strong thematic focus on lament, shows the fruitfulness of studying contemporary and modern texts alongside the traditional textual sources that informed them.

As with the first two volumes in this series, The Talmud for Beginners, Volume 3: Living in a Non-Jewish World, introduces the beginner to an important book of the Talmud; in this case, Avodah Zarah, translated as "Strange Worship." The theme, generally speaking, is Jewish relations with non-Jews.

This book is a continuation of the magickal series presented by the same author in The Divine Plan, Book of Clouds,

In addition to three scrolls containing the Book of Joshua, the Qumran caves brought to light five previously unknown texts rewriting this book. These scrolls (4Q123, 4Q378, 4Q379, 4Q522, 5Q9), as well as a scroll from Masada (Mas 1039-211), are commonly referred to as the Apocryphon of Joshua. While each of these manuscripts has received some scholarly attention, no attempt has yet been made to offer a detailed study of all these texts. The present monograph fills this gap by providing improved editions of the six scrolls, an up-to-date commentary and a detailed discussion of the biblical exegesis embedded in each scroll. The analysis of the texts is followed by a reassessment of the widely accepted view considering 4Q123, 4Q378, 4Q379, 4Q522, 5Q9 and Mas 1039-211 as copies of a single composition. Finally, the monograph attempts to place the Qumran scrolls rewriting the Book of Joshua within the wider context of Second Temple Jewish writings concerned with the figure of Joshua.

Zvi Mark uncovers previously unknown and never-before-discussed aspects of Rabbi Nachman's personal spiritual world. The first section of the book, Revelation, explores Rabbi Nachman's spiritual revelations, personal trials and spiritual experiments. Among the topics discussed is the powerful "Story of the Bread," wherein Rabbi Nachman receives the Torah as did Moses on Mount Sinai - a story that was kept secret for 200 years. The second section of the book, Rectification, is dedicated to the rituals of rectification that Rabbi Nachman established. These are, principally, the universal rectification, the rectification for a nocturnal emission and the rectification to be performed during pilgrimage to his grave. In this context, the secret story, "The Story of the Armor," is discussed. The book ends with a colorful description of Bratzlav Hasidism in the 21st century.

Gender in the Book of Ben Sira is a semantic analysis and, also, an investigation of hermeneutical pathways for performing such an analysis. A comparison of possible Greek and Hebrew gender taxonomies precedes the extensive delineation of the target-category, gender. The delineation includes invisible influences in the Book of Ben Sira such as the author's choices of genre and his situation as a member of a colonized group within a Hellenistic empire. When the Book of Ben Sira's genre-constrained invectives against women and male fools are excluded, the remaining expectations for women and for men are mostly equivalent, in terms of a pious life lived according to Torah. However, Ben Sira says nothing about distinctions at the level of how "living according to Torah" would differ for the two groups. His book presents an Edenic ideal of marriage through allusions to Genesis 1 to 4, and a substantial overlap of erotic discourse for the female figures of Wisdom and the "intelligent wife" creates tropes similar to those of the Song of Songs. In addition, Ben Sira's colonial status affects what he says and how he says it; by writing in Hebrew, he could craft the Greek genres of encomium and invective to carry multiple levels of meaning that subvert Hellenistic/Greek claims to cultural superiority.

The concept of scripture as written religious text is re-examined in this close analysis of the traditions of oral use of the sacred writings of religions around the world. Pointing out the central importance of the oral and aural experience of religious texts in the life of religious communities of both Eastern and Western cultures, William Graham asserts the need for a different perspective on how scripture has been appropriated and used by the vast majority of all people who have been religious, most of whom could neither read nor write. Graham first probes the history of literacy, focusing on the prominent role of the written word in modern Western culture and its history in Western civilization. He then considers the unique case of scripture, examining the problems of communication of texts to illiterate or semi-literate religious communities, the various oral uses of scripture, and affective impact of the spoken holy word vis- a-vis the silently written page.

Drawing on traditions of Jewish biblical commentary, the author employs the Creation account in Genesis to show how understanding God's creativity can give us courage to go on when we contemplate a future of continued trials and failures, because we can reaffirm that we are created in God's image.

The present volume is the seventeenth and last in this series of the Jerusalem Talmud. The four tractates of the Second Order - Ta'aniot, Megillah, Hagigah, Mo'ed Qatan (Masqin) - deal with different fasts and holidays as well as with the pilgrimage to the Temple. The texts are accompanied by an English translation and presented with full use of existing Genizah texts and with an extensive commentary explaining the Rabbinic background.