|
|
Books > Christianity > The Bible > Old Testament
After World War II, Ernst Ludwig Ehrlich (1921-2007) published
works in English and German by eminent Israeli scholars, in this
way introducing them to a wider audience in Europe and North
America. The series he founded for that purpose, Studia Judaica,
continues to offer a platform for scholarly studies and editions
that cover all eras in the history of the Jewish religion.
Drawing insights from gender studies and the environmental
humanities, Demonic Bodies and the Dark Ecologies of Early
Christian Culture analyzes how ancient Christians constructed the
Christian body through its relations to demonic adversaries.
Through case studies of New Testament texts, Gnostic treatises, and
early Christian church fathers (e.g., Ignatius of Antioch, Clement
of Alexandria, and Tertullian of Carthage), Travis W. Proctor notes
that early followers of Jesus construed the demonic body in diverse
and sometimes contradictory ways, as both embodied and bodiless,
"fattened" and ethereal, heavenly and earthbound. Across this
diversity of portrayals, however, demons consistently functioned as
personifications of "deviant" bodily practices such as "magical"
rituals, immoral sexual acts, gluttony, and pagan religious
practices. This demonization served an exclusionary function
whereby Christian writers marginalized fringe Christian groups by
linking their ritual activities to demonic modes of
(dis)embodiment. The tandem construction of demonic and human
corporeality demonstrates how Christian authors constructed the
bodies that inhabited their cosmos-human, demon, and otherwise-as
part of overlapping networks or "ecosystems" of humanity and
nonhumanity. Through this approach, Proctor provides not only a
more accurate representation of the bodies of ancient Christians,
but also new resources for reimagining the enlivened ecosystems
that surround and intersect with our modern ideas of "self."
For years, Douglas Stuart's Old Testament Exegesis has been one of
the most popular ways to learn how to perform exegesis-the science
and art of interpreting biblical texts properly for understanding
as well as proclamation. This new edition includes a major revision
and expansion of online and other resources for doing biblical
research and updates past editions by including a helpful
configuration of the format for the exegesis process. Stuart
provides guidance for full exegesis as well as for a quicker
approach specifically tailored to the task of preaching. A glossary
of terms explains the sometimes-bewildering language of biblical
scholarship, and a list of frequent errors guides the student in
avoiding common mistakes. No exegetical guide for the Old Testament
has been more widely used in training ministers and students to be
faithful, careful interpreters of Scripture.
|
|