This collection of studies had its origin in the Burdick-Vary Symposium of 1986, held at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The symposium, sponsored jointly by the Institute for Research in the Humanities and the Hebrew Department of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, focused on the topic of the social role of temples in society. Participants presented the role of the temple in Sumer, Japan, the Far East, the Near East, Europe, and Meso-America. Together they sought to determine whether the temple as an institution was a single such entity, meeting fundamental human needs in similar ways throughout history, or whether the temples of various cultures are similar only in the fact that English uses the same word to refer to them.

Bringing to life the world portrayed in the stories in Judges and Ruth, this commentary offers readers an "insider" perspective on the narratives. After establishing a cultural and literary context, Victor Matthews analyzes each episode separately and as a whole.

Widely praised as a seminal contribution to the study of the Old Testament when it first appeared, Michael V. Fox's Character and Ideology in the Book of Esther is now available in a second edition, complete with an up-to-date critical review of recent Esther scholarship. Fox's commentary, based on his own translation of the Hebrew text, captures the meaning and artistry of Esther's inspiring story. After laying out the background information essential for properly reading Esther, Fox offers commentary on the text that clearly unpacks its message and relevance. Fox also looks in depth at each character in the story of Esther, showing how they were carefully shaped by the book's author to teach readers a new view of how to live as Jews in foreign lands.

Pervaded as it is with pessimism, paradox, and a multitude of contradictions, Ecclesiastes has long been one of the most difficult books of the Bible to understand. As this study demonstrates, however, it is precisely these contradictions that make Ecclesiastes so meaningful and so powerfully relevant to life in the world. By looking carefully at the language and thought of Ecclesiastes, as well as at its uses of contradictions in probing the meaning of life, Fox confronts the problems that have confounded interpretation of this biblical book. He shows that by using contradiction to tear down holistic claims of meaning and purpose in the world and rebuilding meaning in a local, restricted sense instead, the author of Ecclesiastes shapes a bold, honest-and ultimately uplifting-vision of life. Based on solid scholarly insight yet readable by all, Fox's work provides some of the best commentary available on this challenging section of Scripture.

Available once more, this is a comprehensive, comparative literary philological examination of two enduring bodies of love poetry from the ancient Near East.