Christianity Books

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Book SynopsisWhat is the future of Christianity in the twenty-first century West? Are Western societies growing more secular, leaving cherished religious traditions behind? Or have modernity''s secularising currents generated equally powerful desecularising and resacralising currents? Should secularisation theory, the dominant paradigm in the social scientific study of religion for much of the twentieth century, be thrown in the dustbin, as some scholars have suggested? Or does it remain useful, even indispensable, despite its limitations? How are globalising processes, bringing diverse religious communities into increasingly close contact, affecting Western Christian communities? Such questions have attracted increasing attention from scholars in many disciplines during recent years and are at the heart of the essays in this volume.

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Book SynopsisWhat is the future of Christianity in the twenty-first century West? Are Western societies growing more secular, leaving cherished religious traditions behind? Or have modernity''s secularising currents generated equally powerful desecularising and resacralising currents? Should secularisation theory, the dominant paradigm in the social scientific study of religion for much of the twentieth century, be thrown in the dustbin, as some scholars have suggested? Or does it remain useful, even indispensable, despite its limitations? How are globalising processes, bringing diverse religious communities into increasingly close contact, affecting Western Christian communities? Such questions have attracted increasing attention from scholars in many disciplines during recent years and are at the heart of the essays in this volume.

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Book SynopsisThis book follows the roots of women''s struggle for equal pay, equal status, and equal respect back to that fateful, eye-opening day -- when Eve met a Serpent by a Tree, and shared an Apple with Adam instead of enjoying it without him. How did Eve (and then all women) become a scapegoat for The Fall of Man? What spin on this story made women seem to deserve being held down or back, to be suspected -- and often even suspect themselves -- of devious intents or deeds? Who fashioned such spin, and how? And why did we ever buy into it? Melinda Rising''s research into the gnarled roots of sexism and misogyny in our culture -- from the Book of Genesis through early Church history, the Crusades, heretic hunting, the Inquisitions, witch hunts, and on into our own century -- is startling, inspiring, and ultimately healing. Understanding this story, and seeing what still haunts contemporary women, may be an essential key for progress toward real gender equity in our time.

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Book SynopsisFaith is something you are innately born with or it comes after youve been served a hearty dose of real life. The latter road is a much tougher journey, and it just so happens to be celebrity carpenter Brandon Russells walk towards faith. In his first book, Brandon shares his own experiences while imparting the tools and lessons of wisdom he has learned along the way to create a life built on the solidest of foundationsa foundation of faith in God. The lessons are wrapped into an action-plan called The Toolbox at the end of each chapter. The Toolbox is packed with scripture and applicable lessons for living the best life TODAY! Growing up in the charming South, Brandon didnt realize what life had in store for him. A chance meeting changed Brandons course from would-be businessman to international male model turned television star. His father, a true Renaissance man and artist, who could build anything, taught Brandon the value of hard work. Yet, it wasnt until Brandon lost his father to cancer did he realize his fathers actual tools would give him his true calling in life. While finishing his parents basement, Brandon began to understand Gods plan for him. After surrendering to the notion that Gods will was bigger than his own, Brandon came to understand his purpose on earth is to reach, inspire, encourage, and uplift others. That calling has been put into action by reaching people in the one place their hearts are most open: their homes. Brandons motto is when building any structure you must start with a good foundation.

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Book SynopsisReading the Old Testament can seem like exploring an old, mysterious mansion, packed with of all sorts of strange rooms. The creation room, vast and sublime. The exodus room, with hardhearted pharaohs and dried-up seas. The war room, with bloody swords and crumbling walls. The tabernacle room, with smoking altars and dark inner sanctums. What does this odd and ancient world have to do with us, who are modern followers of Jesus? As it turns out, everything! Every chapter in the Old Testament, in a variety of ways, tells the story that culminates in Jesus the Messiah. What Christians today call the Old Testament is what Jesus and the earliest believers simply called the Scriptures. That was their Bible. From its pages, they taught about the Messiah’s divine nature, his priestly work, his ministry of salvation. The Christ Key will reintroduce readers to these old books as ever-fresh, ever-new testimonies of Jesus. By the end, you will see even Leviticus as a book of grace and mercy, and you will hear in the Psalms the resounding voice of Christ.

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Book SynopsisBob Hasson and Shawn Bolz have come together to help infuse you with hope, truth, and perspective about your God-given role in the marketplace. Whether you own or manage a business, have spent decades in your career, or are simply trying to find value in the work that you do, this book is for you. As you walk this journey with us, you'll have an opportunity to build spiritually driven goals for both your own career as well as the industry you are called to. Throughout the book, we explore real-life examples of what it looks like to hear God and follow His leading within marketplace roles. We also discuss where our understanding of God, Church, and the marketplace has been immature or broken. The goal is that you are empowered to do it differently, getting a greater result in your relationship to God's voice, impacting the way you partner to your career.

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Book SynopsisThis is for all those who are worn out by their religious experience and frustrated by their growing collection of burdensome traditions, conflicting truths, and unfulfilled promises. If you are spiritually exhausted, you're invited to examine your religious clutter and compare it to the person and promises of Jesus Christ. In the process you'll discover whatif anythingof your spiritual collection is worth keeping. And you'll be re-introduced to the soul-satisfying simplicity of a God who refuses to fill your life with junk, but instead offers grace upon grace.

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Book SynopsisThe importance of the church councils of the 5th and 6th centuries can not be overstated. They give important insights into the late Roman Empire and the role of the church at that time. The Council of Chalcedon (AD 451) is the most outstanding event of its time due to its rich source, dramatic nature and historical significance. The decisions of the Council led in the Greek Church to heavy upheavals, which continue to this day. Hagit Amirav examines for the first time the social dynamics and the different roles of the actors, the power plays of the imperial deputies and the bishops, their gestures and rhetoric, which should serve the consensus finding. At the center of the analysis is Markian in his dual role as Eastern Roman Emperor and as the central figure of the Greek Church.

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Book SynopsisThe textual findings of Qumran and the Codex Aleppo mark two turning points in the textual history of the Hebrew Bible. The textual history of this collection of Jewish writings is at the centre of the scientific life of Emanuel Tov, whom the University honored with an international symposium discussing his theses on the occasion of his 65th birthday Emanuel Tov's textual history research and one of his own works on the subject. Contributed by Emanuel Tov, Armin Lange, Josef M. Oesch, Friedrich V. Reiterer, Hermann-Josef Stipp, Hanna Tervanotko, Kevin Trompelt and József Zengellér.

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Book SynopsisThe direct quotations in the letter to the Hebrews presumably go back to a template from the Septuagint, but have so far scarcely been explored. Gert J. Steyn explores this situation from a perspective of historical and textual criticism A structured structure that recognizes two different types of quotations, which are listed in pairs: primarily song lyrics and quotes from the Torah that mingle with psalm and prophetic words. Gert J. Steyn examines each quote on the background of the possible alternative template (s). In the course of the study, it becomes clear that the author of the letter himself has combined a whole series of quotes from the early Jewish and early Christian traditions.

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Book SynopsisThis exegetical study of creation and nature in 4 Ezra argues that this first-century Jewish apocalypse's profound pessimism concerning humankind and the present age is matched by a surprisingly robust belief in the goodness of the created order. 4 Ezra presents the natural world as standing with God over and against corrupt humankind, envisions substantial elements of continuity between the ages and hints that those parts of the earth that remain unsullied by humankind still witness to God's sovereignty, love and justice and even serve as material pointers to the new creation. This study calls into question the persistent assumption that apocalypticism and the 'apocalyptic eschatology' of the historical apocalypses in particular necessarily entails a profound dualism. Emerging as it does from an experience of historical disaster and unresolved questions of theodicy, 4 Ezra especially is often considered an apocalypse in which the doctrine of the two ages has been radicalised to the extent that creation, history and life in this world have lost their meaning or significance. The results of this study, however, indicate that while 4 Ezra considers the world of humankind to be corrupted and corrupting, in the natural world the creator's sovereignty is not so obscured, and there his original intentions for creation can still be perceived. This study provides a fresh reading of 4 Ezra that takes seriously the book's unity and coherence. Its conclusions suggest that it may be best to abandon the label 'apocalyptic eschatology' given its potential mask the interesting complexities and mix of continuity and discontinuity that attend the portrayal of creation, nature and hope in an apocalypse like 4 Ezra.

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Book SynopsisSergio Rosell Nebreda focuses on how the Philippian Christ-followers received Paul's letter. The social, historical, literary, rhetorical, anthropological and theological elements are dealt with in order to understand the effect Paul wanted to achieve.The main thesis of the book is that the apostle Paul, who greatly suffered at Philippi, and writing from a prison, desires to affect the Philippians believers to acquire a Christ-orientation based on the values expressed in the Christ-hymn. Phlp 2, 5-11 forms the core of Paul's theological narrative that aims at constructing a sense of imitatio and conformatio in the Christ-following community. Paul uses a 'friendly' style in his letters in order to produce rapport and trust in the community, presenting himself as examplum ad imitando, after that of Christ. It is because Paul so fully identifies with Christ's orientation in life that the apostle presents himself as a slave of Jesus Christ.In the midst of a society ill with the desire for honour and power, the Christ narrative stands as a radical call for an alternative life-style, based on the exercise of humility which seeks the interest of others rather than focusing on one's own needs and desires. Paul insists on the basis of the Christ-hymn that such a life-style reveals God's character and it is therefore a life rewarded. Through the use of Social Identity Theory this book evaluates how ancient people constructed their group identity in daily life and how through a seemingly inferior model (that of Christ's kenosis in 2, 5-11) the community receives a re-definition of values which are according to God's values, and who has the last word in history. Paul thus presents an alternative and viable way of life in the midst of a society he knows well.

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Book SynopsisAs the ancient Greek version of the Old Testament the Septuagint is probably the first great translation project of Greco-Roman antiquity. Together with the Septuagint text the religion and culture of ancient Judaism came to the fore of a Greek speaking audience, which did not have any access to the holy scriptures of the Jews in Hebrew. That translation project also manifested a transfer of religious, social, and anthropological categories and concepts of Semitic origin to another cultural world of language and science that itself was shaped by Hellenism.Over the last years the Septuagint has gradually edged closer into the interest of Biblical scholars and into the centre of historical and philological research. In the course of this main attention has not only been paid to further particulars of its origination in Alexandria but also on various linguistic specifics and distinctive features with regards to content of the Greek Bible. The question, however, which has hardly been studied so far, is to what extent the Greek translation of the Bible consists of stylistic and rhetorical elements that are not present in the Hebrew source text. Did the translators made use of their rhetoric and stylistic skills to give their translations a distinctive ornatus? Can we, according to Augustine, rightly claim that not only the authors of the Biblical texts but also the translators knew to formulate et eloquenter et sapienter, i.e. in an eloquent and wise manner? This issue, neglected in current research, is taken up in this collected volume. Seven scholars investigate into stylistic and rhetorical elements present in various books of the Bible (e.g., Psalms, Amos, and Solomon's Book of Wisdom) and establish a field of work that deserves to receive more attention in the future.Contributors are Eberhard Bons, Jennifer M. Dines, Katrin Hauspie, Jan Joosten, Thomas J. Kraus, A. Léonas, and K. Usener.

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Book SynopsisThis volume of the new DSI series is the most comprehensive investigation of Hebrew and Greek translation equivalents in Ps 42-43 in the Psalter and in the Septuagint as a whole currently available. This detailed study does not only include the translation equivalents in the Septuagint, the semantic meanings of the Hebrew and Greek words are also discussed and parallels in the LXX as well as in the Hebrew Bible are included. A systematic investigation of the translator's method must be carried out before one can use the manuscripts in a proper way. Accordingly, the extensive translation-technical emphasis and the discussion of text-critical matters make it possible to present a more accurate Old Greek text and this book may thus contribute to a new critical edition of the Greek Psalter. The book is also in some respects in itself a text-critical study, since all variants in Rahlfs' edition of the Septuagint Psalms, with the addition of Papyrus Bodmer XXIV (Rahlfs 2110), as well as Hebrew variants, are referred to and studied. This includes suggestions and evaluations of the Hebrew Vorlage behind the Septuagint text. It is also a commentary on the Hebrew and the Greek texts of Ps 42-43. Like other commentaries, it describes the position of the psalm, it presents the unity and form of the psalm, its structure and its relation to the close context. As a commentary on both the Hebrew Bible and the Septuagint, it gives an overall interpretation of the psalm in Hebrew and in Greek separately. The book can be read by the specialist in Septuagint studies as well as all scholars interested in translation, textual criticism, and in the book of Psalms, not least its use of metaphors and the reflection of temple theology.

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Book SynopsisThe ancient site of Colossae in south-west Turkey has been sorely neglected by archaeologists and biblical commentators. It has never been excavated. Modern scholarship in general has been content to repeat nineteenth century assessments, especially those of J.B. Lightfoot and W.M. Ramsay. This is the first modern contribution to gather the archaeological, historical, classical and biblical materials related to the site and its region, some of which is published in English for the first time. It marks a major step forward in scholarship on Colossae, and is designed to restore Colossae to time and space, to its material and comparative significance. Colossae emerges as a site of uninterrupted human activity in dynamic interaction with its neighbours from before the Achaemenid period to beyond the end of Byzantine control. Evidence of a chalcolithic origin of Colossae is presented along with an assessment of the relationship of the site to the modern city of Honaz. An array of international scholars have brought their specialisations in various periods and disciplines to yield a radically new assessment of the history and importance of the site. All future scholarship will be able to use this volume as the necessary foundation for research. The volume includes the first chronology of the ancient site and the first English translation of the key Byzantine text centred on the ancient city, as well as major new insights into the text of the Epistle to the Colossians.

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Book SynopsisThe Syrohexapla is widely believed to be a faithful witness to the Hexapla of Origen. This Syriac version was produced in the seventh century on the basis of Greek texts related to Origen's six-columned masterpiece of biblical scholarship. The signs used in Origen's Hexapla, as well as the readings of several Greek Jewish versions which are no longer fully extant, are preserved in this version. The present study evaluates the Syrohexapla as a witness to these hexaplaric materials in 3 Kingdoms (1 Kings).The nearly 600 signs preserved in the Syrohexapla are analysed, divided into correctly marked asterisks, correctly marked obeli, and inaccurately marked readings. The more than 300 readings attributed to the Greek Jewish versions are treated separately. Finally, by including a chapter which examines a portion of the many readings in the Syrohexapla for which no hexaplaric sign has been preserved, the author balances assessments of the reliability of the Syrohexapla for studying the remains of Origen's Hexapla.This study prepares the way for the author's new critical edition of the hexaplaric fragments of 3 Kingdoms.

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Book SynopsisThe Lucianic text of the Historical Books is demonstrably a late, recensional text, but it has numerous curious agreements with the earliest witnesses against B and the majority of the manuscripts. Tuukka Kauhanen aims at throwing light on this "proto-Lucianic problem" in 1 Samuel (1 Kingdoms) by taking a comprehensive view of all the relevant witnesses. Kauhanen concludes that there are significantly less of actual proto-Lucianic readings than has often been supposed and refutes the old theory of the "proto-Lucianic recension".

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Book SynopsisThe Book of Wisdom's understanding of Israel's history, of contemporary politics and of the immortal fate of the persecuted sage can be understood to be part of one theological system. This system integrates texts and concepts from Jewish Wisdom, the biblical narratives of the patriarchs from Adam to Moses, eschatological hope and apocalyptic language, an understanding of the spirit of God in the enabling of prophets and leaders and, most distinctively, the Stoic concept of pneuma. This last concept unites the biblical resources and allows Wisdom, using eschatological language, to speak of the ordering of the cosmos for the judgement for the wicked and the exaltation of God's people in the present age.Matthew Edwards addresses first the question of the literary unity of Wisdom. This is followed by an examination of the differing uses of the term pneuma within Wisdom, that is as divine agent of salvation, the means of the ordering the cosmos and the substance from which souls are composed. The nature of personal salvation within Wisdom is also considered and shown to be an integral part of the understanding of the cosmos, ordered for judgement and exaltation. Finally, this notion of the ordering of the comos and history for God's people is discussed with its consequences for Jewish life under contemporary Hellenistic and Roman rule.

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Book SynopsisUntil recently, most non-biblical manuscripts attested in the Qumran library were regarded as copies of texts that were composed after the books of the Hebrew Bible were written. Students of the Hebrew Bible found the Dead Sea Scrolls therefore mostly of interest for the textual and interpretative histories of these books. The present collection confirms the importance of the Dead Sea Scrolls for both areas, by showing that they have revolutionized our understanding of how the text of the biblical books developed and how they were interpreted. Beyond the textual and interpretative histories, though, many texts attested in the Qumran library illuminate the time in which the later books of the Hebrew Bible were composed and reworked as well as Jewish life and law in the time when the canon of the Hebrew Bible developed. This volume gives important examples as to how the early texts attested in the Dead Sea Scrolls help to better understand individual biblical books and as to how the later texts among them illustrate Jewish life and law when the canon of the Hebrew Bible evolved. In order to find an adequate expertise for the seminar "The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Hebrew Bible", the editors invited both junior and senior specialists in the fields of Hebrew Bible, Second Temple Judaism, Dead Sea Scrolls and Rabbinics to Rome.

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Book SynopsisThe aim of Odgaard Møllers book is threefold: The first main section seeks to clarify how and why Jesus is presented in the pre-1968 writings of the Danish theologian and philosopher K.E. Løgstrup (1905-1981). Throughout his work, Løgstrups main focus has been a rehabilitation of the insight that life is something definite, because it is created. Here, Jesus primarily plays a methodological/strategic role as the one confirming and giving witness to Løgstrups interpretation of created life in a given time of his authorship. When faith in creation is formulated polemically against another interpretation of life, Jesus serves as Løgstrups ally in this discussion. In the second main section, this examination is extrapolated to include a discussion with Bultmann and two of his students in order to clarify the character of his Christology, not least whether -- or in what way -- this can be characterised as implicit Christology. Finally, in the light of Ricoeurs hermeneutic philosophy of religion, the third main section considers the systematic-theological validity of this picture of Jesus. The overall conclusion can be summed up in this way: The main line in Løgstrups work goes from created life to the human being Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus incarnates created life; therefore he is the true human being. This close connection between (created) Life and (true) Human Being is the kernel in Løgstrups thought. This makes his perception of Jesus and his Christology distinctive, original and specifically Løgstrupian.

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Book SynopsisThis collection of essays is centred on the Gospel according to Matthew. It treats contemporary discussions of Matthew's origins, character, and place in the canon of the New Testament. It also discusses texts from the major sections of the Gospel: the Infancy narrative, the Sermon on the Mount and other parts of the public ministry, and the Passion narrative. It addresses major themes: the kingdom of God, revelation, the Sabbath, spirituality, ecclesiology, and the birth of Easter faith. It also includes aspects of Matthew's broader context: Qumran literature, the letters to the Galatians and of James, and John's reception of Matthew. In contrast to several recent studies which present Matthew and his community as gloomy and beleaguered, this work reveals a confident, cheerful evangelist.

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Book SynopsisIn very different ways the writings of the New Testament have shaped cultures until today. The Novum Testamentum Patristicum project will give a full documentation of ancient Christian receptions of the New Testament in late antiquity. This volume focuses on the different mainly narrative receptions of New Testament texts in ancient Christian apocryphal literature. While it has been accepted for a long time that apocryphal writings mainly wanted to fill the gaps of New Testament texts in more or less fantastic ways, the articles in this volume discover a rich and very different variety of re-writings, relectures, and receptions of New Testament texts, motifs and ideas.

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Book SynopsisHeinz-Wolfgang Kuhn informs about the excavations on et-Tell at the northern end of the Sea of Galilee, directed by the Israeli archaeologist Rami Arav, professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and Prof. Richard Freund of the University of Hartford as Project Director. It is now possible to identify the hill with Bethsaida/Julias, which is mentioned, among other texts, in the New Testament gospels (seven times), by the Jewish historian Josephus and in Rabbinical literature. This volume has a twofold purpose: On the one hand, the 15 collected essays in English and German, complemented by the Munich excavation plans, enable the reader to follow the course of the excavations from the very beginning in 1987. The emphasis of the collected essays (beginning with an article published in 1989) lies on the levels of the Hellenistic-Early Roman period, giving a continuous description of the excavations, as they developed over such a long time. On the other hand, one finds here the current data of the excavations, with many important details concerning the Hellenistic-Early Roman period, with the author focussing especially on the first half of the first century CE, the time of Jesus activity at Bethsaida, as can be shown through historical-critical research. In particular, an overview is given of all the coins of the Herods (from Herod the Great to Agrippa II, including five coins of Philip, the ruler at the time of Jesus), of finds of columns, figurines and decorated stones, and there are lists of the so-called Herodian oil lamps and the typical Jewish stone vessels from the Early Roman period. The question of a small pagan Hellenistic-Early Roman temple is discussed, illustrated with many pictures. The excavation plans of the whole area and including all excavated levels from Iron Age IIA on (with an exact grid), extending over 25 years, are unique since they can never be redrawn, due to the normal destruction of nature and ongoing excavations. Heinz-Wolfgang Kuhn informs about the excavations on et-Tell at the northern end of the Sea of Galilee, directed by the Israeli archaeologist Rami Arav, professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and Prof. Richard Freund of the University of Hartford as Project Director. It is now possible to identify the hill with Bethsaida/Julias, which is mentioned, among other texts, in the New Testament gospels (seven times), by the Jewish historian Josephus and in Rabbinical literature. This volume has a twofold purpose: On the one hand, the 15 collected essays in English and German, complemented by the Munich excavation plans, enable the reader to follow the course of the excavations from the very beginning in 1987. The emphasis of the collected essays (beginning with an article published in 1989) lies on the levels of the Hellenistic-Early Roman period, giving a continuous description of the excavations, as they developed over such a long time. On the other hand, one finds here the current data of the excavations, with many important details concerning the Hellenistic-Early Roman period, with the author focussing especially on the first half of the first century CE, the time of Jesus activity at Bethsaida, as can be shown through historical-critical research. In particular, an overview is given of all the coins of the Herods (from Herod the Great to Agrippa II, including five coins of Philip, the ruler at the time of Jesus), of finds of columns, figurines and decorated stones, and there are lists of the so-called Herodian oil lamps and the typical Jewish stone vessels from the Early Roman period. The question of a small pagan Hellenistic-Early Roman temple is discussed, illustrated with many colored pictures. The excavation plans of the whole area and including all excavated levels from Iron Age IIA on (with an exact grid), extending over 25 years, are unique since they can never be redrawn, due to the normal destruction of nature and ongoing excavations.

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Book SynopsisClaudio Moreschini focuses on selected and as yet still understudied aspects of Boethius' life and works. He presents Boethius in the culture of the sixth century in Italy, outlines his great cultural project and discusses the problem of his Christian faith. The Consolatio Philosophiae is examined from the point of view of Latin Platonism, highlighting the aims of its poetry and its philosophical tenets. Moreschini also shows how Boethius combined Christian faith and philosophy in order to solve theological issues, most notably the Christological debates of his times or the question of the Trinity.

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Book SynopsisThe Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs (T12P), one of the longest texts of the so-called Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, presents the fictitious farewell speeches that the twelve sons of Jacob held on their respective deathbeds. Tom de Bruin examines these twelve monologues as literary products in order to understand the function of the text for the setting in which it was composed. He approaches T12P from three directions: an analysis of the paraenetic parts, a discussion of the anthropology, and a comparative examination of other contemporaneous works documenting a world-view similar to T12P.These three approaches merge into a detailed discussion about the reasoning behind the admonition in T12P, and identifies the fundamental message of the text, namely that each person stands between the forces of good and evil and that this person is called to constantly decide which way to follow. Though T12P is still familiar with the apocalyptic origin and plays with the cosmological implications of this 'great controversy', the text clearly puts the emphasis on the battle inside each individual. It is thereby an important witness for reinterpreting and reapplying apocalyptic traditions through ethicizing them and focusing on the individual. Such an individualistic application of the 'great controversy' theme can be found in a number of other (mostly Christian) works, revealing a similar understanding of mankinds existence and development as in T12P. The analysis of the ethical reappropriation of apocalyptic traditions in T12P provides important insights into the foundations of early Christian ethics, ancient anthropology, and the Jewish and Christian understanding of the struggle between good and evil. The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs (T12P), one of the longest texts of the so-called Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, presents the fictitious farewell speeches that the twelve sons of Jacob held on their respective deathbeds. Tom de Bruin examines these twelve monologues as literary products in order to understand the function of the text for the setting in which it was composed. He approaches T12P from three directions: an analysis of the paraenetic parts, a discussion of the anthropology, and a comparative examination of other contemporaneous works documenting a world-view similar to T12P.These three approaches merge into a detailed discussion about the reasoning behind the admonition in T12P, and identifies the fundamental message of the text, namely that each person stands between the forces of good and evil and that this person is called to constantly decide which way to follow. Though T12P is still familiar with the apocalyptic origin and plays with the cosmological implications of this 'great controversy', the text clearly puts the emphasis on the battle inside each individual. It is thereby an important witness for reinterpreting and reapplying apocalyptic traditions through ethicizing them and focusing on the individual. Such an individualistic application of the 'great controversy' theme can be found in a number of other (mostly Christian) works, revealing a similar understanding of mankinds existence and development as in T12P. The analysis of the ethical reappropriation of apocalyptic traditions in T12P provides important insights into the foundations of early Christian ethics, ancient anthropology, and the Jewish and Christian understanding of the struggle between good and evil.

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Book SynopsisEkaterin Matusova offers a new approach to the old problems of interpretation of the “Letter of Aristeas”. Chapter 1 deals with the question of the structure of the narrative. Matusova argues that at the time of Aristeas compositions of the kind of the Reworked Pentateuch, or Rewritten Bible were circulating in Egypt in parallel with the LXX and were a source of interpretations of the Hebrew text different from the LXX and of specific combinations of subjects popular in Second Temple Judaism. In particular, Matusova further argues that the leading principle of the composition of the Letter is that of the Reworked Deuteronomy, where subjects referring to the idea of following the Law among the gentiles were grouped together. The analysis is based on a broad circle of Jewish sources, including Philo of Alexandria and documents from the Qumran library. The principle of the composition discovered in this part of the study is referred to as the Jewish paradigm. Chapter 2 offers a new interpretation of the frame story in the narrative, i.e. of the story of the translation in the strict sense. Matusova shows that two paradigms are skilfully combined in this split story: the Jewish one, based on the Bible, and the Greek one, which involves Greek grammatical theory. She further argues that the story, when read in terms of Greek grammar, turns out to be a consistent story not of the translation, but of the correction of the LXX, which is important for our understanding of the early history of the translation. The analysis involves extensive excurses into Greek grammatical theory, including a discussion of Aristotle, Dionysius Thrax and other Hellenistic grammarians. In Chapter 3 Matusova tries to find the reason for the combination of these two paradigms, namely the Jewish biblical paradigm and the Greek grammatical ones, and to interpret their interconnected meaning, by placing it in the broad historical context of the Ptolemaic state.

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Book SynopsisRecent theology has seen a renewed vigour in debates about the nature and character of God. Juan Cruz turns to one of the prophetic books in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, Micah, to consider the metaphors it uses to portray the God of Israel and what they reveal about the deity. The book of Micah contains two dominant types of metaphor for Yahweh, namely the legal metaphors in 1:216 and 6:116 and the pastoral metaphors in 2:1213, 4:67, 5:14a and 7:1420. The former type of metaphors presents Yahweh in a courtroom setting, where he accuses his people of their sins, brings a lawsuit against them, and pronounces their judgement. The pastoral metaphors, on the other hand, describe Yahweh as the shepherd of his people, primarily concerned with the restoration and well-being of Israel. The two sets of metaphors therefore respectively present Yahweh in a positive and a negative light. Drawing on insights from philosophy and literary studies, and making particular use of the theories of Benjamin Harshav, Juan Cruz explores the divine metaphors by analysing the arguments they make within their respective literary units and in the context of the whole book, as well as the significant tensions that develop between the metaphors. The volume provides helpful tools to analyse metaphors for God, which may be also used for analysis of non-divine metaphors, and should contribute to our theological understanding of God in the Hebrew Bible, most especially in the book of Micah, a book whose title bears the meaning, "Who is like Yahweh?".

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Book SynopsisAlthough the Petersens' name is quite known among specialists of Pietism, their work, their ideas and the development of their thoughts remain mostly unresearched. Elisa Belucci aims to shed more light on her works, analyzing and interpreting them in relationship to the theological and socio-political context. In so doing, she fills some gaps present in the research on these authors: firstly, she analyzes the positions presented in the Petersens' work until 1703 at length; secondly, she tries to unearth sources and influences; Thirdly, she seeks to comment on the Petersens' ideas and positions in relationship to the historical context. The result is an entangled picture which questions the traditional distinction between church Pietism and radical Pietism, orthodoxy and radicalism/separatism, showing, instead, that these categories are sometimes too narrow to describe the position of certain authors , such as the Petersens.

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Book SynopsisThis volume consists of fifteen of the author's essays, including two that have never been published before. The essays date to the last decade and a half, and all reflect in some manner the author's ongoing interest in literary operations of classification and their social implications, particularly the production of distinctions which create social inequality in the world of the text, and have the potential to generate hierarchical social relationships in contexts where biblical texts might have had an impact on real people. In these essays, the author explores themes such as gender, sexuality, purity and pollution, sanctification, death and afterlife, foreignness, and disability with particular attention to the roles distinctions such as honored/shamed, feminine/masculine, mourning/rejoicing, unclean/clean, alien/native play in creating and perpetuating social differences in texts. Rites of status change such as circumcision, shaving, purification, burial or disinterment, sanctification and profanation of holiness are a focus of interest in a number of these essays, reflecting the author's on going interest in the textual representation of ritual. Most of the essays examine texts in their historical setting, but several also engage the early history of the interpretation of biblical texts, including the phenomenon of inner biblical exegesis. The essays are divided into five sections: Rites and Social Status; Gender and Sexuality; Disability; Holiness, Purity, the Alien; Death, Burial, Afterlife and their Metaphorical Uses. The author introduces each of the sections, contextualizing each essay in his larger scholarly project, reflecting on its development and reception and, in some cases, responding to his critics.

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Book SynopsisThis volume presents the proceedings of an international and interdisciplinary symposium on the intertextuality of ancient literature and its medieval and modern receptions. It engages with the topic of intertextuality in four regards:1. What constitutes a Text and what constitutes an Intertext: text texture - textuality in archaeology, iconography and literature? 2. Forms of Intertextuality: including the aspect of oral and written text. 3. Tradition and Transmission of Texts and Intertexts: examples of intertextuality. 4. Intertextuality and Canon: aspects of the specificity of intertextuality in canonical contexts.

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Book SynopsisIn June 2011, the first conference of the Reformation Research Consortium (RefoRC) took place at the Institute for Swiss Reform History at the Theological Faculty in Zurich. The title "Myth of the Reformation" encouraged critical perspectives on conventional ideas about the 16th century Reformation. Peter Opitz offers a selection of lectures held there and gathers multifaceted aspects and perspectives on the topic. As a result, Opitz succeeds in refuting at least one myth, namely that the Reformation period was a boring period in which there was not much more to discover than the conventional myths.

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Book SynopsisFilling the historiographical gap, Yoo raises a fundamental question concerning the criticism of the Reformed doctrine of free choice in relationship to divine necessity as determinism. Unlike the deterministic interpretation of traditional Reformed thought on free choice, the substantive and careful study of John Edwards writings on free choice in the intellectual context of the seventeenth and the eighteenth century shows that in Edwards view, human beings retain the natural freedom from compulsion and freedom of contrary choice even after the Fall, and divine necessity such as decree, predestination, and foreknowledge does not exclude human free choice at all.

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