Criticism and exegesis of sacred texts Books

Book SynopsisThe Book of Joshua relates the settlement of the people of Israel in the Promised Land after the Exodus. Its position within the Hebrew Bible is unique. On the one hand, it resumes and ends the Exodus account after Moses' death, shortly before entering the land of Canaan. On the other hand, it sets the beginning of a new era in Israel's history: the occupation of the Promised Land until the deportation to Babylon. Joshua is thus at the heart of numerous theological debates on the historical dimension of these conquest accounts, or the redaction of the Hebrew Bible - Pentateuch, Hexateuch, Deuteronomistic History, Former Prophets, etc.Addressing those questions requires a rigorous philological approach based on a detailed study of the biblical text. By comparing various textual witnesses and traditions, by analyzing the vocabulary, syntax and literary structure, by taking into account new epigraphical data and methods, one can reach a better understanding of this major work and confront the results with modern theories. To carry on this ambitious task, the present study focuses on a key element of the Book of Joshua: the southern military campaign (Josh. 10).

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Book SynopsisText in English & German. Das wissenschaftsgeschichtliche Gedächtnis des Abendlandes erkennt die Urspr nge der Idee von Naturgesetzen' bei den Vorsokratikern, Platon und der Stoa. Die rechtsförmige Interpretation kosmischer Phänomene reicht jedoch in den Alten Orient zur ck und hat auch Eingang in die alttestamentliche Literatur gefunden. Der vorliegende Band erschlieát und analysiert die entsprechenden Texte und formuliert so einen neuen Zugang zur Vorstellung von Naturgesetzen' in der Antike.

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Book SynopsisThis Dictionary provides scholars with a singular device for the reconstruction and decipherment of Jewish ancient and rabbinic manuscripts, as well as inscriptions. How to reconstruct what broke away? Which word was once attested where only few characters are left? Questions like these emerge from working on ancient texts, for example the scrolls of Qumran, and can be solved with the dictionary presented.All the words of the retrograde dictionary are arranged alphabetically, beginning with the last letter up to the first. The dictionary does not add translations or meanings of words in any language. This retrograde dictionary takes into account all the ancient Hebrew and Aramaic texts in form of scriptures, scrolls, seals, ossuaries and documents reported in Palestine and dating up to 135 A.D, as well as the Words of Ahikar and other texts from the island of Elephantine.Karl Georg Kuhn was the first to compile the vocabulary of ancient Hebrew in reversed form in 1958. But Kuhn knew only a small part of the Dead Sea Scrolls and did not recognize any other Hebrew or Aramaic texts except for the Qumran manuscripts and the texts of the Hebrew Bible. Therefore, Kuhns retrograde dictionary is limited in its extent and outdated by the many texts published in the last 50 years. Now the Retrograde Hebrew and Aramaic Dictionary offers an updated list of Kuhn's Hebrew Lemmata, and in addition an independent Aramaic section as well as an appendix, presenting the Elephantine Papyri, including the Words of Ahikar. It does not only contain the vocabulary of manuscripts and scrolls, but also of various inscriptions from the mentioned period.

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Book SynopsisFlorian Herrmann unternimmt den Versuch, den Passionsbericht des Markusevangeliums in den Kontext frëhjëdischer und pagan-antiker Todesberichte einzuordnen. Im literaturgeschichtlichen Vergleich wird die christologische Akzentsetzung der Passionserzählung deutlich. Die Vergleichsbasis bilden 50 Todesberichte aus der ganzen Antike, die in deutscher Übersetzung gesammelt zur Verfëgung gestellt werden - vom Tod des Sokrates bis zu rabbinischen Martyrien. Berëcksichtigt werden nicht nur Martyrien und Märtyrerakten, sondern auch Biographieschlësse und Todesberichte in historiographischen und polemischen Werken.Die Methode der Untersuchung orientiert sich an den literarischen Strategien, mit denen die Texte das Todesereignis deutend in Literatur umsetzen. Sie nimmt narratologische Fragestellungen auf und macht sie fër einen literaturgeschichtlichen Vergleich fruchtbar. Die aus den Vergleichstexten ablesbaren Darstellungsstrategien bilden das Feld, in das der Passionsbericht eingeordnet wird. Es zeigt sich, dass sich die Markuspassion in ihren literarischen Mitteln, ihrem Geltungsanspruch und auch in ihren Produktionsbedingungen weitgehend problemlos in den Kontext der untersuchten pagan-antiken und frëhjëdischen Texte einfëgen lässt, dass sie diese Mittel aber in den Dienst einer christologischen Durchformung der Erzählung stellt. Dagegen vermeidet es Markus, Jesu Sterben als einen "edlen Tod" zu deuten. Es ergeben sich zudem Aufschlësse fër eine differenzierte eigene Gattung.

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Book SynopsisThe author presents the tradition of monotheistic ideas and formulas in three parts, beginning with non-Jewish world, then turning to the Old Testament and finally to the New Testament. She studies the to date little known beginnings of non-Jewish monotheistic thinking, for example, among the Greek Presocratics, Plato and the Stoics up to the beginnings of the Roman Empire. The second chapter is devoted to the use of monotheistic formulas in the Old Testament and in the Jewish writings of Greek and Roman times. In the third chapter the author asks how it was possible that early Chistianity, having received the monotheistic creed of God the Father, could have accepted Jesus Christ as a divine figure - as the "son" next to the "father."

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Book SynopsisDer Sammelband enthält dreizehn z.T. noch unveröffentlichte Aufsätze Gerhard Sellins, die mehrheitlich in den beiden letzten Jahrzehnten entstanden sind. Ein GroÃteil der Beiträge fragt nach dem hermeneutischen Potential, der pragmatischen Funktion und theologischen Bedeutung bildlicher Formen religiöser Sprache (Metapher, Symbol, Allegorie) im hellenistischen Judentum und frÃ"hen Christentum. Dabei wird deutlich, dass mythisch geprägte religiöse Sprachbilder keineswegs, wie oftmals angenommen wird, Relikte einer Ã"berholten Weltansicht oder primitive Ausdruckformen sind, die in die eigentliche Sprache Ã"bersetzt und auf den "Begriff" gebracht werden mÃ"ssen. Vielmehr spiegeln sie ein auf Erfahrung beruhendes Wirklichkeits- und Existenzverständnis, das nur in Form bildlicher Rede aussagbar ist. Diese Einsicht fÃ"r die Rede von Gott fruchtbar zu machen, wie sie exemplarisch in den Gleichnissen Jesu, aber auch in den neutestamentlichen Wundererzählungen zur Anschauung gebracht wird, ist ein zentrales Anliegen des Verfassers.Weitere Beiträge gehen auf das kontrovers diskutierte Verhältnis von MÃ"ndlichkeit und Schriftlichkeit in den Anfängen der EvangelienÃ"berlieferung ein. Unter diesem Aspekt problematisieren sie die (scheinbar) funktionale Verbindung von "Gattung" und "Sitz im Leben" der einzelnen Erzähleinheiten in den synoptischen Evangelien. Dabei werden im Rekurs auf Ergebnisse der neueren Oralitätsforschung nicht nur die methodischen Voraussetzungen der klassischen Formgeschichte einer kritischen PrÃ"fung unterzogen, sondern auch die dem redaktionsgeschichtlichen Ansatz unterliegenden Prämissen auf ihre Tragfähigkeit hin befragt. Die den Band beschlieÃende Abschiedsvorlesung zeigt anhand von vier Beispielen Wege auf, biblische Texte heute lesen und verstehen zu lernen.

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Book SynopsisTakashi Onuki has taken on the task of restudying and clearing up the Gnostic statements on the subject of envy in their historical, cultural and political context, especially in light of the teachings of the Gnostics. To this end he looks at the main motifs of the Gnostic myth and attempts to crystallise the mythological role of envy contained therein.In the Syrian-Egyptian version of Gnosis envy played a major role in the development of the myth. Envy in fact is the structural principle behind the myth. But psychomythical parallelism (G. TheiÃen) allows us to de-mythologise the myth from a psychological point of view: The Gnostics were encouraged to overcome envy and to re-establish the original state of an envyless life. Politically seen, there was a change in roles here: The Romans, a major player in their system of rule, assumed the role of the "envier" (Jaldabaoth), whereas the Gnostics, the "race with no ruler" or the "true kings," had the role of the "envied," even though they had denounced all political activity. In contrast, Manichaeism, which had wandered to the East, assumed an active role in political matters.This volume provides the mythological reasoning that allowed the Manichaeans to participate in politics. The different political position of the two types of Gnosis has to do with the structure of their respective salvation myths. The mythological idea of salvation, on the one hand, and the way one lives one's life are inextricably connected to a certain political attitude on the other hand. This study thus confirms one of the basic theories of the sociology of religion of Max Weber concerning the connection between religion and society.

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Book SynopsisIn this book the author confronts the critical comments written on his works published in the anthology entitled "New Testament Border Crossings." TheiÃen outlines his previous works in a summary of his thoughts, discussing his "Theory of Early Christian Religion," research on Jesus, the social history of Early Christianity, the literary history of the New Testament, the psychology of religion, and practical theology. He also introduces a project of an evolutionary interpretation of Christianity. This volume offers a broad and exemplary insight into modern New Testament exegesis.

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Book SynopsisThis volume concerns the development and formation of the Christian teachings during ancient times, in the Old Church of the West and East as well during the Middle Ages. This represents a section of the history of Church dogmas and theology which was fundamental or at least vital to the overall history of the Church. This period in time was of particular importance to those Byzantine Orthodox Churches and the various Eastern Orthodox Churches that recognize only two or three of the seven ecumenical councils otherwise valid for the Byzantine Orthodox Church. This is also the case, albeit in a different way, for the Roman-Catholic and the Anglican Churches. And it was fundamental to the Reformation, particular Lutheranism. Thus, the original title of this volume is rightly chosen since the authors do describe the "Development of Christian Teachings in the Framework of Catholicity."A special feature of this volume lies in its description of the interactions between the history of Church dogmas and Church theology. It also follows the historical events and comments on particularly important juxtapositions that are of general interest, instead of approaching the material longitudinally by depicting the path in the light of our modern standpoint, resulting in extensive introductions to the individual elements of dogmatics. In this sense, this volume represents an invaluable and unrivalled handbook for Germany and elsewhere.

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Book SynopsisDie Botschaft von Gott als Vater ist ein zentrales Element der Verkëndigung Jesu. Sie bestimmt Jesu Verständnis von Gottes Herrschaft und Reich, dessen Anbruch er proklamierte. Vor allem seit den Forschungen des bedeutenden Exegeten Joachim Jeremias (1904-1979) gewann die singuläre, in der jëdischen Gebetsliteratur fehlende Anrede und Bezeichnung Gottes als Abba in der Jesusëberlieferung besondere Bedeutung.Er erklärte sie als aus der Kindersprache stammende, familiäre und kindliche Anrede und Bezeichnung und deshalb fër jëdische Fromme bzw. fër das Judentum anstößig und ungebëhrlich. Abba wurde geradezu Schlësselwort fër das Gottesverständnis Jesu. Diese Deutung fand breite Anerkennung und weiteste Verbreitung bis heute. Zweifel an dieser Erklärung fëhrten zur Untersuchung des Sprachgebrauches fër das Wort "Vater" im gesamten relevanten aramäischen und hebräischen Sprachmaterial. Das vorliegende Werk legt ihre Ergebnisse vor, angefangen von altaramäischen Inschriften ëber die Targume bis zu späten jëdischen hebräisch-aramäischen Werken.

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Book SynopsisGeoffrey P Miller argues that the narratives from Genesis to Second Kings present a sophisticated argument for political obligation and for limited monarchy as the best form of government. The Hebrew Bible, in this sense, can be considered as one of the earliest political philosopies of the western world.The Garden of Eden story identifies revelation, consent, utopia, natural law, ownership, power, patriarchy, and justice as bases for political obligation. The stories of life after the expulsion from Eden argue that government and law are essential for a decent life. The Genesis narratives recognise patriarchal authority but also identifies limits based on kinship, higher authority and power. The book of Exodus introduces the topic of political authority, arguing that nationhood strictly dominates over other forms of political organization. The Sinai narratives explore two important sources of authority: revelation and consent of the governed. The book of Joshua presents a theory of sovereignty conceived of as the exclusive and absolute control over territory. The book of Judges examines two types of national government: military rule and confederacy. It argues that military rule is inappropriate for peacetime conditions and that the confederate form is not strong enough to deliver the benefits of nationhood. The books of Samuel and Kings consider theocracy and monarchy. The bible endorses monarchy as the best available form of government provided that the king is constrained by appropriate checks and balances. Contrary to the view of some scholars, no text from Genesis to Second Kings disapproves of monarchy as a form of government.

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Book SynopsisIn January 2011, the David and Jemima Jeselsohn Epigraphic Center for Jewish History held its second international conference at Bar-Ilan University, dedicated to the memory of Professor Hanan Eshel, the founding academic director of the center who passed away on April 8th, 2010. This collection of articles, traces, when taken together, daily life in the land of Israel from the First Temple Period through the time of the Talmud, as seen in the various types of inscriptions from those periods that have been discovered and published. Schiffman's summary of Hanan's work serves as an introduction to the book. Ahituv discusses the language and religious outlook of the Kuntilet Ajrud inscriptions. Mazar and Ahituv survey the quite large corpus of short inscriptions found in Mazar's excavation of Tel Reov, south of Beth-Shean. Maeir and Eshel deal with four very short more-or-less contemporary inscriptions found at Tell es-Safi, identified as the major Philistine city of Gath. Demsky deals with the theoretical aspects of literacy in ancient Israel. Grabbe discusses the functions of the scribe during the Second Temple Period. Zissu, Langford, Ecker and Eshel report on both an Aramaic-language graffito and a Latin one, inscribed on the wall of a first and 2nd century CE oil press from of the Judean Shephelah. Rappaport's survey of Jewish coins from the Persian Period through the Bar-Kokhba Revolt, focusing on the Hasmonean coins. Amit describes a group of bread stamps and oil seals, in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek and Latin, found in different parts of the country. Klein and Mamalya describe two Byzantine Period Nabatean Christian burial sites and their epitaphs.

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Book SynopsisThis book aims to open up the discussion and research of the up to now unstudied period of the History of the Hebrew Bible text: the period from the apparent stabilization of the Hebrew biblical text until the standardization that is reflected in the manuscripts of biblical text, those including the Masorah (c. 2nd - 9th centuries A.D.). What took place from the time of the standardization of the consonantic text of the Hebrew Bible until the appearance of the first Masoretic codices? How was the biblical text preserved in the meantime? How was the body of notes that makes up the Masorah formed? How can the diversity of the textual traditions contained in the Masorah be explained and be consistent with the idea of a text established and standardized centuries before?

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Book SynopsisThe Nehemiah Memoir, the narrative of the royal cupbearer sent to rebuild Jerusalem, is central to Ezra-Nehemiahs account of Persian Judah. Yet its emphasis on one individuals efforts makes it a text that ill-fits the books story of a communal restoration. Sean Burt analyzes the nature of this curious text through the lens of genre criticism and identifies the impact of its use of genres on its early reception in Ezra-Nehemiah. Drawing upon contemporary theorists of literary genre, within the field of biblical studies and beyond, he builds an understanding of genre capable of addressing both its flexibility and its necessarily historical horizon. Burt argues that the Nehemiah Memoir makes use of two ancient genres: the novelistic court tale (e.g. Esther, Ahiqar, and others) and the official memorial, or biographical genre used across the ancient Near East by kings and other governmental officials for individual commemoration. This study contends that the narrative subtly shifts genres as it unfolds, from court tale to memorial. Nehemiah the courtier becomes Nehemiah the governor. While these genres reveal an affinity to one another, they also highlight a central contradiction in the narratives portrait of Nehemiah. Nehemiah is, like the people of Jerusalem, beholden to the whims of a foreign ruler, but he also simultaneously represents Persias power over Jerusalem. Burt concludes that the Nehemiah Memoirs combination of these two ultimately incommensurate genres can account for how the writers of Ezra-Nehemiah modified and corrected Nehemiahs problematic story to integrate it into Ezra-Nehemiahs vision of a holistic restoration enacted by a unified people.

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Book SynopsisHieronymus Hiob-Übersetzung iuxta Graecos liegt in vier Fassungen vor. Die Erstfassung O. bildet die Textvorlage für Augustins Adnotationes in Iob, wird dort aber nur in Auswahl kommentiert. Der Codex Turonensis 18 (11. Jh.) enthält eine vollständige von Hieronymus revidierte Fassung T. Weitere abweichende Fassungen finden sich im Sangallensis 11 (8. Jh.) und Bodleianus Auct. E. infra 1 (12. Jh.), hier S. und B. genannt.Gerd Dietrich Warns analysiert zunächst die Textgeschichte der Übersetzung iuxta Graecos: S. wird als erste, große Revision von O. erwiesen, während T. auf eine zweite Revision zurückgeht. In B. liegt eine spätere Konflation aus O. und T. vor, vielleicht eine frühe Edition.Die Unterschiede zwischen den Fassungen O., S. und T. deuten darauf hin, dass Hieronymus in S. sein erstes Übersetzungskonzept änderte. In O. wollte er in Überbietung von Origenes Hexapla aus mehreren griechischen und hebräischen Textvorlagen eine vorbildliche lateinische Hiob-Version schaffen. In S. entschied er sich für einen doppelgleisigen Kurs: Er begann mit einer Neuübersetzung des Alten Testamentes iuxta Hebraeos: außerdem arbeitete er als Pendant dazu seine Erstfassung O. in S. so um, dass sie eindeutiger zu einer Hiob-Übersetzung iuxta Graecos wurde. Verglichen mit S. erscheint T. als Ausgabe letzter Hand. Warns gelingt es, in ausgewählten patristischen Texten weitere Spuren der Erstfassung O. zu identifizieren. Ein wesentliches Kriterium sind die nur in O. nachweisbaren Doppelübersetzungen.

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Book Synopsis"You shall not kill" seems to be a self-evident norm, both in modernity and in antiquity. But what does this prohibition exactly mean? Does it only apply to humans or also to non-human beings? And what about indirect or unintentional killing? Is killing legitimate under certain circumstances? The prohibition of killing was most likely a prohibition of homicide, in its original context of the Decalogue (Exod 20:13 and Deut 5:17). However, as we all know, many other texts in the Bible refer to killing humans. Moreover, killing others in war or death penalty for capital crimes does not seem to be problematic in the biblical world. Sometimes God seems to be someone, for whom people should be killed for or who wants or orders others to be killed. In a few cases, it is God him/herself who appears as the one who kills. On the contrary other opinions like humans being created in the image of God (Gen 1:26-27; 9,6) making them "god like," which implicitly prohibits killing them, or the general prohibition of killing "You shall not kill" in the Decalogue, are articulated in the Bible. The central question of this volume is whether and how biblical and non-biblical killing prohibitions function as a norm in antiquity. The contributors stem from different research fields such as ancient law, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, New Testament, ancient Judaism, ancient history, and the church fathers. The volume covers a time spanning from the Ancient Near East up to the Christian patristic era with a look forward to Martin Luther.

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Book SynopsisBiblical women play an important role in various genres of patristic literature and in rabbinical texts: for example as role models for women, sometimes for men, as representatives of certain virtues or vices, as authorities in disputes, as a starting point for certain practices. The images that the (almost always male) authors draw of the biblical women always reflect the contemporary social, cultural and religious context, especially with regard to widespread ancient ideas about women and the relationship between the sexes. The anthology asks about the presence and visibility or audibility and the image of biblical women in the late antique texts. It contains contributions on Rahab, the Egyptian wife of Solomon, the lover of the Song of Songs, Judit, the four daughters of Philip and the myrophores of the Gospels that bring salves to Jesus' grave, and examines the reception of these biblical women in various patristic and rabbinical ones texts.

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Book SynopsisExodus 1-2 tells of the oppression of the Hebrews in Egypt and the birth of the future savior Moses. Christian and Jewish interpreters in late antiquity interpreted this text from their own specific perspective, as part of their religious community. They approach the text with partly common, partly different prerequisites, hermeneutics and methods. The religious practice and teaching of one's own religious community are always in the background. This shows processes of reception as well as rejection and demarcation. The Christian interpretation of the Scriptures in particular reveals polemics against Judaism that have continued through the centuries. Nevertheless, there are also numerous points of contact and common motifs that keep recurring - alongside specifically Jewish and Christian traditions. In this way, a multifaceted picture of the biblical text emerges in the patristic and rabbinical interpretation.

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Book SynopsisGerechtigkeit â ein zentrales Thema alttestamentlicher Texte? â AnnÃherungen an einen aufgeladenen Begriff

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Book SynopsisHeilige Texte sind gefährlich: Ihre Auslegung kann dazu dienen, auch unheilige Ereignisse zu rechtfertigen.Der Ruf der Juden: "Sein Blut komme Ã"ber uns und unsere Kinder!" (Mt 27,25) spielt in der Debatte Ã"ber den Antijudaismus bis heute eine groÃ

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Book SynopsisThis volume contains 11 reports with the minutes of the Protestant Church Council of Germany from the years 1954/1955. The texts are thoroughly annotated. The themes taken up in the meetings held during this period were discussed in part with great controversy, ranging from atom-bomb tests to the many problems connected with church work abroad to the revising of Bible texts for new versions; from church finances and the situation of the East German church to the disciplinary rules of the church; from the future role of church pastoral care in the military to the question of whether pastors should serve at all in the military; from church opinions on legal matters of marriage to family law. The extensive indices made the volume easy to access.

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Book SynopsisThe volume aims to trace the origins of the discourse of hell in the Bible and in its literary environment, and in doing so to show the historical lines of tradition from antiquity to the present day. In doing so, he asks what ethical implications the talk of hell has and how it is compatible with God's universal will of salvation in the face of the power of evil: What is the connection between the threat of hell and man's readiness to repent? How can we speak of 'hell' in the context of the (apparent) tension between God's justice and mercy, between the election and rejection of creatures? What justification is there for the hope of a reconciliation of all creatures at the end of days? What eschatological expectations of a place of permanent distance from God require constructive theological criticism? And what resonance and relevance do notions of hell have in today's world and culture?

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Book SynopsisThe volume brings together 18 individual studies on the Book of Jeremiah, which the retired Munich Old Testament scholar Hermann-Josef Stipp developed to accompany the writing of a commentary on Jer 25-52 in order to substantiate and deepen the central theses of the commentary in detail. Three of the essays have not yet been published

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Book SynopsisPaul Ricoeur's reception in Old Testament biblical studies is eclectic to this day. Martina Weingärtner sets a counterpoint to this and works out the application of his hermeneutics in dialogue with Old Testament exegesis. The achievement of the synthesis consists in bundling the reflections of Ricur and translating them into a methodology of text comprehension that recognizes the proprium of biblical texts. The analysis (explanation) of the episode of the lentil dish (Gen 25.29-34) forms the starting point of the study. In a constructive expansion of historical-critical methodology, the interpretation (understanding) aims to perceive this narrative as a meaningful story and its existential function. In this way, the author can present new findings compared to previous exegeses, which refrain from an Esau concentration and its negative assessment. Reading the sales episode as a guilty tale opens up a deeper theological interpretation of a text that has been neglected in this regard.

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Book SynopsisOne of the most fundamental questions when reading and trying to understand New Testament texts is the question of genre. It is impossible to understand a text, its meaning and intention, in its proper historical setting if one does not understand its genre: As an example, interpreting a satirical text without understanding the genre would no doubt lead to grave misunderstandings. The same logic applies to texts from the New Testament, and the matter is complicated even further by the immense historical gap between the time of the genesis of the New Testament canon and now. The problem of the New Testament texts’ genre(s) is therefore a vital area of scholarly discussion within international New Testament scholarship. The current volume utilizes the newest insights from current research on the New Testament to cast new light on the question of the genre of Mark’s Gospel. Here, prominent international New Testament scholars discuss how we should understand the genre(s) of Mark’s Gospel, thus making an important contribution to international scholarship on the Gospel of Mark as well as the Gospel genre in general.

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Book SynopsisThe letter to the Ephesians differs from all other Pauline letters because of its special character. In his dense and balanced language he develops Pauline theology in a comprehensive way. The death of Paul was probably the trigger for the creation of this letter. His words sound like a legacy for the next generation. He has important things to say, especially for today: With his well-formed doctrine of the church, he provides essential impetus for ecumenical dialogue. But the letter also offers valuable information for the question of how Christian life can be shaped and how faith can be lived out in everyday life. One senses that the letter was written from a prayerful attitude. His words testify to spiritual depth. You can therefore give suggestions in a special way for practicing prayer today. The interpretation aims to open up the message of the letter to the Ephesians to as many readers as possible and to arouse interest in dealing more intensively with its statements.

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Book SynopsisPeter J. Gentry provides a complete and full introduction to the critical edition of Ecclesiastes in the Göttingen Septuaginta series along with user-friendly explanations for non-specialists as well as detailed documentation to demonstrate the basis for the critical text of Greek Ecclesiastes. Text History volumes supporting the critical editions in the Göttingen Septuaginta usually provide evidence and lists to document and demonstrate the recensions existing in the textual history and the best methodology for arriving at the earliest form of the text that we can reach. Gentrys Text History volume provides, in addition, a complete and full introduction which was not given in the critical edition. Since this introduction is in English, it will aid English-speaking scholars who find access to the critical editions difficult because the introductions are in German.

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Book SynopsisText in German. Psalm 45 unfolds the basics of the Judaic theology of domination and reflects in a special way the conditions at the royal court with the communication structures and ceremonies customary there. At its center is the king, whose role and office is determined by military and juridical functions and thus encompasses the external and internal dimensions of rulership. As a minister, not as a person, he is placed between man and God, shares divine qualities and can therefore also be called God. At the side of the king, as the female part of the monarchy, is the queen, who also has a special role, as she stands between the king and the people and plays a key role in maintaining the dynasty. Peter Riede works out the compositional, motif and traditional historical connections of the psalm and makes them fruitful for a reconstruction of court and palace life in Judah. This shows that the pictorial constellations that characterize the Psalm are part of a cross-cultural repertoire that can also be found in pictorial art.

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Book SynopsisDieser Band enthält eine Leseausgabe von MTL-Ez 11,25-48,35 und LXX967-Ez 11,25-48,35. Der erhaltene Ezechieltext des Papyrus 967 wurde bislang nur in Teilpublikationen veröffentlicht und wird in der Leseausgabe erstmalig am Stück zugänglich. Die hebräischen und griechischen Texte sind synoptisch korrespondierend in relativ kurzen Zeilen organisiert. Auf diese Weise sind - da in der griechischen Übersetzung in der Regel die hebräische Wortfolge und die Satzstruktur genau nachgeahmt wurde - Unterschiede zwischen den beiden Textfassungen gut erkennbar. In Anmerkungen sind die wichtigsten Fälle ausgewiesen, in denen alle anderen griechischen Handschriften vom Text der "Leithandschrift" LXX967-Ez abweichen. Verzeichnet sind zudem Fälle, in denen die Ezechiel-Handschriften vom Toten Meer einen anderen Text als MTL haben, die Qere-Lesarten und die (seltenen) Fälle von Schreibfehlern im Papyrus. Das Buch ist ein wichtiges Hilfsmittel für die Erschließung der ezechielischen Texte in Bezug auf Textentstehung.

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Book SynopsisThis book is the result of a study analyzing the meaning and role of the ????? terms frequently used in Romans. Seo-Jun Kim shows that Paul's terminology does not fit within the framework of a theological category, but rather has a wide variety of referential meanings and plays a variety of roles in the respective context. Existing studies have mainly focused on the interpretation of the phrase ?????????? ????, arguing that it refers to God's gift (R. Bultmann), God's saving power (E. Käsemann, P. Stuhlmacher), or God's covenant faithfulness (J. D. G. Dunn, N. T. Wright ) trade. This study exhaustively and fundamentally examines all ????? terms in Romans in their respective contexts and illuminates them in correlation to the appropriate reference texts. In addition, the traditional-historical relationships of Paul's ????? terminology, with regard to their conceptual and linguistic similarity to the Old Testament and Jewish literature, are explained in detail in every exegetical analysis. Thus, this book provides a precise categorization of the referential semantics of ????? terms. The reader should be able to better understand the various lines of argument in Romans with a view to this key concept.

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Book SynopsisThe starting point for Judith Gärtner's study is the observation that the psalm group of the Egyptian Hallel (Ps 113-118) was already perceived as a literary unit in ancient times and is still recited today, especially on the Seder evening of the Jewish Passover festival. Against this background, the study aims to raise the common theological themes of the Psalms group and to ask how the Psalms group came into being in terms of literary history. Central is the question of YHWH as the only powerful God, which is conceptually differently nuanced in the respective Psalms and developed both historically and anthropologically. Gärtner can show that in the dynamic of the sequential reading from Ps 113 to Ps 118 a differentiated monotheistic confession arises, so that the Egyptian Hallel can be described as a small compendium of late Psalm theology.

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Book SynopsisWeltweit hat das Exodusbuch vor allem durch zwei Texte auf höchst unterschiedliche Weise gewirkt:Zum einen durch seine Erzählung mit dem auf Befreiung ausgerichteten Ziel (5,1), das als Gospel gesungen wird: "Let my people go!", zum anderen durch die Zehn Gebote, den Dekalog (Kap. 20) mit seiner doppelten Intention: der ausschließlichen Hinwendung zu Gott und dem Schutz des Mitmenschen.Auch zwei Bilder gewannen weithin symbolische Bedeutung:Der geheimnisvolle, brennende, aber nicht verbrennende Dornbusch (Kap. 3) und der Durchzug durchs Meer (Kap. 14) mit dem auf die Rettung folgenden Lob (Kap. 15).Außerdem erhielten zwei "Definitionen", Näherbestimmungen, Gottes eine erhebliche Nachwirkung: Die Deutung des Namens JHWH / Jahwe "Ich werde sein, der ich sein werde" (3,14f mit der Offenbarung des Namens in 6,2f) und das Bekenntnis, das nach Erfahrung seines Wirkens sein "Wesen" als Barmherzigkeit beschreibt (34,6f).Mit seinen Erzählungen berichtet das Exodusbuch Momente der Glaubensgeschichte und bekundet entscheidende Elemente des Glaubens.

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Book SynopsisDie Konzepte der Zweiseeligkeit im Jakobusbrief und des Kleinglaubens im Matthäusevangelium reagieren darauf, dass christliche Existenz zu dissonantem Erleben und Verhalten, ja sogar zum Zweifel führen kann. Im Neuen Testament erscheinen mit dípsychos und oligópistos innovative Ausdrücke für die Erkenntnis, dass der Mensch vom Ideal der Einheit mit sich selbst bzw. der ganzheitlichen Ausrichtung auf Gott hin abweichen kann. Um das Neue in den christlichen Texten zu erfassen, unterscheidet Anna Nürnberger bildlich-konkrete, philosophisch-abstrakte, metaphorische, mythische und allegorische Texte und untersucht diese auf Dissonanzphänomene hin. Die Arbeit versteht sich als textorientierter Beitrag zur Historischen Psychologie und will den Facettenreichtum von Vorstellungen erlebens- und verhaltensrelevanter Dissonanz des Menschen in der Antike aufzeigen.

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Book SynopsisThis book gives attention to the language and style of the letter of James, with a hypothesis about its rhetorical purpose in mind. It focuses on what we can learn about the author of James, by reading the text in light of a guiding research question: How does the author establish and assert authority? The letter builds literary authority for a number of purposes, one of which is to address socioeconomic disparity, a major concern for the author. The author of James presents a speech-in-character in the shape of a letter to establish his ethos (Ch. 2), employing vocabulary and style to signal his education implicitly (Ch. 3 & 4) and includes himself in the categories of sage, teacher and exegete explicitly (Ch. 5). From this standpoint, the author can address the rich as equals, rebuke them and admonish both rich and poor to receive Gods wisdom (Ch. 6).The comparison with ancient literary criticism shows that the categories at play are the same. The insight that language and ethos are inseparable categories in antiquity provides us with renewed ways to interpret the literary production of early Christianity. Both James and the Classicists present a competing epic in the context of the early imperium, the former with an Israelite piety that is superior to contemporary economic and moral categories and the latter with the supremacy of Greek culture as a foundation for Rome. The letter of James emerges as a document that builds educational ethos as a balance against the rich and powerful, a strategy that calls for a revision of both its rhetoric and socio-economic situation.

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Book SynopsisEver since Jesus walked the hills of Galilee and Paul travelled the roads of Asia Minor and Greece, Christianity has shown a remarkable ability to adapt itself to various social and cultural environments. Recent research has demonstrated that these environments can only be very insufficiently termed as "rural" or "urban". Neither was Jesus' Galilee only rural, nor Paul's Asia only "urban". On the background of ongoing research on the diversity of social environments in the Early Empire, this volume will focus on various early Christian "worlds" as witnessed in canonical and non-canonical texts. How did Early Christians experience and react to "rural" and "urban" life? What were the mechanisms behind this adaptability? Papers will analyse the relation between urban Christian beginnings and the role of the rural Jesus-tradition. In what sense did the image of Jesus, the "Galilean village Jew", change when his message was carried into the cities of the Mediterranean world from Jerusalem to Athens or Rome? Papers will not only deal with various personalities or literary works whose various attitudes towards urban life became formative for future Christianity. They will also explore the different local milieus that demonstrate the wide range of Christian cultural perspectives.

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Book SynopsisThis study is the first to present a monograph on psalm exegesis from the perspective of interdisciplinary trauma research. The work reveals how traumatic events have affected the narrative-aesthetic form of representation of the psalms. With the help of classical-philological, literary and psychological approaches, a phenomenology of literary handling of traumatic experiences is shown in the individual psalms. The trauma research serves to develop the texts in two ways: on the one hand for their ancient origins, which processes collective and individual experiences of violence, and on the other hand for the analysis of the processes of appropriation of the texts in terms of reception aesthetics. The work provides important insights into the central themes of psalm research: the hermeneutics of violence, dealing with suffering, the image of God, the role of lamentation, anthropology. In addition, it also gives impulses for the current social discourse of collective memory and for exploring narrative-poetic strategies for coping with trauma.

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Book SynopsisThe cultural environment of the New Testament is shaped by two rivaling principles of social exchange: The sphere of traditional reciprocity, which is based on cyclic long-term relationships, is partly invaded by forms of market economy. Luke-Acts depicts the consequences of that clash of mentalities unadornedly, without retreating to contemporary ideologies. Everyday conflicts in the spheres of euergetism or patron-client relationships about lending money, spending or stockpiling grain, provide the framework for Luke's own vision of a commnion of goods as counter-society.

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Book SynopsisA Living Text â How was the Bible experienced and encountered in Byzantine times?

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