Religion

Over the past generation, scholars have devoted increasing attention to the diverse forms that Jewish mysticism has taken both in the past and today: what was once called “nonsense” by Jewish scholars has generated important research and attention both within the academy and beyond, as demonstrated by the popular fascination with figures such as Madonna and Demi Moore and the growing interest in spirituality.



In Jewish Mysticism and Kabbalah, leading experts introduce the history of this scholarship as well as the most recent insights and debates that currently animate the field in a way that is accessible to a broad audience. From mystical outpourings in ancient Palestine to the Kabbalah Centre, and from attitudes towards gender to mystical contributions to Jewish messianic movements, this volume explores the various expressions of Jewish mysticism from antiquity to the present day in an engaging style appropriate for students and non-specialists alike.

Christian filmmaking, done outside of the corporate Hollywood industry and produced for Christian churches, affected a significant audience of church people. Protestant denominations and individuals believed that they could preach and teach more effectively through the mass medium of film. Although suspicion toward the film industry marked many conservatives during the early 1930s, many Christian leaders came to believe in the power of technology to convert or to morally instruct people. Thus the growth of a Christian film industry was an extension of the Protestant tradition of preaching, with the films becoming celluloid sermons.

Celluloid Sermons is the first historical study of this phenomenon. Terry Lindvall and Andrew Quicke highlight key characters, studios, and influential films of the movement from 1930 to 1986—such as the Billy Graham Association, with its major WorldWide Pictures productions of films like The Hiding Place, Ken Curtis’ Gateway Films, the apocalyptic “end-time” films by Mark IV (e.g. Thief in the Night), and the instructional video-films of Dobson’s Focus on the Family--assessing the extent to which the church’s commitment to filmmaking accelerated its missions and demonstrating that its filmic endeavors had the unintended consequence of contributing to the secularization of liberal denominations.

In this companion to his best-selling translation of the Bhagavad Gita, Easwaran explores the essential themes of this much-loved Indian scripture.

Placing the Gita in a modern context, Easwaran shows how this classic text sheds light on the nature of reality, the illusion of separateness, the search for identity, and the meaning of yoga. The key message of the Gita is how to resolve our conflicts and live in harmony with the deep unity of life, through the principles of yoga and the practice of meditation.

Easwaran grew up in the Hindu tradition and learned Sanskrit from an early age. A foremost translator and interpreter of the Gita, he taught classes on it for forty years, while living out the principles of the Gita in the midst of a busy family and community life.

In the Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna, the Lord, doesn’t tell the warrior prince Arjuna what to do: he shows Arjuna his choices and then leaves it to Arjuna to decide. Easwaran, too, shows us clearly how these teachings still apply to us – and how, like Arjuna, we must take courage and act wisely if we want our world to thrive.

Easwaran’s best-selling translation of this classic Buddhist text The Dhammapada is reliable, readable, and profound.

Dhammapada means "the path of dharma," the path of harmony and righteousness that anyone can follow to reach the highest good. The Dhammapada is a collection of verses, gathered probably from direct disciples who wanted to preserve what they had heard from the Buddha himself.

Easwaran's comprehensive introduction to the Dhammapada gives an overview of the Buddha's teachings that is penetrating, and clear – accessible for readers new to Buddhism, but also with fresh insights and practical applications for readers familiar with this text. His translation is based on the original Pali. Chapter introductions, notes and a Sanskrit glossary place individual verses into the context of the broader Buddhist canon.

Easwaran is a master storyteller, and the introduction includes many stories that make moving, memorable reading, bringing young Siddhartha and his heroic spiritual quest vividly to life. This faithful interpretation brings us closer to the compassionate heart of the Buddha.

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A rich study, with new research data, on eighteen Ptolemaic period sarcophagi housed in museums in Cairo, including the Grand Egyptian Museum

The individually designed anthropoid sarcophagi of the Ptolemaic period (ca. 330–30 BCE) offer a particularly rich and varied repertoire of hieroglyphic inscriptions and religious scenes. Being at the end of a long tradition of funerary literature, many of the epigraphs on these objects are variations or reinterpretations of older texts that have been circulated and transmitted over millennia.

Others are entirely new creations that provide insight into funerary beliefs of late ancient Egypt. The present volume is the second and last publication of a joint project between scholars from Cairo University and the University of Tübingen on Late and Ptolemaic period sarcophagi housed in the museums of Cairo. It includes the detailed publication of eighteen sarcophagi, which until now have only been known through brief descriptions. The facsimile drawings, detailed pictures, translations, and commentaries presented here will allow scholars to approach this corpus with a broad range of research questions.

The Psalms are some of the most cherished and powerful texts in the Bible, offering a timeless voice of prayer, praise and lament. With their poetic beauty and deep emotional resonance, the Psalms reflect the full range of human experience - joy, sorrow, hope and despair. From David's passionate expressions of longing and gratitude to the comforting assurances of divine presence, the Psalms speak to the heart, providing a spiritual anchor for those seeking peace and strength. For centuries, these sacred verses have been recited in times of celebration, mourning and everything in between, reminding us that we are never alone.

Discover peace, inspiration and timeless wisdom in The Little Book of Psalms. This beautifully compact collection brings together the most beloved Psalms, offering a daily source of comfort and reflection. Whether you're seeking solace, spiritual guidance or a deeper connection to your faith, this book provides a rich treasure of ancient prayers that continue to resonate with people of all walks of life. Perfect for personal devotion or as a thoughtful gift, The Little Book of Psalms will uplift your spirit, nourish your soul, and remind you of the enduring power of these sacred words. Keep it close for moments of prayer, reflection, and quiet meditation - wherever life takes you.

SAMPLE TEXT

"The most valuable thing the Psalms do for me is to express the same delight in God which made David dance."
C.S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms

"My strength returns to me with my cup of coffee and the reading of the psalms."
Dorothy Day

"Come, let us sing a psalm."
Martin Luther

Die Festschrift zu Ehren von Holger Strutwolf, dem Direktor des Instituts für Neutestamentliche Textkritik und des Bibelmuseums Münster, anlässlich seines 65. Geburtstages umfasst über 40 Beiträge von wissenschaftlichen Weggefährtinnen und Weggefährten, die das große und breit gefächerte Forschungsinteresse des Jubilars widerspiegeln. Neben Abhandlungen zu der alten Kirchengeschichte und der Patristik liegt der besondere Schwerpunkt auf dem Text des Neuen Testaments. Behandelt werden verschiedenen Fragen zu der handschriftlichen Überlieferung, dem Ausgangstext, der Entstehung der Varianten, der versionellen und patristischen Einflüsse, dem Textverständnis und den (digitalen) Methoden der Textedition.

Ein Vorwort, ein Schriftenverzeichnis des Jubilars sowie eine ihm gewidmete tabula gratulatoria komplettieren den Band.

Takes seriously youths’ ownership of their sexual choices within purity culture

Gaining mass popularity in the mid-1990s with the True Love Waits rally on the Washington Mall, purity culture began as an urge from evangelical conservatives for Christian adolescents to publicly commit to practicing abstinence until marriage. Throughout this decade and the next, millions of evangelical teenagers performed their commitment to sexual purity by signing pledges and wearing purity rings.

This book examines the shaping of purity culture in the United States, looking specifically at the experiences of white youth. It shows that white girls and white queer youth were vulnerable to the purity movement, but that they were also complicit in its white supremacist oppressive structure. It makes the case that purity culture follows in the footsteps of other purity movements in the United States, and is very much tied to centuries of anti-Black racism and xenophobia in US social history, seeing white youth as in need of protection, usually from a racialized, sexualized other.

While other works have focused on the ways in which purity culture has victimized young people, Sawyer argues that their perceived status as victims lets them too easily off the hook. White youth have been afforded the privilege of participating in purity culture’s harmful behaviors without being called to account. Closely reading adolescents’ stories of growing up in purity culture, she uncovers youth as agents, participants, and beneficiaries of its white supremacist framing, even as they were still vulnerable to its harmful teachings.

This book examines the life and thought of Ibn Mughayzil (fl. 895/1490), a Shādhilī Sufi of late Mamlūk Cairo. It offers a portrait of the Sufi as an aspiring Shādhilī master and talented author whose two known writings reflect major themes of Mamlūk-era Sufism, such as the desire to unite the “exoteric” sciences (ʿilm al-ẓāhir) and the “esoteric” science (ʿilm al-bāṭin) or Sufism. At the same time, his works are distinguished by a number of features. Most notable is his treatment of the waking vision of Prophet Muḥammad after death, an experience that many Sufis claimed to have underwent. The study suggests that Ibn Mughayzil was the first author to produce a systematic and comprehensive examination of the topic and argues that he makes an important contribution by defending its authenticity and orthodoxy. Furthermore, his engagement with other key issues of his time, such as God’s oneness and religious diversity, reveal that while often driven by the aim of defending Sufis from accusations of error, he was a creative synthesizer, drawing from a wide range of Sufi and other sources to develop and demonstrate his positions. Study of Ibn Mughayzil sheds light on the nature and quality of Mamlūk Sufi literature as well as the reception of earlier ideas, such as those of Ibn ʿArabī (d. 638/1240) and Ibn al-Fāriḍ (d. 632/1235).

The notions of intermediation and intercession play a central role in the theology of monotheistic religions. In the Islamic context, the specific doctrine connected to the intermediation (wasīla, wāsiṭa) and intercession of the Prophet Muḥammad towards God (shafāʿa, tawassul), particularly on the Day of Judgement, is widely attested in the primary sources of Islam. The eschatological function of the Prophet is represented in these sources through a series of royal metaphors, connected to his rank (jāh) on the Day of Judgement, which will allow him access to a special station called the Station of Praise (al-maqām al-maḥmūd), endowed with specific attributes of royalty. Within Islamic esotericism, these doctrines receive a metaphysical interpretation closely connected to the reality of Muḥammad as the Perfect Man (al-insān al-kāmil). Since contemporary times, with the birth and spread of the Islamic Reform movements, these doctrines have been the target of intense opposition aimed also at related practices, such as, for example, visiting tombs in search of intercession, eventually resulting in the destruction of numerous sacred sites.

Gagaku, the ceremonial music of the imperial court, Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines in Japan, was established in the early 8th century and has been continuously performed since then. Despite its importance in the cultural and religious history of Japan, this is the only book on the cultural history of Gagaku published outside of Japan. The chapters, written by the leading experts on Gagaku in Japan and elsewhere, address religious, philosophical, and socio-cultural aspects of this music with focus on Buddhism, Confucianism, Shinto, and also explore the impact of modernization and globalization.

The book discusses developments from the 1600s until the present (most previous works focus on the 8th through 12th centuries), including the samurai appropriation of Gagaku and the diffusion of this music among learned commoners. It also traces the history of the global interest for Gagaku among contemporary composers in the early 20th century. This book brings a new understanding of the cultural history of Japan, by focusing on music, its conceptual system, and its impact on religion, society, and politics. A must read for specialists of Japanese religion and culture, musicologists, and all those who are interested in world music.

Divine epithets serve a variety of purposes, with the most frequent being those related to the locations and functions of the gods. Epithets derived from individual names, however, have received less attention. While few studies have focused on the Greek world, research on the Latin-speaking Mediterranean is still sporadic. Such “anthropophoric” onomastic attributes have often been interpreted as related to the name of a cult founder. Yet, such a practice rather suggests various forms of relationships between the god and the individual (or group) whose name shapes the epithet. These dynamics of “individualisation” of a deity require further exploration. This collective book provides, for the first time, a detailed catalog of 398 Greek and Latin occurrences from the broad circum-Mediterranean area (including Greece, Anatolia, the Levant, North Africa, the Iberian peninsula, Central Europe, Italy, and Rome), related to 45 divinities and 191 different epithets. Multiple case studies ranging from the 5^th or 4^th century BCE to the 4^th century CE, examined through different chronological, geographical, and thematic perspectives, offer valuable insights into local and regional strategies of religious appropriation.

CSEL 109 is the first critical edition of the five books of Vigilius of Thapsus’ Contra Eutychetem based on all known codices. Composed in the aftermath of the Council of Chalcedon, the books deal with the refutation of the Monophysite heresy and the defence of Chalcedonism. The introduction presents the stemmatic classification of the manuscripts, discusses linguistic peculiarities and explains the reasons for textual decisions.

Scholars have long argued that early Hasidic teachings introduced a psychological dimension to kabbalistic traditions and revitalized modern Judaism. Focused on the inner soul, Hasidism encouraged worshippers to experience joy and delight through their enthusiastic practices. In this new work grounded in the historical study of emotions, Leore Sachs-Shmueli shows that Hasidic teachers and preachers also nurtured and even promoted the negative emotions of yirah, an emotional cluster that encompasses fear, apprehension, anxiety, and awe.

Exploring their roots in classical texts of Kabbalah, including the Zohar and works of Safed Kabbalah, Sachs-Shmueli demonstrates how early Hasidic masters like the Baal Shem Tov, the circle of the Maggid of Mezhrich, Shneur Zalman of Liadi, and R. Nachman of Bratslav deliberately cultivated a tense emotional culture through the mental guidelines in their texts. Through an emphasis on God-fearing and the fear of sin, they motivated followers of the new movement to attain the mystical ideal while simultaneously fostering a social community devoted to divine worship according to Jewish law, in the face of persecution and secularization.

For readers interested in Jewish mysticism and Hasidism, Sacred Emotions argues that negative emotions serve as crucial catalysts for intensifying religious devotion and shaped the rise and cohesion of the Hasidic movement.

The Aqedah, i.e., the story of the 'binding' of Isaac by Abraham, is a core text in all three Abrahamic religions and has been widely discussed in Judaism, Christianity and Islam for centuries. It still represents an intellectual, moral, and spiritual challenge for anyone who claims to be able to link morality and faith in God in a reasonably comprehensible way. The contributions in this anthology address this challenge from philosophical, theological and literary perspectives, by considering exemplary problems, epochs and authors pertaining to all three Abrahamic religions. The first part contains seven contributions exploring the epistemic and/or philosophical dimensions of the Aqedah. The second part contains nine essays on the (history of the) interpretation of the Aqedah from Israelite/Jewish, Christian and Islamic perspectives. The three texts in the third and final part discuss narratological issues and reflections of the problem within modern Hebrew literature. The volume complements and expands the existing scholarship on the subject, above all through its consistently interreligious approach and the inclusion of current philosophical and literary sources and debates.

Die Forschungen von K. Holl (1896 und 1899) und M. Richard (1962 und 1976) haben gezeigt, dass die von M. Lequien 1712 (PG 95–96) publizierten Sacra Parallela nur Auszüge eines sehr viel umfangreicheren, in drei Bücher unterteilten Florilegs sind, das in seiner ursprünglichen Form verloren ist, aber mit Hilfe der aus ihm abgeleiteten Florilegien einigermaßen rekonstruiert werden kann. Spätestens seit dem 10. Jh. wurden die Sacra Johannes von Damaskos zugeschrieben, wohl zu Unrecht, da gute Gründe für eine Datierung des Werkes in das erste Viertel des 7. Jh.s sprechen. Das erste Buch ist Gott gewidmet.

Challenges the definition of humanitarian aid

Aside from being one of the most important migration corridors in the world, Mexico is becoming an immigrant destination itself, with more and more migrants deciding or needing to stay in the country after failing to enter the United States. In the absence of state aid, migrant shelters have emerged as an informal welfare system for migrants, asylum seekers, refugees, and deportees in Mexico. Largely run by faith-based humanitarian organizations, these shelters have grown significantly in recent years.

Humanitarianism from Below examines the significance of these casas de migrantes (migrant shelters) in the migration process in Mexico. The book also reviews the role of faith-based humanitarian organizations, whose engagement with migrants is perceived more as charity work than professional humanitarian work. The volume argues that faith-based humanitarian organizations’ work challenges traditional understandings of what counts as humanitarian aid. It makes the case that in order to understand the full ecology of migration, we need to understand not only how large organizations like the Red Cross work, but also how these smaller and local entities with fewer resources interact with migrants on their journeys. Most migration research tends to focus on its impact within home countries or in destination contexts, rarely focusing on the actual migration process, including the interactions that influence the course of the migration journey itself. In conducting this research, Alejandro Olayo-Méndez traveled along migrant routes several times in order to gain knowledge about how migrants move and how they interact with the migrant shelters. He offers a detailed look at the experiences and challenges of casas de migrantes in Mexico, situating these faith-based shelters as an integral part of Mexico’s humanitarian ecosystem.

Die Forschungen von K. Holl (1896 und 1899) und M. Richard (1962 und 1976) haben gezeigt, dass die von M. Lequien 1712 (PG 95–96) publizierten Sacra Parallela nur Auszüge eines sehr viel umfangreicheren, in drei Bücher unterteilten Florilegs sind, das in seiner ursprünglichen Form verloren ist, aber mit Hilfe der aus ihm abgeleiteten Florilegien einigermaßen rekonstruiert werden kann. Spätestens seit dem 10. Jh. wurden die Sacra Johannes von Damaskos zugeschrieben, wohl zu Unrecht, da gute Gründe für eine Datierung des Werkes in das erste Viertel des 7. Jh.s sprechen. Das erste Buch ist Gott gewidmet.

At the heart of Paul’s Corinthian correspondence is a historical puzzle. How did the relative calm of 1 Corinthians deteriorate into the chaos of 2 Corinthians, and what role did the so-called Jewish “super-apostles” play in that conflict? This book proposes a new solution: it was Paul, not his rivals, who shot the first volley in the Corinthian conflict.

Paul’s claims of unique authority—for instance, as the architect atop whose foundation all others must build (1 Cor 3:10) and the Corinthians’ father while others are mere pedagogues (4:15)—would relegate other leaders to lesser positions. His contention that accepting financial support put an obstacle before the gospel (9:12) would jeopardize the livelihood of apostles who relied on such support. Finally, Paul’s claim that he becomes “lawless to the lawless” (9:21) or that “circumcision is nothing” (7:19) could throw into question Paul’s own Jewishness (cf. 2 Cor 11:22). By reading the Corinthian correspondence against the grain—imagining how Paul’s letter might have backfired for an audience who did not yet take him as scripture—this book explores how misunderstandings and misinterpretations can fracture church communities and cause a ripple effect of conflict and accusation.

This book focuses on discussions of metaphysics and epistemology in early modern India found in the works of the South Indian philosopher Vyāsatīrtha (1460–1539). Vyāsatīrtha was pivotal to the ascendancy of the Mādhva tradition to intellectual and political influence in the Vijayanagara Empire.

This book is primarily a philosophical reconstruction based on original translations of relevant parts of Vyāsatīrtha’s Sanskrit philosophical text, the “Nectar of Logic” (Nyāyāmr̥ta). Vyāsatīrtha wrote the Nyāyāmr̥ta as a vindication of his tradition’s theistic world view against the Advaita tradition of Vedānta. In the centuries after it was written, the Nyāyāmr̥ta came to dominate philosophical discussions among Vedānta traditions in India.

The Advaitins argued for an anti-realist stance about the empirical world, according to which the world of our experience is simply an illusion that can be dispelled by a deep study of the Upaniṣads. This book reconstructs the parts of the Nyāyāmr̥ta where Vyāsatīrtha argues in favor of the reality of the world against the Advaitins. Philosophically, it focuses on the concept of existence in Vyāsatīrtha’s metaphysics, and on his arguments about knowledge and the philosophy of perception.

Though typically associated more with Judaism than Christianity, the status and sacrality of Hebrew has nonetheless been engaged by both religious cultures in often strikingly similar ways. The language has furthermore played an important, if vexed, role in relations between the two. Hebrew between Jews and Christians closely examines this frequently overlooked aspect of Judaism and Christianity's common heritage and mutual competition.

In two places in the First Gospel (Matt 10:5b-6; 15:24) the Messianic mission of Jesus and his disciples is limited to a group called ‘the lost sheep of the house of Israel’. In light of Matthew’s intense interest in Jesus’ Davidic Messiahship and the Jewish Shepard-King traditions surrounding King David it is argued that the 'lost sheep of the house of Israel' refers to remnants of the former northern kingdom of Israel who continued to reside in the northern region of the ideal Land of Israel.

Im hinduistischen Indien ist neben Oralität auch Sonalität seit frühester Zeit von hoher kultureller Wertigkeit. Sie prägt den Umgang mit Texten, inspiriert eigene Riten, Modelle kosmischer Ordnung, abstrakte Formelsprachen und dient der Stimulierung und Versinnlichung religiöser Gefühle. Auf der Basis von Klangwahrnehmung und -deutung entwickeln die Autoren eine unorthodoxe Kulturgeschichte Indiens und thematisieren einen wichtigen, meist vernachlässigten Aspekt gelebter Religiosität. Ein stimulierender Beitrag zu kulturellen Wahrnehmungssystemen, der auch in die Debatte zu Oralität und Literalität neue Aspekte einbringt.
Die Tonbeispiele, die ursprünglich dem Buch als CD beigefügt waren, können hier auf der Website unter "Zusatzmaterial" heruntergeladen werden.

Schleiermacher gilt als einer der bedeutendsten Prediger der vergangenen 200 Jahre, was in der Forschung jedoch kaum zum Tragen kommt. Dabei sind die Predigten nicht weniger als das theologische Kontinuum des schleiermacherschen Œuvres. Sebastian Rink untersucht das in der Kritischen Gesamtausgabe neu edierte, umfangreiche Gesamtwerk der Predigten Schleiermachers mithilfe digitaler Werkzeuge. Er leistet damit einen exemplarischen Beitrag zur methodischen Weiterentwicklung digital unterstützter theologischer Forschung.

Anhand der Funktionen des Ewigkeitsbegriffs zeichnet die Arbeit in sieben Phasen den Zuschnitt und die Entwicklungen der Theologie Schleiermachers vor dem Hintergrund seiner ebenfalls vernachlässigten Eschatologie nach. Insbesondere durch Vergleiche mit den nicht-homiletischen Schriften wird die Bedeutung der Predigten Schleiermachers für eine Interpretation seiner Theologie neu in den Fokus gerückt. „Ewigkeit“ wird dabei als ein hermeneutischer Schlüsselbegriff profiliert.

Mit der Arbeit liegt eine im Blick auf den Untersuchungsgegenstand der Predigten erstmals umfassende und zudem methodisch innovative Untersuchung der Theologie Schleiermachers vor.

The series of beautiful sacramentaries made at Saint-Amand in the later ninth century offer us unique insight into an early medieval scriptorium at work. These manuscripts contain principally the prayer texts for the celebration of the Mass, a ceremony which stood at the centre of monastic life in this period. They display how this largely neglected genre discloses creativity and initiative on the part of the monks of Saint-Amand, who re-organised and re-composed this especially versatile literature. They made their books uniquely comprehensive and full of insight into how the mass liturgy was re-made at a critical period in its development. This innovative study makes these sources accessible for the first time.

In-depth study of script, decoration, and content enables a new appreciation of the context in which the deluxe Saint-Amand manuscripts were produced. It foregrounds ecclesiastical patronage, the political and intellectual dynamics at the waning of Carolingian power, and the intensive collaboration of scribes, artists, and liturgical composers, as well as the unique ways liturgical manuscripts can inform our understanding of medieval life and thought.　

Commentaries on Early Jewish Literature is a new series in English dealing with early Jewish literature between the third century BC and the middle of the second century AD; it is scheduled to encompass a total of 58 volumes. The texts are intended to be interpreted as a textual unity against the background of their particular Jewish and historico-political contexts, with text-based, historical, literary and theological analyses being undertaken. The first volume, by Joseph A. Fitzmyer, is devoted to a commentary on the Book of Tobit (Tobias).

The final installment in the critically acclaimed lectionary series that focuses on women's stories.

In this third volume of a three-volume lectionary, widely praised womanist bible scholar and priest Wilda Gafney selects scripture readings that emphasize women's stories. Focusing especially on the Gospel of Luke, Year C of A Women's Lectionary features Gafney's fresh, inclusive, and thought-provoking translations of every reading, alongside commentary on each reading. Designed for liturgical use or scriptural study, this resource offers a new perspective on the Bible and the liturgical year.

“Gafney's paradigm-shifting scholarship will influence biblical preaching and teaching for generations to come." —National Catholic Reporter

This monograph presents a challenge to the view that the Hebrew Bible contains allusions to Yahweh’s battle with chaos, showing how the term has been inappropriately applied in a range of contexts where far more diverse spheres of imagery should instead be recognised. Through the construction of a careful diachronic model (developed with particular reference to the Psalter), the author presents a persuasive case for reversing common assumptions about the development of Israelite religion, finding instead that the combat motif was absent in the earliest period, whilst the slaying of a dragon was attributed to Yahweh only in a distinctive monotheistic adaptation, which arose from around 587 B.C.

2 Maccabees is a Jewish work composed during the 2nd century BCE and preserved by the Church. Written in Hellenistic Greek and told from a Jewish-Hellenistic perspective, 2 Maccabees narrates and interprets the ups and downs of events that took place in Jerusalem prior to and during the Maccabean revolt: institutionalized Hellenization and the foundation of Jerusalem as a polis; the persecution of Jews by Antiochus Epiphanes, accompanied by famous martyrdoms; and the rebellion against Seleucid rule by Judas Maccabaeus. 2 Maccabees is an important source both for the events it describes and for the values and interests of the Judaism of the Hellenistic diaspora that it reflects - which are often quite different from those represented by its competitor, 1 Maccabees.

The present volume examines an underdeveloped component in the theology of Karl Barth. Specifically, the work asks: how, and to what extent, can faith be understood as ontologically proper to the trinitarian becoming of God? The work argues for an ontological grounding of faith in the becoming of God. To do so, Watson performs an in-depth examination of Barth's understanding of the concept of faith. Using Barth's threefold movement of revelation, the work contends God can be thought of as the subject (Glaubender), predicate (Glaube), and object (Geglaubte) of faith. Barth's theological exposition of Jesus as subject and object of election offers a promising proposal for how faith is ontologically understood. At the same time, the argument brings to the fore a crucial component of Barth's theological program, namely, the concept of recognition (Anerkennung). God's recognizing faith is then conceived as the condition of the possibility of human faith. Drawing on Barth's entire oeuvre, Watson offers an understanding of the divine becoming of faith that opens possibilities for thinking systematically about the realization of the corresponding human faith.

Oaths, vows, promises, curses – all share family resemblances. They are performatives, carrying illocutionary force. Oaths have rightly been termed, "conditional self-curses", promises have been argued to be but a more developed form of vows, and oaths and vows are often used interchangeably. This book focuses on private vows and oaths including those publically proclaimed.

Through analysis of legal, liturgical, mythical and literary works, it seeks to uncover a phenomenology of oaths and vows. Viewing oaths and vows as the human creative force par excellence, it surveys their role in circumscribing and directing both erotic desire and aggression; and so – in their performative function – as standing at the foundation of society and sociability.

As acts of trust which establish new obligations understandings of the role of oaths and vows are compared in the Jewish and Christian contexts, in terms of the importance of intentionality in vow making and oath taking, as well as the nature of the obligations ensuing from such locutionary acts. Analysis of the comic and tragic consequences of the violation of marriage oaths as presented in European literature from the 12th to 19th centuries reveals their perception as "habituating" Eros.

Hasidic groups have myriad customs. While ordinary Jewish law (halakhah) denotes the “bar of holiness” mandated for the ordinary Jew, these customs represent the higher threshold expected of Hasidim, intended to justify their title as hasidim (“pious”). How did the hasidic masters perceive the enactment of these new norms at a time in which the halakhah had already been solidified? How did they explain the normative power of these customs over communities and individuals, and how did they justify customs that diverged from the positive halakhah? This book analyzes the answers given by nineteenth-century hasidic authors. It then examines a test case: kedushah (“holiness”), or sexual abstinence among married men, a particularly restrictive norm enacted by several twentieth-century hasidic groups. Through the use of theoretical tools and historical contextualization, the book elucidates the normative circles of hasidic life, their religious and social sources and their interrelations.

This set of varied and stimulating papers, by an international group of younger as well as senior scholars, examines the manner in which peoplehood was understood by the Jewish communities of the Second Temple period and by the religious traditions that emerged from those communities and later flourished in Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism. The Hebrew and Greek terms for "people" and "nation" and the name "Israel" are closely analyzed, especially in forays into wisdom literature, Jewish apologetic and the Dead Sea Scrolls, and their uses are related to geographical, political and theological developments, as well as statehood, authority and rulership in the Persian world, Hasmonean times and Ptolemaic Egypt. Especially interesting are the carefully argued and documented suggestions about how Jewish peoplehood expressed itself with regard to charitable behavior, pagan deities, and marital regulations. Those interested in the history of cultural and theological tensions will be intrigued by the studies centered on how the opponents of Jews behaved towards "the people of God", how Hellenistic Jewish culture located the Jews on the Roman rather than on the Greek side, and how early Christian discourse saw the mission among the peoples and interpreted earlier sources accordingly. The idea of the Jewish "way of life" is seen to have influenced the writer of the longer Greek version of Esther and works of fiction are shown to have had important historical data within them. Modern social theory also has its say here in a careful consideration of Cognitive theory of ethnicity and the dynamic of ethnic boundary-making.

To what extent can semiotics illuminate key problems in religious studies, given the centrality of symbols, language, and other modes of signification in religion and theology?

The volume explores semiotic methodologies for the study of religion, with an emphasis on their critical and creative reconfigurations. The contributors come from different specialties, such as cognitive science, ethnography, linguistics, communication studies, art studies, religious studies, philosophy of religion, and theology. Part One consists of chapters focusing on theoretical perspectives. Part two focuses on applications in texts and case studies while still considering methodological issues. Many specific traditions and perspectives are taken up, such as C. S. Peirce, A. J. Greimas and the Paris School, Juri Lotman’s semiotics of culture, Bruno Latour and material semiotics, linguistic anthropology, social semiotics, cognitive semiotics, embodied and enactive perspectives on language and mind, semiotics of the image and iconicity, multimodality, intertextuality, and semiotics of colors.

The book provides readers with a succinct overview of how contemporary semiotics can be useful in understanding a broad array of topics in the study of religion.

The Reception of John Chrysostom in Early Modern Europe explores when, how, why, and by whom one of the most influential Fathers of the Greek Church was translated and read during a particularly significant period in the reception of his works. This was the period between the first Neo-Latin translation of Chrysostom in 1417 and the final volume of Fronton du Duc’s Greek-Latin edition in 1624, years in which readers and translators from Renaissance Italy, the Byzantine Empire, and the Basel, Paris, and Rome of a newly-confessionalised Europe found in Chrysostom everything from a guide to Latin oratory, to a model interpreter of Paul. By drawing on evidence that ranges from Greek manuscripts to conciliar acts, this book contextualises the hundreds of translations and editions of Chrysostom that were produced in Europe between 1417 and 1624, while demonstrating the lasting impact of these works on scholarship about this Church Father today.

Spirit possession is more commonly associated with late Second Temple Jewish literature and the New Testament than it is with the Hebrew Bible. In Unfamiliar Selves in the Hebrew Bible, however, Reed Carlson argues that possession is also depicted in this earlier literature, though rarely according to the typical western paradigm. This new approach utilizes theoretical models developed by cultural anthropologists and ethnographers of contemporary possession-practicing communities in the global south and its diasporas. Carlson demonstrates how possession in the Bible is a corporate and cultivated practice that can function as social commentary and as a means to model the moral self.
The author treats a variety of spirit phenomena in the Hebrew Bible, including spirit language in the Psalms and Job, spirit empowerment in Judges and Samuel, and communal possession in the prophets. Carlson also surveys apotropaic texts and spirit myths in early Jewish literature—including the Dead Sea Scrolls. In this volume, two recent scholarly trends in biblical studies converge: investigations into notions of evil and of the self. The result is a synthesizing project, useful to biblical scholars and those of early Judaism and Christianity alike.

The fourth volume of the groundbreaking Handbook of Qurʾānic Hermeneutics comprises 29 chapters dealing with the hermeneutical approach to the Qurʾān by Muslim authors of the 19^th and 20^th centuries. These authors had to deal with the changes and influences of modernity on Muslim society. Scientific progress and related developments in the natural sciences and humanities posed new questions and challenges to the traditional interpretation of the Qurʾān.

The confrontation with the colonial period also shaped the way of thinking of some of these authors and their hermeneutical work. This led them to a search for identity and a reassessment of their own traditions and beliefs. Authors in this volume reflect on these historical experiences in their interpretation of the Qurʾān.

The hermeneutical approaches to the Qurʾān in this volume are, thus, closely linked to the social, political, and intellectual conditions in which the authors have done their work. They represent a response to the challenges and changes of their time. By critically engaging with modernity, scientific progress, and the colonial legacy, these authors contributed to understanding and interpreting Islam in a new context.

This book analyzes and describes the development and aspects of imagery techniques, a primary mode of mystical experience, in twentieth century Jewish mysticism. These techniques, in contrast to linguistic techniques in medieval Kabbalah and in contrast to early Hasidism, have all the characteristics of a full screenplay, a long and complicated plot woven together from many scenes, a kind of a feature film. Research on this development and nature of the imagery experience is carried out through comparison to similar developments in philosophy and psychology and　is fruitfully contextualized within broader trends of western and eastern mysticism.

Die Forschungen von K. Holl (1896 und 1899) und M. Richard (1962 und 1976) haben gezeigt, dass die von M. Lequien 1712 (PG 95–96) publizierten Sacra Parallela nur Auszüge eines sehr viel umfangreicheren, in drei Bücher unterteilten Florilegs sind, das in seiner ursprünglichen Form verloren ist, aber mit Hilfe der aus ihm überlieferten sogenannten "damaszenischen" Florilegien rekonstruiert werden kann.

Spätestens seit dem 10. Jh. wurden die Sacra Johannes von Damaskus zugeschrieben, wohl zu Unrecht, da gute Gründe für eine Datierung des Werkes in das erste Viertel des 7. Jh.s sprechen. Das zweite Buch, das dem Menschen gewidmet ist, ist in zwei Rezensionen überliefert, deren große Unterschiede eine separate Edition erfordern.

Die Bände VIII / 6 und 7 bieten die Erstedition der zweiten Rezension, wie sie sich aus dem Florilegium Thessalonicense, Rupefucaldinum, Hierosolymitanum, PMLb, La und Lc rekonstruieren lässt. Diese Florilegien überliefern 2906 Texte der zweiten Rezension, die dem Alten und Neuen Testament, den Kirchenvätern, Philon von Alexandria und Flavius Josephus entnommen sind.

Die Forschungen von K. Holl (1896 und 1899) und M. Richard (1962 und 1976) haben gezeigt, dass die von M. Lequien 1712 (PG 95–96) publizierten Sacra Parallela nur Auszüge eines sehr viel umfangreicheren, in drei Bücher unterteilten Florilegs sind, das in seiner ursprünglichen Form verloren ist, aber mit Hilfe der aus ihm überlieferten sogenannten "damaszenischen" Florilegien rekonstruiert werden kann.

Spätestens seit dem 10. Jh. wurden die Sacra Johannes von Damaskus zugeschrieben, wohl zu Unrecht, da gute Gründe für eine Datierung des Werkes in das erste Viertel des 7. Jh.s sprechen. Das zweite Buch, das dem Menschen gewidmet ist, ist in zwei Rezensionen überliefert, deren große Unterschiede eine separate Edition erfordern.

Die Bände VIII / 4 und 5 bieten die erste vollständige Edition der ersten Rezension auf der Grundlage des Vat. gr. 1553, einer Handschrift, die diese Rezension als einzige in annähernd reiner Form überliefert; für die Textkonstitution wurden ferner die in den weiteren "damaszenischen" Florilegien enthaltenen Texte der ersten Rezension berücksichtigt. Im Vat. gr. 1553 sind 2293 Texte überliefert, die dem Alten und Neuen Testament, den Kirchenvätern, Philon von Alexandria und Flavius Josephus entnommen sind.

Die Forschungen von K. Holl (1896 und 1899) und M. Richard (1962 und 1976) haben gezeigt, dass die von M. Lequien 1712 (PG 95–96) publizierten Sacra Parallela nur Auszüge eines sehr viel umfangreicheren, in drei Bücher unterteilten Florilegs sind, das in seiner ursprünglichen Form verloren ist, aber mit Hilfe der aus ihm überlieferten sogenannten "damaszenischen" Florilegien rekonstruiert werden kann.

Spätestens seit dem 10. Jh. wurden die Sacra Johannes von Damaskus zugeschrieben, wohl zu Unrecht, da gute Gründe für eine Datierung des Werkes in das erste Viertel des 7. Jh.s sprechen. Das zweite Buch, das dem Menschen gewidmet ist, ist in zwei Rezensionen überliefert, deren große Unterschiede eine separate Edition erfordern.

Die Bände VIII / 6 und 7 bieten die Erstedition der zweiten Rezension, wie sie sich aus dem Florilegium Thessalonicense, Rupefucaldinum, Hierosolymitanum, PMLb, La und Lc rekonstruieren lässt. Diese Florilegien überliefern 2906 Texte der zweiten Rezension, die dem Alten und Neuen Testament, den Kirchenvätern, Philon von Alexandria und Flavius Josephus entnommen sind.

Die Forschungen von K. Holl (1896 und 1899) und M. Richard (1962 und 1976) haben gezeigt, dass die von M. Lequien 1712 (PG 95–96) publizierten Sacra Parallela nur Auszüge eines sehr viel umfangreicheren, in drei Bücher unterteilten Florilegs sind, das in seiner ursprünglichen Form verloren ist, aber mit Hilfe der aus ihm überlieferten sogenannten "damaszenischen" Florilegien rekonstruiert werden kann.

Spätestens seit dem 10. Jh. wurden die Sacra Johannes von Damaskus zugeschrieben, wohl zu Unrecht, da gute Gründe für eine Datierung des Werkes in das erste Viertel des 7. Jh.s sprechen. Das zweite Buch, das dem Menschen gewidmet ist, ist in zwei Rezensionen überliefert, deren große Unterschiede eine separate Edition erfordern.

Die Bände VIII / 4 und 5 bieten die erste vollständige Edition der ersten Rezension auf der Grundlage des Vat. gr. 1553, einer Handschrift, die diese Rezension als einzige in annähernd reiner Form überliefert; für die Textkonstitution wurden ferner die in den weiteren "damaszenischen" Florilegien enthaltenen Texte der ersten Rezension berücksichtigt. Im Vat. gr. 1553 sind 2293 Texte überliefert, die dem Alten und Neuen Testament, den Kirchenvätern, Philon von Alexandria und Flavius Josephus entnommen sind.

Derzeit wird die Editio critica maior der Apokalypse vorbereitet, die manche Änderung am Text bringen wird. Die Beiträge des Bandes widmen sich Fragen, die der Edition vorausgehen müssen. Sie prüfen Charakteristika von Handschriften, angefangen bei Marginalien und bis hin zum Ort der Apk in Codices. Sie untersuchen die beiden für die Neuzeit grundlegenden Editionen, den Erasmus-Text samt seinen Auswirkungen auf Apk-Handschriften und den sog. Complutense-Text der Apk. Sie wenden sich exemplarisch für die alten Übersetzungen der Apk, die textgeschichtlich relevant sind, dem Lateinischen, Sahidischen, Äthiopischen und Nubischen zu. Sie sprechen schließlich ein besonderes Problem an: Da die Apk eine semitisierende Rhetorik pflegt, klang sie in der Überlieferung vielleicht manchmal so befremdend, dass sekundäre Schreibfehler als Grundtext erachtet wurden. Daher ist die semitisierend-griechische Stilistik des Werks zu prüfen, bevor die künftige Edition weiterhin die derzeit große Zahl grammatischer und syntaktischer Verstöße im Text erlaubt. Am Ende des Bandes steht schließlich ein Beitrag zu Text und Illustration der Apk. Alle Beiträge führen die Kenntnis über die Textgeschichte der Apk erheblich weiter.

In dem dreibändigen Handbuch wird der gegenwärtige Stand der internationalen Forschung zu Martin Luthers Person und Werk und die vielfältigen Wirkungen der Reformation auf Geschichte, Kirchen, politische Institutionen, Philosophie, Kunst und Gesellschaft bis ins 21. Jahrhundert. Das Werk ist initiiert durch die Fondazione per le scienze religiose Giovanni XXIII (Bologna) in Zusammenarbeit mit dem europäischen Netzwerk Refo500.

Dieses internationale Werk ist auch auf Deutsch verfügbar.

The Nuremberg Miscellany [Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nürnberg, Bibliothek, 8° Hs. 7058 (Rl. 203)] is a unique work of scribal art and illumination. Its costly parchment leaves are richly adorned and illustrated with multicolour paint and powdered gold. It was penned and illustrated in southern Germany – probably Swabia – in 1589 and is signed by a certain Eliezer b. Mordechai the Martyr.

The Miscellany is a relatively thin manuscript. In its present state, it holds a total of 46 folios, 44 of which are part of the original codex and an additional bifolio that was attached to it immediately or soon after its production.

The book is a compilation of various Hebrew texts, most of which pertain to religious life. Others are home liturgies, Biblical exegeses, comments on rites and customs, moralistic texts, homiletic and ethical discourses, and an extensive collection of home liturgies, its major part being dedicated to the life cycle.

The unparalleled text compilation of the Nuremberg Miscellany on the one hand, and the naïve, untrained illustrations on the other hand, are puzzling. Its illustrations are hardly mindful of volume, depth or perspective, and their folk-art nature suggests that an unprofessional artist, possibly even the scribe himself, may have executed them. Whoever the illustrator was, his vast knowledge of Jewish lore unfolds layer after layer in a most intricate way. His sharp eye for detail renders the images he executed a valid representation of contemporary visual culture.

The iconography of the Nuremberg Miscellany, with its 55 decorated leaves, featuring 25 text illustrations, falls into two main categories: biblical themes, and depictions of daily life, both sacred and mundane. While the biblical illustrations rely largely on artistic rendering and interpretation of texts, the depictions of daily life are founded mainly on current furnishings and accoutrements in Jewish homes. The customs and rituals portrayed in the miscellany attest not only to the local Jewish Minhag, but also to the influence and adaptation of local Germanic or Christian rites. They thus offer first-hand insights to the interrelations between the Jews and their neighbors.

Examined as historical documents, the images in the Nuremberg Miscellany are an invaluable resource for reconstructing Jewish daily life in Ashkenaz in the early modern period. In a period from which only scanty relics of Jewish material culture have survived, retrieving the pictorial data from images incorporated in literary sources is of vital importance in providing the missing link. Corroborated by similar objects from the host society and with descriptions in contemporary Jewish and Christian written sources, the household objects, as well as the ceremonial implements depicted in the manuscript can serve as effective mirrors for the material culture of an affluent German Jewish family in the Early Modern period.

The complete Nuremberg Miscellany is reproduced in the appendix of this book.

Scholars of early Christian and Jewish literature have for many years focused on interpreting texts in their hypothetical original forms and contexts, while largely overlooking important aspects of the surviving manuscript evidence and the culture that produced it. This volume of essays seeks to remedy this situation by focusing on the material aspects of the manuscripts themselves and the fluidity of textual transmission in a manuscript culture. With an emphasis on method and looking at texts as they have been used and transmitted in manuscripts, this book discusses how we may deal with textual evidence that can often be described as mere snapshots of fluid textual traditions that have been intentionally adapted to fit ever-shifting contexts. The emphasis of the book is on the contexts and interests of users and producers of texts as they appear in our surviving manuscripts, rather than on original authors and their intentions, and the essays provide both important correctives to former textual interpretations, as well as new insights into the societies and individuals that copied and read the texts in the manuscripts that have actually been preserved to us.

Private associations organized around a common cult, profession, ethnic identity, neighbourhood or family were common throughout the Greco-Roman antiquity, offering opportunities for sociability, cultic activities, mutual support and a context in which to display and recognize virtuous achievement. This second volume collects a representative selection of inscriptions from associations based on the North Coast of the Black Sea and in Asia Minor, published with English translations, brief explanatory notes, commentaries and full indices. This volume is essential for several areas of study: ancient patterns of social organization; the organization of diasporic communities in the ancient Mediterranean; models for the structure of early Christian groups; and forms of sociability, status-displays, and the vocabularies of virtue.

Clearly modeled on Jonathan Edwards' life of David Brainerd, Andrew Fuller's memoir for his close friend Samuel Pearce was written out of the conviction that telling the stories of the lives of remarkable Christians is a means of grace for the church. This new critical edition of the memoir is based on the 1808 third edition and documents the way that Fuller modified the text after its original printing in 1800. A substantial introduction discusses the evangelical use of biography, sets the memoir in the context of Fuller's literary corpus, and provides an overview of Pearce's life, touching on areas not fully treated by Fuller.

This textual study of the Gospel of John in seventeen Greek manuscripts offers a fresh investigation into the textual group known as Family 1. Since Kirsopp Lake’s 1902 study, Codex 1 of the Gospels and its Allies, Family 1 has been considered an important textual witness by all major critical editions of the the New Testament; however, with the exception of a recent study of Matthew (Amy Anderson, The Textual Tradition of the Gospels: Family 1 in Matthew), little further research has been conducted into the family’s text. By analysis of a full collation of John, this study examines manuscripts: Gregory-Aland 1, 22, 118, 131, 205abs, 205, 209, 565, 872, 884, 1192, 1210, 1278, 1582, 2193, 2372, and 2713. The study has confirmed the place of codices 1 and 1582 as core members of Family 1, but has demonstrated the existence of a new core subgroup, represented by codices 565, 884 and 2193, that rivals the textual witness of 1 and 1582. The discovery of this subgroup has broadened the textual contours of Family 1, leading to many new readings, both text and marginal, that should be considered Family 1 readings. The reconstructed Family 1 text with critical apparatus is based on the witness of this wider textual group and is offered as a replacement to Lake’s 1902 text of John.

Drawing inspiration from the widely recognized parody of Ps 8:5 in Job 7:17–18, this study inquires whether other allusions to the Psalms might likewise contribute to the dialogue between Job, his friends, and God. An intertextual method that incorporates both “diachronic” and “synchronic” concerns is applied to the sections of Job and the Psalms in which the intertextual connections are the most pronounced, the Job dialogue and six psalms that fall into three broad categories: praise (8, 107), supplication (39, 139), and instruction (1, 73). In each case, Job’s dependence on the Psalms is determined to be the more likely explanation of the parallel, and, in most, allusions to the same psalm appear in the speeches of both Job and the friends. The contrasting uses to which they put these psalms reflect conflicting interpretive approaches and uncover latent tensions within them by capitalizing on their ambiguities. They also provide historical insight into the Psalms’ authority and developing views of retribution. The dialogue created between Job and these psalms indicates the concern the book has with the proper response to suffering and the role the interpretation of authoritative texts may play in that reaction.

This monograph explores the history of the Coptic tradition of John’s gospel, considering when these ancient Egyptian witnesses are profitable for determining the earliest readings of their Greek source text. The standard critical edition of the Greek New Testament cites the Coptic versions no fewer than 1,000 times in John’s gospel. For these citations, that edition references six dialectally distinct Coptic translations: the Achmimic, Bohairic, Lycopolitan (Subachmimic), Middle Egyptian Fayumic, Proto-Bohairic, and Sahidic versions. In addition to examining these, this project considers newly published texts from the Fayumic and Middle Egyptian traditions.

Apart from a pivotal article on Coptic and New Testament textual criticism by Gerd Mink in 1972, Coptological research has progressed with only limited contact with Greek textual criticism. The discovery of various apocryphal Christian texts in Coptic translations has further diverted attention from Greek textual criticism. This project contributes to this subject area by applying recent advances in Coptology, and exploring the various facets of the Coptic translations. In particular, the monograph investigates (1) translation technique, (2) Greek-Coptic linguistic differences, (3) the reliability of the Coptic manuscript tradition, (4) the relationships between the Coptic versions, and (5) relevant contributions from the scholarly community.

John’s gospel is extant in more Coptic dialectal versions than any other biblical text. As a result, the gospel offers unique insight into the nature of the ancient Egyptian Christian communities.

The 19th century saw the rise of Biblical Criticism in German universities, culminating in Wellhausen’s radical revision of the history of biblical times and religion. For German-Jewish intellectuals, the academic discipline promised emancipation from traditional Christian readings of Scripture – but at the same time suffered from what was perceived as anti-Jewish bias, this time in scholarly robes. “Reclaiming the Hebrew Bible”‎ describes the German-Jewish strategies to cope with Biblical Criticism – varying from an enthusiastic welcome in the early decades, through modified adoption in Jewish Reform circles, to resolute rejection in the Orthodox camp. The study surveys the awareness and attitudes towards Biblical Criticism in the popular German-Jewish periodicals, and analyzes in depth the works of the first modern Jewish historian I. M. Jost (1793–1860), of the theologian S. L. Steinheim (1789–1866), and of the Reform activist Siegmund Maybaum (1844–1919).

Der vorliegende Band versammelt Beiträge, die in den Jahren 2007–2009 auf Workshops und internationalen Tagungen des Instituts für Septuaginta- und biblische Textforschung der Kirchlichen Hochschule/Protestant University Wuppertal-Bethel präsentiert wurden. Die Texte nehmen zum einen das Verhältnis der unterschiedlichen Textformen des griechischen Alten Testamentes untereinander, zum anderen die Frage der Zitation alttestamentlicher Texte im Neuen Testament in ihren thematischen Fokus. Untersucht werden die Bedeutung des antiochenischen/lukianischen Textes und der kaige-Rezension für die Rekonstruktion der ältesten griechischen Textform; die Frage, inwieweit diese Rezensionen für die atl. Zitate im NT von Bedeutung sind; das Phänomen der Auszeichnung von atl. Zitaten in Manuskripten des NT durch Diplé sowie die Frage, welche Textvorlage den Zitaten in den verschiedenen ntl. Büchern zugrunde liegt. Weitere Aufsätze widmen sich den modernen Editionsmöglichkeiten biblischer Texte. Der Text der Johannes-Apokalypse und die Rückfrage nach der Rezeption des Alten Testaments durch den Seher bilden einen abschließenden Schwerpunkt, der aufzeigt, dass die biblische Textforschung noch zahlreiche spannende Fragen – und Antworten – bereithält.

Es handelt sich bei diesem Werk um den zweiten Teil einer kritischen Textausgabe, die einer handschriftlich ungewöhnlich reich überlieferten Schriftensammlung aus der christlichen Spätantike von einer ebenso ungewöhnlichen wirkungsgeschichtlichen Bedeutung gewidmet ist. Deren Programm ist die „paulinische“ Unterordnung (neu-)platonischen Denkens unter den christlichen Glauben; ihre Entstehungszeit um 500 n.Chr.; ihr Autor ein Unbekannter namens „Dionys“, der alsbald mit dem von Paulus bekehrten „Areopagiten“ (Apostelgeschichte 17,34) identifiziert wurde. Es entsteht so das Bild – wenn schon nicht einer ersten theologischen Summe, dann doch – des Christentums als einer konsequent „griechisch-philosophische(n), neuplatonisch interpretierte(n) Religion“ (J. Halfwassen). Ein Versuch kündigt sich an, der an Wagemut allenfalls vergleichbar ist demjenigen Philons von Alexandrien, fast fünf Jahrhunderte zuvor, welcher die gesamte pythagoreisch-platonische philosophische Tradition (unter Einschluss zahlloser Stoizismen) für Mose in Anspruch zu nehmen gedachte.

Can Pauline soteriology be categorized as a form of deification? This book attempts to answer this question by keen attention to the Greco-Roman world. It provides the first full-scale history of research on the topic. It is also the first work to fully treat the basic historical questions relating to deification. Namely, what is deity in the Greco-Roman world? What are the types of deification in the Greco-Roman world? Are there Jewish antecedents to deification? Does Paul consider Christ to be a divine being? If so, according to what logic? How is Pauline deification possible in light of ancient Jewish "monotheism"? How is deification possible with a strong notion of creation? Although a rigorously historical study, no attempt is made to avoid theological issues in their historical context. Deification, it is argued, provides a new historical category of perception with which to deepen our knowledge of the Apostle's religious thought in its own time. This book is intended for an academic audience. The range of topics discussed here should interest a wide-array of scholars in the fields of Hebrew Bible, New Testament, Classics, and Patristics.

Apart from Genesis, Tobit contains more information about marriage than any other biblical book. It reflects third-century beliefs and customs yet also serves a didactic function, teaching Diaspora Jews what they should value in their own marriages. This monograph elucidates these elements by asking four questions: 1) Whom should one marry? 2) How does one get married? 3) What role does God play in marriage? 4) What do actual marriages look like? By contextualizing Tobit in light of the Old Testament and relevant Ancient Near Eastern texts, one can appreciate the book's unique claims. Endogamy is defined more narrowly than in other Old Testament texts as Israelites are now enjoined to marry close relatives. Monetary matters such as the payment of the bride-price are downplayed, while adherence to the Mosaic Law is emphasized in the marriage contract and the wedding ceremony. Furthermore, intertextual links with Genesis 24 cast Tobiah and Sarah as founders of a "new Israel", showing that God becomes involved in their marriage so that the nation of Israel will not die out. Finally, the author's portrayal of three married couples in the book reveals much about gender roles and also creates a realistic portrait of the marital relationship in terms of communication, cooperation, and conflict.

Der Kommentar über das jüdisch-hellenistische weisheitliche Lehrgedicht des Pseudo-Phokylides aus dem 1. Jahrhundert vor oder nach Christus behandelt in einer ausführlichen Einleitung die Frage nach den Quellen, nach Aufbau und Gliederung, Hauptthemen und Zweck der Schrift und bietet in einer eingehenden Kommentierung eine neue Übersetzung mit fortlaufendem Kommentar. Der griechische Text wird als Anhang beigegeben. Der interkulturelle Charakter dieser Weisheitslehren wird durch ausführliche Heranziehung von biblischen, hellenistisch-jüdischen und griechisch-römischen Vergleichstexten herausgearbeitet.

The contributions in this volume are focused on the historical origins, religious provenance, and social function of ancient Jewish and Christian apocalyptic literature, including so-called ‘Gnostic’ writings. Although it is disputed whether there was a genre of ‘apocalyptic literature,’ it is obvious that numerous texts from ancient Judaism, early Christianity, and other religious milieus share a specific view of history and the world to come. Many of these writings are presented in form of a heavenly (divine) revelation, mediated through an otherworldly figure (like an angel) to an elected human being who discloses this revelation to his recipients in written form. In different strands of early Judaism, ancient Christianity as well as in Gnosticism, Manichaeism, and Islam, apocalyptic writings played an important role from early on and were produced also in later centuries. One of the most characteristic features of these texts is their specific interpretation of history, based on the knowledge about the upper, divine realm and the world to come.

Against this background the volume deals with a wide range of apocalyptic texts from different periods and various religious backgrounds.

This volume presents Theodore Abu Qurrah’s apologetic Christian theology in dialogue with Islam. It explores the question of whether, in his attempt to convey orthodoxy in Arabic to the Muslim reader, Abu Qurrah diverged from creedal, doctrinal Christian theology and compromised its core content. A comprehensive study of the theology of Abu Qurrah and its relation to Islamic and pre-Islamic orthodox Melkite thought has not yet been pursued in modern scholarship. Awad addresses this gap in scholarship by offering a thorough analytic hermeneutics of Abu Qurrah’s apologetic thought, with specific attention to his theological thought on the Trinity and Christology. This study takes scholarship beyond attempts at editing and translating Abu Qurrah’s texts and offers scholars, students, and lay readers in the fields of Arabic Christianity, Byzantine theology, Christian-Muslim dialogues, and historical theology an unprecedented scientific study of Abu Qurrah’s theological mind.

This book is the summation of many decades of work by Peter L. Berger, an internationally renowned sociologist of religion. Secularization theory—which saw modernity as leading to a decline of religion—has been empirically falsified. It should be replaced by a nuanced theory of pluralism. In this new book, Berger outlines the possible foundations for such a theory, addressing a wide range of issues spanning individual faith, interreligious societies, and the political order. He proposes a conversation around a new paradigm for religion and pluralism in an age of multiple modernities. The book also includes responses from three eminent scholars of religion: Nancy Ammerman, Detlef Pollack, and Fenggang Yang.