Alan Mittleman
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199297153
- eISBN:
- 9780191700835
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199297153.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion, Religion and Society
How and why should hope play a key role in a 21st-century democratic politics? This book offers a philosophical exploration of the theme, contending that a modern construction of hope as an emotion ...
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How and why should hope play a key role in a 21st-century democratic politics? This book offers a philosophical exploration of the theme, contending that a modern construction of hope as an emotion is deficient. It revives the medieval understanding of hope as a virtue, reconstructing this in a contemporary philosophical idiom. In this framework, hope is less a spontaneous reaction than it is a choice against despair; a decision to live with confidence and expectation, based on a rational assessment of possibility and a faith in the underlying goodness of life. In cultures shaped by biblical teaching, hope is thought praiseworthy. The book explores the religious origins of the concept of hope in the Hebrew Scriptures, New Testament, rabbinic literature, and Augustine. It traces the roots of both the praise of hope, in Jewish and Christian thought, and the criticism of hope in Greco-Roman thought and in the tradition of philosophical pessimism. Arguing on behalf of a straightened, sober form of hope, it relates hope-as-a-virtue to the tasks of democratic citizenship. Without diminishing the wisdom found in tragedy, a strong argument emerges in favour of hope as a way of taking responsibility for the world. Drawing on insights from scriptural and classical texts, philosophers, and theologians — ancient and modern, the book builds a compelling case for placing hope at the centre of democratic political systems.Less
How and why should hope play a key role in a 21st-century democratic politics? This book offers a philosophical exploration of the theme, contending that a modern construction of hope as an emotion is deficient. It revives the medieval understanding of hope as a virtue, reconstructing this in a contemporary philosophical idiom. In this framework, hope is less a spontaneous reaction than it is a choice against despair; a decision to live with confidence and expectation, based on a rational assessment of possibility and a faith in the underlying goodness of life. In cultures shaped by biblical teaching, hope is thought praiseworthy. The book explores the religious origins of the concept of hope in the Hebrew Scriptures, New Testament, rabbinic literature, and Augustine. It traces the roots of both the praise of hope, in Jewish and Christian thought, and the criticism of hope in Greco-Roman thought and in the tradition of philosophical pessimism. Arguing on behalf of a straightened, sober form of hope, it relates hope-as-a-virtue to the tasks of democratic citizenship. Without diminishing the wisdom found in tragedy, a strong argument emerges in favour of hope as a way of taking responsibility for the world. Drawing on insights from scriptural and classical texts, philosophers, and theologians — ancient and modern, the book builds a compelling case for placing hope at the centre of democratic political systems.
Alan Mittleman
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199297153
- eISBN:
- 9780191700835
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199297153.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion, Religion and Society
For both Thomas Aquinas and Joseph Albo, hope becomes a response to an outpouring of divine presence. This chapter considers the Jewish and Christian traditions from which Aquinas and Albo drew, and ...
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For both Thomas Aquinas and Joseph Albo, hope becomes a response to an outpouring of divine presence. This chapter considers the Jewish and Christian traditions from which Aquinas and Albo drew, and against which Benedict Spinoza, Arthur Schopenhauer, and Friedrich Nietzsche fought, on their own merits. It looks first at hope in the Hebrew Scriptures and in rabbinic Judaism and then in the New Testament and in Saint Augustine. Jewish hope, articulated in the Torah, prophets, and writings, and refracted through the rabbinic literature, is a complex and variegated concept. Jewish hope and biblical hope have to do both with what is termed ‘conserving hope’ as well as with emancipatory hope. This chapter also analyses the shape of hope in early Christianity, the balance between conservation and emancipation, endurance and transformation, private and public, mundane and extra-mundane, and contrasts this with Jewish formulations. It concludes that despite the differences, the underlying structure — the structure of hope as a virtue — is the same for both traditions.Less
For both Thomas Aquinas and Joseph Albo, hope becomes a response to an outpouring of divine presence. This chapter considers the Jewish and Christian traditions from which Aquinas and Albo drew, and against which Benedict Spinoza, Arthur Schopenhauer, and Friedrich Nietzsche fought, on their own merits. It looks first at hope in the Hebrew Scriptures and in rabbinic Judaism and then in the New Testament and in Saint Augustine. Jewish hope, articulated in the Torah, prophets, and writings, and refracted through the rabbinic literature, is a complex and variegated concept. Jewish hope and biblical hope have to do both with what is termed ‘conserving hope’ as well as with emancipatory hope. This chapter also analyses the shape of hope in early Christianity, the balance between conservation and emancipation, endurance and transformation, private and public, mundane and extra-mundane, and contrasts this with Jewish formulations. It concludes that despite the differences, the underlying structure — the structure of hope as a virtue — is the same for both traditions.
Ted A. Campbell
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195370638
- eISBN:
- 9780199870738
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195370638.003.007
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
Chapter 6 offers a conclusion to the book as a whole. The chapter discusses three “clusters of meaning” associated consistently with the gospel message: the basic narrative of the life, death and ...
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Chapter 6 offers a conclusion to the book as a whole. The chapter discusses three “clusters of meaning” associated consistently with the gospel message: the basic narrative of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ; the claim that God has brought about salvation through the work of Jesus Christ; and the claim that this narrative is consistent with the work of God expressed in the Hebrew scriptures that Christians call the Old Testament. The chapter also shows how the material presented in the book helps resolve or clarify the four issues laid out in the book’s introduction.Less
Chapter 6 offers a conclusion to the book as a whole. The chapter discusses three “clusters of meaning” associated consistently with the gospel message: the basic narrative of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ; the claim that God has brought about salvation through the work of Jesus Christ; and the claim that this narrative is consistent with the work of God expressed in the Hebrew scriptures that Christians call the Old Testament. The chapter also shows how the material presented in the book helps resolve or clarify the four issues laid out in the book’s introduction.
Marie Noonan Sabin
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195143591
- eISBN:
- 9780199834600
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195143590.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
Sabin shows how Mark uses both direct citations and indirect echoes of Hebrew Scripture to construct a framework of interpretation. In particular, she shows how the opening word of Mark's Gospel, ...
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Sabin shows how Mark uses both direct citations and indirect echoes of Hebrew Scripture to construct a framework of interpretation. In particular, she shows how the opening word of Mark's Gospel, Beginning, as well as the other words of Mark 1, have enriched meanings in a Jewish context, and how the Seed Parables of Ch. 4 (i.e., the Parable of the Sower, the Parable of the Seed Growing Secretly, and the Parable of the Mustard Seed), if read in relation to one another as a midrashic lexicon, open up different insights about the meaning of God's kingdom than those derived from the reading‐frames of the church fathers or modern critics.Less
Sabin shows how Mark uses both direct citations and indirect echoes of Hebrew Scripture to construct a framework of interpretation. In particular, she shows how the opening word of Mark's Gospel, Beginning, as well as the other words of Mark 1, have enriched meanings in a Jewish context, and how the Seed Parables of Ch. 4 (i.e., the Parable of the Sower, the Parable of the Seed Growing Secretly, and the Parable of the Mustard Seed), if read in relation to one another as a midrashic lexicon, open up different insights about the meaning of God's kingdom than those derived from the reading‐frames of the church fathers or modern critics.
MARK JANSE
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199245062
- eISBN:
- 9780191715129
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199245062.003.0013
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter contrasts two historical Greek varieties from the perspective of language contact, one ancient and one modern. The two varieties are complete opposites in almost every respect. The ...
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This chapter contrasts two historical Greek varieties from the perspective of language contact, one ancient and one modern. The two varieties are complete opposites in almost every respect. The ancient one is the Septuagint (LXX), the collection of Jewish writings mainly translated from the Hebrew (and in some cases Aramaic) Scriptures, which also includes some original Greek pieces. The modern variety is the Cappadocian Greek dialect which used to be spoken in central Asia Minor until the population exchange between Greece and Turkey following the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923. Hebrew interference in the LXX is due to a translation technique, typical of religious translations, which is at once calqued and word-for-word to produce a mimetic text. As a result, interference is almost limited to lexical and syntactic extension.Less
This chapter contrasts two historical Greek varieties from the perspective of language contact, one ancient and one modern. The two varieties are complete opposites in almost every respect. The ancient one is the Septuagint (LXX), the collection of Jewish writings mainly translated from the Hebrew (and in some cases Aramaic) Scriptures, which also includes some original Greek pieces. The modern variety is the Cappadocian Greek dialect which used to be spoken in central Asia Minor until the population exchange between Greece and Turkey following the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923. Hebrew interference in the LXX is due to a translation technique, typical of religious translations, which is at once calqued and word-for-word to produce a mimetic text. As a result, interference is almost limited to lexical and syntactic extension.
CATHERINE OSBORNE
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198267669
- eISBN:
- 9780191683336
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198267669.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies, Religion in the Ancient World
In the Patristic period, the education and background of the writers are reflected in their writings. The same is also true of the New Testament, which was not written in a vacuum. The New Testament ...
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In the Patristic period, the education and background of the writers are reflected in their writings. The same is also true of the New Testament, which was not written in a vacuum. The New Testament writers were writing in Greek and clearly inherited with their Greek language a certain amount of the prevailing Greek culture; but they also came from a background more or less strongly influenced by Semitic languages and styles of thought. Our immediate concern now is not with the overall style or characteristics of the New Testament, but with one particular feature that has been considered significant; that is, the prominence of the noun agape (love). It might seem more plausible to argue that agape appeared in the New Testament because the writers were familiar with the Greek version of the Hebrew Scriptures. However, this also is insufficient to account for the facts.Less
In the Patristic period, the education and background of the writers are reflected in their writings. The same is also true of the New Testament, which was not written in a vacuum. The New Testament writers were writing in Greek and clearly inherited with their Greek language a certain amount of the prevailing Greek culture; but they also came from a background more or less strongly influenced by Semitic languages and styles of thought. Our immediate concern now is not with the overall style or characteristics of the New Testament, but with one particular feature that has been considered significant; that is, the prominence of the noun agape (love). It might seem more plausible to argue that agape appeared in the New Testament because the writers were familiar with the Greek version of the Hebrew Scriptures. However, this also is insufficient to account for the facts.
David M. Carr
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780300204568
- eISBN:
- 9780300210248
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300204568.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
This chapter discusses the traumatic crystallization of Hebrew scriptures. It reviews the motive of the Hasmoneans on supporting scriptural standardization and addresses the effect of communal trauma ...
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This chapter discusses the traumatic crystallization of Hebrew scriptures. It reviews the motive of the Hasmoneans on supporting scriptural standardization and addresses the effect of communal trauma on scripture. It illustrates that the Jewish kings' preliminary development of standardized Hebrew scriptures was a precursor to the Christian Bible, Muslim Koran, and the Jewish Tanach.Less
This chapter discusses the traumatic crystallization of Hebrew scriptures. It reviews the motive of the Hasmoneans on supporting scriptural standardization and addresses the effect of communal trauma on scripture. It illustrates that the Jewish kings' preliminary development of standardized Hebrew scriptures was a precursor to the Christian Bible, Muslim Koran, and the Jewish Tanach.
Hilary Marlow
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199569052
- eISBN:
- 9780191723230
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199569052.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
This chapter explores the changes in human perception of the natural world that came about with the rise of modern science from the 16th century onwards, before narrowing its focus to the academic ...
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This chapter explores the changes in human perception of the natural world that came about with the rise of modern science from the 16th century onwards, before narrowing its focus to the academic study of the Hebrew scriptures from the late 19th century onwards. It contrasts the marginalization of creation that emerged from early biblical scholars in this period with the alternative, more positive perspectives that began to emerge at the end of the 20th century, including contemporary theological responses to environmental issues such as the development of eco-theology and eco-feminism.Less
This chapter explores the changes in human perception of the natural world that came about with the rise of modern science from the 16th century onwards, before narrowing its focus to the academic study of the Hebrew scriptures from the late 19th century onwards. It contrasts the marginalization of creation that emerged from early biblical scholars in this period with the alternative, more positive perspectives that began to emerge at the end of the 20th century, including contemporary theological responses to environmental issues such as the development of eco-theology and eco-feminism.
John Coffey
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199334223
- eISBN:
- 9780199369393
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199334223.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Religion, Political History
In one of his first publications, a 1988 essay on community organizing, Barack Obama praised the black church for maintaining “biblical traditions that call for liberation.” This book aims to locate ...
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In one of his first publications, a 1988 essay on community organizing, Barack Obama praised the black church for maintaining “biblical traditions that call for liberation.” This book aims to locate black Exodus politics within the broader history of Protestant “deliverance politics.” Although Christians have read Exodus politically since Eusebius, Reformed Protestants proved especially keen on the Israelite paradigm. This chapter introduces the key biblical texts (including those related to the Year of Jubilee), and engages with two distinct bodies of scholarship inspired by Michael Walzer’s Exodus and Revolution (1985) and the work of liberation theologians. It previews the book’s major themes, including providentialism, and highlights a number of major transitions in the Protestant reception of the Bible’s liberationist texts.Less
In one of his first publications, a 1988 essay on community organizing, Barack Obama praised the black church for maintaining “biblical traditions that call for liberation.” This book aims to locate black Exodus politics within the broader history of Protestant “deliverance politics.” Although Christians have read Exodus politically since Eusebius, Reformed Protestants proved especially keen on the Israelite paradigm. This chapter introduces the key biblical texts (including those related to the Year of Jubilee), and engages with two distinct bodies of scholarship inspired by Michael Walzer’s Exodus and Revolution (1985) and the work of liberation theologians. It previews the book’s major themes, including providentialism, and highlights a number of major transitions in the Protestant reception of the Bible’s liberationist texts.
O. Ernesto Valiente
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780823268528
- eISBN:
- 9780823272549
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823268528.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
The first chapter examines reconciliation from a Christian perspective in order to establish the necessary theoretical framework for a topic that is studied from the intersection of various academic ...
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The first chapter examines reconciliation from a Christian perspective in order to establish the necessary theoretical framework for a topic that is studied from the intersection of various academic disciplines. This analysis identifies the central theological questions and arguments in the field of reconciliation, as well as the main assumptions that ground them. The chapter goes on to offer an initial approach to reconciliation from a distinct liberationist perspective. It explores the relationship between reconciliation and liberation, addresses the main criticisms leveled against liberation theology, and describes how this theological perspective can be used to structure a reconciling Christian praxis that meets the demands of truth, justice, and forgiveness.Less
The first chapter examines reconciliation from a Christian perspective in order to establish the necessary theoretical framework for a topic that is studied from the intersection of various academic disciplines. This analysis identifies the central theological questions and arguments in the field of reconciliation, as well as the main assumptions that ground them. The chapter goes on to offer an initial approach to reconciliation from a distinct liberationist perspective. It explores the relationship between reconciliation and liberation, addresses the main criticisms leveled against liberation theology, and describes how this theological perspective can be used to structure a reconciling Christian praxis that meets the demands of truth, justice, and forgiveness.
John David Dawson
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520226302
- eISBN:
- 9780520925984
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520226302.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This book makes an illuminating contribution to one of Christianity's central problems: the understanding and interpretation of scripture, and more specifically, the relationship between the Old ...
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This book makes an illuminating contribution to one of Christianity's central problems: the understanding and interpretation of scripture, and more specifically, the relationship between the Old Testament and the New Testament. The book analyzes the practice and theory of “figural” reading in the Christian tradition of Biblical interpretation by looking at the writings of Jewish and Christian thinkers, both ancient and modern, who have reflected on that form of traditional Christian Biblical interpretation. It argues that Christian interpretation of Hebrew scripture originally was, and should be, aimed at not reducing the Jewish meaning, or replacing it, but rather at building on it or carrying on from it. The book closely examines the work of three prominent twentieth-century thinkers, who have offered influential variants of figural reading: Biblical scholar Daniel Boyarin, philologist and literary historian Erich Auerbach, and Christian theologian Hans Frei. Contrasting the interpretive programs of these modern thinkers to that of Origen of Alexandria, the text proposes that Origen exemplifies a kind of Christian reading, which can respect Christianity's link to Judaism, while also respecting the independent religious identity of Jews. Through a fresh study of Origen's allegorical interpretation, this book challenges the common charge that Christian non-literal reading of scripture necessarily undermines the literal meaning of the text.Less
This book makes an illuminating contribution to one of Christianity's central problems: the understanding and interpretation of scripture, and more specifically, the relationship between the Old Testament and the New Testament. The book analyzes the practice and theory of “figural” reading in the Christian tradition of Biblical interpretation by looking at the writings of Jewish and Christian thinkers, both ancient and modern, who have reflected on that form of traditional Christian Biblical interpretation. It argues that Christian interpretation of Hebrew scripture originally was, and should be, aimed at not reducing the Jewish meaning, or replacing it, but rather at building on it or carrying on from it. The book closely examines the work of three prominent twentieth-century thinkers, who have offered influential variants of figural reading: Biblical scholar Daniel Boyarin, philologist and literary historian Erich Auerbach, and Christian theologian Hans Frei. Contrasting the interpretive programs of these modern thinkers to that of Origen of Alexandria, the text proposes that Origen exemplifies a kind of Christian reading, which can respect Christianity's link to Judaism, while also respecting the independent religious identity of Jews. Through a fresh study of Origen's allegorical interpretation, this book challenges the common charge that Christian non-literal reading of scripture necessarily undermines the literal meaning of the text.
Harold Fisch
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198184898
- eISBN:
- 9780191674372
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198184898.003.0008
- Subject:
- Literature, Poetry, Shakespeare Studies
This chapter argues that Blake makes the modalities of romantic self-consciousness the very subject of his poetry. Notions and processes which are only hinted at in the imagery of Wordsworth and ...
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This chapter argues that Blake makes the modalities of romantic self-consciousness the very subject of his poetry. Notions and processes which are only hinted at in the imagery of Wordsworth and Shelley are here projected on a large mythic canvas. Moreover, Blake gives them the distinctness of an organized system. His great strength comes from the fact that whilst notions of the all-embracing character of the Self and of the universal power of the Imagination had found expression hitherto in the lyric of romantic subjectivity, Blake’s voice is not that of romantic subjectivity. He invented a precise mythological language or shorthand for speaking of cognition and recognition, defining the ground of romantic inwardness without being himself engulfed in the abyss of that same inwardness.Less
This chapter argues that Blake makes the modalities of romantic self-consciousness the very subject of his poetry. Notions and processes which are only hinted at in the imagery of Wordsworth and Shelley are here projected on a large mythic canvas. Moreover, Blake gives them the distinctness of an organized system. His great strength comes from the fact that whilst notions of the all-embracing character of the Self and of the universal power of the Imagination had found expression hitherto in the lyric of romantic subjectivity, Blake’s voice is not that of romantic subjectivity. He invented a precise mythological language or shorthand for speaking of cognition and recognition, defining the ground of romantic inwardness without being himself engulfed in the abyss of that same inwardness.
Helene Slessarev-Jamir
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814741238
- eISBN:
- 9780814708705
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814741238.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter presents a broader explanation of what the prophetic traditions within both the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament have to say about various justice issues. Since there is a ...
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This chapter presents a broader explanation of what the prophetic traditions within both the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament have to say about various justice issues. Since there is a multiplicity of voices present in both the Hebrew Bible and New Testament, quotes from both continue to be used to justify hegemony, militarism, racial, ethnic, and gender exclusion. For example, God's willingness to slaughter the Canaanites is still used to justify savagery and genocide against present-day so-called enemies. Prophetic texts have also been appropriated as tools for the maintenance of dominance. In addition to the widespread use of prophetic texts, religious justice activists consistently employ certain common methodologies in their work. These include the use of various popular education models to empower people with a critical consciousness, and the use of civil disobedience within tactical repertoires.Less
This chapter presents a broader explanation of what the prophetic traditions within both the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament have to say about various justice issues. Since there is a multiplicity of voices present in both the Hebrew Bible and New Testament, quotes from both continue to be used to justify hegemony, militarism, racial, ethnic, and gender exclusion. For example, God's willingness to slaughter the Canaanites is still used to justify savagery and genocide against present-day so-called enemies. Prophetic texts have also been appropriated as tools for the maintenance of dominance. In addition to the widespread use of prophetic texts, religious justice activists consistently employ certain common methodologies in their work. These include the use of various popular education models to empower people with a critical consciousness, and the use of civil disobedience within tactical repertoires.
Peter S. Hawkins and Lesleigh Cushing Stahlberg (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823225712
- eISBN:
- 9780823237067
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823225712.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
This book is edited by a Jew and a Christian who are united by a shared passion for the Bible and a common literary hermeneutic. It joins two biblical scrolls and gathers around them a ...
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This book is edited by a Jew and a Christian who are united by a shared passion for the Bible and a common literary hermeneutic. It joins two biblical scrolls and gathers around them a diverse community of interpreters. It brings together Ruth and the Song of Songs, two seemingly disparate texts of the Hebrew Bible, and reads them through a number of methodological and theological perspectives. Respectful of traditional biblical scholarship, the collection of chapters moves beyond it; alert to contemporary trends, the book returns venerable interpretive tradition to center stage. Most significantly, it is interfaith. Despite the fact that Jews and Christians share a common text in the Hebrew Scripture, the two communities have read their Bibles in isolation from one another, in ignorance of the richness of the other's traditions of reading. This book brings the two traditions into dialogue, enriching established modes of interpretation with unconventional ones. The result is a book that sets rabbinic, patristic, and medieval readings alongside feminist, psychoanalytic, and autobiographical ones, combining historical, literary, and textual criticism with a variety of artistic reinterpretations—wood cuts and paper cuts, poetry and fiction.Less
This book is edited by a Jew and a Christian who are united by a shared passion for the Bible and a common literary hermeneutic. It joins two biblical scrolls and gathers around them a diverse community of interpreters. It brings together Ruth and the Song of Songs, two seemingly disparate texts of the Hebrew Bible, and reads them through a number of methodological and theological perspectives. Respectful of traditional biblical scholarship, the collection of chapters moves beyond it; alert to contemporary trends, the book returns venerable interpretive tradition to center stage. Most significantly, it is interfaith. Despite the fact that Jews and Christians share a common text in the Hebrew Scripture, the two communities have read their Bibles in isolation from one another, in ignorance of the richness of the other's traditions of reading. This book brings the two traditions into dialogue, enriching established modes of interpretation with unconventional ones. The result is a book that sets rabbinic, patristic, and medieval readings alongside feminist, psychoanalytic, and autobiographical ones, combining historical, literary, and textual criticism with a variety of artistic reinterpretations—wood cuts and paper cuts, poetry and fiction.
Megan Hale Williams
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226899008
- eISBN:
- 9780226899022
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226899022.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
In the West, monastic ideals and scholastic pursuits are complementary; monks are popularly imagined copying classics, preserving learning through the Middle Ages, and establishing the first ...
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In the West, monastic ideals and scholastic pursuits are complementary; monks are popularly imagined copying classics, preserving learning through the Middle Ages, and establishing the first universities. But this dual identity is not without its contradictions. While monasticism emphasizes the virtues of poverty, chastity, and humility, the scholar, by contrast, requires expensive infrastructure—a library, a workplace, and the means of disseminating his work. This book argues that Saint Jerome was the first to represent biblical study as a mode of asceticism appropriate for an inhabitant of a Christian monastery, thus pioneering the enduring linkage of monastic identities and institutions with scholarship. Revisiting Jerome with the analytical tools of recent cultural history—including the work of Bourdieu, Foucault, and Roger Chartier—the author proposes new interpretations that remove obstacles to understanding the life and legacy of the saint. Examining issues such as the construction of Jerome's literary persona, the form and contents of his library, and the intellectual framework of his commentaries, he shows that Jerome's textual and exegetical work on the Hebrew scriptures helped to construct a new culture of learning. This fusion of the identities of scholar and monk, the author shows, continues to reverberate in the culture of the modern university.Less
In the West, monastic ideals and scholastic pursuits are complementary; monks are popularly imagined copying classics, preserving learning through the Middle Ages, and establishing the first universities. But this dual identity is not without its contradictions. While monasticism emphasizes the virtues of poverty, chastity, and humility, the scholar, by contrast, requires expensive infrastructure—a library, a workplace, and the means of disseminating his work. This book argues that Saint Jerome was the first to represent biblical study as a mode of asceticism appropriate for an inhabitant of a Christian monastery, thus pioneering the enduring linkage of monastic identities and institutions with scholarship. Revisiting Jerome with the analytical tools of recent cultural history—including the work of Bourdieu, Foucault, and Roger Chartier—the author proposes new interpretations that remove obstacles to understanding the life and legacy of the saint. Examining issues such as the construction of Jerome's literary persona, the form and contents of his library, and the intellectual framework of his commentaries, he shows that Jerome's textual and exegetical work on the Hebrew scriptures helped to construct a new culture of learning. This fusion of the identities of scholar and monk, the author shows, continues to reverberate in the culture of the modern university.
Gilbert Tennent
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- March 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199916955
- eISBN:
- 9780190258368
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199916955.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This chapter presents excerpts from The Danger of an Unconverted Ministry, Considered in a Sermon on Mark VI.34 (1740), delivered by Gilbert Tennent, a revivalist during the Great Awakening. In his ...
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This chapter presents excerpts from The Danger of an Unconverted Ministry, Considered in a Sermon on Mark VI.34 (1740), delivered by Gilbert Tennent, a revivalist during the Great Awakening. In his published sermon, Tennent compared unconverted ministers with the Pharisees of the Hebrew Scriptures who demanded rule keeping over piety. He also questioned the ministry of local clerics and proposed that the laity seek alternative spiritual guidance. In doing so, Tennent contributed to the growing tension between those who accepted and rejected the Great Awakening as the work of God.Less
This chapter presents excerpts from The Danger of an Unconverted Ministry, Considered in a Sermon on Mark VI.34 (1740), delivered by Gilbert Tennent, a revivalist during the Great Awakening. In his published sermon, Tennent compared unconverted ministers with the Pharisees of the Hebrew Scriptures who demanded rule keeping over piety. He also questioned the ministry of local clerics and proposed that the laity seek alternative spiritual guidance. In doing so, Tennent contributed to the growing tension between those who accepted and rejected the Great Awakening as the work of God.
Olga Litvak
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- March 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199363490
- eISBN:
- 9780190254650
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199363490.003.0020
- Subject:
- History, History of Religion
This chapter reviews three biographical works on Jewish historians and historiography. These are “Shmuel Ettinger: Historian, teacher and public figure,” by Yaakov Barna, “Elias Bickerman as a ...
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This chapter reviews three biographical works on Jewish historians and historiography. These are “Shmuel Ettinger: Historian, teacher and public figure,” by Yaakov Barna, “Elias Bickerman as a Historian of the Jew,” by Albert I. Baumgarten and “Prophets of the Past: Interpreters of Jewish History,” by Michael Brenner. This chapter analyzes the impartiality and objectivity of the historians in their accounts of the Jewish experience and the presentation of men and events as part of universal history and not as a link between the Hebrew Scriptures and the rabbinic period.Less
This chapter reviews three biographical works on Jewish historians and historiography. These are “Shmuel Ettinger: Historian, teacher and public figure,” by Yaakov Barna, “Elias Bickerman as a Historian of the Jew,” by Albert I. Baumgarten and “Prophets of the Past: Interpreters of Jewish History,” by Michael Brenner. This chapter analyzes the impartiality and objectivity of the historians in their accounts of the Jewish experience and the presentation of men and events as part of universal history and not as a link between the Hebrew Scriptures and the rabbinic period.
