James Jones
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195335972
- eISBN:
- 9780199868957
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195335972.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
Religiously motivated terrorism is a religious phenomenon; thus the psychology of religiously motivated terrorism is the psychology of religion. For many decades the author of this book has been ...
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Religiously motivated terrorism is a religious phenomenon; thus the psychology of religiously motivated terrorism is the psychology of religion. For many decades the author of this book has been working in the discipline of the psychology of religion as both a professor of religious studies and a practicing clinical psychologist. Here he applies that work to the topic of religious terrorism, addressing it from both perspectives. Both the clinician’s concern with the dynamics of individual personalities and the scholar’s knowledge of the diversity and complexity of the religious life enter into this book. This book analyzes the psychological dynamics involved in religiously motivated violence and discusses how understanding those dynamics can contribute to understanding both the psychology of religion and contemporary, religiously motivated terrorism. In the literature on this topic there is a paucity of discussion of both of these factors—the psychodynamics of religious terrorism and the religious aspect itself. This dual perspective on a topic of obvious interest and importance is unique to this book. Besides the psychology of religiously motivated terrorism, chapters include contemporary terrorism as seen from multiple perspectives, Islamic terrorism in the context of world religions, Aum Shrinkyo, American apocalyptic Christianity, what this perspective tells us about religion, and religious responses to terrorism.Less
Religiously motivated terrorism is a religious phenomenon; thus the psychology of religiously motivated terrorism is the psychology of religion. For many decades the author of this book has been working in the discipline of the psychology of religion as both a professor of religious studies and a practicing clinical psychologist. Here he applies that work to the topic of religious terrorism, addressing it from both perspectives. Both the clinician’s concern with the dynamics of individual personalities and the scholar’s knowledge of the diversity and complexity of the religious life enter into this book. This book analyzes the psychological dynamics involved in religiously motivated violence and discusses how understanding those dynamics can contribute to understanding both the psychology of religion and contemporary, religiously motivated terrorism. In the literature on this topic there is a paucity of discussion of both of these factors—the psychodynamics of religious terrorism and the religious aspect itself. This dual perspective on a topic of obvious interest and importance is unique to this book. Besides the psychology of religiously motivated terrorism, chapters include contemporary terrorism as seen from multiple perspectives, Islamic terrorism in the context of world religions, Aum Shrinkyo, American apocalyptic Christianity, what this perspective tells us about religion, and religious responses to terrorism.
E. W. Heaton
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- April 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780198263623
- eISBN:
- 9780191601156
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198263627.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
The books of the Old Testament are often thought of as being remote and ‘primitive’. In fact, they were written by thoroughly learned men, educated in the traditional schools of ancient Israel. This ...
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The books of the Old Testament are often thought of as being remote and ‘primitive’. In fact, they were written by thoroughly learned men, educated in the traditional schools of ancient Israel. This book presents a fresh and enlivening case for the strong influence that this schooling must have had on the writers of the stories, poetry and proverbs of the Bible. The eight Bampton Lectures that form the first eight chapters of this book were delivered in the University Church of St Mary the Virgin in Oxford, UK. The topics covered are: the evidence for schools in ancient Israel; comparisons between Egyptian and Israeli school-books and literature; ‘wisdom’ and school traditions in the Old Testament books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes; the school tradition in the literary style of the teachings of the prophets and teachers; the narrative skills of the Jerusalem school tradition in the stories of the Old Testament; doubt and pessimism as expressed in Job and Ecclesiastes; and various aspects of belief and behaviour in the Old Testament, as reflected in the school tradition. The last chapter is a summing-up. The book is of interest to students and scholars of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) or religious studies, both in Judaism and Christianity.Less
The books of the Old Testament are often thought of as being remote and ‘primitive’. In fact, they were written by thoroughly learned men, educated in the traditional schools of ancient Israel. This book presents a fresh and enlivening case for the strong influence that this schooling must have had on the writers of the stories, poetry and proverbs of the Bible. The eight Bampton Lectures that form the first eight chapters of this book were delivered in the University Church of St Mary the Virgin in Oxford, UK. The topics covered are: the evidence for schools in ancient Israel; comparisons between Egyptian and Israeli school-books and literature; ‘wisdom’ and school traditions in the Old Testament books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes; the school tradition in the literary style of the teachings of the prophets and teachers; the narrative skills of the Jerusalem school tradition in the stories of the Old Testament; doubt and pessimism as expressed in Job and Ecclesiastes; and various aspects of belief and behaviour in the Old Testament, as reflected in the school tradition. The last chapter is a summing-up. The book is of interest to students and scholars of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) or religious studies, both in Judaism and Christianity.
James K. Hoffmeier
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- July 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195155464
- eISBN:
- 9780199835652
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/0195155467.001.000
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
For the past two decades, the nature of ancient Israel’s origins has been debated heatedly. Much of this debate has concentrated on part of the book of Exodus and the book of Joshua. Little ...
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For the past two decades, the nature of ancient Israel’s origins has been debated heatedly. Much of this debate has concentrated on part of the book of Exodus and the book of Joshua. Little attention, however, has been given to the wilderness tradition, for example, the episodes set in Sinai (Exodus 16 through Numbers 20). The current study investigates the importance of the wilderness tradition to ancient Israel’s religious and social formation. The location of Mt. Sinai, Israel’s law or covenant, and the possible Egyptian origins of Israel’s desert sanctuary, the tabernacle, are explored in the light of Egyptian archaeological materials. The book further argues that the Torah’s narratives preserve accurate memories of the wilderness period as evidenced by the accuracy of geographical place names in Egypt and Sinai, and by the use of many personal names and technical terms that are of Egyptian etymology. These factors lend credibility to the authenticity sojourn in Egypt and the exodus traditions, rather than viewing them as purely ideological or literary fictions dating to 1,000 years after the events.Less
For the past two decades, the nature of ancient Israel’s origins has been debated heatedly. Much of this debate has concentrated on part of the book of Exodus and the book of Joshua. Little attention, however, has been given to the wilderness tradition, for example, the episodes set in Sinai (Exodus 16 through Numbers 20). The current study investigates the importance of the wilderness tradition to ancient Israel’s religious and social formation. The location of Mt. Sinai, Israel’s law or covenant, and the possible Egyptian origins of Israel’s desert sanctuary, the tabernacle, are explored in the light of Egyptian archaeological materials. The book further argues that the Torah’s narratives preserve accurate memories of the wilderness period as evidenced by the accuracy of geographical place names in Egypt and Sinai, and by the use of many personal names and technical terms that are of Egyptian etymology. These factors lend credibility to the authenticity sojourn in Egypt and the exodus traditions, rather than viewing them as purely ideological or literary fictions dating to 1,000 years after the events.
Sandra Raban
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199252879
- eISBN:
- 9780191719264
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199252879.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
The book concludes that a plausible case can be made that Edward I had Domesday Book in mind when he commissioned the 1279–80 hundred roll inquiry, but that it evolved into something different as the ...
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The book concludes that a plausible case can be made that Edward I had Domesday Book in mind when he commissioned the 1279–80 hundred roll inquiry, but that it evolved into something different as the commission was translated into articles and the articles were interpreted by the different commissioners. Findings about chronology, procedures, the nature of the surviving returns and the uses to which they have been put are summarized.Less
The book concludes that a plausible case can be made that Edward I had Domesday Book in mind when he commissioned the 1279–80 hundred roll inquiry, but that it evolved into something different as the commission was translated into articles and the articles were interpreted by the different commissioners. Findings about chronology, procedures, the nature of the surviving returns and the uses to which they have been put are summarized.
Thomas L. Brodie
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195138368
- eISBN:
- 9780199834037
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195138368.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
In contrast with the documentary theory, which presumed that the sources of Genesis were lost, George Smith indicated in 1872 that source‐like material from Assyria concerning the flood story is ...
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In contrast with the documentary theory, which presumed that the sources of Genesis were lost, George Smith indicated in 1872 that source‐like material from Assyria concerning the flood story is still extant. Today it is possible to identify other extant materials that Genesis used in diverse ways. These materials include historiography, epic, prophetic books, and law.Less
In contrast with the documentary theory, which presumed that the sources of Genesis were lost, George Smith indicated in 1872 that source‐like material from Assyria concerning the flood story is still extant. Today it is possible to identify other extant materials that Genesis used in diverse ways. These materials include historiography, epic, prophetic books, and law.
Jon Mee
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198183297
- eISBN:
- 9780191674013
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198183297.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism, 18th-century Literature
This book considers William Blake's prophetic books written during the 1790s in the light of the French Revolution controversy raging at the time. His works are shown to be less the expressions of ...
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This book considers William Blake's prophetic books written during the 1790s in the light of the French Revolution controversy raging at the time. His works are shown to be less the expressions of isolated genius than the products of a complex response to the cultural politics of his contemporaries. Blake's work presents a stern challenge to historical criticism. This study aims to meet the challenge by investigating contexts outside the domains of standard literary histories. It traces the distinctive rhetoric of the illuminated books to the French Revolution controversy of the 1790s and Blake's fusion of the diverse currents of radicalism abroad in that decade. The study is supported by original research. Blake emerges from these pages as a ‘bricoleur’ who fused the language of London's popular dissenting culture with the more sceptical radicalism of the Enlightenment. This book presents a more comprehensively politicized picture of Blake than any previous study.Less
This book considers William Blake's prophetic books written during the 1790s in the light of the French Revolution controversy raging at the time. His works are shown to be less the expressions of isolated genius than the products of a complex response to the cultural politics of his contemporaries. Blake's work presents a stern challenge to historical criticism. This study aims to meet the challenge by investigating contexts outside the domains of standard literary histories. It traces the distinctive rhetoric of the illuminated books to the French Revolution controversy of the 1790s and Blake's fusion of the diverse currents of radicalism abroad in that decade. The study is supported by original research. Blake emerges from these pages as a ‘bricoleur’ who fused the language of London's popular dissenting culture with the more sceptical radicalism of the Enlightenment. This book presents a more comprehensively politicized picture of Blake than any previous study.
Lea Shaver
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780300226003
- eISBN:
- 9780300249316
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300226003.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility
Worldwide, billions of people suffer from book hunger. For them, books are too few, too expensive, or do not even exist in their languages. This book argues that this is an educational crisis: the ...
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Worldwide, billions of people suffer from book hunger. For them, books are too few, too expensive, or do not even exist in their languages. This book argues that this is an educational crisis: the most reliable predictor of children's achievement is the size of their families' book collections. This book highlights innovative nonprofit solutions to expand access to print. First Book, for example, offers diverse books to teachers at bargain prices. Imagination Library mails picture books to support early literacy in book deserts. Worldreader promotes mobile reading in developing countries by turning phones into digital libraries. Pratham Books creates open access stories that anyone may freely copy, adapt, and translate. Can such efforts expand to bring books to the next billion would-be readers? The book reveals the powerful roles of copyright law and licensing, and sounds the clarion call for readers to contribute their own talents to the fight against book hunger.Less
Worldwide, billions of people suffer from book hunger. For them, books are too few, too expensive, or do not even exist in their languages. This book argues that this is an educational crisis: the most reliable predictor of children's achievement is the size of their families' book collections. This book highlights innovative nonprofit solutions to expand access to print. First Book, for example, offers diverse books to teachers at bargain prices. Imagination Library mails picture books to support early literacy in book deserts. Worldreader promotes mobile reading in developing countries by turning phones into digital libraries. Pratham Books creates open access stories that anyone may freely copy, adapt, and translate. Can such efforts expand to bring books to the next billion would-be readers? The book reveals the powerful roles of copyright law and licensing, and sounds the clarion call for readers to contribute their own talents to the fight against book hunger.
Kim Haines-Eitzen
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195171297
- eISBN:
- 9780199918140
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195171297.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
This book poses two sets of questions related to women and books in early Christianity: First, what roles did women play in the production, reproduction, and dissemination of early Christianity? And, ...
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This book poses two sets of questions related to women and books in early Christianity: First, what roles did women play in the production, reproduction, and dissemination of early Christianity? And, to be more specific, to what extent were women authors, scribe copyists, book-lenders, and patrons of early Christian literature? Second, how did the stories of women in early Christian literature come to be transformed in the process of copying? And can we detect the influence of debates about women in the earliest churches and debates about asceticism and the human body in the textual transmission of the New Testament and apocryphal texts? These questions serve to guide the book, which aims most broadly to highlight the gendered and layered history of early Christianity. The book argues that historians cannot avoid the inherently representational evidence for women writers and readers as well as the layered stories of female figures such as Eve, Mary the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Theca; rather, by embracing the multiplicity of representations, scholars and students can attend simultaneously to rhetorical and literature constructions and historical reality.Less
This book poses two sets of questions related to women and books in early Christianity: First, what roles did women play in the production, reproduction, and dissemination of early Christianity? And, to be more specific, to what extent were women authors, scribe copyists, book-lenders, and patrons of early Christian literature? Second, how did the stories of women in early Christian literature come to be transformed in the process of copying? And can we detect the influence of debates about women in the earliest churches and debates about asceticism and the human body in the textual transmission of the New Testament and apocryphal texts? These questions serve to guide the book, which aims most broadly to highlight the gendered and layered history of early Christianity. The book argues that historians cannot avoid the inherently representational evidence for women writers and readers as well as the layered stories of female figures such as Eve, Mary the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Theca; rather, by embracing the multiplicity of representations, scholars and students can attend simultaneously to rhetorical and literature constructions and historical reality.
Paul Stoneman
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199572489
- eISBN:
- 9780191722257
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199572489.003.0004
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Innovation
This chapter is the first of two taking a micro view encompassing three creative industries — publishing, music, and video games — to detail the pattern of invention/creation, embodiment and ...
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This chapter is the first of two taking a micro view encompassing three creative industries — publishing, music, and video games — to detail the pattern of invention/creation, embodiment and diffusion of soft innovations. At the micro level, industry-specific indicators relating to the numbers of new product variants introduced are used with certain advantages relating to the identification of the rate of significant innovation being claimed for a specific measure that tracks the share of the sales of bestsellers that were recently introduced onto the market. In the creative sector, the indicated rates of innovation are high, with very considerable numbers of new products or titles being launched and rates of market churn of the bestsellers in the studied markets being very fast. This reflects a pattern quite different to the usual suggestion that innovation occurs at a rate of about 2.5% per annum (a measure usually based upon indicators of labour productivity growth).Less
This chapter is the first of two taking a micro view encompassing three creative industries — publishing, music, and video games — to detail the pattern of invention/creation, embodiment and diffusion of soft innovations. At the micro level, industry-specific indicators relating to the numbers of new product variants introduced are used with certain advantages relating to the identification of the rate of significant innovation being claimed for a specific measure that tracks the share of the sales of bestsellers that were recently introduced onto the market. In the creative sector, the indicated rates of innovation are high, with very considerable numbers of new products or titles being launched and rates of market churn of the bestsellers in the studied markets being very fast. This reflects a pattern quite different to the usual suggestion that innovation occurs at a rate of about 2.5% per annum (a measure usually based upon indicators of labour productivity growth).
Bruce Heiden
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195341072
- eISBN:
- 9780199867066
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195341072.003.0005
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Poetry and Poets: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter introduces the hypothesis that the three-cycle design might also furnish orientation to themes. The research finds that thematically analogous books are situated in analogous positions ...
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This chapter introduces the hypothesis that the three-cycle design might also furnish orientation to themes. The research finds that thematically analogous books are situated in analogous positions in their respective cycles, so that the thematic and positional analogies offer mutually reinforcing cues. Books 3 and 6, 2 and 7, and 1 and 8 are subjected to close examination. It is found that thematically analogous passages usually feature substantial differences in diction, so that the analogies cannot be an unintended byproduct of generic formulas. Examination of thematic differences between analogous passages finds that variations describe trajectories of transformation. In particular, choices become progressively less determined by material factors and correspondingly more symbolic.Less
This chapter introduces the hypothesis that the three-cycle design might also furnish orientation to themes. The research finds that thematically analogous books are situated in analogous positions in their respective cycles, so that the thematic and positional analogies offer mutually reinforcing cues. Books 3 and 6, 2 and 7, and 1 and 8 are subjected to close examination. It is found that thematically analogous passages usually feature substantial differences in diction, so that the analogies cannot be an unintended byproduct of generic formulas. Examination of thematic differences between analogous passages finds that variations describe trajectories of transformation. In particular, choices become progressively less determined by material factors and correspondingly more symbolic.
Teresa Webber
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198203087
- eISBN:
- 9780191675706
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198203087.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History, History of Religion
This chapter sums up the key findings of this book concerning the book collection and the scholars and scribes of Salisbury Cathedral during the late 11th to early 12th centuries. The Salisbury ...
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This chapter sums up the key findings of this book concerning the book collection and the scholars and scribes of Salisbury Cathedral during the late 11th to early 12th centuries. The Salisbury canons provide the earliest English examples of several important elements in the 12th-century renaissance including a renewed interest in the works of the patristic and classical auctores and a more ratiocinative scrutiny of the text of the Scripture. However, there is little evidence that developments of scholastic method at Salisbury were advanced and evidence suggests that the Salisbury canons seem to have preserved the traditional method of study following the ordo narrationis of the Bible.Less
This chapter sums up the key findings of this book concerning the book collection and the scholars and scribes of Salisbury Cathedral during the late 11th to early 12th centuries. The Salisbury canons provide the earliest English examples of several important elements in the 12th-century renaissance including a renewed interest in the works of the patristic and classical auctores and a more ratiocinative scrutiny of the text of the Scripture. However, there is little evidence that developments of scholastic method at Salisbury were advanced and evidence suggests that the Salisbury canons seem to have preserved the traditional method of study following the ordo narrationis of the Bible.
Iain Mclean and Alistair McMillan
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199258208
- eISBN:
- 9780191603334
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199258201.003.0009
- Subject:
- Political Science, UK Politics
This chapter analyses what is now called the West Lothian Question (WLQ) after its persistent poser Tam Dalyell MP (formerly for West Lothian). The WLQ asks: Given partial devolution, why can an MP ...
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This chapter analyses what is now called the West Lothian Question (WLQ) after its persistent poser Tam Dalyell MP (formerly for West Lothian). The WLQ asks: Given partial devolution, why can an MP for a devolved territory become involved in devolved matters in England, but not in his own constituency? It has been said that ‘the WLQ is not really a question: every time it is answered, Tam just waits for a bit and then asks it again’. But that merely shows what a persistently nagging question it has been since long before Tam Dalyell. In fact, it was sufficient (although not necessary) to bring down both of Gladstone’s Home Rule Bills (1886 and 1893). The chapter shows how problematic all the proposed solutions are, especially when dealing with divided government where one UK-wide party controls a territory and the other controls the UK government. However, if devolution is to be stable, the governments and parties will have to live with the WLQ. New conventions for cohabitation will arise, and the UK and devolved party systems may diverge, even if party labels do not. The UK electorate treats everything except UK General Elections as second-order.Less
This chapter analyses what is now called the West Lothian Question (WLQ) after its persistent poser Tam Dalyell MP (formerly for West Lothian). The WLQ asks: Given partial devolution, why can an MP for a devolved territory become involved in devolved matters in England, but not in his own constituency? It has been said that ‘the WLQ is not really a question: every time it is answered, Tam just waits for a bit and then asks it again’. But that merely shows what a persistently nagging question it has been since long before Tam Dalyell. In fact, it was sufficient (although not necessary) to bring down both of Gladstone’s Home Rule Bills (1886 and 1893). The chapter shows how problematic all the proposed solutions are, especially when dealing with divided government where one UK-wide party controls a territory and the other controls the UK government. However, if devolution is to be stable, the governments and parties will have to live with the WLQ. New conventions for cohabitation will arise, and the UK and devolved party systems may diverge, even if party labels do not. The UK electorate treats everything except UK General Elections as second-order.
Bruce Zuckerman
- Published in print:
- 1991
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195058963
- eISBN:
- 9780199853342
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195058963.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
This book offers an original reading of the book of Job, one of the great classics of biblical literature, and in the process develops a new formula for understanding how biblical texts evolve in the ...
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This book offers an original reading of the book of Job, one of the great classics of biblical literature, and in the process develops a new formula for understanding how biblical texts evolve in the process of transmission. The book presents the thesis that the book of Job was intended as a parody the stereotypical righteous sufferer. In this extended analogy, the book compares the book of Job and its fate to that of a famous Yiddish short story, “Bontshe Shvayg,” another covert parody whose protagonist has come to be revered as a paradigm of innocent Jewish suffering. The history of this story is used to show how a literary text becomes separated from the intention of its author, and comes to have a quite different meaning for a specific community of readers.Less
This book offers an original reading of the book of Job, one of the great classics of biblical literature, and in the process develops a new formula for understanding how biblical texts evolve in the process of transmission. The book presents the thesis that the book of Job was intended as a parody the stereotypical righteous sufferer. In this extended analogy, the book compares the book of Job and its fate to that of a famous Yiddish short story, “Bontshe Shvayg,” another covert parody whose protagonist has come to be revered as a paradigm of innocent Jewish suffering. The history of this story is used to show how a literary text becomes separated from the intention of its author, and comes to have a quite different meaning for a specific community of readers.
Grant Hardy
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199731701
- eISBN:
- 9780199777167
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199731701.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Literature, World Religions
While the significance of the Book of Mormon in American history and religion is universally acknowledged, its complicated narrative can be bewildering to outsiders. In addition, controversy over its ...
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While the significance of the Book of Mormon in American history and religion is universally acknowledged, its complicated narrative can be bewildering to outsiders. In addition, controversy over its historical claims tends to overshadow its contents. This book argues that whether the Book of Mormon is approached as history, fiction, or scripture, focusing on its narrative structure, and in particular on the contributions of the major narrators, allows for more comprehensive, detailed readings. The Book of Mormon is nearly unique among recent world scriptures in that it is presented as a lengthy, integrated narrative rather than a series of doctrinal expositions, moral exhortations, or devotional hymns. Joseph Smith, whether regarded as an author or translator, never speaks in his own voice in the text; nearly everything is mediated through the narrators Nephi, Mormon, and Moroni. This study takes readers through the basic characters, events, and ideas in the Book of Mormon by focusing on each of the major narrators in turn and identifying their characteristic literary techniques. Critics and believers alike can agree that someone, sometime, decided how to tell the story—where to employ direct dialogue, embedded documents, parallel narratives, allusions, and so forth. This introduction sets aside questions of ultimate authorship in order to examine how the text operates, how it makes its points, and what its message is. Despite its sometimes awkward style, the Book of Mormon has more coherence and literary interest than is often assumed.Less
While the significance of the Book of Mormon in American history and religion is universally acknowledged, its complicated narrative can be bewildering to outsiders. In addition, controversy over its historical claims tends to overshadow its contents. This book argues that whether the Book of Mormon is approached as history, fiction, or scripture, focusing on its narrative structure, and in particular on the contributions of the major narrators, allows for more comprehensive, detailed readings. The Book of Mormon is nearly unique among recent world scriptures in that it is presented as a lengthy, integrated narrative rather than a series of doctrinal expositions, moral exhortations, or devotional hymns. Joseph Smith, whether regarded as an author or translator, never speaks in his own voice in the text; nearly everything is mediated through the narrators Nephi, Mormon, and Moroni. This study takes readers through the basic characters, events, and ideas in the Book of Mormon by focusing on each of the major narrators in turn and identifying their characteristic literary techniques. Critics and believers alike can agree that someone, sometime, decided how to tell the story—where to employ direct dialogue, embedded documents, parallel narratives, allusions, and so forth. This introduction sets aside questions of ultimate authorship in order to examine how the text operates, how it makes its points, and what its message is. Despite its sometimes awkward style, the Book of Mormon has more coherence and literary interest than is often assumed.
Michael Brydon
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199204816
- eISBN:
- 9780191709500
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199204816.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Church History
Richard Hooker has long been viewed as the first systematic defender of Anglicanism, as a via media between Roman Catholicism and Reformed Protestantism. In the last twenty years, this traditional ...
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Richard Hooker has long been viewed as the first systematic defender of Anglicanism, as a via media between Roman Catholicism and Reformed Protestantism. In the last twenty years, this traditional assumption has been increasingly challenged, and it has been argued that Hooker was a Reformed figure whose Anglican credentials are the invention of the Oxford Movement. Whilst the theological ambiguity of Hooker remains perplexing, this study makes clear that the 17th and not the 19th century was responsible for the creation of his reputation as a leading Anglican father. It is argued that Hooker’s position of authority was much disputed and only gradually fashioned, and that his variable significance was dependent on the interplay between the polemical and religious needs of those who used him, and the complexities and evasions of his own work. Hooker initially came to prominence due to a suspicion that he was insufficiently Reformed. This then encouraged Catholic polemicists to view him as being representative of the theological position of the English Church. Although there was a desire to retain him as a Reformed figure, he was eventually appropriated by the avant-garde churchmen who eventually triumphed at the Restoration and enthroned him as the epitome of the Anglican identity. Unsurprisingly, the unfolding of contemporary crises led to some reappraisal of his standing. Notably, the Glorious Revolution meant that Hooker’s previously marginalized belief in an original governmental compact came to the forefront, and he was increasingly recognized as a meaningful political writer. Whilst the boundaries of Hooker’s emblematic status continued to expand and contract, the developments of the 17th century ensured that his status as an important writer has remained constant ever since.Less
Richard Hooker has long been viewed as the first systematic defender of Anglicanism, as a via media between Roman Catholicism and Reformed Protestantism. In the last twenty years, this traditional assumption has been increasingly challenged, and it has been argued that Hooker was a Reformed figure whose Anglican credentials are the invention of the Oxford Movement. Whilst the theological ambiguity of Hooker remains perplexing, this study makes clear that the 17th and not the 19th century was responsible for the creation of his reputation as a leading Anglican father. It is argued that Hooker’s position of authority was much disputed and only gradually fashioned, and that his variable significance was dependent on the interplay between the polemical and religious needs of those who used him, and the complexities and evasions of his own work. Hooker initially came to prominence due to a suspicion that he was insufficiently Reformed. This then encouraged Catholic polemicists to view him as being representative of the theological position of the English Church. Although there was a desire to retain him as a Reformed figure, he was eventually appropriated by the avant-garde churchmen who eventually triumphed at the Restoration and enthroned him as the epitome of the Anglican identity. Unsurprisingly, the unfolding of contemporary crises led to some reappraisal of his standing. Notably, the Glorious Revolution meant that Hooker’s previously marginalized belief in an original governmental compact came to the forefront, and he was increasingly recognized as a meaningful political writer. Whilst the boundaries of Hooker’s emblematic status continued to expand and contract, the developments of the 17th century ensured that his status as an important writer has remained constant ever since.
Carol A Newsom
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195396287
- eISBN:
- 9780199852420
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195396287.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
From the simple and beautiful language of the prose tale, to the verbal fireworks of the dialogue between Job and his friends, to the haunting beauty of the poem on wisdom and the sublime poetics of ...
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From the simple and beautiful language of the prose tale, to the verbal fireworks of the dialogue between Job and his friends, to the haunting beauty of the poem on wisdom and the sublime poetics of the divine speeches, this book provides an intense encounter with the aesthetic resources of Hebrew verbal art. In this brilliant new study, the author illuminates the relation between the aesthetic forms of the book and the claims made by its various characters. Her innovative approach makes possible a new understanding of the unity of the book of Job; she rejects the dismantling of the book by historical criticism and the flattening of the text that characterizes certain final form readings.Less
From the simple and beautiful language of the prose tale, to the verbal fireworks of the dialogue between Job and his friends, to the haunting beauty of the poem on wisdom and the sublime poetics of the divine speeches, this book provides an intense encounter with the aesthetic resources of Hebrew verbal art. In this brilliant new study, the author illuminates the relation between the aesthetic forms of the book and the claims made by its various characters. Her innovative approach makes possible a new understanding of the unity of the book of Job; she rejects the dismantling of the book by historical criticism and the flattening of the text that characterizes certain final form readings.
Mary Douglas
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199245413
- eISBN:
- 9780191697463
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199245413.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
This book is a classic work on the anthropology of the Book of Numbers. Up to now Bible scholars have tended to dismiss Numbers — Wellhausen called it the junk room of the Bible, and most ...
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This book is a classic work on the anthropology of the Book of Numbers. Up to now Bible scholars have tended to dismiss Numbers — Wellhausen called it the junk room of the Bible, and most contemporary commentaries feel called upon to say something about its apparent lack of coherence. This book argues that Numbers is composed of twelve alternating sections of law and narrative arranged in a ring, with each law and narrative section corresponding to its pair on the other side. Notes from a Hebrew scholar confirm the pattern by identifying objectively the beginnings and endings of law and narrative. On this showing Numbers turns out to be an extremely coherent example of a well-known antique rhetorical system. The meaning of the book comes out very differently according to whether it is read linearly or as written, synoptically. This book shows that Numbers is not heavy or obscure but reads like a detective story.Less
This book is a classic work on the anthropology of the Book of Numbers. Up to now Bible scholars have tended to dismiss Numbers — Wellhausen called it the junk room of the Bible, and most contemporary commentaries feel called upon to say something about its apparent lack of coherence. This book argues that Numbers is composed of twelve alternating sections of law and narrative arranged in a ring, with each law and narrative section corresponding to its pair on the other side. Notes from a Hebrew scholar confirm the pattern by identifying objectively the beginnings and endings of law and narrative. On this showing Numbers turns out to be an extremely coherent example of a well-known antique rhetorical system. The meaning of the book comes out very differently according to whether it is read linearly or as written, synoptically. This book shows that Numbers is not heavy or obscure but reads like a detective story.
Leah Price
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691114170
- eISBN:
- 9781400842186
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691114170.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter argues that the most productive overlap between recent book-historical scholarship and the longer tradition of bibliographically themed life writing lies not in their common interest in ...
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This chapter argues that the most productive overlap between recent book-historical scholarship and the longer tradition of bibliographically themed life writing lies not in their common interest in human subjects, but rather in their shared attention to the circulation of things. Analytical bibliographers have shown that books accrue meaning not just at the moment of manufacture, but through their subsequent uses: buying and selling, lending and borrowing, preserving and destroying. A history of the book that took that whole range of transactions as building blocks could usefully borrow its formal conventions from the “it-narrative”: a fictional autobiography in which a thing traces its travels among a series of richer and poorer owners.Less
This chapter argues that the most productive overlap between recent book-historical scholarship and the longer tradition of bibliographically themed life writing lies not in their common interest in human subjects, but rather in their shared attention to the circulation of things. Analytical bibliographers have shown that books accrue meaning not just at the moment of manufacture, but through their subsequent uses: buying and selling, lending and borrowing, preserving and destroying. A history of the book that took that whole range of transactions as building blocks could usefully borrow its formal conventions from the “it-narrative”: a fictional autobiography in which a thing traces its travels among a series of richer and poorer owners.
Steven L. McKenzie
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195161496
- eISBN:
- 9780199850419
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195161496.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
More people read the Bible than any other book. Indeed, many try to live their lives according to its words. The question is, do they understand what they're reading? As this book shows, quite often ...
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More people read the Bible than any other book. Indeed, many try to live their lives according to its words. The question is, do they understand what they're reading? As this book shows, quite often the answer is, “No.” This book argues that to comprehend the Bible we must grasp the intentions of the biblical authors themselves—what sort of texts they thought they were writing and how they would have been understood by their intended audience. In short, we must recognize the genres to which these texts belong. The book examines several genres that are typically misunderstood, offering careful readings of specific texts to show how the confusion arises, and how knowing the genre produces a correct reading. The book of Jonah, for example, offers many clues that it is meant as a humorous satire, not a straight-faced historical account of a man who was swallowed by a fish. Likewise, the book explains that the very names “Adam” and “Eve” tell us that these are not historical characters, but figures who symbolize human origins (“Adam” means man, “Eve” is related to the word for life). Similarly, the authors of apocalyptic texts—including the Book of Revelation—were writing allegories of events that were happening in their own time. Not for a moment could they imagine that centuries afterwards, readers would be poring over their works for clues to the date of the Second Coming of Christ, or when and how the world would end.Less
More people read the Bible than any other book. Indeed, many try to live their lives according to its words. The question is, do they understand what they're reading? As this book shows, quite often the answer is, “No.” This book argues that to comprehend the Bible we must grasp the intentions of the biblical authors themselves—what sort of texts they thought they were writing and how they would have been understood by their intended audience. In short, we must recognize the genres to which these texts belong. The book examines several genres that are typically misunderstood, offering careful readings of specific texts to show how the confusion arises, and how knowing the genre produces a correct reading. The book of Jonah, for example, offers many clues that it is meant as a humorous satire, not a straight-faced historical account of a man who was swallowed by a fish. Likewise, the book explains that the very names “Adam” and “Eve” tell us that these are not historical characters, but figures who symbolize human origins (“Adam” means man, “Eve” is related to the word for life). Similarly, the authors of apocalyptic texts—including the Book of Revelation—were writing allegories of events that were happening in their own time. Not for a moment could they imagine that centuries afterwards, readers would be poring over their works for clues to the date of the Second Coming of Christ, or when and how the world would end.
Vigen Guroian
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195152647
- eISBN:
- 9780199849192
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195152647.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
As the popularity of William Bennett's Book of Virtues attests, parents are turning more and more to children's literature to help instill values in their children. This book provides the perfect ...
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As the popularity of William Bennett's Book of Virtues attests, parents are turning more and more to children's literature to help instill values in their children. This book provides the perfect complement to books such as Bennett's, offering parents and teachers a much-needed roadmap to some of our finest children's stories. The book illuminates the complex ways in which fairy tales and fantasies educate the moral imagination from earliest childhood. Examining a wide range of stories—from “Pinocchio” and “The Little Mermaid” to “Charlotte's Web”, “The Velveteen Rabbit”, “The Wind in the Willows” and the “Chronicles of Narnia”—this book argues that these tales capture the meaning of morality through vivid depictions of the struggle between good and evil, in which characters must make difficult choices between right and wrong, or heroes and villains contest the very fate of imaginary worlds. Character and the virtues are depicted compellingly in these stories; the virtues glimmer as if in a looking glass, and wickedness and deception are unmasked of their pretensions to goodness and truth. We are made to face the unvarnished truth about ourselves, and what kind of people we want to be. This book highlights the classical moral virtues such as courage, goodness, and honesty, especially as they are understood in traditional Christianity.Less
As the popularity of William Bennett's Book of Virtues attests, parents are turning more and more to children's literature to help instill values in their children. This book provides the perfect complement to books such as Bennett's, offering parents and teachers a much-needed roadmap to some of our finest children's stories. The book illuminates the complex ways in which fairy tales and fantasies educate the moral imagination from earliest childhood. Examining a wide range of stories—from “Pinocchio” and “The Little Mermaid” to “Charlotte's Web”, “The Velveteen Rabbit”, “The Wind in the Willows” and the “Chronicles of Narnia”—this book argues that these tales capture the meaning of morality through vivid depictions of the struggle between good and evil, in which characters must make difficult choices between right and wrong, or heroes and villains contest the very fate of imaginary worlds. Character and the virtues are depicted compellingly in these stories; the virtues glimmer as if in a looking glass, and wickedness and deception are unmasked of their pretensions to goodness and truth. We are made to face the unvarnished truth about ourselves, and what kind of people we want to be. This book highlights the classical moral virtues such as courage, goodness, and honesty, especially as they are understood in traditional Christianity.
