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Strong As Death Is Love The Song Of Songs Ruth Esther Jonah And Daniel A Translation With Commentary
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Book Synopsis Strong As Death Is Love: The Song of Songs, Ruth, Esther, Jonah, and Daniel, A Translation with Commentary by :
Download or read book Strong As Death Is Love: The Song of Songs, Ruth, Esther, Jonah, and Daniel, A Translation with Commentary written by and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2015-03-02 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A pleasure to read. . . . Alter has given fresh life to some of the most beloved . . . books in our heritage.”—Philadelphia Inquirer The Song of Songs; Ruth; Esther; Jonah; and Daniel offer readers a range of pleasures not usually associated with the Bible. As distant in time from the Five Books of Moses as Updike is from Shakespeare, these Late Biblical books are innovative, entertaining literary works. Women often stand center stage. The Song of Songs is a celebration of young love, frankly sensuous, with no reference to God or covenant. It offers some of the most beautiful love poems of the ancient world. The story of Queen Esther’s shrewd triumph is also a secular entertainment, with clear traces of farce and sly sexual comedy. The character of Ruth embodies the virtues of loyalty, love, and charity in a harmonious world. Enigma replaces harmony in Daniel’s feverish night dreams. The apocalyptic strangeness of Daniel echoes in works from the New Testament’s Book of Revelations to the lyrics of Bob Dylan. And Jonah, the tale of a giant fish who, on God’s command, swallows the prophet and imprisons him in his dark wet innards for three days, ends with a question that lingers, unanswered, leaving the reader to ponder the many limitations of humankind.
Book Synopsis Archival Historiography in Jewish Antiquity by : Laura Carlson Hasler
Download or read book Archival Historiography in Jewish Antiquity written by Laura Carlson Hasler and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2020 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "If history is narrative, than Ezra-Nehemiah is only partly history. Well over half of Ezra-Nehemiah is not a narrative but rather a patchwork of cited texts that are frequently intervening in the story. The capacity of citations in Ezra-Nehemiah to offend the historiographical, aesthetic, and theological sensibilities of scholars in the last century invites us to renew the question of what citation accomplishes in this context. In this book, I label the citation style in Ezra-Nehemiah, "archival historiography." I argue that the act of citation in Ezra-Nehemiah forms an alternative site of archiving in Ezra-Nehemiah and this hybrid literary form prioritizes the assembly and organization of documents over the production of a seamless narrative. I begin this argument by comparing this literary form with archival institutions and practices across the landscape of the ancient Near East, contending that Ezra-Nehemiah adapts the symbolic power of these ancient collections. I then identify the role of the imperial archive within the narrative of Ezra-Nehemiah, where it surfaces as an axial and ambivalent source of political power. By reviewing the cited documents in Ezra-Nehemiah, this book argues that the act of citation is not, as has been commonly argued, solely or even primarily in the business of authorizing this account or symbolizing the fulfillment of prophetic promises. Rather, citation in Ezra-Nehemiah is aimed at reestablishing a community by organizing memory into retrievable texts. Archival historiography thus constitutes an essential act of communal recovery. Creating an archive within the pages of Ezra-Nehemiah represents the cultural vitality of the Judean community after the losses of exile and while living in the long shadow of imperial rule." --
Book Synopsis A Companion to the Song of Songs in the History of Spirituality by : Timothy Robinson
Download or read book A Companion to the Song of Songs in the History of Spirituality written by Timothy Robinson and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2021-07-05 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A survey of the history of one of the most important biblical texts in the history of Christian spirituality while exploring original pathways for research.
Download or read book Jonah written by Susan Niditch and published by Fortress Press. This book was released on 2023-01-03 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the new Hermeneia volume, the Jonah translation and commentary, renowned biblical scholar Susan Niditch encourages the reader to investigate challenging questions about ancient conceptions of personal religious identity. Jonah's story is treated as a complex reflection upon the heavy matters of life and death, good and evil, and human and divine relations. The narrative probes an individual's relationship with a demanding deity, considers vexing cultural issues of "us versus them," and examines the role of Israel's god in a universal and international context. The author examines the ways in which Jonah prods readers to contemplate these fundamental issues concerning group- and self-definition. In her technical study of Jonah's language, style, structure, content, and context, Niditch examines the text through the comparative lens of international folklore. The thread of appropriations of Jonah by post-biblical writers and artists is explored, and special attention is paid to rabbinic midrash, medieval Jewish manuscript illuminations, and Christian art of late antiquity. And in the tradition of Hermeneia volumes, the commentary evaluates and incorporates the insights of a long legacy of scholars who have explored this venerable text from varied perspectives.
Book Synopsis Poets of the Bible: From Solomon's Song of Songs to John's Revelation by :
Download or read book Poets of the Bible: From Solomon's Song of Songs to John's Revelation written by and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2017-06-27 with total page 496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The vividness and beauty of the language emerge in a fresh way . . . with evocative simplicity.” —Robert Alter, professor emeritus of Hebrew and comparative literature, University of California, Berkeley The world’s greatest poetry resides in the Bible, yet these major poets are traditionally rendered into prose. In this pioneering volume of biblical poets translated in English, Willis Barnstone restores the lyricism and power of the poets’ voices in both the New and Old Testaments. In the Hebrew Bible we hear Solomon rhapsodize in Song of Songs, David chant in Psalms, God and Job debate in grand rhetoric, and prophet poet Isaiah plead for peace. Jesus speaks in wisdom verse in the Gospel, Paul is a philosopher of love, and John of Patmos roars majestically in Revelation, the Bible’s epic poem. This groundbreaking volume includes every major biblical poem from Genesis and Adam and Eve in the Garden to the last pages of Alpha and Omega in Paradise.
Download or read book Ruth written by Ilana Pardes and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2022-10-04 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A wide-ranging exploration of the story of Ruth, a foreigner who became the founding mother of the Davidic dynasty “A virtuoso exploration of the Book of Ruth as an admirable touchstone in the realms of literature, art, and human values. Ilana Pardes foregrounds the timeless emergency of migrants and refugees with compassion and depth.”—Galit Hasan-Rokem, author of Web of Life The biblical Ruth has inspired numerous readers from diverse cultural backgrounds across many centuries. In this insightful volume, Ilana Pardes invites us to marvel at the ever-changing perspectives on Ruth’s foreignness. She explores the rabbis’ lauding of Ruth as an exemplary convert, and the Zohar’s insistence that Ruth’s Moabite background is vital to her redemptive powers. In moving to early modern French art, she looks at pastoral paintings in which Ruth becomes a local gleaner, holding sheaves in her hands. Pardes concludes with contemporary adaptations in literature, photography, and film in which Ruth is admired for being a paradigmatic migrant woman. Ruth’s afterlives not only reveal much about their own times, but also shine new light upon this remarkable ancient tale and point to its enduring significance. In our own era of widespread migration and dislocation, Ruth remains as relevant as ever.
Book Synopsis Illuminating Counsel by : Jonathan Teram
Download or read book Illuminating Counsel written by Jonathan Teram and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2020-12-18 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Illuminating Counsel: How the Least Holy Books of the Hebrew Bible Explore Life's Most Important Issues is a study of eleven books of the Hebrew Bible, known collectively as the Ketuvim, or "Writings." Judaism considers these books to be less holy than the other books of the Hebrew Bible. Most people don't even know the Jewish order of the books of the Hebrew Bible is different than the Christian order. Many people seem to think the Hebrew Bible is antiquated and has little relevance to modern life. Even Christians, who value the Hebrew Bible as "Holy Scripture," tend to favor the New Testament. Herein it is argued that the least holy books of the Hebrew Bible are life-changing pieces of literature. Their poetry and prose cover virtually every emotion, every behavior, and every aspect of the human condition. They are as relevant to the committed nonreligious as they are to the religious. So, if you want to plunge the depths of literary sublimity; if you want to explore what it means to be human, to struggle with your mortality, to go through death's dark valley and come out on the other side, to confront your pain and in so doing find healing, then I invite you to read on and discover how the Hebrew Bible illuminates counsel.
Download or read book Song of Songs written by F. Scott Spencer and published by Liturgical Press. This book was released on 2017-01-15 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Arguably the biggest blockbuster love song ever composed, the Song of Songs holds a unique place in Jewish and Christian canons as the "holiest" book, in the minds of some readers, and the sexiest in its language and imagery. This commentary aims to interpret this vibrant Song in a contemporary feminist key, informed by close linguistic-literary and social-cultural analysis. Though finding much in the Song to celebrate for women (and men) in their embodied, passionate lives, this work also exposes tensions, vulnerabilities, and inequities between the sexes and among society at large-just what we would expect of a perceptive, poignant love ballad that still tops the charts.
Book Synopsis The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary (Vol. Three-Volume Set) by : Robert Alter
Download or read book The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary (Vol. Three-Volume Set) written by Robert Alter and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2018-12-18 with total page 2966 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A landmark event: the complete Hebrew Bible in the award-winning translation that delivers the stunning literary power of the original. A masterpiece of deep learning and fine sensibility, Robert Alter’s translation of the Hebrew Bible, now complete, reanimates one of the formative works of our culture. Capturing its brilliantly compact poetry and finely wrought, purposeful prose, Alter renews the Old Testament as a source of literary power and spiritual inspiration. From the family frictions of Genesis and King David’s flawed humanity to the serene wisdom of Psalms and Job’s incendiary questioning of God’s ways, these magnificent works of world literature resonate with a startling immediacy. Featuring Alter’s generous commentary, which quietly alerts readers to the literary and historical dimensions of the text, this is the definitive edition of the Hebrew Bible.
Book Synopsis Biblical Narratives and Human Flourishing by : Eleonore Stump
Download or read book Biblical Narratives and Human Flourishing written by Eleonore Stump and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2024-06-28 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Biblical narratives include some of the most important and influential narratives in human history, shaping human understanding of the most basic questions of human life as lived individually or in social association with others. These narratives have lasted for so many centuries because they offer deep insights into the nature of the human condition and human flourishing. This volume includes chapters by accomplished philosophers and theologians who bring their expertise to bear on biblical narratives to show the way in which each narrative contributes something distinctive to our understanding of human flourishing. They broaden the ongoing work in analytic theology with a new focus on narrative and the knowledge of persons in philosophical-theological biblical exegesis. They also illustrate the narrative cognition that this methodology can provide. The book will be of interest to scholars of philosophy, theology, and biblical studies.
Book Synopsis A History of the Bible by : John Barton
Download or read book A History of the Bible written by John Barton and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2020-08-04 with total page 642 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A literary history of our most influential book of all time, by an Oxford scholar and Anglican priest In our culture, the Bible is monolithic: It is a collection of books that has been unchanged and unchallenged since the earliest days of the Christian church. The idea of the Bible as "Holy Scripture," a non-negotiable authority straight from God, has prevailed in Western society for some time. And while it provides a firm foundation for centuries of Christian teaching, it denies the depth, variety, and richness of this fascinating text. In A History of the Bible, John Barton argues that the Bible is not a prescription to a complete, fixed religious system, but rather a product of a long and intriguing process, which has inspired Judaism and Christianity, but still does not describe the whole of either religion. Barton shows how the Bible is indeed an important source of religious insight for Jews and Christians alike, yet argues that it must be read in its historical context--from its beginnings in myth and folklore to its many interpretations throughout the centuries. It is a book full of narratives, laws, proverbs, prophecies, poems, and letters, each with their own character and origin stories. Barton explains how and by whom these disparate pieces were written, how they were canonized (and which ones weren't), and how they were assembled, disseminated, and interpreted around the world--and, importantly, to what effect. Ultimately, A History of the Bible argues that a thorough understanding of the history and context of its writing encourages religious communities to move away from the Bible's literal wording--which is impossible to determine--and focus instead on the broader meanings of scripture.
Book Synopsis Pedagogical Theory of Wisdom Literature by : Dr. Adrian E. Hinkle
Download or read book Pedagogical Theory of Wisdom Literature written by Dr. Adrian E. Hinkle and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2017-04-14 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How do you imagine the unimaginable or touch the untouchable? Through the characteristic use of teaching methods identified in Wisdom Literature, Adrian Hinkle discusses how religious training is described within the Hebrew Bible. Through her vivid discussion of the biblical texts, readers gain insight into teaching methodologies that stimulate new discussions and impact modern church leaders and educators.
Book Synopsis The Book of Ruth by : Peter H. W. Lau
Download or read book The Book of Ruth written by Peter H. W. Lau and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2023-03-07 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Do not urge me to abandon you, to turn back from following after you. For wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you lodge, I will lodge. Your people are my people, and your God is my God.” In this pivotal verse, Ruth’s self-sacrificial declaration of loyalty to her mother-in-law Naomi forms the relationship at the heart of the book of Ruth. Peter H. W. Lau’s new commentary explores the human and divine love at the center of the narrative as well as the book’s relevance to Christian theology. In the latest entry in the New International Commentary on the Old Testament, Lau upholds the series’ standard of quality. The Book of Ruth includes detailed notes on the translation and pays careful attention to the original Hebrew and the book’s historical context, all the while remaining focused on Ruth’s relevance to Christian readers today. An indispensable resource for pastors, scholars, students, and all readers of Scripture, Lau’s commentary is the perfect companion to one of the most beloved books of the Old Testament.
Book Synopsis David's Politics by : Paul R. Abramson
Download or read book David's Politics written by Paul R. Abramson and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2016-11-21 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: David’s Politics evaluates what we can learn about politics by studying David’s life as presented in the Books of Samuel through the first two chapters of 1 Kings. I begin by discussing the rules for kingship set forth in Deuteronomy and carry this through to the elders’ demand that the prophet Samuel appoint a king. Despite his reluctance he appoints Saul, who has many military successes. But when he fails when he fails to annihilate the Amalekites God withdraws his grace and Saul falls into a state of depression, which grows worse as the story progresses. David is called to Saul’s court as a musician. I argue that he has three roles, first as a servant to King Saul, second as a rebel against Saul, and third as king. As a servant to Saul, David establishes his credentials as a warrior and also becomes the king’s son-in-law. As a rebel against Saul, David again takes actions that solidify his future support in Israel and Judah. David has two opportunities to kill Saul, but refuses to kill him. He also cements his political support in Judah. After becoming king, David’s military successes are the prime reason for his support. He also administered justice, which may have further bolstered his legitimacy. Indeed, David did what was right “all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite” (1 Kings 15:5). By committing adultery with Bathsheba, Uriah’s wife, and by having Uriah murdered, David brings grief upon himself and his family: the rape of his only named daughter, the murder of Amnon, his first-born son and the death in battle of Absalom, who is probably David’s oldest surviving son. Throughout most of this account David displays remarkable political sagacity, and more can be learned studying his life than that of any other king of Israel or Judah.
Book Synopsis Ancient Persia and the Book of Esther by : Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones
Download or read book Ancient Persia and the Book of Esther written by Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2023-03-09 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Esther is the most visual book of the Hebrew Bible and largely crafted in the Fourth Century BCE by an author who was clearly au fait with the rarefied world of the Achaemenid court. It therefore provides an unusual melange of information which can enlighten scholars of Ancient Iranian Studies whilst offering Biblical scholars access into the Persian world from which the text emerged. In this book, Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones unlocks the text of Esther by reading it against the rich iconographic world of ancient Persia and of the Near East. Ancient Persia and the Book of Esther is a cultural and iconographic exploration of an important, but often undervalued, biblical book, and Llewellyn-Jones presents the book of Esther as a rich source for the study of life and thought in the Persian Empire. The author reveals answers to important questions, such as the role of the King's courtiers in influencing policy, the way concubines at court were recruited, the structure of the harem in shifting the power of royal women, the function of feasting and drinking in the articulation of courtly power, and the meaning of gift-giving and patronage at the Achaemenid court.
Book Synopsis The Hebrew Bible and Environmental Ethics by : Mari Joerstad
Download or read book The Hebrew Bible and Environmental Ethics written by Mari Joerstad and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-05-23 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The environmental crisis has prompted religious leaders and lay people to look to their traditions for resources to respond to environmental degradation. In this book, Mari Joerstad contributes to this effort by examining an ignored feature of the Hebrew Bible: its attribution of activity and affect to trees, fields, soil, and mountains. The Bible presents a social cosmos, in which humans are one kind of person among many. Using a combination of the tools of biblical studies and anthropological writings on animism, Joerstad traces the activity of non-animal nature through the canon. She shows how biblical writers go beyond sustainable development, asking us to be good neighbors to mountains and trees, and to be generous to our fields and vineyards. They envision human communities that are sources of joy to plants and animals. The Biblical writers' attention to inhabited spaces is particularly salient for contemporary environmental ethics in their insistence that our cities, suburbs, and villages contribute to flourishing landscapes.
Book Synopsis Search for Meaning by : David Birnbaum
Download or read book Search for Meaning written by David Birnbaum and published by New Paradigm Matrix. This book was released on with total page 586 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Book of Deuteronomy depicts Moses addressing Israel before hisown death as he imagines that some day in the future children willask their parents to explain the meaning of the “testimonies, statutes,and judgments” (Deuteronomy 6:20) that are the foundation of thecovenant that binds Israel to its God. He thus frames in specificallyJewish terms the same set of haunting intimations that all thoughtfulpeople bring to the contemplation of their own lives—and, indeed,to life itself: the sense that being alive can or should mean morethan merely not being dead; that the contemplation of even the mostbanal features of daily life can yield rich insight about the nature ofexistence; and the feeling that life itself can be understood as a kindof scrim that might allow us to see through it to the secrets andmysteries that lie beyond.That set of hopeful suppositions inspires moderns just as stronglyand enticingly as it did the ancients. Yet, the specific question of whatit actually means for this or that part of life to mean anything at allother than what it overtly is (or, at least, appears to be) does not seemto have exerted anywhere near as siren a call on our ancient forebearsas it does on us moderns. Still, as we seek meaning in the world andin our lives, it behooves us to ponder the meaning of meaning as well.These twin notions—that life has meaning beyond what the2 Martin S. Cohencasual observer can see easily, and that the effort to uncover anddecipher that meaning can be profound enough to be spirituallytransformational—have animated the contributors to this volume, astheir work demonstrates just how meaningful the search for meaningcan be. Some have approached this from a spiritual point of view,grounding themselves in traditional biblical, talmudic, or mysticalsources. Others have framed their efforts in political terms or in deeplypersonal ones. And still others have attempted to consider the issuethrough the lens of modern philosophical inquiry. But regardless ofthe specific perspective of any individual author, all have in commonthe deep-seated conviction that life bears meaning…and that thatmeaning can best be discovered not by spending a lifetime hoping formomentary satori but rather by standing on the shoulders of fellowtravelers from earlier eras, and from that slightly elevated vantagepoint seeing just a bit further than they could or did. For almost allof our authors, then, the search for meaning is best understood as anon-going, intergenerational effort that links the seekers of all agesto each other through the contemplation of earlier efforts to mineprofundity and significance from the quarry of human life itself. It is,at best, a slow march forward!As readers will see from the Table of Contents, the ancient Bookof Kohelet has served several of our authors as the framework for theirinterpretive work. (Kohelet is the Hebrew name of the biblical bookalso known as Ecclesiastes, which name is derived from the Greektranslation of the work.) Others have chosen to grapple with thequestion Moses imagined future Jewish children eventually puttingto their parents as they wondered what the commandments actually“mean” in terms of the larger picture of Israelite culture and Jewishlife in our own day. Still others have addressed the search for meaningin life today by taking into account the question of human suffering,considering the issue both generally as a philosophical challenge and3 Prefacemore specifically with reference to the Shoah.Taken all together, the contributors to this volume have put forththe notion that life is ennobled, not trivialized, by the contemplativeeffort to seek meaning in the ebb and flow of life’s experiences…andparticularly in those life-experiences related to the service of God.And yet, for all they are united in that conviction, our authors in thisvolume of the Mesorah Matrix series are nonetheless a diverse group:older and younger women and men, North Americans and Israelisliving at home and abroad, seasoned scholars and newly-mintedrabbis and teachers. They are teachers and researchers trained indifferent schools of thought and affiliated with different movementsand institutions within the mosaic of Jewish life that characterizesthe House of Israel as it enters, by its own reckoning, the final quarterof the fifty-eighth century. They are a varied lot, our authors. But inmany ways, they are are, all of them, cut from the same cloth.Our authors work with the original sources and generally presentthem in their own translations. Citations of “NJPS” refer to thecomplete translation of Scripture first published under the titleTanakh: The Holy Scriptures by the Jewish Publication Society inPhiladelphia in 1985. In this volume, as in all books in the MesorahMatrix series, the four-letter name of God is generally representedby “the Eternal” or “Eternal God.” Authors who are specificallydiscussing the actual four-letter name, on the other hand, mayoccasionally depart from this usage in order to more clearly makethe point of their argument. .I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the othersenior editors of the Mesorah Matrix series: David Birnbaum andRabbi Benjamin Blech, as well as Rabbi Saul J. Berman, our associateeditor. They and our able staff have all supported me as I’ve laboredto bring this volume to fruition and I am grateful to them all.As always, I must also express my gratitude to the men and4 Martin S. Cohenwomen, and particularly to the lay leadership, of the synagogueI serve as rabbi: the Shelter Rock Jewish Center in Roslyn, NewYork. Possessed of the unwavering conviction that their rabbi’s bookprojects are part and parcel of his service to them—and, throughthem, to the larger community of those interested in learning aboutJudaism through the medium of the well-written word—they areremarkably supportive of my literary efforts as author and editor. Iam in their debt, and I am therefore very pleased to acknowledgethat debt formally here and wherever I publish my own work or thework of others.
