Download or read book Witch hunts Purity and Social Boundaries written by David Janzen and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2002-06-18 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The anthropological approach to the expulsion of the foreign women from the post-exilic community argues that it was the result of a witch-hunt. Its comparative approach notes that the community responded to its weak social boundaries in the same fashion as societies with similar social weaknesses. This book argues that the post-exilic community's decision to expel the foreign women in its midst was the direct result of the community's inability to enforce a common morality among its members. This anthropological approach to the expulsion shows how other societies with weak social moralities tend to react with witch-hunts, and it suggests that the expulsion in Ezra 9-10 was precisely such an activity. It concludes with an examination of the political and economic forces that could have eroded the social morality of the community.
Download or read book Negotiating Power in Ezra Nehemiah written by Donna Laird and published by SBL Press. This book was released on 2016-10-03 with total page 419 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Donna Laird examines Ezra and Nehemiah in the light of modern sociological theorist Pierre Bourdieu. How did this context of hardship, exile, and return change what Ezra and Nehemiah viewed as important? How did they define who was a part of their community, and who was an outsider? It goes on to explore how the books engaged readers at the time: how it addressed their changing circumstances, and how different groups gained and used social power, or the ability to influence society. Features Chapters dedicated to penitential prayer and to the role of ritual Illustrations of how the writers used past traditions to justify dividing those who belong, the repatriates, from the local population Demonstration of how shifting strategies of discourse in the various sections of Ezra-Nehemiah reflect the changing political and social contexts for the community and the authors
Download or read book Social Memory among the Literati of Yehud written by Ehud Ben Zvi and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2019-07-22 with total page 772 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ehud Ben Zvi has been at the forefront of exploring how the study of social memory contributes to our understanding of the intellectual worldof the literati of the early Second Temple period and their textual repertoire. Many of his studies on the matter and several new relevant works are here collected together providing a very useful resource for furthering research and teaching in this area. The essays included here address, inter alia, prophets as sites of memory, kings as sites memory, Jerusalem as a site of memory, a mnemonic system shaped by two interacting ‘national’ histories, matters of identity and othering as framed and explored via memories, mnemonic metanarratives making sense of the past and serving various didactic purposes and their problems, memories of past and futures events shared by the literati, issues of gender constructions and memory, memories understood by the group as ‘counterfactual’ and their importance, and, in multiple ways, how and why shared memories served as a (safe) playground for exploring multiple, central ideological issues within the group and of generative grammars governing systemic preferences and dis-preferences for particular memories.
Download or read book Impurity and Gender in the Hebrew Bible written by Elizabeth W. Goldstein and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2015-09-17 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Impurity and Gender in the Hebrew Bible explores the role of female blood in the Hebrew Bible and considers its theological implications for future understandings of purity and impurity in the Jewish religion. Influenced by the work of Jonathan Klawans (Sin and Impurity in Ancient Judaism), and using the categories of ritual and moral impurities, this book analyzes the way in which these categories intersect with women and with the impurity of female blood, and reads the biblical foundations of purity and blood taboos with a feminist lens. Ultimately, the purpose of this book is to understand the intersection between impurity and gender, figuratively and non-figuratively, in the Hebrew Bible. Goldstein traces this intersection from the years 1000 BCE-250 BCE and ends with a consideration of female impurity in the literature of Qumran.
Download or read book The Foreignness of the Foreign Woman in Proverbs 1 9 written by Nancy Nam Hoon Tan and published by Walter de Gruyter. This book was released on 2008-12-10 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study is on the figure אשה זדה and נכד׳ה, also commonly called the ‘Strange Woman’ in Proverbs 1-9. It is an attempt to understand the meaning which defines her, and the origin and development of her motif. The first part argues against defining her as a sexual predator, but as an ethnic foreigner according to the lexical studies of זד and נכד. It traces her origin within the Hebrew scripture, the legal documents and especially to the DtrH's portrayal of foreign women/wives. Hence, it distinguishes the two motifs: the motif of the adulteress and the motif of the foreign woman; the latter, which symbolizes the temptation to apostasy. The study will then go on to explain how the writer of Proverbs 1-9 employs this motif of the foreign woman in his poetic composition. The second part tracks the development of this motif through the subsequent Jewish Wisdom literature and observes how it changes and loses the ‘foreignness’ of her original motif in Eccl. 7:26; 4Q184; LXX Proverbs; Hebrew Ben Sira; Greek Ben Sira; and finally disappears in Wisdom of Solomon. It proffers to understand this gradual transformation against a background of social and religious change.
Download or read book Society for Old Testament Study Booklist 2003 written by George J. Brooke and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2003-03-06 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Book List provides short reviews of up to 500 books a year. It includes publications not only on the Old Testament directly but also on many related areas, including archaeology, epigraphy, Hebrew and related Semitic languages (especially Northwest Semitic), relevant ancient Near Eastern history and literature, the Hellenistic world, early Judaism, and social anthropology. The main value of the Book List is its comprehensiveness and its immediacy, in that it is usually among the first periodicals to review a book.
Download or read book Worlds that Could Not Be written by Frauke Uhlenbruch and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2016-01-28 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The idea of Utopia was first made current and popular by Sir Thomas More with the publication of his book by the same name in 1516. The 'no-place' that was created has had a fantastic reception history, which makes its application to the biblical books of Nehemiah, Ezra and Chronicles as vibrant as the current scholarship which is ongoing into the Renaissance term and its implications. The essays in this collection take different approaches to the question: are there proto-utopian elements in the three books from the Hebrew Bible? Methodological considerations are to be found, but each essay also moves beyond the methodological constraint to raise the hypothetical question of 'what if?' in different ways. The essays evaluate the potential, and pitfalls, of reading Biblical books as (proto-)utopian. Topics include how utopia construct intricate counter-realities, and how to tell whether a proposal diagnosed as 'utopian' from a modern point of view is meant to motivate its audience to political action. Case studies which read aspects of Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah as potential utopian traits include the restoration project of Ezra-Nehemiah and the rejection of foreign wives, utopian concerns in Chronicles, as well as the empire's role in writing a putative utopia, and King Solomon as a utopian fantasy-king.
Download or read book Isaiah 53 in the Light of Homecoming After Exile written by Fredrik Hägglund and published by Mohr Siebeck. This book was released on 2008 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this study, Fredrik Hagglund presents an interpretation based on a hypothesis that conflicts emerged between the people in the land of Israel and those who returned from exile. He analyzes these conflicts with the help of contemporary refugee studies, other texts of the Old Testament, and also relevant passages in Isa 40-55. At the end of the exile, there was hope that the deported people would return to Israel, that it would be rebuilt, and that Jerusalem would again flourish. This hope is most clearly expressed in Isa 40:1-52:10. However, as time went by, there was a realization that the envisaged glorious return was in reality a rather limited return, and the joy of receiving those who returned had turned into conflicts, not least regarding the possession of land and the availability of places to live. In this situation, someone probably reflected on the message of Isa 40:1-52:10 and sought to understand what had gone wrong. Isa 53 was then inserted as an explanation of how the people in the land of Israel, i.e. the we, should have received those who returned, i.e. the servant. If this embrace had taken place, Mother Zion would have rejoiced, as described in Isa 54. Instead of these pictures painted for us in Isa 53 and 54, we encounter the reality of the conflicts described in Isa 56-66.
Download or read book According to the Law written by Csilla Saysell and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2012-10-03 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Christian interpreters have struggled with the story of Ezra 9–10 for many reasons. Its apparent legalism and racism, as well as its advocacy of divorce as a solution for intermarriage, is unacceptable for many Christians, yet this incident is presented in implicitly positive terms, and the narrative forms a part of Scripture. What then should a Christian reader make of such a story, not least from the vantage point of the NT? The troubling aspects of the incident are considered in Part I through a detailed exegesis outlining the exiles’ legal reasoning, rooted in pentateuchal laws. Part II then discusses questions of a broader hermeneutical framework. Saysell suggests that prior Christian assumptions, such as the combination of scriptural authority and the primacy of narrative in interpretation, can lead to an unhelpful way of reading stories that takes them as examples to follow/avoid rather than invites engagement for the renewing of the mind (Rom 12:1–2). One also needs to consider how such a difficult question as intermarriage is handled in the rest of the canon (and in tradition), which put into perspective the solution offered and constrains the meaning of the primary text. Specifically, “the holy seed” rationale (Ezra 9:2), which gives rise to the charge of racism, is shown to have flourished briefly in the Second Temple Period but proved to be a dead end in the long run. A comparison with the NT treatment of a specific intermarriage crisis in 1 Cor 7:12–16, as well as with other, present-day solutions, can highlight what went wrong in the exilic reasoning and yet what constructive challenge the text as Scripture may hold for the Christian reader.
Download or read book Men Masculinities and Intermarriage in Ezra 9 10 written by Elisabeth M. Cook and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-10-09 with total page 173 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Offering a reading of the intermarriage debate and expulsion of the foreign women in Ezra 9-10, this book engages with the production and performance of masculinities in this biblical text, shifting the focus away from the 'foreign women' to the men who are the primary actors in this work. This approach addresses the diversity of masculinities and the ways in which they are implicated in the production of power relations in the text. It explores the ‘feminized’ masculinity of the peoples-of-the-lands, the unstable masculinity of the golah, Ezra’s performance of penitential masculinity, and the rehabilitation of divine masculinity. The rejection of the marriages and the call for the expulsion of the women and children are addressed as sites on which masculinities and power relations are configured. In doing so, this book sheds light on how women and the traits and performances culturally ascribed to women, femininity and inferior masculinities, are appropriated to produce masculinities and negotiate power relations between men. It posits that the debate in Ezra 9-10 is not, ultimately, about the women themselves, but about bringing the masculinities, bodies and practices of dissenting men under the ‘management’ of those who wield the Torah in the narrative world of the text. Men, Masculinities and Intermarriage in Ezra-9-10 is of interest for scholars and students working on the Book of Ezra specifically, as well as the Hebrew Bible and its world more broadly. It is also a valuable study for those working on masculinities and gender in the biblical world and ancient Near East.
Download or read book Interfaith Marriage written by Trimargono Meytrias Ebenheser and published by LIT Verlag Münster. This book was released on 2021-01-25 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Interfaith marriage is a sensitive and crucial issue for churches in Indonesia and for the religiously plural Indonesian society. This study first deals with the development of civil law, specifically from Marriage Law No. 1/1974. The stances of the churches in Indonesia are wide ranging and include the history of church teaching, biblical interpretation, and church regulations. This contextual church polity study presents a new effort to formulate both a theology of marriage and a family theology, specifically a theology of interfaith marriage, and to formulate a relevant and contextual church order.
Download or read book Ezra Nehemiah and the Construction of Early Jewish Identity written by Bob Becking and published by Mohr Siebeck. This book was released on 2011 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The post-exilic of Persian period showed a transition in the religion in ancient Israel from Yahwism(s) to Judaism(s). The events of exile and return made it impossible to completely fall back on the traditional religious identity. The essays in this volume try to reconstruct the path taken in that transition. The characters of Ezra and Nehemiah are generally seen as playing a formative role in this process. By reading texts from the biblical books supposedly written by Ezra and Nehemiah in a religio-historical context, new light falls on the process of change.
Download or read book The Levite Singers in Chronicles and Their Stabilising Role written by Ming Him Ko and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2017-08-10 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study focuses on the Chronicler's special interest in Levite singers. It takes into consideration the socio-ideological milieu of the Jerusalem temple community in the Persian period and the Mesopotamian elite professional norms and practices that nourished the singers and their music. It also explores the conception of the earthly temple as representative of its heavenly counterpart, and looks at the way in which this shaped the Chronicler's theological frame of reference. The work is divided into two parts. Part I examines the Mesopotamian scribal-musical background, to which Ko attributes the rise of music in Chronicles. Part II considers the Chronicler's ideological perspective, the language of the temple and the educational, scribal, and liturgical services of Levite singers. By focusing on the characterisation of the Levite singers in the light of their Mesopotamian counterparts, Ko shows how they sought to foster cosmic stability according to the terms of the Davidic covenant.
Download or read book The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah written by Hannah K. Harrington and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2022-05-10 with total page 699 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The books of Ezra and Nehemiah represent a significant turning point in biblical history. They tell the story not only of the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem but also of the resurrection of God’s people from the death of exile. Hannah Harrington thus begins her commentary with an evocative description of these books as “the story of a new Israel forged out of the old” and “the text of a people clinging to their genealogical past and attempting to preserve their heritage while walking forward into uncharted territory.” Throughout this commentary, Harrington combines analytical research on the language and culture behind the books of Ezra and Nehemiah with challenging thoughts for the Christian church today, bringing to bear a unique perspective on these books not as the end of Old Testament history but as early documents of the Second Temple period. Accordingly, Harrington incorporates a wealth of information from other Jewish literature of the time to freshly illuminate many of the topics and issues at hand while focusing on the interpretation and use of these books for Christian life today.
Download or read book Contesting Conversion written by Matthew Thiessen and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2011-07-08 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the Manfred Lautenschlaeger Award for Theological Promise Matthew Thiessen offers a nuanced and wide-ranging study of the nature of Jewish thought on Jewishness, circumcision, and conversion. Examining texts from the Hebrew Bible, Second Temple Judaism, and early Christianity, he gives a compelling account of the various forms of Judaism from which the early Christian movement arose. Beginning with analysis of the Hebrew Bible, Thiessen argues that there is no evidence that circumcision was considered to be a rite of conversion to Israelite religion. In fact, circumcision, particularly the infant circumcision practiced within Israelite and early Jewish society, excluded from the covenant those not properly descended from Abraham. In the Second Temple period, many Jews began to subscribe to a definition of Jewishness that enabled Gentiles to become Jews. Other Jews, such as the author of Jubilees, found this definition problematic, reasserting a strictly genealogical conception of Jewish identity. As a result, some Gentiles who underwent conversion to Judaism in this period faced criticism because of their suspect genealogy. Thiessen's examination of the way in which Jews in the Second Temple period perceived circumcision and conversion allows a deeper understanding of early Christianity. Contesting Conversion shows that careful attention to a definition of Jewishness that was based on genealogical descent has crucial implications for understanding the variegated nature of early Christian mission to the Gentiles in the first century C.E.
Download or read book Hebrew Bible Old Testament III From Modernism to Post Modernism written by Magne Sæbø and published by Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. This book was released on 2014-12-10 with total page 785 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The long and complex history of reception and interpretation of the Hebrew Bible / Old Testament through the ages, described in the HBOT Project, focuses in this concluding volume III, Part 2 on the multifarious research and the different methods used in the last century. Even this volume is written by Christian and Jewish scholars and takes its wider cultural and philosophical context into consideration. The perspective is worldwide and ecumenical. Its references to modern biblical scholarship, on which it is based, are extensive and updated.The indexes (names, topics, references to biblical sources and a broad body of literature beyond) are the key to the wealth of information provided.Contributors are J. Barton, H.L. Bosman, A.F. Campbell, SJ, D.M. Carr, D.J.A. Clines, W. Dietrich, St.E. Fassberg, D. Føllesdal, A.C. Hagedorn, K.M. Heim, J. Høgenhaven, B. Janowski, D.A. Knight, C. Körting, A. Laato, P. Machinist, M.A.O ́Brien, M. Oeming, D. Olson, E. Otto, M. Sæbø, J. Schaper, S. Sekine, J.L. Ska, SJ, M.A. Sweeney, and J. de Waard.
Download or read book Not God s People written by Lawrence M. Wills and published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. This book was released on 2008-05-16 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the Bible, there is a drama of defining who are truly God's people—and who are not. Using an array of biblical texts from both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, Not God's People explores how ancient Jews and Christians created their own identity in relation to others. The book analyzes how biblical texts define 'us' and 'them,' how these texts differ in the way they define group identity, and how this process continues to be re-created by Jews and Christians today. Not God's People asks questions such as: How is the outsider defined? Is the ideal insider defined as the opposite of the outsider? It follows up with related questions such as: How were these definitions of 'we' and 'other' in the ancient communities used by later Jews and Christians? Are the processes of community and enemy formation found in the Bible exhibited in most other cultures as well? Not God's People ultimately shows that though the Bible's definitions of the insider and outsider changes dramatically over time, the process are enduring, and eternally true.
