"If earlier scholarship on apocalyptic literature was once described as "clueless about apocalypticism, " it was due in part to a focus on questions of definition, literary genre, and theological eccentricity. Richard A. Horsley takes a different approach, letting the language of the apocalypses themselves reveal their chief concern: the expanding domination by foreign empires and the form that popular defiance should take. Most telling are the traces where Judean scribes wrote themselves into their texts - and thus into God's purposes in history."--Jaquette du livre.
The Revolt of the Scribe in Modern Italian Literature offers a perceptive re-assessment of Italian literary culture, focusing on the nature of modernity through the literature of those who revolt against established norms and expectations. By exploring selected works from authors such as Deledda, Foscolo, Ungaretti, Bertolucci, and Valeri, Thomas E. Peterson considers the categories of vatic poetry, the feminine voice, and the writings of those situated on Italy's cultural periphery. As practitioners of literary Italian, Peterson argues that these authors are conscious of their role in preserving both language and tradition during a period of great upheaval and national transformation. At the same time, they use their writings to move towards change, combat alienation, and reconfigure the self in relation to the community. In treating the act of authorship in terms of its cultural and didactic significance, Peterson successfully bridges the gap between traditional literary critical monographs and the trend toward cultural studies.
In this innovative study, Horsley builds on his earlier works concerning the problematic and misleading categories of "magic" and "miracle" to examine in-depth the meaning and importance of the narratives of healing and exorcism in the Gospels. Incorporating his work on oral performance and turning to important works in medical anthropology, a new image emerges of how these narratives help us re-evaluate Jesus's place in first-century Galilee and Judea. In his exorcisms and healings, Jesus-in-interaction was empowering the villagers in their struggles for renewal of personal and communal dignity in resistance to invasive Roman rule.
A new perspective on essential aspects of Esther’s plot and characters for students and scholars Empire and Gender in LXX Esther foregrounds and highlights empire as the central lens in this provocative new reading of Esther. This book provides a unique synchronic reading of LXX Esther with the Additions, allowing the presence and negotiation of imperial power to be further illuminated throughout the story’s plot. Stone explores and demonstrates how performances of gender are inextricably intertwined with the exertion and negotiation of imperial power portrayed in LXX Esther and offers examples of connections to the range of imperial power experienced by Jewish people during the late Second Temple period. Features: An exploration of the tenets and methodology of imperial-critical approaches Focused attention to the final form of LXX Esther Construction of early audiences for LXX Esther in first-century BCE Ptolemaic Alexandria and Hasmonean Judea
We often hear that we are living in apocalyptic times. Wars like those in the Middle East are just more signs that the end is near. That, however, is a misunderstanding of the message of the Bible and the Qur’an. The basic meaning of “apocalypse” is disclosure, revelation, bringing to light what is happening now and what has happened throughout all of history. The “apocalypse” is not about making predictions about the future but about determining who bears responsibility for injustice in the world. In that sense, all times—including ours—are “apocalyptic,” though in a different way than what is usually thought. Since the devastating Greek conquest of the world by Alexander the Great, there have been apocalyptic insights and “revelatory” readings of the whole Hebrew Bible. The same is true of the New Testament with “Rome” as the world power then. The same apocalyptic message is confirmed by the Qur’an when the Byzantines and the Persians fought for mastery of the world. The apocalyptic message is that God will put an end to the unjust dominion of violence, money, and lies. God’s kingdom will certainly arrive, but not through violence—after all, there “is no violence in God” (Diognetus).
A Marginal Scribe collects eight studies written over a period of two decades, all of which use social-scientific criticism to interpret the Gospel of Matthew. It prefaces them, first, with a new chapter on the struggle between historians and social scientists since the Enlightenment and its parallel in New Testament studies, which culminated in the emergence of social-scientific criticism; and, second, with a new chapter on recent social-scientific interpretation of the Gospel of Matthew. The eight, more specialized studies cover a variety of themes and use a variety of models but concentrate and are held together by those that illumine social ranking and marginality. The book closes with a chapter that ties together these studies.
A highly regarded expert on the Jewish apocalyptic tradition, John J. Collins has written extensively on the subject. Nineteen of his essays written over the last fifteen years, including previously unpublished contributions, are brought together for the first time in this volume. Its thematic essays organized in five sections, Apocalypse, Prophecy, and Pseudepigraphy complements and enriches Collins’s well-known book The Apocalyptic Imagination.
In der Reihe Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (BZAW) erscheinen Arbeiten zu sämtlichen Gebieten der alttestamentlichen Wissenschaft. Im Zentrum steht die Hebräische Bibel, ihr Vor- und Nachleben im antiken Judentum sowie ihre vielfache Verzweigung in die benachbarten Kulturen der altorientalischen und hellenistisch-römischen Welt. Die BZAW akzeptiert Manuskriptvorschläge, die einen innovativen und signifikanten Beitrag zu Erforschung des Alten Testaments und seiner Umwelt leisten, sich intensiv mit der bestehenden Forschungsliteratur auseinandersetzen, stringent aufgebaut und flüssig geschrieben sind.
It has become standard in modern interpretation to say that Jesus performed miracles, and even mainline scholarly interpreters classify Jesus's healings and exorcisms as miracles. Some highly regarded scholars have argued, more provocatively, that the healings and exorcisms were magic, and that Jesus was a magician. As Richard Horsley points out, if we make a critical comparison between modern interpretation of Jesus's healing and exorcism, on the one hand, and the Gospel stories and other ancient texts, on the other hand, it becomes clear that the miracle and magic are modern concepts, products of Enlightenment thinking. Jesus and Magic asserts that Gospel stories do not have the concepts of miracle and magic. What scholars constructed as magic turns out to have been ritual practices such as songs (incantations), medicines (potions), and appeals to higher powers for protection. Horsley offers a critical reading of the healing and exorcism episodes in the Gospel stories. This reading reveals a dynamic relationship between Jesus the healer, the trust of those coming for healing, and their support networks in local communities. Horsley's reading of the Gospel stories gives little or no indication of divine intervention. Rather, the healing and exorcism stories portray healings and exorcisms.
