Author: Yaira Amit Publisher: Fortress Press ISBN: 9781451420449 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 210
Book Description
Based on a series of lectures given in Israel, Amit introduces the reader to the subtle ways of the biblical narrators. Covering issues of character, plot development, catchword association, narration, and dialog, she brings the biblical text to life, helping the reader enter the stories from new vantage points.
Author: Shemaryahu Talmon Publisher: Brill ISBN: Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 328
Book Description
"In the studies collected in this volume, the author aims at highlighting salient literary modes which can be identified in the books of the Hebrew Bible. The application of such modes is illustrated by analysing the biblical writers' technique of underscoring the concurrency of events by splitting a narrative account, intersplicing it with a second account, and then resuming the first. Thus they steer clear of conveying the impression of a chronological succession of the events in question which would be unavoidable in a one-line sequential presentation." "A reinvestigation of the question whether biblical literature ever knew a 'national epic' culminates in the conclusion that ancient Israel rejected this Gattung because of its intrinsic affiliation with pagan cults. In its stead it developed the genre of the 'historiographical psalm'. In a group of studies, identifiable literary traits are brought to bear on the investigation of principles and problems relating to the 'comparative approach' in biblical exegesis. Initial methodological considerations are illustrated by their application to the analysis of aspects pertaining to the spheres of religion and myth, such as 'divine kingship', 'navel of the earth', and 'repha'im/rpu(i)m', and to social and political phenomena, such as 'nomadism', 'desert ideal', and 'democratic' institutions." "In a concluding analysis, the book of Esther, is shown to be woven around a literary core which narratively illuminates the applicability of proverbial wisdom teachings to the handling of actual life situations." "These essays will be of interest to scholars and students of the Bible, theology, sociology of religion, and comparative literature."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Author: Shemaryahu Talmon Publisher: Penn State Press ISBN: 1575068540 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 520
Book Description
This collection gathers together Professor Shemaryahu Talmon’s contributions to the literary study of the Bible, and complements his acclaimed Literary Studies in the Hebrew Bible: Form and Content: Collected Studies (Jerusalem: Magnes / Leiden: Brill, 1993). The articles included herein span a broad range of topics, closely and comprehensively assessing fundamental themes and stylistic conceits present in biblical literature. Each study picks up one of these motifs or patterns, and traces its meaning and usage throughout the entire Bible. In Talmon’s estimation, these literary markers transcend all strata of the Bible, and despite diachronic developments, they retain their basic meanings and connotations throughout, even when employed by different authors over a span of hundreds of years. He demonstrates this convincingly by marshaling dozens of examples, each of which is valuable in its own right, and when taken all together, these building-blocks form a solid edifice that validate his approach. He judiciously employs this synchronic method throughout, frequently invoking an exegetical principle according to which one biblical verse can be employed to interpret the other, if they are found in similar contexts and with overlapping formulation. To use an expression that he coined elsewhere, his hermeneutical method can be described first and foremost as “The World of the Bible from Within.” Throughout the articles that appear in this volume, one is repeatedly struck by his sensitivity to the language and style of the biblical authors. He was blessed with a rich literary intuition, and shares with his readers his ability to see, hear, and understand the rhythms and poetics of biblical literature. In this volume, many of Talmon’s contributions are made accessible in fresh form to the benefit of both those who already know his work and to a newer generation of scholars for whom his work continues to prove important.
Author: Tod Linafelt Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 0199910472 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 116
Book Description
The Hebrew Bible, or Christian Old Testament, contains some of the finest literature that we have. This biblical literature has a place not only in the synagogue or the church but also among the classics of world literature. The stories of Jacob and David, for instance, present the earliest surviving examples of literary characters whose development the reader follows over the length of a lifetime. Elsewhere, as in the books of Esther or Ruth, readers find a snapshot of a particular, fraught moment that will define the character. The Hebrew Bible also provides quite a few high points of lyric poetry, from the praise and lament of the Psalms to the double entendres in the love of poetry of the Song of Songs. In short, the Bible can be celebrated not only as religious literature but, quite simply, as literature. This book offers a thorough and lively introduction to the Bible's two primary literary modes, narrative and poetry, foregrounding the nuances of plot, character, metaphor, structure and design, and intertextual allusions. Tod Linafelt thus gives readers the tools to fully experience and appreciate the Old Testament's literary achievement. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Author: David M. Carr Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 0199908206 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 544
Book Description
In The Formation of the Hebrew Bible David Carr rethinks both the methods and historical orientation points for research into the growth of the Hebrew Bible into its present form. Building on his prior work, Writing on the Tablet of the Heart (Oxford, 2005), he explores both the possibilities and limits of reconstruction of pre-stages of the Bible. The method he advocates is a ''methodologically modest'' investigation of those pre-stages, utilizing criteria and models derived from his survey of documented examples of textual revision in the Ancient Near East. The result is a new picture of the formation of the Hebrew Bible, with insights on the initial emergence of Hebrew literary textuality, the development of the first Hexateuch, and the final formation of the Hebrew Bible. Where some have advocated dating the bulk of the Hebrew Bible in a single period, whether relatively early (Neo-Assyrian) or late (Persian or Hellenistic), Carr uncovers specific evidence that the Hebrew Bible contains texts dating across Israelite history, even the early pre-exilic period (10th-9th centuries). He traces the impact of Neo-Assyrian imperialism on eighth and seventh century Israelite textuality. He uses studies of collective trauma to identify marks of the reshaping and collection of traditions in response to the destruction of Jerusalem and Babylonian exile. He develops a picture of varied Priestly reshaping of narrative and prophetic traditions in the Second Temple period, including the move toward eschatological and apocalyptic themes and genres. And he uses manuscript evidence from Qumran and the Septuagint to find clues to the final literary shaping of the proto-Masoretic text, likely under the Hasmonean monarchy.
Author: J. Cheryl Exum Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing ISBN: 0567472523 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 281
Book Description
The purpose of this original volume is to illustrate what has been happening recently in Hebrew Bible studies under the influence of developments in literary theory in the last couple of decades. The methods and practice of reader-response criticism and deconstruction, as well as of feminist, materialist and psychoanalytic approaches are represented here by essays from leading Hebrew Bible literary critics. Alice Bach, Robert Carroll, Francisco Garcia-Treto, David Jobling, Francis Landy, Stuart Lasine, Peter Miscall, Hugh Pyper, Robert Polzin, and Ilona Rashkow, together with the two editors, present distinctive and eclectic essays on particular biblical texts, introducing students and scholars to exciting new dimensions of biblical study.
Author: Lesleigh Cushing Stahlberg Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA ISBN: 0567536459 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 256
Book Description
Even before the biblical canon became fixed, writers have revisited and reworked its stories. The author of Joshua takes the haphazard settlement of Israel recorded in the Book of Judges and retells it as an orderly military conquest. The writer of Chronicles expurgates the David cycle in Samuel I and II, offering an upright and virtuous king devoid of baser instincts. This literary phenomenon is not contained to inner-biblical exegesis. Once the telling becomes known, the retellings begin: through the New Testament, rabbinic midrash, medieval mystery plays, medieval and Renaissance poetry, nineteenth century novels, and contemporary literature, writers of the Western world have continued to occupy themselves with the biblical canon. However, there exists no adequate vocabulary-academic or popular, religious or secular, literary or theological-to describe the recurring appearances of canonical figures and motifs in later literature. Literary critics, bible scholars and book reviewers alike seek recourse in words like adaptation, allusion, echo, imitation and influence to describe what the author, for lack of better terms, has come to call retellings or recastings. Although none of these designations rings false, none approaches precision. They do not tell us what the author of a novel or poem has done with a biblical figure, do not signal how this newly recast figure is different from other recastings of it, and do not offer any indication of why these transformations have occurred. Sustaining Fictions sets out to redress this problem, considering the viability of the vocabularies of literary, midrashic, and translation theory for speaking about retelling.
Author: Ken Stone Publisher: Stanford University Press ISBN: 1503603768 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 292
Book Description
“An excellent introduction to the field of animal studies . . . [the] applications of these ideas to biblical passages . . . illuminate the text in new ways." -- Brandon R. Grafius, Horizons in Biblical Theology Animal studies may be a recent academic development, but our fascination with animals is nothing new. Surviving cave paintings are of animal forms, and closer to us, as Ken Stone points out, animals populate biblical literature from beginning to end. This book explores the significance of animal studies for the interpretation of the Hebrew Bible. Combined with biblical scholarship, animal studies sheds useful light on animals, animal symbolism, and the relations among animals, humans, and God—not only for those who study biblical literature and its ancient context, but for contemporary readers concerned with environmental, social, and animal ethics. Without the presence of domesticated and wild animals, neither biblical traditions nor the religions that make use of the Bible would exist in their current forms. Although parts of the Bible draw a clear line between humans and animals, other passages complicate that line in multiple ways and challenge our assumptions about the roles animals play therein. Engaging influential thinkers, including Jacques Derrida, Donna Haraway, and other experts in animal and ecological studies, Reading the Hebrew Bible with Animal Studies shows how prehumanist texts reveal unexpectedly relevant dynamics and themes for our posthumanist age. “[Stone’s] ecological sensibilities, theoretical acumen, and incisive exegetical arguments open up fresh perspectives.” —Stephen D. Moore, The Theological School, Drew University “This monograph is poised to become a key work in the field.” —Anne Létourneau, Reading Religion “Groundbreaking.” —Carol J. Dempsey, OP, Horizons
Author: Douglas Mangum Publisher: Lexham Methods ISBN: 9781577996668 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
Literary approaches to the Bible systematically presents the different ways of analyzing the text within its literary context. Highlighted sections and annotated bibliographies in each chapter create ease for reading and give a path for further study. -- from back cover resources.
Author: Yaira Amit
Author: Shemaryahu Talmon
Author: Shemaryahu Talmon
Author: Tod Linafelt
Author: David M. Carr
Author: J. Cheryl Exum
Author: Alex Preminger
Author: Lesleigh Cushing Stahlberg
Author: Ken Stone
Author: Douglas Mangum