Religion and Female Body in Ancient Judaism and Its Environments

Religion and Female Body in Ancient Judaism and Its Environments PDF Author: Géza G. Xeravits
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110410095
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 278

Book Description
The volume publishes papers read at the ninth International Conference on the Deuterocanonical Books, Budapest, 2012. The title of the conference and the issuing volume covers an, on the one hand, extremely important and, on the other hand, regrettably neglected aspect particularly of the ancient Jewish and Christian traditions. Traditional manifestations of both Judaism and Christianity are predominantly masculine theological constructions. Despite their harsh masculine orientation, however, neither Judaism nor Christianity lacks elaboration on the female principle. When an ancient author chooses female imagery in order to make his message more emphatic, the female body as such forms an integral part of their metaphors. The contributions in this volume explore this phenomenon within the literature of early Judaism, and within its broad environments.

The Feminine Personification of Wisdom

The Feminine Personification of Wisdom PDF Author: Wendy Elgersma Helleman
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780773417090
Category : Personification in literature
Languages : en
Pages : 360

Book Description
This study examines the attribution of abstract values to women by analyzing four characters spanning literary genres and more that 2000 years. Penelope, Macrina, Philosophia, and Beatrice are connected by their contribution to the theme of wisdom through their use of reason against passion. Feminine personification of reason and wisdom makes its own contribution as antidote to traditional understanding of feminine as emotional or irrational.

The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Wisdom Literature

The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Wisdom Literature PDF Author: Samuel L. Adams
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119158273
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 510

Book Description
A comprehensive introduction to ancient wisdom literature, with fascinating essays on a broad range of topics. The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Wisdom Literature is a wide-ranging introduction to the texts, themes, and receptions of the wisdom literature of the Bible and the ancient world. This comprehensive volume brings together original essays from established scholars and emerging voices to offer a variety of perspectives on the “wisdom” biblical books, early Christian and rabbinic literature, and beyond. Varied and engaging essays provide fresh insights on topics of timeless relevance, exploring the distinct features of instructional texts and discussing their interpretation in both antiquity and the modern world. Designed for non-specialists, this accessible volume provides readers with balanced coverage of traditional biblical wisdom texts, including Proverbs, Job, Psalms, and Ecclesiastes; lesser-known Egyptian and Mesopotamian wisdom; and African proverbs. The contributors explore topics ranging from scribes and pedagogy in ancient Israel, to representations of biblical wisdom literature in contemporary cinema. Offering readers a fresh and interesting way to engage with wisdom literature, this book: Discusses sapiential books and traditions in various historical and cultural contexts Offers up-to-date discussion on the study of the biblical wisdom books Features essays on the history of interpretation and theological reception Includes essays covering the antecedents and afterlife of the texts Part of the acclaimed Wiley Blackwell Companions to Religion series, the Companion to Wisdom Literature is a valuable resource for university, seminary and divinity school students and instructors, scholars and researchers, and general readers with interest in the subject.

God is Not Alone

God is Not Alone PDF Author: Marianne Widmalm
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781905297559
Category : Bibles
Languages : en
Pages : 450

Book Description
God is Not Alone will challenge your views of what you thought you knew about the Bible and Christianity. It is a wide-ranging scholarly exposition of the divine feminine, drawing on numerous ancient Christian and pre-Christian texts to deliver its central message: that throughout Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, God is not alone, but is accompanied by a Mother-Goddess, the Holy Spirit, personified as Wisdom. While examining the roots of the divine feminine, this book tackles many aspects of femininity throughout the Bible, beginning with a new interpretation of the creation story where men are made in the image of God and women of His Wife. It is who She is that this book is ultimately about. The author, Marianne Widmalm, clearly illustrates the original feminine nature of the Holy Spirit, lost in translation from the Hebrew texts. By demonstrating the influence of the early Canaanites, Mary Magdalene, the Shekinah, the Holy Spirit and the role of women in the development of the Church in the first centuries, the author weaves together disparate texts that point us back to the goddess Asherah, and how She is one and the same as the Holy Spirit and Wisdom personified. The survival of the divine feminine is also shown through the Kabbalah and Apocryphal texts that drew from the Wisdom texts in the Hebrew Scriptures. Most significantly, according to numerous early church fathers, Jesus himself called the Holy Spirit as his "Mother" in, what the author argues, could be the first written Gospel. Additionally, the author explores key doctrinal issues faced by the early Church Fathers such as baptism with oil representing the Holy Spirit; the original role of women as deaconesses; as well as the development of the concept of the Trinity. This idea that God is three-in-one provides a key framework for understanding the marginalisation of the divine feminine. Step-by-step, assertions of sexism in the Bible are stripped away and the reader is returned to the original divine balance of the feminine and masculine that was lost through centuries of church doctrine and translations from Hebrew and Aramaic, to Greek and English. This provocative work is essential reading for anyone interested in first century Christianity as well as Judaism, the early Hebrews, Biblical research, Goddess Spirituality, the origins of Gnosticism, and the theological role and true nature of the Holy Spirit.

The Divine Feminine

The Divine Feminine PDF Author: Virginia Ramey Mollenkott
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1625646054
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 120

Book Description
Endorsements: "A calm, well-balanced, carefully prepared book. . . . Excellent for adult Bible discussion groups, for occasional sermons, for suggesting ways of inclusive language. This book teaches and directs without antagonizing." --The Bible Today "A persuasive book, useful for personal reflection and group discussion, and ideal for gift-giving." --Daughters of Sarah "This is no dry erudite volume. It rubs salve in personal wounds inflicted by centuries of biblical misreading." --Sojourners "The book reflects careful research; it is written in a style that will appeal to those interested in the implications of biblical research but without the time or inclination to follow the involved discussions of biblical scholarship." --National Catholic Reporter

Wisdom

Wisdom PDF Author: Daniel Berrigan
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9781580511001
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 240

Book Description
Navigating through the Bible's complex style--which intermixes poetry characteristic of the Old Testament and elaborate sentences found in Greek oratory--the author reveals the philosophical, ethical, ethological, historical, psychological and scientific issues raised by the text and wrestles with their contemporary relevance.

Wisdom in Ancient Israel

Wisdom in Ancient Israel PDF Author: John Day
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521624893
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 332

Book Description
In this collection, an international group of specialists considers the nature of wisdom in relation to the thought world of the ancient Near East and its impact on the rest of the Old Testament. In addition to full coverage of the wisdom books and other literature most frequently thought to have been influenced by them, thematic studies also introduce the principal comparative sources among Israel's neighbours and discuss the place of wisdom in Israelite religion, theology, and society.

Gnosticism

Gnosticism PDF Author: Stephan A Hoeller
Publisher: Quest Books
ISBN: 0835630137
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 271

Book Description
Gnosticism developed alongside Judeo-Christianity over two thousand years ago, but with an important difference: It emphasizes, not faith, but direct perception of God--Gnosticism being derived from the Greek word gnosis, meaning "knowledge." Given the controversial premise that one can know God directly, the history of Gnosticism is an unfolding drama of passion, political intrigue, martyrdom, and mystery. Dr. Hoeller traces this fascinating story throughout time and shows how Gnosticism has inspired such great thinkers as Voltaire, Blake, Yeats, Hesse, Melville, and Jung.

The Personification of Wisdom

The Personification of Wisdom PDF Author: Alice M. Sinnott
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351884352
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 236

Book Description
This book examines the personification of Wisdom as a female figure - a central motif in Proverbs, Job, Sirach, Wisdom and Baruch. Alice M. Sinnott identifies how and why the complex character of Wisdom was introduced into the Israelite tradition, and created and developed by Israelite/Jewish wisdom teachers and writers. Arguing that by personifying Wisdom the authors of Proverbs responded to Israel's defeat by Babylon and the loss of Davidic monarchy, and by retrieving and transforming the Wisdom figure the authors of Sirach, Baruch and Wisdom responded to the spread of Hellenism and the potential loss of identity for Jews. Sinnott concludes that personified Wisdom functioned to reinterpret and transform the Israelite/Jewish tradition.

The King David Report

The King David Report PDF Author: Stefan Heym
Publisher: Northwestern University Press
ISBN: 0810115379
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 257

Book Description
In this retelling of one of the great Biblical stories, King Solomon commissions Ethan the Scribe to write the official history of King David. But Ethan finds another life behind the curtain that divides the past from the present--the story of a David who seduced, lied, bragged, and plundered his way to power. Ethan faces a dilemma. Which life should he write about?