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*Uses both a narratological and historical-critical method to read these specific passages of Jeremiah *Demonstrates that the story of Jeremiah and Zedekiah is not the typical god prophet/bad king story found in much of prophetic literature and the Deuteronomic History *Provides an intertextual reading of the passages which connects Jeremiah to other figures in the Old Testament The book offers a narratological and intertextual reading of Jeremiah 37:1-40:6, a text that features the dynamic interaction between the prophet Jeremiah and King Zedekiah in the context of events surrounding the fall of Jerusalem. While there have been many literary studies of biblical texts, there has been little such work on the narratives in the book of Jeremiah. This fact is surprising since the Jeremianic stories are narrated in a lively and sophisticated manner and contain complex characters and vivid dialogue and action, reminiscent of texts in the Primary History which have received much more literary attention. Roncace's book begins to uncover the richness of the prophetic narratives in Jeremiah. The study focuses on issues of characterization and point of view as well as the text's connections with other passages in the book of Jeremiah and those beyond it, particularly the Deuteronomistic History. Roncace argues that the text develops complex images of both Zedekiah and Jeremiah. It is not a story of the good prophet and the bad king; times as chaotic and confusing as the final days of Jerusalem do not call for a black-and-white story. Rather the text invites both sympathy and criticism for Jeremiah and Zedekiah. Jeremiah is the embattled prophet of God; yet at times he appears deceptive and manipulative, more concerned about his own well-being than that of the people, and his message can be ambiguous and in the end is not fully correct. Zedekiah, for his part, appears receptive to Jeremiah's word and protects the prophet from others who would harm him; yet he is too irresolute to take any action to save the city. The ambiguity in the portrayals of both figures is further developed by intertextual connections. Jeremiah can be compared to Moses, the Rabshakeh, Daniel, Joseph, Samuel, Nathan, and Micaiah, while Zedekiah can be compared to the monarchs that correspond to these figures (Pharaoh, Hezekiah, Saul, David, and Ahab).
Lawrence M. Wills here traces the literary evolution of popular Jewish narratives written during the period 200 BCE-100 CE. In many ways, these narratives were similar to Greek and Roman novels of the same era, as well as to popular novels of indigenous peoples within the Roman Empire. Yet, as a group, they demonstrated a variety of novelistic innovations: the inclusion of adventurous episodes, passages of description and of dialogue, concern with psychological motivation, and the introduction of female characters. Wills focuses on five novels: Greek Esther, Greek ,Daniel, Judith, Tobit, and Joseph and Aseneth.. Drawing on a wide range of theoretical works, he delineates the techniques and motifs of the Jewish novel, shows how the genre both initiated and distanced itself from nonfictional prose such as historical and philosophical writing, discusses its relation to Greco-Roman romance, and describes the social conditions governing its emergence and reception. Wills also places the novels in historical context, situating them between the Hebrew Bible, on the one hand, and subsequent developments in Jewish and Christian literature on the other. Wills sees the Jewish novel as a popular form of writing that provided amusement for an expanding audience of Jewish entrepreneurs, merchants, and bureaucrats. In an important sense, he maintains, it was a product of the "novelistic impulse": the impulse to transfer oral stories to a written medium to reach a more literate audience.
This book collects twenty two previously published essays and one new one by Erich S. Gruen who has written extensively on the literature and history of early Judaism and the experience of the Jews in the Greco-Roman world. His many articles on this subject have, however, appeared mostly in conference volumes and Festschriften, and have therefore not had wide circulation. By putting them together in a single work, this will bring the essays to the attention of a much broader scholarly readership and make them more readily available to students in the fields of ancient history and early Judaism. The pieces are quite varied, but develop a number of connected and related themes: Jewish identity in the pagan world, the literary representations by Jews and pagans of one another, the interconnections of Hellenism and Judaism, and the Jewish experience under Hellenistic monarchies and the Roman empire.
Based on a conference held Apr. 4-5, 2008 at Amherst College.
This study identifies and explores texts of restoration in a wide selection of Early Jewish Literature in order to assess the variety of ways in which Jews envisioned Israel’s future restoration. Particular attention is given to the expression of restoration in what is identified in the present study as the exilic model of restoration. In this model, Israel’s restoration is characterized by the features of (a) a future re-gathering, (b) the fate of the nations, and (c) the establishment of a new Temple. The present work focuses primarily on the first two features. Through this framework Jews in the Greco-Roman period could draw on Israel’s history and legacy, but re-appropriate ‘exile and return’ in new and creative ways. Finally, the writing of Luke-Acts is investigated for its ideas of restoration and its indebtedness to Early Jewish traditions.
Their stories are as varied as the women who lived them--provocative, poignant, often painful. But they are not readily accessible to us. The voices are muted. The shapes and textures are blurred and easily distorted. Can the stories of Old Testament women of faith be reheard and reclaimed in an empowering way by women and men today? With remarkable sensitivity and a keen awareness of his own unavoidable male biases, Jon Berquist casts new light on Eve and Sarah, Lot's wife and Jephthah's daughter, Ruth and Esther, and others. This timely volume serves as a valuable resource for rediscovering the multiple witness of biblical women that has all too often gone unnoticed in the church's faith and life.
In this collection of new essays, more than thirty leading scholars from Europe, North America and Israel examine the Composition and Reception of Daniel in eight sections: Review of Scholarship and Context (J.J. Collins, M. Knibb); Near Eastern Milieu (K. van der Toorn, S. Paul, J. Walton); Interpretation of Specific Passages (D. Dimant, R. Kratz, A. Lacocque, E. Haag, J.-W. van Henten); Social Setting (R. Albertz, S. Beyerle, L. Grabbe, P. Davies, D. Smith-Christopher); Literary Context, including Qumran (J.-W. Wesselius, G. Boccaccini, P.W. Flint, L. Stuckenbruck, E. Eshel, J. Hobbins); Reception in Judaism and Christianity (K. Koch, C. Rowland, U. Gleßmer, C.A. Evans, J.D.G. Dunn, M. Henze); Textual History (E. Ulrich, A.A. Di Lella, K. Jenner) and Theology of Daniel (J. Goldingay, J. Barton, J. Lust). This is the second volume to appear (following Writing and Reading the Scroll of Isaiah. Studies of an Interpretative Tradition) in the collection The Formation and Interpretation of Old Testament Literature, part of the series Supplements to Vetus Testamentum. Further volumes in preparation on the composition and reception of Old Testament books include Genesis, Leviticus, Kings, Psalms, and Proverbs. This publication has also been published in paperback, please click here for details.
This book presents a linear history of Jewish martyrdom, from the Hellenistic period to the high Middle Ages. Following the chronology of sources, the study challenges the general consensus that martyrdom was an original Hellenistic Jewish idea. Instead, Jews like Philo and Josephus internalized the idealized Roman concept of voluntary death and presented it as an old Jewish practice. The centrality of self-sacrifice in Christianity further stimulated the development of rabbinic martyrology and the talmudic guidelines for passive martyrdom. However, when forced to choosed between death and conversion in medieval Christendom, Ashkenazic Jews went beyond these guidelines, sacrificing themselves and loved ones. Through death not only did they attempt to prove their religiosity, but also to disprove the religious legitimacy of their Christian persecutors. While martyrs and martyrologies intended to show how Judaisim differed from Christianity, they, in fact, reveal a common mindset.