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Samson: Hero or Fool?
Author: Erik M.M. Eynikel
Publisher: BRILL
Published: 2014-04-10
Total Pages: 254
ISBN-13: 9004262369
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Samson is a peculiar character. He is the most powerful of the Israelite judges and three whole chapters in the book of Judges are allocated to him. Yet he demonstrates many weaknesses, not least for the charms of women. In the international conference “Samson: Hero or Fool?” organised at the University of Nijmegen in April, 2008, the texts of Judges 16-18 were studied from different perspectives, investigating how the complex character of this (anti)hero lived on in various ways in the later traditions about him. The contributions discuss also the reception history of the Samson traditions in later Jewish, Christian and Islamic literature, as well as his representation in figurative and performing arts
Samson, Hero, Martyr, Or Fool
Author: Lynn Grossman Bartholome
Publisher:
Published: 1990
Total Pages: 228
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Samson
Author: Pnina Galpaz-Feller
Publisher: Peter Lang
Published: 2006
Total Pages: 352
ISBN-13: 9783039108527
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →The story of Samson in the Bible is told in just four chapters of the Book of Judges, but the story of his life is composed of a mosaic of events. This book examines many aspects of the unique figure of Samson: Samson as the chosen of God, who is destined to save the Israelites from Philistine oppression, and who ultimately dies with the Philistines; Samson, who appears on the stage of history as a promising leader but whose leadership fails; Samson the dissolute Nazirite; a powerful man who rips apart a lion as though it were a lamb, who uproots the gates of the city of Gaza and pulls down a pagan temple - but at the same time he succumbs to his women and is ruled by them. This book invites the reader to contemplate Samson's highly contradictory personality, to take up moral issues, and to reflect upon love and betrayal, life and death, family and society - subjects that have concerned people from antiquity to the present.
Postcolonial Commentary and the Old Testament
Author: Hemchand Gossai
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2018-11-01
Total Pages: 344
ISBN-13: 0567680967
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →This is the first volume to provide a wide range of postcolonial interpretations of and commentaries upon significant texts in the Hebrew Bible. The volume intersects with the work of the key theorists in postcolonial studies such as Fanon, Senghor, Said and Spivak as well as with scholars such as Sugirtharajah, Kwok Pui-lan, and Segovia who have applied this theory to biblical studies. Texts have been chosen specifically for their relevance to postcolonial discourse, rather than seeking to cover each biblical document. This volume is designed to demonstrate how historical criticism, postmodernism, and the important concerns of postcolonial readings may be integrated to obtain an informed explanation of the Hebrew Bible and the writings of early Judaism. The chapters are written by scholars who represent a spectrum of national, indigenous, and diasporic contexts. Taken together these perspectives and the interpretations they yield represent a continued expansion of the manner in which Old Testament texts are read and interpreted through postcolonial lenses, reminding readers that the interpretive trajectories of these texts are almost inexhaustible. As such the volume serves as not only an addition to ongoing scholarship on postcolonialism but also as an expansion of the horizon for dialogue.
Art as Biblical Commentary
Author: J. Cheryl Exum
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2019-05-23
Total Pages: 289
ISBN-13: 0567687856
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Art as Biblical Commentary is not just about biblical art but, more importantly, about biblical exegesis and the contributions visual criticism as an exegetical tool can make to biblical exegesis and commentary. Using a range of texts and numerous images, J. Cheryl Exum asks what works of art can teach us about the biblical text. 'Visual criticism' is her term for an approach that addresses this question by focusing on the narrativity of images-reading them as if, like texts, they have a story to tell-and asking what light an image's 'story' can shed on the biblical narrator's story. In Part I, Exum elaborates on her approach and offers a personal testimony to the value of visual criticism. Part 2 examines in detail the story of Hagar in Genesis 16 and 21. Part 3 contains chapters on erotic looking and voyeuristic gazing in the stories of Bathsheba, Susanna, Joseph and Potiphar's wife and the Song of Songs; on the distribution of renown among Jael, Deborah and Barak; on the Bible's notorious women, Eve and Delilah; and on the sacrificed female body in the stories of the Levite's wife (Judges 19) and Mary the mother of Jesus.
Characters and Characterization in the Book of Judges
Author: Keith Bodner
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2023-12-28
Total Pages: 289
ISBN-13: 0567700518
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →In the Book of Judges, why, if we view Samson as a heroic Übermensch, do we read his story one way, yet if we read him as a buffoonish and violent oaf, we read the story another way? How does our assessment of the characters of a story, our empathy with them or suspicion of them, shape the way we read it? This book addresses these questions by analyzing the complex characterization in the Book of Judges, paying attention to an often neglected but important area of study in the Hebrew Bible. Its international group of contributors explore the implications of characterization on storytelling, situating their contributions within the context of literary studies of the Hebrew Bible, and offering multiple perspectives on the many and various characters one encounters in the Book of Judges. Chapters examine a range of topics, including the relationship between humor, characterization and theology in Judges; the intersection of characterization and ethics through the story of the story of Jephthah's daughter; why the 'trickster hero' Ehud disturbs interpreters; and the ways in which Abimelech's characterization affects the key narrative themes of succession and kingship in his story.
Before There Were Kings
Author: Elie Assis
Publisher: Penn State Press
Published: 2024-04-04
Total Pages: 333
ISBN-13: 164602253X
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Following the great periods of national leadership by Moses and Joshua, the book of Judges depicts the stewardship of various judges that rose to power to solve local religious and military challenges in the premonarchic period. This volume provides a close reading of the entire book of Judges, taking seriously the distinct elements of the book and how they are interconnected. Elie Assis explores the ways in which the ideology and theology of Judges unfold through a careful literary analysis. Moving beyond the cycle of sin, punishment, and salvation, Assis demonstrates how differences in the descriptive language applied to each judge, as well as the evaluations in the opening and concluding chapters, provide clues as to the organization and message of the text. Most works on Judges focus on the historical background of the period or the historical process of the book’s composition and seek to dissolve its stories into component parts. In contrast, Before There Were Kings points to the deep underlying unity of Judges and the function of the individual stories within the whole. New and carefully drawn insights related to the purpose of each section and the themes that shape the book as a whole make this a groundbreaking, programmatic contribution to research on the book of Judges. It will be of particular interest to students and scholars of the Old Testament and the Hebrew Bible.
On Prophets, Warriors, and Kings
Author: George J. Brooke
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Published: 2016-05-10
Total Pages: 244
ISBN-13: 3110392917
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →While recent decades have seen a plethora of studies exploring the complex processes that shaped biblical books traditionally designated as Prophets, much remains to be done in order to uncover the rich history of their interpretation throughout the ages. This collection of essays aims at filling this gap by exploring different aspects of the exegesis of the Former and Latter Prophets in contexts both ancient and modern, Jewish and Christian. From the inner-biblical interpretation of the Prophets to the Dead Sea Scrolls, Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, the New Testament, Patristic writings, and contemporary rhetoric, this volume sheds light on how key figures in those books were read and understood by both ancient and not so-ancient readers.
The Tsar's Happy Occasion
Author: Russell E. Martin
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Published: 2021-05-15
Total Pages: 298
ISBN-13: 1501754858
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →The Tsar's Happy Occasion shows how the vast, ornate affairs that were royal weddings in early modern Russia were choreographed to broadcast powerful images of monarchy and dynasty. Processions and speeches emphasized dynastic continuity and legitimacy. Fertility rites blended Christian and pre-Christian symbols to assure the birth of heirs. Gift exchanges created and affirmed social solidarity among the elite. The bride performed rituals that integrated herself and her family into the inner circle of the court. Using an array of archival sources, Russell E. Martin demonstrates how royal weddings reflected and shaped court politics during a time of dramatic cultural and dynastic change. As Martin shows, the rites of passage in these ceremonies were dazzling displays of monarchical power unlike any other ritual at the Muscovite court. And as dynasties came and went and the political culture evolved, so too did wedding rituals. Martin relates how Peter the Great first mocked, then remade wedding rituals to symbolize and empower his efforts to westernize Russia. After Peter, the two branches of the Romanov dynasty used weddings to solidify their claims to the throne. The Tsar's Happy Occasion offers a sweeping, yet penetrating cultural history of the power of rituals and the rituals of power in early modern Russia.
