This book aims to open up the discussion and research of the up to now unstudied period of the History of the Hebrew Bible text: the period from the apparent stabilization of the Hebrew biblical text until the standardization that is reflected in the manuscripts of biblical text, those including the Masorah (c. 2nd – 9th centuries A.D.). What took place from the time of the standardization of the consonantic text of the Hebrew Bible until the appearance of the first Masoretic codices? How was the biblical text preserved in the meantime? What was the body of notes that makes up the Masorah formed? How can the diversity of the textual traditions contained in the Masorah be explained and be consistent with the idea of a text established and standardized centuries before?

A collection of fifteen articles by colleagues and former students of Professor Willis of Abilene Christian University. The papers deal with the topic of worship from a variety of perspectives and, in different connections, with the life and thought of ancient Israel. These include the participation of foreigners in the worship of ancient Israel, the prophetic critique of the cult, the tradition of the construction of the Jerusalem temple, women and prayer in the Deutero-canonical literature, various ethical aspects of worship and the value placed on the internal dynamics of worship offered to God, the Psalms and ancient Near Eastern mourning customs, and some of the implications of the Old Testament tradition regarding worship for contemporary communities of faith. A select bibliography of Willis's writings is also included.

Tracing its history from Moses Mendelssohn to today, Alan Levenson explores the factors that shaped what is the modern Jewish Bible and its centrality in Jewish life today. The Making of the Modern Jewish Bible explains how Jewish translators, commentators, and scholars made the Bible a keystone of Jewish life in Germany, Israel and America. Levenson argues that German Jews created a religious Bible, Israeli Jews a national Bible, and American Jews an ethnic one. In each site, scholars wrestled with the demands of the non-Jewish environment and their own indigenous traditions, trying to balance fidelity and independence from the commentaries of the rabbinic and medieval world.

The Bible's Writings: An Introduction for Christians and Jews introduces the reader to the world of Psalms, Proverbs, Job, The Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and 1 and 2 Chronicles. These books form the third section of the Hebrew Bible--the Writings/Ketuvim. Features: Introduction to the Bible; Introduction to the Writings; Women's Voices Today; Women's Voices Then; and Women's Voices: A Cautionary Note. Each chapter covers one particular biblical book. Chapter divisions:

Diverse approaches to biblical theology This volume presents a collection of studies on the methodology for conceiving the theological interpretation of the Hebrew Bible among Jews and Christians as well as the treatment of key issues such as creation, the land of Israel, and divine absence. Contributors include Georg Fischer, SJ, David Frankel, Benjamin J. M. Johnson, Soo J. Kim, Wonil Kim, Jacqueline E. Lapsley, Julia M. O’Brien, Dalit Rom-Shiloni, Marvin A. Sweeney, and Andrea L. Weiss. Features: Examination of metaphor, repentance, and shame in the presence of God Ten essays addressing the nature of biblical theology from a Jewish, Christian, or critical perspective Discussion of the changes that have taken place in the field of biblical theology since World War II

In this book, we explore the aim, expressions and outcomes of God's anger in the Hebrew Bible. We consider divine anger against the backdrop of human anger in order to discern those aspects of it that are recognizably human from those facets of it that are distinctly divine. Furthermore, we examine passages from a range of literary contexts across major biblical collections in order to distinguish those features of divine anger that are elemental to its definition from those that are limited to individual collections. The sum of these conclusions forms our answer to the question: What does the Bible mean when it describes God as angry?

The Jewish study of Jesus has made enormous strides within the last two hundred years. Virtually every aspect of the life of Jesus and related themes have been analyzed and discussed. Jesus has been "reclaimed" as a fellow Jew by many, although what this actually means remains a matter for discussion. Ironically, the one event in the life of Jesus that has received significantly less attention is the one that the New Testament proclaims as the most important of all: his resurrection from the dead. This book is the first attempt to document Jewish views of the resurrection of Jesus in history and modern scholarship.