Examines biblical text, scholarship, and storytelling to present a portrait of Moses, the only human, according to the Bible, ever to have a face-to-face conversation with God.

Paula Fredriksen draws on the narratives of all four evangelists as well as both John and the Synoptics, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Jewish authorities of Jesus' time - Philo, Paul, and Josephus - who wrote in Greek, and early rabbinic writings. She shows us a historical Jesus living in the tumultuous world of late-Second Temple Judaism; an observant Jew of his time, a prophetic teacher who traveled through the villages of Galilee and frequently in and around Jerusalem.. 'At the center of her book she brings us to the questions raised by the least disputed fact about Jesus' life; his death.. 'Why was crucifixion chosen as the means of execution? If Jesus was executed as a political insurrectionist, why were none of his followers executed or even arrested?. 'The author's quest in search of the answers takes us through the religious world - Jewish and pagan - of Mediterranean antiquity, through the tangle of Judean and Galilean politics, and through the surprisingly intimate social interactions of Jewish and gentile communities in the ancient city. And it is through the Gospel of John - a text out of favor in most academic reconstructions - that she finds the answer to the interpretive dilemma posed by Jesus' execution and his disciples' survival.

The world's major religions-Judaism, Christianity, and Islam-find a common root in one man: Abraham. Yet Abraham looms so large in the realm of world religions that he has remained a ward of the Divine rather than a flesh-and-blood citizen of Humanity. In his monumental new book, David Rosenberg provides a long-overdue history of the patriarch; while revealing that the original story embedded in the Bible is actually our oldest historical biography. We also discover that the wandering ascetic of tradition cannot explain our deep-seated feelings for Abraham and his God. The road that Abraham traveled was marked by signs of civilization that we still recognize: libraries, museums, hotels, and houses of worship. He is a sophisticated, educated Sumerian; an artisan who became the first Jew. Moreover, through Rosenberg's audacious translation of the Abraham story from Genesis, we learn that many of the core tenets of the monotheistic tradition-the idea of God's covenant and the soul-are Sumerian in origin. Rosenberg first finds Abraham at his father's workshop in the cosmopolitan city of ancient Ur and follows his journey through what is today the Middle East. What kind of baggage-emotional, material, and spiritual-would Abraham have taken with him on his migration to a new land? Abraham does more than present a founding spiritual figure and his dynamic relationships with father, wife, and son. We witness this man as he transforms his heritage into an anxious embrace of religion with secular culture-the human condition in which we are still enfolded today.

The Bible story is illustrated with 40 reproductions from the Pamplona Bibles, two thirteenth-century illuminated manuscripts.

Reflections by the Nobel-winning philosopher and novelist on the prophets, scribes, and rebbes who comprise the histories and myths of Jewish folklore. Most of these essays were originally given as lectures at the 92nd Street Y in New York, and even in written form they preserve the tone and tempo of extemporary speech. The style is anecdotal rather than scholarly, and Wiesel does not hesitate to bring his opinions to bear.

"Five Biblical Portraits represents an old-new approach to Jewish textual commentary. This sequel to Elie Wiesel's Messengers of God continues the work done in that volume of bringing religious figures to life and studying their place both in the text and in our lives. Wiesel reflects on his own life as well as the tragedy of the Holocaust as he discusses each figure and adds personal framing and insight into the religious study. Through sensitive readings of the scriptures as well as the Talmudic and Hasidic sources, Wiesel illuminates Joshua, Elijah, Saul, Jeremiah, and Jonah. He seeks not simple answers but fully complex responses to the crucial questions of human suffering as he examines each religious figure in turn. Originally published in 1981, this new edition of Five Biblical Portraits includes a new text design, cover, and an introduction by Ariel Burger, which examines how Wiesel's post-Holocaust Midrash teaches us not only how to read the Bible but also how to read the world"--

In this spellbinding new novel, bestselling author Alan Gold re-creates one of the most notorious stories of the Bible. Seductive, passionate and surprising, Jezebel's story is like no other.For the past three thousand years, Jezebel has been portrayed as the ultimate seducer, a murderess who stole and lied and cheated, the woman who fought against the prophet Elijah.But was this mysterious young woman really promiscuous and evil? Or is there another side to the story , another Jezebel who has, until now, remained hidden?This Jezebel is a young Phoenician princess who journeys to Israel to become Queen, and who fights against the power of the Temple on behalf of all the women of the land. This Jezebel is a free-spirited young woman raised to be loved and admired by men, a Queen who wants to free her people from the constraints of a religion dominated by priests. This Jezebel is the woman against whom Israel's greatest prophet, Elijah, fights for the very soul of the nation.

This autobiography of William G. Dever is unabashedly his story that offers not only candid reflections on his life, but also on the remarkable generation of giants in archaeology in Israel and the evolving history of the fields of biblical and Israeli archaeology. Chapters cover the ups and downs in both his life and career with brutally honesty. His memoir concludes with a postscript on the likely future of biblical archaeology, and an annotated bibliography provides a guide for serious readers who wish to explore some of the scholarly literature to flesh out Dever's narrative--

Stories of Biblical Mothers offers a new look at an often unnoticed group of women in the Hebrew Bible: the biblical mothers. The author's insightful analysis gives evidence that women of the Bible are able to obtain domestic and public influence through their status as mothers. This work reassesses the position of the biblical woman, and acknowledges that while marginalized, nevertheless as a mother she is both honored and powerful. Author Leila Leah Bronner adds to the ongoing conversation about the role and place of women in the Bible, and inspires further reflection on the biblical mother.

A compilation of Midrash, Biblical, and legendary stories about the prophet Moses, who led the Children of Israel out of slavery in Egypt.

Retells the Biblical story of Joseph, from his viewpoint, relating how he was sold into slavery and became the Egyptian Pharaoh's adviser.

Tradition has it that King Solomon knew everything there was to know -- the mysteries of nature, of love, of God himself -- but what do we know of him? Esteemed biblical scholar Steven Weitzman reintroduces readers to Solomon's story and its surprising influence in shaping Western culture, and he also examines what Solomon's life, wisdom, and writings have come to mean for Jews, Christians, and Muslims over the past two thousand years. Weitzman's Solomon is populated by a colorful cast of ambitious characters -- Byzantine emperors, explorers, rabbis, saints, scientists, poets, archaeologists, trial judges, reggae singers, and moviemakers among them -- whose common goal is to unearth the truth about Solomon's life and wisdom. Filled with the Solomonic texts of the Bible, along with lesser known magical texts and other writings, this book challenges both religious and secular assumptions. Even as it seeks to tell the story of ancient Israel's greatest ruler, this insightful book is also a meditation on the Solomonic desire to know all of life's secrets, and on the role of this desire in world history--From publisher description

A study of the life and times of Bishop S.I.J. Schereschewsky (1831-1906) and his translation of the Hebrew Old Testament into northern vernacular (Mandarin) Chinese. Based largely on archival materials, missionary records and letters, the book includes an analysis of the translated Chinese text together with Schereschewsky's explanatory notes. The book examines his Jewish youth in Eastern Europe, conversion, American seminary study, journey to Shanghai and Beijing, mission routine, the translating committee's work, his tasks as Episcopal bishop in Shanghai and the founding of St. John's University. Concluding chapters analyze the controversial "Term Question" (the Chinese term for God) and Schereschewsky's techniques of translating the Hebrew text. Included are useful discussions of the Old Testament's Chinese reception and the role of this translation for subsequent Bible translating efforts.

An aged Isaac recounts to his grandchildren the story of how God tested Abraham by asking him to sacrifice his son.

"According to tradition, Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible. Depicted there in suprising and contradicting ways, and both for and against his people, bringer of the tablets of law which he then breaks. By way of a series of possible portraits-including one of a female Moses-Jean-Christophe Attias follows the metamorphoses of the Hebrew liberator through ages and cultures. Drawing on rabbinical sources as well as the Bible itself, he examines the words of the texts and especially their silences. He discovers here a fragile prophet, teacher of a Judaism of the spirit, of wandering, and of incompleteness. The Judaism of Moses speaks to believers and others-to Jews, of course, but also far beyond them, inviting its hearers to have done with tribal pride, the violence of weapons, and the tyranny of a special place"--

These volumes contain most of the papers of the late Jonas C. Greenfield written in English, with source and lexeme indexes, and is intended for scholars and students of the Ancient Near East, Aramaic, Hebrew Bible, Dead Sea Scrolls, and Semitic philology. Greenfield published numerous articles in a wide range of journals, some of them fairly inaccessible. He himself had begun to collect his papers, with the aim of revising and republishing them, when his sudden death intervened. It is the privilege of the editors, two close friends of Greenfield and one of his former students, to present this collection to the public. This collection shows the wealth, breadth, and creativity of Greenfield's substantial scholarship, as well as his desire to collaborate with his colleagues in academic pursuits. Jonas Greenfield Biography Prof. Jonas C. Greenfield was born in New York City in 1926 and completed his Ph.D. at Yale University in 1956. In addition to a distinguished teaching career that spanned nearly two and a half decades at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, he was a member of the team of translators of the Jewish Publication Society and of the Dead Sea Scrolls Supervisory Committee of the Israel Antiquities Authority, an honorary fellow of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters and the Royal Asiatic Society; in 1994, he was elected to the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. He died unexpectedly in his sleep in 1995. Jonas was distinguished by his love of learning and his high regard for his colleagues and students--the values by which he lived as a man and a scholar.