"Lester Grabbe here distills his wide body of work on the subject of prophecy. The volume considers prophecy in different cultural contexts across ancient Israel and surrounding areas. Beginning with a consideration of prophecy in the Hebrew Bible, Grabbe then looks at it as phenomenon in the ancient near east, including Mesopotamia, Egypt and the Levant. From this background in the immediate context of ancient Israel, Grabbe then widens the cultural lens to consider prophecy in more global environments, including Africa and the Americas, and recent examples of pseudo-biblical prophets such as Joseph Smith. In the final part of the book Grabbe then analyses these different prophetic types and forms, looking at the continuing traditions of prophecy alongside their ancient roots"--Publisher website.

Tap into the wisdom of one of the world's ancient religions by meditating on Rabbi Wittenberg's engaging, contemporary, spiritual, social and ethical insights. Relevant to Jews, Christian and spiritual seekers of all faiths and none, this book is rooted in decades of devoted immersion in Jewish learning, humanist literature, concern for people at all ages and stages of life, environmental activism and a love of nature. Over the hundred and more passages, key issues considered includes: Compassion and kindness; Creation and wonder; Emotional struggle; Environment and our relationship to nature; Ethical challenges; Illness and suffering; Identity and community; Justice and Social Justice; Refugess and strangers; Remorse and repentance; Responsibility; Searching for meaning; Seeking God.

Tap into the wisdom of one of the world's ancient religions by meditating on Rabbi Wittenberg's engaging, contemporary, spiritual, social and ethical insights. Relevant to Jews, Christian and spiritual seekers of all faiths and none, this book is rooted in decades of devoted immersion in Jewish learning, humanist literature, concern for people at all ages and stages of life, environmental activism and a love of nature. Over the hundred and more passages, key issues considered includes: Compassion and kindness; Creation and wonder; Emotional struggle; Environment and our relationship to nature; Ethical challenges; Illness and suffering; Identity and community; Justice and Social Justice; Refugess and strangers; Remorse and repentance; Responsibility; Searching for meaning; Seeking God.

A powerful hero of the Bible, Jacob is also one of its most complex figures. Bible stories recounting his life often expose his deception, lies, and greed-then, puzzlingly, attempt to justify them. In this book, eminent biblical scholar Yair Zakovitch presents a complete view of the patriarch, first examining Jacob and his life story as presented in the Bible, then also reconstructing the stories that the Bible writers suppressed-tales that were well-known, perhaps, but incompatible with the image of Jacob they wanted to promote. Through a work of extraordinary "literary archaeology," Zakovitch explores the recesses of literary history, reaching back even to the stage of oral storytelling, to identify sources of Jacob's story that preceded the work of the Genesis writers. The biblical writers were skilled mosaic-makers, Zakovitch shows, and their achievement was to reshape diverse pre-biblical representations of Jacob in support of their emerging new religion and identity. As the author follows Jacob in his wanderings and revelations, his successes, disgraces, and disappointments, he also considers the religious and political environment in which the Bible was written, offering a powerful explication of early Judaism.