Understanding the Gospels As Ancient Jewish Literature PDF Download

Author: Jeffrey P. García
Publisher: Hendrickson Publishers
ISBN: 9789652208965
Category : Bible
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This book presents the various ways that the Gospels function as sources for Second Temple Jewish thought and practice. While decades of research into their "Jewish backgrounds" have proven fruitful, little attention has been given to the manner in which the Gospels themselves give witness to the evolution of Judaism in antiquity. This book argues that when understood as part of the corpora of ancient Jewish texts (e.g., Dead Sea Scrolls, Mishnah, etc.), the Gospels are testimonies to the geographical, linguistic, historical, political, social and religious reality of ancient Judaism and are sometimes the very first literary witnesses to particular practices (e.g., naming a child on the 8th day).

Author: Daniel Boyarin
Publisher: New Press/ORIM
ISBN: 159558711X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 134

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Book Description
“[A] fascinating recasting of the story of Jesus.” —Elliot Wolfson, New York University In July 2008, a front-page story in the New York Times reported on the discovery of an ancient Hebrew tablet, dating from before the birth of Jesus, which predicted a Messiah who would rise from the dead after three days. Commenting on this startling discovery at the time, noted Talmud scholar Daniel Boyarin argued that “some Christians will find it shocking—a challenge to the uniqueness of their theology.” Guiding us through a rich tapestry of new discoveries and ancient scriptures, The Jewish Gospels makes the powerful case that our conventional understandings of Jesus and of the origins of Christianity are wrong. In Boyarin’s scrupulously illustrated account, the coming of the Messiah was fully imagined in the ancient Jewish texts. Jesus, moreover, was embraced by many Jews as this person, and his core teachings were not at all a break from Jewish beliefs and teachings. Jesus and his followers, Boyarin shows, were simply Jewish. What came to be known as Christianity came much later, as religious and political leaders sought to impose a new religious orthodoxy that was not present at the time of Jesus’s life. In the vein of Elaine Pagels’s The Gnostic Gospels, here is a brilliant new work that will break open some of our culture’s most cherished assumptions. “A brilliant and momentous book.” —Karen L. King, Harvard Divinity School “Raises profound questions . . . This provocative book will change the way we think of the Gospels in their Jewish context.” —John J. Collins, Yale Divinity School “It’s certainly noteworthy when one of the world’s leading Jewish scholars publishes a book about Jesus . . . Extremely stimulating.” —Daniel C. Peterson, The Deseret News

Author: Lois Tverberg
Publisher: Baker Books
ISBN: 1493412671
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
What would it be like for modern readers to sit down beside Jesus as he explained the Bible to them? What life-changing insights might emerge from such a transformative encounter? Lois Tverberg knows the treasures that await readers willing to learn how to read the Bible through Jewish eyes. By helping them understand the Bible as Jesus and his first-century listeners would have, she bridges the gaps of time and culture in order to open the Bible to readers today. Combining careful research with engaging prose, Tverberg leads us on a journey back in time to shed light on how this Middle Eastern people approached life, God, and each other. She explains age-old imagery that we often misinterpret, allowing us to approach God and the stories and teachings of Scripture with new eyes. By helping readers grasp the perspective of its original audience, she equips them to read the Bible in ways that will enrich their lives and deepen their understanding.

Author: Amy-Jill Levine
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 140082737X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 455

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Book Description
The Historical Jesus in Context is a landmark collection that places the gospel narratives in their full literary, social, and archaeological context. More than twenty-five internationally recognized experts offer new translations and descriptions of a broad range of texts that shed new light on the Jesus of history, including pagan prayers and private inscriptions, miracle tales and martyrdoms, parables and fables, divorce decrees and imperial propaganda. The translated materials--from Christian, Coptic, and Jewish as well as Greek, Roman, and Egyptian texts--extend beyond single phrases to encompass the full context, thus allowing readers to locate Jesus in a broader cultural setting than is usually made available. This book demonstrates that only by knowing the world in which Jesus lived and taught can we fully understand him, his message, and the spread of the Gospel. Gathering in one place material that was previously available only in disparate sources, this formidable book provides innovative insight into matters no less grand than first-century Jewish and Gentile life, the composition of the Gospels, and Jesus himself.

Author:
Publisher: Canongate U.S.
ISBN: 9780802136169
Category : Bibles
Languages : en
Pages : 100

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Book Description
The publication of the King James version of the Bible, translated between 1603 and 1611, coincided with an extraordinary flowering of English literature and is universally acknowledged as the greatest influence on English-language literature in history. Now, world-class literary writers introduce the book of the King James Bible in a series of beautifully designed, small-format volumes. The introducers' passionate, provocative, and personal engagements with the spirituality and the language of the text make the Bible come alive as a stunning work of literature and remind us of its overwhelming contemporary relevance.

Author: Kenneth E. Bailey
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 0830875859
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 430

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Book Description
Beginning with Jesus' birth, Ken Bailey leads you on a kaleidoscopic study of Jesus throughout the four Gospels, examining the life and ministry of Jesus with attention to the Lord's Prayer, the Beatitudes, Jesus' relationship to women, and especially Jesus' parables. The work dispels the obscurity of Western interpretations with a stark vision of Jesus in his original context.

Author: Matthias Henze
Publisher: Fortress Press
ISBN: 1506406432
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
Do you want to understand Jesus of Nazareth, his apostles, and the rise of early Christianity? Reading the Old Testament is not enough, writes Matthias Henze in this slender volume aimed at the student of the Bible. To understand the Jews of the Second Temple period, it’s essential to read what they wrote—and what Jesus and his followers might have read—beyond the Hebrew scriptures. Henze introduces the four-century gap between the Old and New Testaments and some of the writings produced during this period (different Old Testaments, the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, the Dead Sea Scrolls); discusses how these texts have been read from the Reformation to the present, emphasizing the importance of the discovery of Qumran; guides the student’s encounter with select texts from each collection; and then introduces key ideas found in specific New Testament texts that simply can’t be understood without these early Jewish “intertestamental” writings—the Messiah, angels and demons, the law, and the resurrection of the dead. Finally, he discusses the role of these writings in the “parting of the ways” between Judaism and Christianity. Mind the Gap broadens curious students’ perspectives on early Judaism and early Christianity and welcomes them to deeper study.

Author: Julie Baretz
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 0827611900
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 271

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Book Description
In this innovative guidebook Julie Baretz takes readers to twenty-one off-the-beaten-path locations in Israel where Bible stories are said to have happened. At each site she sets the scene by relating the historical context of the event, then follows with the biblical text itself and her own lively commentary. Captivating and complex Bible characters bring the locations to life as they face social, ethical, and spiritual dilemmas not unlike our own today. Baretz's narratives draw on history, archaeology, academic scholarship, and rabbinic literature for interpretations that enhance the meaning of the biblical events. Each story is told in the voice of Baretz as the tour guide--knowledgeable yet informal and friendly. The Bible on Location traces the chronology and narrative arc of the historical books of Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, Ezra, and Nehemiah. The book begins with the Israelites' arrival in the land of Israel (following the exodus from Egypt and the forty years of wandering) and continues over more than six hundred years, until the return of the Jewish exiles from Babylon to their homeland. Baretz's descriptions are accompanied by colorful maps and photographs that put actual and armchair visitors in the middle of the action. Each location reveals a new episode in the biblical narrative and provides inspiration and commentary that will enhance visits to the various sites.

Author: Larry R. Helyer
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 9780830826780
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 532

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Book Description
Larry R. Helyer provides an introduction and historical context for the wealth of Jewish literature outside the Hebrew Bible, and he explores the pressures, realities, questions and dreams that nurtured and provoked these written works.

Author: Madame Guyon
Publisher: Readaclassic.com
ISBN: 9781611041248
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 62

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Book Description
Esteemed as one of the greatest Christian works in history, this book effectively explains short and easy methods of prayer for those who hunger and thirst after God's presence.