Prayers and the Construction of Israelite Identity

Prayers and the Construction of Israelite Identity
Author: Susanne Gillmayr-Bucher
Publisher: SBL Press
Total Pages: 259
Release: 2019-08-09
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0884143678

Substantial insights into various identity discourses reflected in the biblical prayers This collection of essays from an international group of scholars focuses on how biblical prayers of the Persian and early Hellenistic periods shaped identity, evoked a sense of belonging to specific groups, and added emotional significance to this affiliation. Contributors draw examples from different biblical texts, including Genesis, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah, Psalms, Jonah, and Daniel. Features Thorough study of prayers that play a key role for a biblical book’s (re)construction of the people’s history and identity An examination of ways biblical figures are remodeled by their prayers by introducing other, sometimes even contradictory, discourses on identity An exploration of different ways in which psalms from postexilic times shaped, reflected, and modified identity discourses

Shaping Israelite Identity through Prayers in the Book of Chronicles

Shaping Israelite Identity through Prayers in the Book of Chronicles
Author: Kiyoung Kim
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 249
Release: 2021-11-18
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1666706930

What is the post-exilic Israelites’ destiny? What should they have hoped for? How could they actualize their desired community? This book discusses the identity of the post-exilic Israelite community by focusing on the unique rhetorical impetus in the book of Chronicles. Chronicles suggests a picture of the desired future Israel. Yet, the Chronicler does not call for a new identity, creation ex nihilo, from the community but calls for the restoration of the Israelites’ past identity by reporting the history of Israel and Judah. The restoration of their past identity can be actualized when members of the community fulfill portrayed roles and characteristics in Chronicles: worshiping, monotheistic believing, and praying, and Davidic citizenship. Further, recorded prayer plays a crucial role as Chronicles persuades its readers to render or exhibit those roles and characteristics. Prayer invites the community members to participate so that they transform past prayers into their own prayers. By doing so, the prayer participants perceive portrayed roles and characteristics and change their attitude. By rendering and exhibiting desired roles and characteristics, they eventually hope for and actualize a better community, the liturgical community.

Quiet Voices

Quiet Voices
Author: Victor H Matthews
Publisher: Augsburg Fortress Publishers
Total Pages: 167
Release: 2024-11-05
Genre: Religion
ISBN:

Silence occurs between words during conversation and between musical notes in a composition, and is an indicator of mood and emotion. Examining silence in the context of the Bible gives the reader the opportunity to ask significant questions about why silence occurs, its value to life, and how it relates to our understanding of God.

1 & 2 Kings

1 & 2 Kings
Author: Lynn Jost
Publisher: MennoMedia, Inc.
Total Pages: 456
Release: 2021-11-02
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 151380264X

Violence on the streets. Military expansion. Consumerism. Policies exploiting people and natural resources. Harassment and abuse: 1 & 2 Kings could hardly be more relevant. In the thirty-fourth volume of the Believers Church Bible Commentary series, Old Testament scholar Lynn Jost claims 1 & 2 Kings were written to form a community that would embrace the Ten Commandments and the Great Shema and would champion righteousness and compassion. Jost traces the characteristics of royal justice, with its systems of excess and indulgence, as well as the court intrigue, succession politics, interfamily rivalries, and prophetic judgment that mark the books. Through it all, Israel remains in a covenant relationship with a delivering God. Through it all, God calls the leaders and the people to practice justice, protect shalom, and live righteously. In vivid and accessible prose, Jost invites pastors, scholars, and lay readers to read 1 & 2 Kings as books of promise—ones that gesture toward a faithful God who rescues, judges, commands, and provides. About the Believers Church Bible Commentary series This readable commentary series is for all who seek more fully to understand the original message of Scripture and its meaning for today—Sunday school teachers, members of Bible study groups, students, pastors, and other seekers. –From the Series Foreword

The Theology of the Book of Samuel

The Theology of the Book of Samuel
Author: John Goldingay
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 261
Release: 2024-05-09
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1009519751

The Old Testament book of Samuel is an intriguing narrative that offers an account of the origin of the monarchy in Israel. It also deals at length with the fascinating stories of Saul and David. In this volume, John Goldingay works through the book, exploring the main theological ideas as they emerge in the narratives about Samuel, Saul, and David, as well as in the stories of characters such as Hannah, Michal, Bathsheba, and Tamar. Goldingay brings out the key ideas about God and God's involvement in the lives of people, and their involvement with him through prayer and worship. He also delves into the mystery and complexity of human persons and their roles in events. Goldingay's study traces how God pursues his purpose for Israel and, ultimately, for the world in these narratives. It shows how this pursuit is interwoven with the realities of family, monarchy, war, love, ambition, loss, failure, and politics.

Psalms 101-150

Psalms 101-150
Author: Abraham Kuruvilla
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 409
Release: 2024-04-10
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1666751731

This three-volume commentary on the Psalms engages hermeneutics for preaching, employing theological exegesis that enables the preacher to utilize all the psalms in the Psalter to craft effective sermons. It unpacks the crucial link between Scripture and application: the theology of each preaching text/psalm—what the author is doing with what he is saying in each psalm—is explored and explicated. While the primary goal of the commentary is to take the preacher from text to theology, it also provides a sermon outline for each of the preaching units in the Psalms. The unique approach of this work results in a theology-for-preaching commentary that promises to be useful for anyone teaching from the Psalter with an emphasis on application.

Building a Public Judaism

Building a Public Judaism
Author: Saskia Coenen Snyder
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 361
Release: 2013-01-08
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0674067495

Coenen Snyder considers what the architecture and construction of nineteenth-century European synagogues reveal about the social progress of modern European Jews. The process of claiming a Jewish space was a marker of acculturation but not full acceptance, she argues. The new edifices, even if spectacular, revealed the limits of Jewish integration.

Biblical Theology of prayer in the Old Testament

Biblical Theology of prayer in the Old Testament
Author: Albert J. Coetsee
Publisher: AOSIS
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2023-08-31
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1779952740

Prayer is a major topic within Christian theology. The biblical text has various references to various recorded and reported prayers. In fact, references to prayer are found within the rich diversity of the various books, corpora and genres of Scripture. As can be expected, much has been written about prayer in the biblical text. However, a comprehensive Biblical Theology dealing with the concept of prayer in Scripture has not been published before, and this book intends to fill this gap, assuming that such an approach can provide a valuable contribution to the theological discourse on prayer and related concepts. This book aims to investigate prayer and its related elements – including worship, praise, thanksgiving, adoration, petition, intercession, lament and confession – in the Old Testament on a book-by-book or corpus-by-corpus basis. The investigation follows a Biblical Theological approach, reading the Old Testament on a book-by-book basis in its final form to uncover the Old Testament’s overarching theology of prayer, understanding the parts in relation to the whole. By doing this, the discrete nuances of the prayers of the different Old Testament books and corpora can be uncovered, letting the books and corpora speak for themselves. In addition, the advantage of this approach is that it provides findings that can benefit the modern Christian community and contribute to the practice of Reformed theology in Africa. This book is of significant value to scholars. It will inspire scholars to think about prayer and use the Bible as the major ‘prayer handbook’ in their spiritual lives.

Review of Biblical Literature, 2021

Review of Biblical Literature, 2021
Author: Alicia J. Batten
Publisher: SBL Press
Total Pages: 564
Release: 2022-03-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0884145530

The annual Review of Biblical Literature presents a selection of reviews of the most recent books in biblical studies and related fields, including topical monographs, multi-author volumes, reference works, commentaries, and dictionaries. RBL reviews German, French, Italian, and English books and offers reviews in those languages.