The Women in the Life of the Bridegroom

The Women in the Life of the Bridegroom
Author: Adeline Fehribach
Publisher: Liturgical Press
Total Pages: 234
Release: 1998
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780814658840

This book sheds new light on the women in the Fourth Gospel. Unlike most works that approach the topic from a historical-critical perspective, this book approaches the topic from a historical-literary perspective and attempts to illustrate for the modern reader how a first-century reader would have understood the characterizations of the women, given first-century cultural and literary norms and the theology of the implied author. The thesis of this book is that the primary purpose of the women in the Fourth Gospel is to support the portrayal of Jesus as the Messianic Bridegroom and further the plot of Jesus' giving the people the power to become children of God (John 1:12). This historical-literary analysis exposes a highly androcentric and patriarchal text, which leads the author in the end to question current assumptions that behind the text exists a community or school whose egalitarianism extended to women.

Jesus the Bridegroom

Jesus the Bridegroom
Author: Brant James Pitre
Publisher:
Total Pages: 210
Release: 2014
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0770435459

In Jesus the Bridegroom, Brant Pitre once again taps into the wells of Jewish Scripture and tradition, and unlocks the secrets of what is arguably the most well-known symbol of the Christian faith: the cross of Christ. In this thrilling exploration, Pitre shows how the suffering and death of Jesus was far more than a tragic Roman execution. Instead, the Passion of Christ was the fulfillment of ancient Jewish prophecies of a wedding, when the God of the universe would wed himself to humankind in an everlasting nuptial covenant. To be sure, most Christians are familiar with the apostle Paul's teaching that Christ is the 'Bridegroom' and the Church is the 'Bride'. But what does this really mean? And what would ever possess Paul to compare the death of Christ to the love of a husband for his wife? If you would have been at the Crucifixion, with Jesus hanging there dying, is that how you would have described it? How could a first-century Jew like Paul, who knew how brutal Roman crucifixions were, have ever compared the execution of Jesus to a wedding? And why does he refer to this as the "great mystery" (Ephesians 5:32)? As Pitre shows, the key to unlocking this mystery can be found by going back to Jewish Scripture and tradition and seeing the entire history of salvation, from Mount Sinai to Mount Calvary, as a divine love story between Creator and creature, between God and Israel, between Christ and his bride--a story that comes to its climax on the wood of a Roman cross. In the pages of Jesus the Bridegroom, dozens of familiar passages in the Bible--the Exodus, the Song of Songs, the Wedding at Cana, the Woman at the Well, the Last Supper, the Crucifixion, and even the Second Coming at the End of Time--are suddenly transformed before our eyes. Indeed, when seen in the light of Jewish Scripture and tradition, the life of Christ is nothing less than the greatest love story ever told.

The Bride of Christ Goes to Hell

The Bride of Christ Goes to Hell
Author: Dyan Elliott
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Total Pages: 477
Release: 2011-11-16
Genre: History
ISBN: 0812206932

The early Christian writer Tertullian first applied the epithet "bride of Christ" to the uppity virgins of Carthage as a means of enforcing female obedience. Henceforth, the virgin as Christ's spouse was expected to manifest matronly modesty and due submission, hobbling virginity's ancient capacity to destabilize gender roles. In the early Middle Ages, the focus on virginity and the attendant anxiety over its possible loss reinforced the emphasis on claustration in female religious communities, while also profoundly disparaging the nonvirginal members of a given community. With the rising importance of intentionality in determining a person's spiritual profile in the high Middle Ages, the title of bride could be applied and appropriated to laywomen who were nonvirgins as well. Such instances of democratization coincided with the rise of bridal mysticism and a progressive somatization of female spirituality. These factors helped cultivate an increasingly literal and eroticized discourse: women began to undergo mystical enactments of their union with Christ, including ecstatic consummations and vivid phantom pregnancies. Female mystics also became increasingly intimate with their confessors and other clerical confidants, who were sometimes represented as stand-ins for the celestial bridegroom. The dramatic merging of the spiritual and physical in female expressions of religiosity made church authorities fearful, an anxiety that would coalesce around the figure of the witch and her carnal induction into the Sabbath.

Life's Daughter/death's Bride

Life's Daughter/death's Bride
Author: Kathie Carlson
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
Total Pages: 288
Release: 1997
Genre: Psychology
ISBN:

An in-depth exploration of the profound relevance for contemporary women of the ancient Greek myth of Demeter and Persephone. Richly illustrated with dreams, insights, and relational dynamics drawn from clients in psychotherapy, this book will appeal to both layperson and professional. 25 photos.

Chosen and Cherished

Chosen and Cherished
Author: Edna Ellison
Publisher: New Hope Publishers
Total Pages: 144
Release: 2009
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1596692715

Chosen and Cherished contains a word portrait of an ancient Jewish wedding. In living color, the authors paint images of ancient wedding customs as women of the Bible would have celebrated them, pointing readers to the spiritual significance for today. The book also features personal wedding stories from the authors and others.

Consecration to Christ the Bridegroom

Consecration to Christ the Bridegroom
Author: Laura Ercolino
Publisher:
Total Pages: 53
Release: 2020-10-27
Genre:
ISBN:

Are you, like so many, seeking refreshment and restoration for your soul, as you walk through the desert of our present culture? Have you found only mirages and "false loves" as your soul thirsts for Living Water? Perhaps you already know Jesus and you recognize that He is exactly Whom your heart has been seeking. This book opens the pathway for a deeply personal and unique heart-to-heart relationship with Jesus. God tells us throughout the scriptures that His love for us is the love of a husband for his wife, spousal love. God desires to enter a marriage covenant with each and every human person. This short yet profound book, "Consecration to Christ the Bridegroom," leads the reader to a deep understanding of God's spousal love by describing, through Scriptures, art, and teachings of the saints including St. John Paul II, how the sacrificial life-giving love of Christ is spousal love in its purest form. This book contains 9 days of prayers and reflections leading up to your consecration and enthronement of Christ the Bridegroom as King and Spouse of your heart. Each of the 9 days includes a scripture reading and a reflection from the book, The Cantata of Love, a Verse by Verse Reading of The Song of Songs, by Ignatius Press. Thought-provoking questions invite the reader to meditate upon each day's content and apply to his/her own life. Through the 9-days of prayer and reflection, our hope is for the reader to foster a new relationship with Jesus; begin to develop heart to heart conversation and spousal prayer with Christ; and to respond to the Bridegroom's invitation to enter into a more personal and intimate spousal relationship. This consecration is a call to be set apart and made holy for Christ. As you grow in love of Him and drink deeply of His life-giving Love, you will realize that your emptiness is filled, your thirst is quenched, your aching heart is soothed and the spousal love you share with Him is overflowing into your relationships, your vocation, and your life.

While the Bridegroom is with them'

While the Bridegroom is with them'
Author: Marianne Blickenstaff
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2005-06-09
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0567307174

Interpreters of Matthew's Parable of the Wedding Feast (22.1-14) typically associate the 'king' with God and then justify his violent attacks against city and guests; interpreters of the Parable of the Ten Virgins (25.1-13) typically associate the 'bridegroom' with Jesus and then justify his extreme rejection of the 'foolish virgins.' Questioning such allegorical interpretations, this study first details how Hebrew, Greek, and Roman texts depict - without requiring allegorical understandings - numerous bridegrooms associated not only with joy but also with violence and death. Second, this project appeals to the disruptive nature of parables, the feminist technique of resisting reading, and the Matthean Jesus's own ethical instructions to argue that in the parables, those who resist violent rulers and uncaring bridegrooms are the ones worthy of the Kingdom. The study then shows how the Matthean Jesus - the brideless, celibate bridegroom -- creates a fictive family by disrupting biological and marital ties, redefining masculinity, and undermining the desirability of marriage and procreation. JSNTS 292

Bridegroom Wore Plaid

Bridegroom Wore Plaid
Author: Grace Burrowes
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
Total Pages: 384
Release: 2012-12-04
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1402268661

Named a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2012 New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Grace Burrowes keeps winning reader awards for her gorgeously imagined books. If you're already a fan, you'll devour her new characters and if you haven't yet discovered the richly drawn worlds of Grace Burrowes, you're in for a treat.... "Memorable heroes. Intelligent, sensual love stories. This author knows what romance readers adore."—RT Book Reviews, 4 Stars His Family or His Heart — One of Them Will Be Betrayed... Ian MacGregor is wooing a woman who's wrong for him in every way. As the new Earl of Balfour, though, he must marry an English heiress to repair the family fortunes. But in his intended's penniless chaperone, Augusta, Ian is finding everything he's ever wanted in a wife. "Historical details enrich Burrowes's intimate and erotic story, but the real stars are her vibrant characters and her masterful ear for dialogue. Burrowes is superb at creating connections that feel honest and real."—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

The Bridegroom

The Bridegroom
Author: Linda Lael Miller
Publisher: HQN Books
Total Pages: 367
Release: 2018-01-15
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1488095604

Be swept away on the Arizona frontier in a tale of passion, adventure and dangerous promises… Don’t miss this beloved classic from #1 New York Times bestselling author Linda Lael Miller. Undercover agent Gideon Yarbro is renowned for stopping outlaws almost before they commit a crime. But now he must stop a wedding—despite the bride’s resistance. Lydia Fairmont will lose everything if she doesn’t honor her betrothal to a heartless banker. The only loophole is if she marries someone else instead, but to her, one loveless match is the same as another. It’s not good enough for Gideon. Determined to honor his own decade-old promise to help Lydia, he carries her off to Stone Creek and makes her his reluctant wife. Forget a honeymoon for “show”—not with a vengeful ex-fiancé on their trail and a hired gun on the loose. But there just might be hope for the marriage…and two hearts meant for each other. Originally published in 2009