This book presents a linear history of Jewish martyrdom, from the Hellenistic period to the high Middle Ages. Following the chronology of sources, the study challenges the general consensus that martyrdom was an original Hellenistic Jewish idea. Instead, Jews like Philo and Josephus internalized the ... more »

The book of Proverbs is the starting point of the biblical wisdom tradition. But how did individual proverbs, instructions and poems come together to form the various collections we have today? Katharine Dell explores the possible social contexts for this varied material in the royal court, wisdom schools ... more »

Three questions motivate this book's account of evidence for the existence of God. First, if God's existence is hidden, why suppose He exists at all? Second, if God exists, why is He hidden, particularly if God seeks to communicate with people? Third, what are the implications of divine hiddenness for ... more »

Many interpreters of the Fourth Gospel detect allusions to biblical texts about marriage, but none offer a comprehensive analysis of these proposed allusions or a convincing explanation for their presence. Building on the work of Richard Hays, Donald Juel, and Craig Koester, Jocelyn McWhirter argues ... more »

The Bhagavadgita is one of the most renowned texts of Hinduism because it contains discussions of important issues such as liberation and the nature of action as well as the revelation of the Krishna as the highest god and creator of the universe. It is included in the ancient Indian Mahabharata epic ... more »

Stephen Ahearne-Kroll examines the literary interaction between the Gospel of Mark's passion narrative and four Psalms of Individual Lament evoked in it. These four psalms depict a David who challenges God's role in his suffering, who searches for understanding of his suffering in light of his past relationship ... more »

Are humans composed of a body and a nonmaterial mind or soul, or are we purely physical beings? Opinion is sharply divided over this issue. In this clear and concise book, Nancey Murphy argues for a physicalist account, but one that does not diminish traditional views of humans as rational, moral, and ... more »

Mental and physical disability, ubiquitous in texts of the Hebrew Bible, here receive their first thorough treatment. Olyan seeks to reconstruct the Hebrew BibleâEUR?Ã,,ôs particular ideas of what is disabling and their potential social ramifications. Biblical representations of disability and biblical ... more »

This book considers the early history of Jewish-Christian relations focussing on traditions about the fallen angels. In the Book of the Watchers, an Enochic apocalypse from the third century BCE, the sons of God of Gen 6:14 are accused of corrupting humankind through their teachings of metalworking, ... more »

Peter Harrison provides a new account of the religious foundations of scientific knowledge. He shows how the new approaches to the study of nature that emerged in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were directly informed by theological discussions about the Fall of Man and the extent to which the ... more »

What has Washington to do with Jerusalem? In the raging debates about the relationship between religion and politics, no one has explored the religious benefits and challenges of public engagement for Christian believers - until now. This ground-breaking book defends and details Christian believers' ... more »

The Virgin Mary plays a major - although often paradoxical - role in the incarnation and crucifixion and in the ecclesiastical structure of Christianity. This role is shaped by sacrifice as understood in terms of the religious patrimony of ancient Israel and as refigured in the new Christian and Islamic ... more »