Winner of the National Jewish Book Award for 1998. How can women's full participation transform Jewish law, prayer, sexuality, and marriage? What does it mean to "engender" Jewish tradition? Pioneering theologian Rachel Adler gives this timely and powerful question its first thorough study in a book that bristles with humor, passion, intelligence, and deep knowledge of traditional biblical and rabbinic texts.

The idea of creation in the divine image has a long and complex history. While its roots apparently lie in the royal myths of Mesopotamia and Egypt, this book argues that it was the biblical account of creation presented in the first chapters of Genesis and its interpretation in early rabbinic literature that created the basis for the perennial inquiry of the concept in the Judeo-Christian tradition. Yair Lorberbaum reconstructs the idea of the creation of man in the image of God (tselem Elohim) attributed in the Midrash and the Talmud. He analyzes meanings attributed to tselem Elohim in early rabbinic thought, as expressed in Aggadah, and explores its application in the normative, legal, and ritual realms.

Catherine McDowell presents a detailed and insightful analysis of the creation of adam in Gen 2:5–3:24 in light of the Mesopotamian mīs pî pīt pî (“washing of the mouth, opening of the mouth”) and the Egyptian wpt-r (opening of the mouth) rituals for the creation of a divine image. Parallels between the mouth washing and opening rituals and the Eden story suggest that the biblical author was comparing and contrasting human creation with the ritual creation, animation, and installation of a cult statue in order to redefine ṣelem ʾelohîm as a human being—the living likeness of God tending and serving in the sacred garden. McDowell also considers the explicit image and likeness language in Gen 1:26–27. Drawing from biblical and extrabiblical texts, she demonstrates that ṣelem and demût define the divine-human relationship, first and foremost, in terms of kinship. To be created in the image and likeness of Elohim was to be, metaphorically speaking, God’s royal sons and daughters. While these royal qualities are explicit in Gen 1, McDowell persuasively argues that kinship is the primary metaphor Gen 1 uses to define humanity and its relationship to God. Further, she discusses critical issues, noting the problems inherent in the traditional views on the dating and authorship of Gen 1–3, and the relationship between the two creation accounts. Through a careful study of the tôledôt in Genesis, she demonstrates that Gen 2:4 serves as both a hinge and a “telescope”: the creation of humanity in Gen 2:5–3:24 should be understood as a detailed account of the events of Day 6 in Gen 1. When Gen 1–3 are read together, as the final redactor intended, these texts redefine the divine-human relationship using three significant and theologically laden categories: kinship, kingship, and cult. Thus, they provide an important lens through which to view the relationship between God and humanity as presented in the rest of the Bible.

An overview of Western esoteric currents since late antiquity, with an emphasis on the last six centuries. Widely received in France, this brief, comprehensive introduction to Western esotericism by the founder of the field is at last available in English. A historical and pedagogical guide, the book is written primarily for students and novices. In clear, precise language, author Antoine Faivre provides an overview of Western esoteric currents since late antiquity. The bulk of the book is laid out chronologically, from ancient and medieval sources (Alexandrian Hermetism, Gnosticism, Neoplatonism), through the Renaissance up to the present time. Its coverage includes spiritual alchemy, Jewish and Christian Kabbalah, Christian theosophy, Rosicrucianism, Illuminism, “mystical” Freemasonry, the “occultist” current, Theosophical and Anthroposophical Societies, the Traditionalist School, and “esotericism” in contemporary initiatic societies and in New Religious Movements. Faivre explores how these currents are connected, and refers to where they appear in art and literature. The book concludes with an annotated bibliography, which makes it an essential resource for beginners and scholars alike. “A characteristically erudite, sweeping brief survey of the field of Western esotericism, at once accessible and bristling with details. This is a valuable overview, from the inimitable perspective of the field’s founder, for those who wish to delve into this fascinating and thriving area of contemporary scholarship.” — Arthur Versluis, author of Restoring Paradise, Wisdom’s Children, and Magic and Mysticism “The classic survey of Western esotericism by the most knowledgeable and influential scholar of his generation is now finally accessible to English readers, in an updated edition that takes account of current developments. This small but precious volume will be indispensable for anybody who wishes to be well informed about the historical backgrounds and development of esoteric currents from antiquity to the present.” — Wouter J. Hanegraaff, University of Amsterdam

This is a reading of the Romans et Contes of Voltaire in the light of Bakhtin's concept of the Carnivalesque. Part I of this study establishes a paradigm for the twenty-six Contes. It focuses on generic patterns and a thematics of disablement. Part II offers carnivalesque readings of two tales, Le Monde comme il va and Candide. The last Part considers successively six of the later Contes, including L'Ingénu and Jenni, and the historical changes in consciousness that they reflect. The shift towards bourgeois realism is evident in the rise of sentiment and the patriarchal family on the one hand, materialism on the other. These tales exhibit an increasingly deep ambivalence towards corporality. In conclusion the study traces the changing forms of the carnivalesque figure, from geometrical to vitalist, within the Contes as a whole.

This is the first systematic treatment of esotericism to appear in English. Here is also a historical survey, beginning with the Alexandrean Period, of the various esoteric currents such as Christian Kabbalah, Theosophy, Alchemy, Rosicrucianism, and Hermeticism. Common characteristics of these currents are the notion of universal interdependency and the experience of spiritual transformation. The author establishes a rigorous methodology; provides clarifying definitions of such key terms as “gnosis,” “theosophy,” “occultism,” and “Hermeticism;” and offers analysis of contemporary esotericism based on three distinct pathways. The second half of the book presents a series of studies on several important figures, works, and movements in Western esotericism—studies devoted to some of the most characteristic and illuminating aspects that this form of thought has taken, such as theosophical speculations on androgyny, rosicrucian literature, and Masonic symbolism. The book is completed by a rich and selective Bibliography conceived as a means of orientation and a tool for research.

The Venerable Bede—theologian, historian, and scientific cosmologist—played an undeniable role in laying the foundations of the modern world. From his quantitative approach to questions of science to his introduction of the Anno Domini system of dating and his critical methods of biblical analysis, Bede both anticipated and influenced our modern ways of thinking. Bede: On Genesis is the first English-language translation of Bede's Latin commentary on the book of Genesis—the opening chapters of which he regarded as the foundational narrative of the world and through which he derived the theoretical basis for his scientific treaties and his notion of the English as the chosen people of God. Accompanied by an informative introduction that makes Bede's commentary accessible to anyone with an interest in his work, this volume is an essential contribution to ecclesiastical history.

Drawing from more than a decade of field and archival research, this monograph concerns Cambodian cultural history and historiography, with an ultimate aim of broadening and deepening bases for understanding the Cambodian Theravadin politico-cultural complex. The book takes the form of an interdisciplinary analysis of performative and representational strategies for constituting social collectivities, largely developed at Angkor. The analysis involves extended close readings of a wide range of cultural artefacts including epigraphic and manuscript texts, sculpture and ritual practices. The author proposes a critical re-evaluation of dominant paradigms of Cambodian historiography in view of engendering new histories, or hybrid histories, which make room for previously absent perspectives and voices, while developing new theoretical tools engaging with and partially derived from "indigenous" narrative practices in the broadest sense. In this history-making process the historical event is shown to never be entirely separable from its aesthetic representation. Particular attention is paid to the roles of sexual difference in such (re)constructions of history. The book presents a theory of power capable of accounting for the historical phenomena by which vernacular cultures appropriate, subvert and submit to cosmopolitan forces. It charts out a novel approach to the study of classical Southeast Asian materials, and is of interest to students and scholars of Asian Art, Religion and Philosophy, Buddhism and Southeast Asian History.