Although termed "the little Genesis", the Book of Jubilees is significantly engaged with Exodus. It reworks key Exodus narratives, develops modules of Exodus law, and highlights Exodus motifs. The most fundamental connection to Exodus is the grounding of the two narrational structures of Jubilees in the scenario of Moses receiving a revelation on Mt. Sinai. In the frame an anonymous narrator develops the Mt. Sinai setting of the work. In the body an angel employs that setting as the present-time pivot for a retrospect that moves backward and forward in time.Focusing on the intersection of structure and content, the study explores the relationship between the retrospective design of the angel narration and the exegesis. The approach is a literary one that treats Jubilees as a unitary text that may reflect the work of a single author or of a final editor. The analysis draws particular attention to manipulations of temporal and textual perspective that transform Exodus narratives, facilitate the hermeneutical elaborations of Exodus law, and effect cohesion in the revelation that is the Book of Jubilees.Halpern-Amaru's study makes a significant contribution to our understanding of biblical interpretation in Second Temple Judaism. For example, the reading of the Jubilees narrative of the exodus as a revelation of how God uses His heavenly forces, i.e., Mastema and his demons as well as the angels of the presence, on behalf of Israel, has implications for the understanding of strategies that temper dualism in Second Temple Judaism.

Although termed “the little Genesis”, the Book of Jubilees is significantly engaged with Exodus. It reworks key Exodus narratives, develops modules of Exodus law, and highlights Exodus motifs. The most fundamental connection to Exodus is the grounding of the two narrational structures of Jubilees in the scenario of Moses receiving a revelation on Mt. Sinai. In the frame an anonymous narrator develops the Mt. Sinai setting of the work. In the body an angel employs that setting as the present-time pivot for a retrospect that moves backward and forward in time. Focusing on the intersection of structure and content, the study explores the relationship between the retrospective design of the angel narration and the exegesis. The approach is a literary one that treats Jubilees as a unitary text that may reflect the work of a single author or of a final editor. The analysis draws particular attention to manipulations of temporal and textual perspective that transform Exodus narratives, facilitate the hermeneutical elaborations of Exodus law, and effect cohesion in the revelation that is the Book of Jubilees. Halpern-Amaru’s study makes a significant contribution to our understanding of biblical interpretation in Second Temple Judaism. For example, the reading of the Jubilees narrative of the exodus as a revelation of how God uses His heavenly forces, i.e., Mastema and his demons as well as the angels of the presence, on behalf of Israel, has implications for the understanding of strategies that temper dualism in Second Temple Judaism.

Many people today think of Satan as a little red demon with a pointy tail and a pitchfork—but this vision of the devil developed over many centuries and would be foreign to the writers of the Old Testament, where this figure makes his first appearances. The earliest texts that mention the Satan—it is always “the Satan” in the Old Testament—portray him as an agent of Yahweh, serving as an executioner of evildoers. But over the course of time, the Satan came to be regarded more as God’s enemy than God’s agent and was blamed for a host of problems. Biblical scholar Ryan E. Stokes explains the development of the Satan tradition in the Hebrew scriptures and the writings of early Judaism, describing the interpretive and creative processes that transformed an agent of Yahweh into the archenemy of good. He explores how the idea of a heavenly Satan figure factored into the problem of evil and received the blame for all that is wrong in the world.

"An emerging field of study that explores the Hispanic minority in the United States, Latino Studies is enriched by an interdisciplinary perspective. Historians, sociologists, anthropologists, political scientists, demographers, linguists, as well as religion, ethnicity, and culture scholars, among others, bring a varied, multifaceted approach to the understanding of a people whose roots are all over the Americas and whose permanent home is north of the Rio Grande. Oxford Bibliographies in Latino Studies offers an authoritative, trustworthy, and up-to-date intellectual map to this ever-changing discipline."--Editorial page.

In focusing exclusively on the book of Exodus and its constant allusions in the New Testament, this new collection of studies seeks both to increase knowledge of the textual transmission of Exodus in the first century, and to encourage further methodological reflection on the use of Scripture vs. scriptural traditions as employed by ancient authors. First exploring the role of Exodus within Judaism in the Second Temple Period, the contributors then reflect upon the rhetorical impact of Exodus citations and allusions in the New Testament. By taking the reader from the Four Gospels through the Pauline and Disputed Letters and Hebrews, and all the way to Revelation itself, this volume demonstrates both the unity and the diversity of appeals to Exodus traditions in Jewish and Christian literature within the Second Temple Period.

‘Isaac went out to the field (Genesis 24:63)’ presents 28 articles honouring Professor Isaac Gilead on his 71st birthday. Papers on prehistoric and proto-historic archaeology reflect the focus of the honoree’s teaching and research, while other subjects including Biblical and Near Eastern studies explore Gilead’s other areas of interest.

Scriptural Interpretation at the Interface between Education and Religion examines prominent texts from Jewish, Christian, and Islamic communities with a view to determining to what extent education (Bildung) represents the precondition, the central feature and/or the aim of the interpretation of 'Holy Scripture' in antiquity. In particular, consideration is given to the exegetical techniques, the hermeneutical convictions and the contexts of intercultural exchange which determine the process of interpretation. The volume contains a methodological reflection as well as investigations of scriptural interpretation in Jewish texts from the 2nd and 1st centuries B.C.E., in New Testament writings, and in witnesses from late ancient Christianity and in the Qur’an. Finally, it contains a critical appraisal of the scholarly oeuvre of Hans Conzelmann. This work thus fosters scholarly understanding of the function of scriptural interpretation at the interface between education and religion.

This Festschrift contains forty-one original essays and six tribute papers in honour of Michael E. Stone, Gail Levin de Nur Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies and Professor Emeritus of Armenian Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The volume’s main theme is Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, envisioned in its broadest sense: apocryphal texts, traditions, and themes from the Second-Temple period to the High Middle Ages, in Judaism, Christianity and, to a lesser extent, Islam. Most essays present new or understudied texts based on fresh manuscript evidence; the others are thematic in approach. The volume’s scope and focus reflect those of Professor Stone’s scholarship, without a special emphasis on Armenian studies.

Recent research has considered how changing imperial contexts influence conceptions of Jewishness among ruling elites (esp. Eckhardt, Ethnos und Herrschaft, 2013). This study integrates other, often marginal, conceptions with elite perspectives. It uses the ethnic boundary making model, an empirically based sociological model, to link macro-level characteristics of the social field with individual agency in ethnic construction. It uses a wide range of written sources as evidence for constructions of Jewishness and relates these to a local-specific understanding of demographic and institutional characteristics, informed by material culture. The result is a diachronic study of how institutional changes under Seleucid, Hasmonean, and Early Roman rule influenced the ways that members of the ruling elite, retainer class, and marginalized groups presented their preferred visions of Jewishness. These sometimes-competing visions advance different strategies to maintain, rework, or blur the boundaries between Jews and others. The study provides the next step toward a thick description of Jewishness in antiquity by introducing needed systematization for relating written sources from different social strata with their contexts.

The T&T Clark Encyclopedia of Second Temple Judaism provides a comprehensive reference resource of over 600 scholarly articles aimed at scholars and students interested in Judaism of the Second Temple Period. The two-volume work is split into four parts. Part One offers a prolegomenon for the contemporary study and appreciation of Second Temple Judaism, locating the discipline in relation to other relevant fields (such as Hebrew Bible, Rabbinics, Christian Origins). Beginning with a discussion of terminology, the discussion suggests ways the Second Temple period may be described, and concludes by noting areas of study that challenge our perception of ancient Judaism. Part Two presents an overview of respective contexts of the discipline set within the broad framework of historical chronology corresponding to a set of full-colour, custom-designed maps. With distinct attention to primary sources, the author traces the development of historical, social, political, and religious developments from the time period following the exile in the late 6th century B.C.E. through to the end of the Bar Kokhba revolt (135 C.E.). Part Three focuses specifically on a wide selection of primary-source literature of Second Temple Judaism, summarizing the content of key texts, and examining their similarities and differences with other texts of the period. Essays here include a brief introduction to the work and a summary of its contents, as well as examination of critical issues such as date, provenance, location, language(s), and interpretative matters. The early reception history of texts is also considered, and followed by a bibliography specific to that essay. Numerous high-resolution manuscript images are utilized to illustrate distinct features of the texts. Part Four addresses topics relevant to the Second Temple Period such as places, practices, historical figures, concepts, and subjects of scholarly discussion. These are often supplemented by images, maps, drawings, or diagrams, some of which appear here for the first time. Copiously illustrated, carefully researched and meticulously referenced, this resource provides a reliable, up-to-date and complete guide for those studying early Judaism in its literary and historical settings.