Richard Friedman is well known in the field of biblical studies, not only because of his contributions to the study of the Hebrew Bible (which are many) but also because he has written cogently and clearly for a much wider audience, outside the academy, most notably in his Who Wrote the Bible? (1997). In addition, his influence has crossed the boundaries of a variety of disciplines such as source criticism, archaeology, the ancient Near East, as well as religious studies. The essays in this volume reflect the breadth and depth of Richard Friedman's life and work. Several contributors discuss topics related to the Hebrew Bible: for example, Jacob Milgrom examines the relationship between Ezekiel and the Levites and Carol Meyers discusses the Tabernacle texts in the context of Priestly influence on them; Ronald Hendel, Michael Homan, and Robert Wilson explore the history of source criticism, with detailed source-critical analysis of Genesis 1-11 and the book of Kings. Jeffrey Geoghegan discusses the origins of the Passover in one of several insightful essays under the topic "Israel and the Ancient Near East." Among the contributions specific to archaeology, Baruch Halpern's provides a provocative "Defense of Forgery." Lastly, four contributors (e.g., Alan Cooper) discuss religion and religious studies, along with ramifications for contemporary application. A fine collection of contemporary topics discussed by leading scholars in the field.

Richard Friedman is well known in the field of biblical studies, not only because of his contributions to the study of the Hebrew Bible (which are many) but also because he has written cogently and clearly for a much wider audience, outside the academy, most notably in his Who Wrote the Bible? (1997). In addition, his influence has crossed the boundaries of a variety of disciplines such as source criticism, archaeology, the ancient Near East, as well as religious studies. The essays in this volume reflect the breadth and depth of Richard Friedman’s life and work. Several contributors discuss topics related to the Hebrew Bible: for example, Jacob Milgrom examines the relationship between Ezekiel and the Levites and Carol Meyers discusses the Tabernacle texts in the context of Priestly influence on them; Ronald Hendel, Michael Homan, and Robert Wilson explore the history of source criticism, with detailed source-critical analysis of Genesis 1–11 and the book of Kings. Jeffrey Geoghegan discusses the origins of the Passover in one of several insightful essays under the topic “Israel and the Ancient Near East.” Among the contributions specific to archaeology, Baruch Halpern’s provides a provocative “Defense of Forgery.” Lastly, four contributors (e.g., Alan Cooper) discuss religion and religious studies, along with ramifications for contemporary application. A fine collection of contemporary topics discussed by leading scholars in the field.

From the bestselling author of The Secret History of the World, an exploration of the mystical forces that shape and protect us The Sacred History is an account of the workings of the supernatural in history. It tells the epic story of angels, from Creation, to Evolution through to the operations of the supernatural in the modern world. This tale of how people and peoples have been helped by angels and other angelic beings is woven into a spellbinding narrative that brings together Krishna, Moses, Buddha, Elijah, Mary and Jesus, Mohammed, Joan of Arc, the angels who helped Hungarian Jews persecuted by the Nazis, and stories from African, Native American and Celtic traditions. Told from the spiritual point of view, The Sacred History relates every betrayal, every change of heart, every twist and turn, everything that looks like a coincidence, every portent, every clue, every defeat, every rescue moments before the prison door clangs shut. This is the angelic version of events.

The first geographically broad, comparative survey of early modern 'sacred history', or writing on the history of the Christian Church, its leaders and saints, and its internal developments, in the two centuries from c. 1450 to c. 1650.

More than sixty color pictures by noted photographer Richard Cleave enhance the more than fifty black and white images, maps, and charts."--BOOK JACKET.

From Zora Neale Hurston to Derek Walcott to Toni Morrison, New World black authors have written about African-derived religious traditions and spiritual practices. The Sacred Act of Reading examines religion and sociopolitical power in modern and contemporary texts of a variety of genres from the black Americas. By engaging with spiritual traditions such as Vodou, Kumina, and Protestant Christianity while drawing on canonical Eurocentric literary theory, Anne Margaret Castro presents a novel, nuanced reading of power through the physical and metaphysical relationships portrayed in these great works of New World black literature. Castro examines prophecy in the dramas of Derek Walcott, preaching in the ethnography of Zora Neale Hurston, and liturgy in the novels of Toni Morrison, offering comparative readings alongside the works of Afro-Colombian anthropologist Manuel Zapata Olivella, Jamaican sociologist Erna Brodber, and Canadian fiction writer Nalo Hopkinson. The Sacred Act of Reading is the first book to bring together literary texts, historical and contemporary anthropological studies, theology, and critical theory to show how black authors in the Americas employ spiritual phenomena as theoretical frameworks for thinking within, against, and beyond structures of political dominance, dependence, and power.

In Search of the Sacred Book studies the artistic incorporation of religious concepts such as prophecy, eternity, and the afterlife in the contemporary Latin American novel. It departs from sociopolitical readings by noting the continued relevance of religion in Latin American life and culture, despite modernity's powerful secularizing influence. Analyzing Jorge Luis Borges's secularized "narrative theology" in his essays and short stories, the book follows the development of the Latin American novel from the early twentieth century until today by examining the attempts of major novelists, from María Luisa Bombal, Alejo Carpentier, and Juan Rulfo, to Julio Cortázar, Gabriel García Márquez, and José Lezama Lima, to "sacralize" the novel by incorporating traits present in the sacred texts of many religions. It concludes with a view of the "desacralization" of the novel by more recent authors, from Elena Poniatowska and Fernando Vallejo to Roberto Bolaño.

Accompanying CD-ROM contains ... "all relevant illustrations from the book, arranged in alphabetical order according to mythological character. To increase the usefulness of the [CD-ROM], supplementary images not in the book have been added[.]"--P. xv.