Synopses & Reviews
This comprehensive
Companion to the Hebrew Bible offers a broad overview and survey of Old Testament study. It consists of newly commissioned articles from an impressive range of top international Old Testament scholars, from the UK, Europe, Canada and the US. The history, archaeology, theology, sociology and ancient Near Eastern context of the Hebrew Bible are all given considerable attention, and by addressing questions of methodology and interpretation the
Companion also introduces readers to important issues in the academic study of the Old Testament.
The articles are written so as to be accessible to non-specialists whilst also of interest to scholars, since the contributors articulate their own position on their subject. The volume as a whole is introduced by an editorial overview of the discipline, providing the reader with a guide to the interconnections between individual articles. This Companion is an ideal tool for students, not just for use on one course, but over several years of study.
Review
“A very well-balanced introduction to the main lines of academic readings of the Hebrew Bible … The result is exactly what editor Perdue claims: ‘a coherent, up-to-date introduction to the major areas of Old Testament biblical scholarship’. Recommended for all libraries; all readership levels and groups.”
Choice
“The very informative and comprehensive contributions are all written by internationally leading scholars. The companion is a welcome and helpful tool for modern biblical study and deserves attention from a wide range of readers.”
Dr Konrad Schmid, University of Heidelberg
" The volume will undoubtedly be a useful reference work, ... enabling undergraduate students in particular to orientate themselves when embarking on OT studies."
Iwan Rhys Jones, The Evangelical Theological College of Wales Bryntirion
"Most of us who teach Old Testament/Hebrew Bible continue to search for the perfect textbook. Might the Blackwell Companion signal an end to the quest,... The Blackwell Companion is a monumental work, produced from the labor of many at the apex of their scholarly careers."
Esther E. Menn, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago
Review
"If you think you know what postmodern theology is, or think you don't know, either way these remarkable essays will change your mind: written by Jews, Christians and atheists; indebted to Plato, the Bible and Augustine; haunted by Heidegger, Levinas, Foucault and Derrida; dealing with jazz, the Shoah, the ecological crisis, the American prison system and many other topics; some long and patient, others short and cryptic, all asking to be read more than once. You may still not know at the end but you will certainly have seen the variety and vitality of what theologians are doing, in these postmodern times, and the zest with which they do it."
Fergus Kerr, Blackfriars "Connecting theology to a variety of disciplines and intellectual traditions, this companion provides an exciting sample of the current work of postmodern theologians. Many of the essays are ground-breaking, as the fields of theology and religious thought move forward into the next century. The polyphony of the volume provides surprising moments of harmony (and discord). This is a valuable sequel to Ward's THEPOSTMODERN GOD, and will be useful in the classroom." Robert Gibbs, University of Toronto
"The essays provide a lofty introduction to contemporary theology. The introductory essay by Ward is as good as it gets on this topic." Choice
"Among the delights of this collection are the essays that dare to reconsider some of the 'bad guys' in the official postmodern story: thus Catherine Pickstock endeavours to rescue Plato from his Nietzschean decriers, by re-reading the Republic through the Laws to offer an account of Plato's politics as liturgical rather than totalitarian; while Jean-Luc Marion even seeks to learn from the much-despised Descartes." Literature & Theology
"a...useful and exciting volume, bringing together the work of religious scholars and theologians across a wide spectrum, creating space for their current work independently from a given theme, showing them sometimes in agreement, sometimes in heated argument with each other." Anglican Theological Review
"A book good libraries should have." Theological Studies
Synopsis
This comprehensive
Companion to the Hebrew Bibleoffers a broad overview and survey of Old Testament study. It consists of newly commissioned articles from an impressive range of top international Old Testament scholars, from the UK, Europe, Israel, Canada and the US.
- Explores the history, archaeology, theology, sociology, and ancient Near Eastern context of the Hebrew Bible
- Addresses questions of methodology, interpretation, and the academic study of the Old Testament
- Features a useful introduction that provides an overview of the discipline, and a guide to the interconnections between individual articles
- Offers an ideal tool for students, not just for use on one course, but over several years of study.
Synopsis
This comprehensive Companion to the Hebrew Bible offers a broad overview and survey of Old Testament study. It consists of newly commissioned articles from an impressive range of top international Old Testament scholars, from the UK, Europe, Israel, Canada and the US.
Synopsis
This comprehensive
The Blackwell Companion to the Hebrew Bible offers a broad overview and survey of Old Testament study. It consists of newly commissioned articles from an impressive range of top international Old Testament scholars, from the UK, Europe, Israel, Canada and the US.
- Explores the history, archaeology, theology, sociology, and ancient Near Eastern context of the Hebrew Bible
- Addresses questions of methodology, interpretation, and the academic study of the Old Testament
- Features a useful introduction that provides an overview of the discipline, and a guide to the interconnections between individual articles
- Offers an ideal tool for students, not just for use on one course, but over several years of study
Synopsis
This Companion provides a definitive collection of essays on postmodern theology, drawing on the work of those individuals who have made a distinctive contribution to the field, and whose work will be significant for the theologies written in the new millennium. Each essay is introduced with a short account of the writer’s previous work, enabling the reader to view it in context.
The collection is prefaced with an introduction that situates postmodern theology with respect to other forms of contemporary theology, such as liberalism and conservatism, and evaluates the cultural context in which postmodern theology can be viewed. The Companion is divided into seven parts: Aesthetics, Ethics, Gender, Hermeneutics, Phenomenology, Heideggerians, and Derrideans.
Graham Wade is one of the most outstanding and original theologians working in the field today. This lively collection will have an international appeal, providing readers with the definitive guide to theology and postmodernism.
About the Author
The Revd Dr Graham Ward is Professor of Contextual Theology in the department for Religions and Theology at the University of Manchester and one of the Directors of the Centre for Religion and Political Culture based there. His books available from Blackwell include The Postmodern God (1997), The Certeau Reader (1999), True Religion (2002), and Christ and Culture (forthcoming).
Table of Contents
List of Contributors.
Introduction: "Where We Stand".
Part I: Aesthetics:.
1. Postmodern Theology as Cultural Analysis: Mieke Bal.
2. The Man Who Fell to Earth: Gerard Loughlin (University of Newcastle upon Tyne).
3. Communion and Conversation: Regina Schwartz (Northwestern University).
4. The Ends of Man and the Future of God: Janet Martin Soskice (University of Cambridge).
5. "Lush Life": Foucault's Analytics of Power and a Jazz Aesthetic: Sharon D. Welch (University of Missouri).
Part II: Ethics:.
6. The Midwinter Sacrifice: John Milbank (University of Virginia).
7. Postmodernity and Religious Plurality: Is a Common Global Ethic Possible or Desirable?: Gavin D'Costa (University of Bristol).
8. The Christian Difference, or Surviving Postmodernism: Stanley Hauerwas (Duke University).
9. Justice and Prudence: Principles of Order in the Platonic City: Catherine Pickstock (University of Cambridge).
10. Visiting Prisoners: William C. Placher (Wabash College, India).
11. Suffering and Incarnation: Graham Ward (University of Manchester).
12. Earth God: Cultivating the Spirit in an Ecocidal Culture: Mark I. Wallace (Swarthmore College).
Part III: Gender:.
13. An Ethics of Memory: Promising, Forgiving, Yearning: Pamela Sue Anderson (Regent's Park College, Oxford).
14. Is Macrina a Woman? Gregory of Nyssa's Dialogue on the Soul and Resurrection: Virginia Burrus (Drew University).
15. "They Will Know We are Christians by Our Regulated Improvisation": Ecclesial Hybridity and the Unity of the Church: Mary McClintock Fulkerson (Duke University).
16. On Changing the Imaginary: Grace M. Jantzen (University of Manchester).
17. Companionable Wisdoms: What Insights Might Feminist Theorists Gather from Feminist Theologians?: Serene Jones (Yale Divinity School).
Part IV: Hermeneutics:.
18. Shattering the Logos: Hermeneutics Between a Hammer and a Hard Place: Daniel Boyarin (University of California at Berkeley).
19. The Renewal of Jewish Theology Today: Under the Sign of Three: Peter Ochs (University of Virginia).
20. Intending Transcendence: Desiring God: Edith Wyschogrod (Rice University).
Part V: Phenomenology:.
21. Transfiguring God: Richard Kearney (University College).
22. Presence and Parousia: Jean-Yves Lacoste.
23. The Formal Reason for the Infinite: Jean-Luc Marion (University of Paris, Sorbonne).
24. Religions as Conventions: Joseph S. O'Leary (Sophia University, Japan).
Part VI: Heideggerians:.
25. The Self-Saving of God: Thomas J. J. Altizer (State University of New York).
26. The Subject of Prayer: Unwilling Words in the Postmodern Access to God: Laurence PaulHemming (University of London).
27. The Christian Message and the Dissolution of Metaphysics: Gianni Vattimo (University of Turin).
Part VII: Derrideans:.
28. The Poetics of the Impossible and the Kingdom of God: John D. Caputo (Villanova University).
29. Anti-Discrimination: Don Cupitt (Emmanuel College, Cambridge).
30. Is There a Postmodern Gospel?: Walter Lowe (Emory University).
31. Indian Territory: Postmodernism Under the Sign of the Body: Carl Raschke (University of Denver).
Index.