Willemien Otten

Judith Frishman

Gerard Rouwhorst

The essays collected in this book deal with the question how, throughout the history of Christianity, Christian communities have tried to construct their identity by anchoring their views in authoritative and normative sources. The main focus is upon the problem of historical foundation through textual traditions but other authoritative sources ( role of religious leaders; ritual traditions) are taken into consideration as well. The book takes as its point of departure the fact that with the rise of modernity the former dependence of western church and society on authoritative sources was called into question. Ever since, appeal to such sources is no longer self-evident; at times it is even regarded as problematic. Based on this radical change brought about by modernity, the book is divided in two main parts. The first part deals with the question how Christian churches and confessions ( Roman-Catholic and Protestant) confronted modernity and which role was played by authoritative sources in the tradition to the modern era. Special attention will be paid to the way in which Judaism reacted to many of the same impulses, both societal and religious ones. The second part deals with the premodern period, from early Christianity to the post-Reformation era, and focuses on the role authoritative traditions, textual or otherwise, have played in providing various Christian communities with a relative stable identity. The aim of the book is to elucidate processes resulting in the formation of authoritative traditions as well as the effects of these traditions on the identity of Christian and Jewish communities. In addition, the book attempts to clarify the various ways in which Christian and Jewish communities have reacted to the growing suspicion authoritative traditions aroused in the western world since the rise of modernity.

The Foundational Character of Authoritative Sources in the History of Christianity and Judaism

Religious Identity and the Problem of Historical Foundation

David J. Wertheim

Ido de Haan

This study explores the shifting boundaries and identities of historic and contemporary Jewish communities. The contributors assert that, geographically speaking, Jewish people rarely lived in ghettos and have never been confined within the borders of one nation or country. Whereas their places of residence may have remained the same for centuries, the countries and regimes that ruled over them were rarely as constant, and power struggles often led to the creation of new and divisive national borders. Taking a postmodern historical approach, the contributors seek to reexamine Jewish history and Jewish studies through the lens of borders and boundaries.

Borders and Boundaries in and Around Dutch Jewish History

Lucas van Rompay

This volume consists of sixteen essays, most of which are revised versions of papers read at a symposium held in May 1995 in Jerusalem at the Hebrew University and the Institute for Advanced Studies. Students of various religious and cultural traditions present their research in Jewish and Christian biblical interpretation. Fields covered include the Second Temple Period (Dead Sea Scrolls and the Life of Adam and Eve), Rabbinic literature, Early Greek and Syriac Antiochene exegesis, Syriac literature, Armenian reflections of Greek and Syriac exegesis (esp. the Armenian translations and reworkings of Eusebius of Emesa, Ephrem the Syrian and Jacob of Edessa), Ethiopic commentary tradition. Particular attention is devoted to the interrelationship between various traditions, e.g. Jewish and Christian, Greek and Syriac, Syriac and Armenian. The volume gives some telescoped insight into the cultural complexity of the Near East in Late Antiquity, where dynamic processes of cultural and religious interaction were continuously at work.

A Collection of Essays

The Book of Genesis in Jewish and Oriental Christian Interpretation

The book deals with different sorts of authoritative sources, predominantly but not exclusively written ones, on which Christian communities have based their identity from the period of early Christianity to the twentieth century. Issues addressed are the processes leading to the development of authoritative traditions as well as the effects these have had on the identity of Christian churches or confessions. Special attention is paid to the crisis which the belief in authoritative sources has experienced since the rise of modernity.

Judith Frishman

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