Books in the Biblical Literature series

The major literary critical commentary on the Deuteronomic books of the Bible.

Meir Sternberg's classic study is ';an important book for those who seek to take the Bible seriously as a literary work.' (Adele Berlin, Prooftexts) In ';a book to read and then reread' (Modern Language Review), Meir Sternberg ';has accomplished an enormous task, enriching our understanding of the theoretical basis of Biblical narrative and giving us insight into a remarkable number of particular texts.' (Journal of the American Academy of Religion). The result is a ';a brilliant work' (Choice) distinguished ';both for his comprehensiveness and for the clearly-avowed faith stance from which he understands and interprets the strategies of the biblical narratives.' (Theological Studies). The Poetics of Biblical Narrative shows, in Adele Berlin's words, ';more clearly and emphatically than any book I know, that the Bible is a serious literary worka text manifesting a highly sophisticated and successful narrative poetics.'

Brennan W. Breed claims that biblical interpretation should focus on the shifting capacities of the text, viewing it as a dynamic process rather than a static product. Rather than seeking to determine the original text and its meaning, Breed proposes that scholars approach the production, transmission, and interpretation of the biblical text as interwoven elements of its overarching reception history. Grounded in the insights of contemporary literary theory, this approach alters the framing questions of interpretation from "e;What does this text mean?"e; to "e;What can this text do?"e;

Explores the question of the kind of canon, privileged status, or Logos, the Torah actually has for the post-modern Western Jew. This book documents the intellectual and spiritual odyssey of one of North America's foremost Jewish biblical scholars.

Yitzhak Berger is Associate Professor and Head of the Hebrew Division at Hunter College of the City University of New York. He is author of Radak on Chronicles: A Translation with Introduction and Supercommentary.

Explores the exegetical tradition of Isaac Luria and his followers within the historical context in 16th-century Safed, a community that brought practitioners of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam into close contact with one another. This title suggests that Luria and his followers were far from cloistered.

Illumines the power of the unspoken in a variety of texts from the Pentateuch, the Prophets, and the Writings. This work argues that reading with irony in mind creates a charged and open rhetorical space in the texts that allows character, narration, and authorial voice to develop in unexpected ways.

An analysis of the novelty of biblical prose narrative and its break with oral traditions.