Niditch's Books

War in the Hebrew Bible

A Study in the Ethics of Violence

By: Susan Niditch

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

War in the Hebrew Bible

A Study in the Ethics of Violence

By: Susan Niditch

Texts about war pervade the Hebrew Bible, raising challenging questions in religious and political ethics. The war passages that readers find most disquieting are those in which God demands the total annihilation of the enemy without regard to gender, age, or military status. The ideology of the "ban," however, is only one among a range of attitudes towards war preserved in the ancient Israelite literary tradition. Applying insights from anthropology, comparative literature, and feminist studies, Niditch considers a wide spectrum of war ideologies in the Hebrew Bible, seeking in each case to discover why and how these views might have made sense to biblical writers, who themselves can be seen to wrestle with the ethics of violence. The study of war thus also illuminates the social and cultural history of Israel, as war texts are found to map the world views of biblical writers from various periods and settings. Reviewing ways in which modern scholars have interpreted this controversial material, Niditch sheds further light on the normative assumptions that shape our understanding of ancient Israel. More widely, this work explores how human beings attempt to justify killing and violence while concentrating on the tones, textures, meanings, and messages of a particular corpus in the Hebrew Scriptures.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

193

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0195356918

ISBN 13

9780195356915

Jonah

A Commentary

By: Susan Niditch

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Jonah

A Commentary

By: Susan Niditch

In the new Hermeneia volume, the Jonah translation and commentary, renowned biblical scholar Susan Niditch encourages the reader to investigate challenging questions about ancient conceptions of personal religious identity. Jonah's story is treated as a complex reflection upon the heavy matters of life and death, good and evil, and human and divine relations. The narrative probes an individual's relationship with a demanding deity, considers vexing cultural issues of "us versus them," and examines the role of Israel's god in a universal and international context. The author examines the ways in which Jonah prods readers to contemplate these fundamental issues concerning group- and self-definition. In her technical study of Jonah's language, style, structure, content, and context, Niditch examines the text through the comparative lens of international folklore. The thread of appropriations of Jonah by post-biblical writers and artists is explored, and special attention is paid to rabbinic midrash, medieval Jewish manuscript illuminations, and Christian art of late antiquity. And in the tradition of Hermeneia volumes, the commentary evaluates and incorporates the insights of a long legacy of scholars who have explored this venerable text from varied perspectives.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

184

Publisher

Fortress Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1506486835

ISBN 13

9781506486833

A Prelude to Biblical Folklore

Underdogs and Tricksters

By: Susan Niditch

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

A Prelude to Biblical Folklore

Underdogs and Tricksters

By: Susan Niditch

Treating Old Testament stories as the product of an oral traditional world, A Prelude to Biblical Folklore sets biblical narrative in a broad cross-cultural context and reveals much about the richness and complexity of the ancient Israelite civilization that produced it. Using a unique combination of biblical scholarship and folklore methodology, Susan Niditch tracks stories of biblical characters who become heroes against the odds, either through trickery or through native wisdom, physical prowess, and the help of human or divine agents. In this volume, originally published as Underdogs and Tricksters, Niditch examines three cross-sections of the Old Testament in detail: stories in Genesis in which patriarchs pretend that their wives are really their sisters; the contrasting stories of two younger sons, the trickster Jacob and the earnest underdog Joseph; and the story of Esther as a paradigm of feminine wisdom pitted against unjust authority. Linking these Old Testament heroes to the legendary tricksters and underdogs of other cultures, Niditch shows how the Israelites' worldview and self-image are reflected in the way biblical authors tell their stories. Through a thoughtful analysis of style, content, narrative choices, and attitudes to issues of gender and political authority in biblical narrative, A Prelude to Biblical Folklore draws persuasive conclusions about the identity, location, and provenance of the stories' authors and their audiences.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

212

Publisher

University of Illinois Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0252068831

ISBN 13

9780252068836

Ancient Israelite Religion

By: Susan Niditch

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Ancient Israelite Religion

By: Susan Niditch

Ancient Israelite Religion offers a brief, accessible, and perceptive account of the religious beliefs and practices of the ancient Israelites, analyzing the complex and varied ways in which they present and preserve themselves in the Hebrew Bible. Drawing on the most recent literary scholarship and archaeological evidence, the author provides a compelling account of how the culture of the Israelites changed over three great historical periods--the distant pre-monarchic age, the monarchies of Israel and Judah, and the Babylonian exile and return. The heart of the book is a rich description of the Israelites' religious life as revealed in the Hebrew Bible. Exploring how they described their experience of God, Niditch draws out consistent themes in the Biblical stories. Most importantly, she allows us to see the world through the Israelites' eyes as she reconstructs both their habits and their larger worldview. Ideal for introduction to the Bible and introduction to religion courses, this insightful, subtly nuanced portrait is also easily understandable to general readers. It brings to life this ancient people whose legacy continues to influence and captivate the world today.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

146

Publisher

Oxford University Press, USA

Published Date

ISBN 10

0195091280

ISBN 13

9780195091281

Folklore and the Hebrew Bible

By: Susan Niditch

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Folklore and the Hebrew Bible

By: Susan Niditch

In recent scholarship, the field of folklore studies has gained a new acceptance among biblical scholars even though introductory texts in the area are not available. This book aims to fill that gap by presenting the modern field of folklore, providing case studies of its application to biblical texts (Gen. 3; Ex. 12; 'mashal'), including useful suggestions for further work in the area, and making the field of folklore studies accessible to students of the Hebrew Bible.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

129

Publisher

Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published Date

ISBN 10

1592447686

ISBN 13

9781592447688

Ethics in the Hebrew Bible and Beyond

By: Niditch

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Ethics in the Hebrew Bible and Beyond

By: Niditch

In Ethics in the Hebrew Bible and Beyond, Susan Niditch takes soundings among those who have recently approached ethics in the Hebrew Scriptures, their methodological interests, their goals, and their definitions of "ethics" itself. By means of close exegesis of specific passages from the Hebrew Bible and a discussion of the interpretation and application of these ancient texts by post-biblical Jewish writers and other creative contributors from outside the Jewish tradition, this volume explores topics in religious ethics, social justice, political ethics, economic ethics, issues in ecology, gender and sexuality, killing and dying, and reproductive ethics. Certain goals inform all chapters: interest in tracing recurring themes concerning the definition of the good, and the various ways in which Jewish thinkers rely on the more ancient material, interpret, and appropriate it; the links between areas in ethics, for example, between gender and reproductive ethics or war-views and attitudes to political ethics and environmental ethics. Niditch carves out specific biblical texts and themes in order to explore them in depth with special interest in the meanings and messages that emerge from ancient Israelite writers' varied treatments of issues in ethics. Ethics in the Hebrew Bible and Beyond provides a thoughtful discussion of biblical composers' treatment of ethical issues and an engaging overview of the ways in which these texts have been appropriated, in particular by Jewish contributors. This volume serves to challenge readers' own assumptions about biblical ethics, the applicability and the various meanings and messages that might be derived from engagement with key biblical texts.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

241

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0197671977

ISBN 13

9780197671979

The Responsive Self

Personal Religion in Biblical Literature of the Neo-Babylonian and Persian Periods

By: Susan Niditch

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Responsive Self

Personal Religion in Biblical Literature of the Neo-Babylonian and Persian Periods

By: Susan Niditch

Works created in the period from the Babylonian conquest of Judea through the takeover and rule of Judea and Samaria by imperial Persia reveal a profound interest in the religious responses of individuals and an intimate engagement with the nature of personal experience. Using the rich and varied body of literature preserved in the Hebrew Bible, Susan Niditch examines ways in which followers of Yahweh, participating in long-standing traditions, are shown to privatize and personalize religion. Their experiences remain relevant to many of the questions we still ask today: Why do bad things happen to good people? Does God hear me when I call out in trouble? How do I define myself? Do I have a personal relationship with a divine being? How do I cope with chaos and make sense of my experience? What roles do material objects and private practices play within my religious life? These questions deeply engaged the ancient writers of the Bible, and they continue to intrigue contemporary people who try to find meaning in life and to make sense of the world. The Responsive Self studies a variety of phenomena, including the use of first-person speech, seemingly autobiographic forms and orientations, the emphasis on individual responsibility for sin, interest in the emotional dimensions of biblical characters, and descriptions of self-imposed ritual. This set of interests lends itself to exciting approaches in the contemporary study of religion, including the concept of "lived religion," and involves understanding and describing what people actually do and believe in cultures of religion.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

201

Publisher

Yale University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0300166362

ISBN 13

9780300166361

Book's by Niditch

War in the Hebrew Bible

War in the Hebrew Bible

Jonah

Jonah

A Prelude to Biblical Folklore

A Prelude to Biblical Folklore

Ancient Israelite Religion

Ancient Israelite Religion

Folklore and the Hebrew Bible

Folklore and the Hebrew Bible

Ethics in the Hebrew Bible and Beyond

Ethics in the Hebrew Bible and Beyond

The Responsive Self

The Responsive Self

Username

Password

Username

Password

Password again

Birthday

Email