The Woman Who Named God


Book Description

The saga of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar is the tale of origin for all three monotheistic faiths. Abraham must choose between two wives who have borne him two sons. One wife and son will share in his wealth and status, while the other two are exiled into the desert. Long a cornerstone of Western anxiety, the story chronicles a very famous and troubled family, and sheds light on the ongoing conflict between the Judeo-Christian and Islamic worlds. How did this ancient story become one of the least understood and most frequently misinterpreted of our cultural myths? Gordon explores this legendary love triangle to give us a startling perspective on three biblical characters who -- with their jealousies, passions, and doubts -- actually behave like human beings. The Woman Who Named God is a compelling, smart, and provocative take on one of the Bible's most intriguing and troubling love stories.




The Reader's Guide to the Talmud


Book Description

This systematic introduction to the Talmud of Babylonia (Bavli) answers basic questions of form: how is this a coherent document? How do we make sense of the several languages in which it is written? What are the principal parts of the complex writing? Turning to questions of modes of thought, the account proceeds to address the intellectual character of the Bavli and in particular the character and uses of its dialectics. Finally, questions of substance come to the fore: how does the Talmud relate to the Torah? and how does tradition enter in? These basic questions of rhetoric, topic, and logic that anyone approaching the text will raise are dealt with clearly and authoritatively.







Jeremiah in Talmud and Midrash


Book Description

This sourcebook collects and classifies how Israelite Scripture was received and recast in the language community that produced the dual Torah of Judaism. With extensive translation and documentation, Jeremiah in Talmud and Midrash uses the case of Jeremiah in the Rabbinic canon of the formative age to examine the Rabbinic documents response to the prophetic ones in terms of how they select, explain, and utilize the language of Scripture.




The Two Talmuds Compared


Book Description







Narrative and Identity


Book Description

Using key features of Ricoeur's narrative theory, this creative Asian re-reading of Moses' reverse migration in Exodus 4: 18-26 charts the way for a multi-dimensional OT hermeneutic which explores the theme of identity formation in light of the liminal experience of migration.