Book Description
The Babylonian Talmud was compiled in the third through sixth centuries CE, by rabbis living under Sasanian Persian rule in the area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. What kind of society did these rabbis inhabit? What effect did that society have on important rabbinic texts? In this book Richard Kalmin offers a thorough reexamination of rabbinic culture of late antique Babylonia. He shows how this culture was shaped in part by Persia on the one hand, and by Roman Palestine on the other. The mid fourth century CE in Jewish Babylonia was a period of particularly intense "Palestinianization," at the same time that the Mesopotamian and east Persian Christian communities were undergoing a period of intense "Syrianization." Kalmin argues that these closely related processes were accelerated by third-century Persian conquests deep into Roman territory, which resulted in the resettlement of thousands of Christian and Jewish inhabitants of the eastern Roman provinces in Persian Mesopotamia, eastern Syria, and western Persia, profoundly altering the cultural landscape for centuries to come. Kalmin also offers new interpretations of several fascinating rabbinic texts of late antiquity. He shows how they have often been misunderstood by historians who lack attentiveness to the role of anonymous editors in glossing or emending earlier texts and who insist on attributing these texts to sixth century editors rather than to storytellers and editors of earlier centuries who introduced changes into the texts they learned and transmitted. He also demonstrates how Babylonian rabbis interacted with the non-rabbinic Jewish world, often in the form of the incorporation of centuries-old non-rabbinic Jewish texts into the developing Talmud, rather than via the encounter with actual non-rabbinic Jews in the streets and marketplaces of Babylonia. Most of these texts were "domesticated" prior to their inclusion in the Babylonian Talmud, which was generally accomplished by means of the rabbinization of the non-rabbinic texts. Rabbis transformed a story's protagonists into rabbis rather than kings or priests, or portrayed them studying Torah rather than engaging in other activities, since Torah study was viewed by them as the most important, perhaps the only important, human activity. Kalmin's arguments shed new light on rabbinic Judaism in late antique society. This book will be invaluable to any student or scholar of this period.
Book Description
New York's urban neighborhoods are full of young would-be emcees who aspire to "keep it real" and restaurants like Sylvia's famous soul food eatery that offer a taste of "authentic" black culture. In these and other venues, authenticity is considered the best way to distinguish the real from the phony, the genuine from the fake. But in Real Black, John L. Jackson Jr. proposes a new model for thinking about these issues—racial sincerity.
Jackson argues that authenticity caricatures identity as something imposed on people, imprisoning them within stereotypes: an African American high school student who excels in the classroom, for instance, might be dismissed as "acting white." On the other hand, sincerity, as Jackson defines it, imagines authenticity as an incomplete measuring stick, an analytical model that attempts to deny people agency in their search for identity.
Drawing on more than ten years of ethnographic research in and around New York City, Jackson offers a kaleidoscope of subjects and stories that directly and indirectly address how race is negotiated in today's world—including tales of book-vending numerologists, urban conspiracy theorists, corrupt police officers, mixed-race neo-Nazis, and gospel choirs forbidden to catch the Holy Ghost. Jackson records and retells their interconnected sagas, all the while attempting to reconcile these stories with his own crisis of identity and authority as an anthropologist terrified by fieldwork. Finding ethnographic significance where mere mortals see only bricks and mortar, his invented alter ego Anthroman takes to the streets, showing how race is defined and debated, imposed and confounded every single day.
Customer Reviews:
would be more interesting.........2007-05-07
if the author had any writing talent. i found it to be a waste of my time as the authors main points are common sense. the majority of the book is mind numbing filler in my opinion and completely unoriginal with the exception of authors ability to expose his mental deficiencies.
check out Frank Wu's 'Yellow' if you want an insightful look into what race means in America.
Sincerity Revisted.......2006-09-27
My frequent 8 year-old verbal skirmishes with my parents often ended with my reluctant capitulation. Each altercation was unfailingly followed by one parent that incessantly prodded me to apologize to the other. While I was surely not penitent, I still spewed the defeated words of "I'm sorry" through clenched teeth in order to ensure the restoration of peace and sanity in the household. Was it an authentic apology? Surely. Was it a sincere apology? Far from it.
John Jackson extrapolates upon these often complicated notions of authenticity and sincerity and extends them into the discourse of contemporary American race relations. Though Jackson's SAT-word infused jargon may be underappreciated by non-academics in the field, he nonetheless establishes eloquent and critical arguments about the notion of racial sincerity that can be appreciated by both scholars and non-scholars alike.
Jackson presents a fresh look of the concept of black authenticity through the new viewing "lens" of sincerity. He maneuvers beyond the traditional theories of racial authentication by use of several so-called real characters that he encounters throughout his ethnographic adventures in New York. Jackson's selection and subsequent juxtaposition of opposing characters, beliefs, and identities is done elegantly, and serves to further support this idea of racial sincerity.
The author presents this view of sincerity as an affront to the commonly accepted belief of authenticity as the defining factor in the validation of one's racial identity. Leo Felton, a black white supremacist, serves as one of Jackson's most prominent examples. Felton is a neo-Nazi skinhead who was arrested in Boston for trying to pass off counterfeit bills at a local convenience store, but was in fact discovered to be planning a much more sinister plot to blow-up Jewish monuments throughout the city [19]. Further investigation revealed the shocking truth; this Aryan racist was in fact of mixed-race black ancestry. How could this happen? Felton's answer was simple. He wasn't living a lie, but rather living a more significant racial truth. He may have been materially black, but spiritually and soulfully white [19]. Jackson challenges the reader to consider this new twist on an age-old dilemma. What is real racial identity? Could it be more than simply a predetermined set of genetic coding in our DNA? Or even beyond the amount of melanin in our skin?
Tyrone, a talented young black man with a magnificent singing voice, unconsciously emerges at the center of controversy at a local New York high school's gospel concert. One's sincerity, as an internalized and opaque concept, cannot be validated as truth or duplicity to the outside world without the presence of a certain performance. In Tyrone's case, the storm of debate revolved around the sincerity of his vocal performances. His unforgettable vocal prowess was interrupted mid-concert by the spiritual infusion of the Holy Spirit. Tyrone's so-called "nervous" body and the jutting, gesticulating, dancing, shouting, shaking, twitching, convulsing, and wailings of "Sweet Jesus!" that followed his capitulation to the Holy Ghost was called into question by the school's principal. This young man's performance was soon met by an affront of administrative action; Tyrone's sincerity was deemed false. The principal regarded Tyrone's performance unsuitable in the context of a high school gospel performance, and in turn established firm boundaries between appropriate and inappropriate behavior. Jackson explores how this "confinement" of sincerity's expression can be extrapolated into the realm of racial sincerities. He poses the challenge of understanding racial social "scripts" under this new definition of sincerity and leads one to wonder if our own sincerities are becoming trapped within the confines of our predetermined racial "scripts."
Jackson leads us to question this notion of a racial "script" as one that challenges the sincerity of any racial performance. Is sincerity, as an inherently private and opaque experience, merely a following the racial "script" or truly acting on its own convictions? Furthermore, what is more important? An external validation of a person's racial identity (whether through performance or blood lineage), or the internal true self that one subscribes to? To complicate things even further, how do we evaluate those who are truly sincere about one aspect of their prescribed social "script" but not another? Should they be declared real or not?
Jackson himself can serve as proof of the difficulties of this notion of sincerity. He addresses his own insecurities with ethnography by commenting on the phenomenon of "ethnographobia," a fear of ethnographic partiality and the wavering impossibility of never capturing the elusive real in print. By incorporating the help of Anthroman, a "cross between Harry Potter and Huckleberry Finn, less Superman than Blankman," [25] he was able to envision a means to "step outside" himself and become "fearless about social research by visualizing myself protected from harm by my own superhuman powers of observation and analysis." [25] Nonetheless, Jackson's retreat to the powers of Anthroman leads the reader to wonder about his real voice. The interposition of anthropological terminology alongside his ebonics infused speech leaves one to ponder his sincerity as an anthropologist. Jackson's Duke University degree and accomplished academic record validates and authenticates him as a real scholar of anthropology, but his momentary "slips" into the very world which he studies evokes some doubt about his sincerity. Which is Jackson's real voice? As the controversial and ambiguously authentic rapper Eminem would say, will the real John Jackson please stand up?
While Jackson develops a powerful argument by posing sincerity as a challenge to authenticity, several questions remain unanswered. Sincerity is posed as an acceptance of "mutual impermeability" and the reading of "the other darkly" [86]. Although Jackson condemns the privileging of authenticity as more real than sincerity, he essentially fails to establish its applicability outside the theoretical academic realm. As a colorless, tasteless, invisible concept, sincerity finds no validation in the real world. We live in a society that is driven by its preoccupation with the authentic, the real. Authenticity is what people crave, as evidenced through the portrait of African Ancestry Incorporated, a New York company that specializes in offering tangible proof (via DNA testing and complete with a certificate) of African Ancestry to Black Americans throughout the country. Measures such as these are what predicate truth to the masses. Without this ability to express these ideals as interpersonal and wordly, sincerity becomes lost in the convoluted world of academic imagination and loses much of the ability to transform contemporary American race relations.
The question of sincerity's multiplicity also poses a challenge to Jackson's arguments. Multiple layers of racial sincerity can, in fact, coexist. What does sincerity mean to a person who feels sincerity towards one aspect of their racial identity but not another? For example, how would Jackson's argument have been altered had the white supremacist Leo Felton sincerely believed in the importance of his black genealogy? Is it impossible for an Aryan racist black man to be simultaneously proud of his African blood lineage? While unlikely, it is certainly possible. A narrow and bipolar narrative on authenticity overlooks these exceptions to the rule.
In any case, Jackson still succeeds in stressing the importance "seeing" beyond the transparent and into the realm of the opaque that resides within each and every one of us. He introduces a fresh and undeniably real way of exploring the issue of racial identity into a field that is often overrun with disagreement, and offers some hope as to its power as a mediating force in American society. He serves to remind us of the external forces that confine us in our pursuit to form our own racial identities, while simultaneously empowering us to create our own destinies through the vehicle of sincerity. "Sincerity's organizing principle maintains that the erstwhile racial object always knows more about itself, its insides, than the external authenticator." [227]
Jackson's Real Black is a worthwhile read for any enthusiastic of racial studies. Just don't forget to use a dictionary, and remember, "Hate the game, not the playa."
A Sincere Challenge to the Theory of Racial Identity.......2006-09-15
While television scripts instruct the actors where to be and what to say, real life scripts teach us how to determine who belongs to a certain group and who does not. These latter, everyday scripts are stringent stereotypical outlines of expected physical and personal attributes, based on race, gender and other immediately identifiable characteristics. They allow us to judge the legitimacy of one another's actions and group memberships without any information other than what is visible. These scripts are easy to use and govern what we think of as authentic, but are they the best way to differentiate between what is real and fake?
John L. Jackson Jr. tackles that question in reference to racial scripts in his book Real Black: Adventures in Racial Sincerity and answers in the negative. This book introduces his concept of racial sincerity, which contrasts and challenges the scripts that lead to monolithic notions of racial authenticity. Through searching ethnographic studies of race and identity carried out in Harlem and Brooklyn, Jackson presents the reader with stories that defy the scripts they use every day, opening minds to a new perception of race.
Jackson received his Ph.D. in Anthropology from Columbia University and is currently a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. He is very familiar with New York City, having done research there for his previous book, Harlem World: Doing Race and Class in Contemporary Black America. This focus on the familiar does not limit the scope of his work though. His argument for sincerity's adaptability over authenticity's strict definitions is easily applicable to other situations in a country that so frequently uses "these scripts as easy shorthand for serious causal analysis," (13) so all readers will find this book relevant.
By far, the stories told by Real Black are the book's strengths. Examples include black Jewish conspiracy theorists who reject all other religions and races, a teenager who uses race to justify not enlisting post-9/11 and a middle class Harlem restaurant surrounded by scenes of urban blight. Jackson's carefully selected and decidedly meaningful profiles--of people, groups and situations that simply do not fit within authenticity's boundaries--are highly interesting and make strong, easily understandable arguments for sincerity. This is crucial because in some sections of the book, the intellectual depth of the material and Jackson's diction prove difficult to access for those without a background in anthropology.
For example, the average reader may not be able to follow the contention that race is about "authenticating others who concomitantly escape solitary confinement within the pre-scripted categories that others impose." (17) However, when Jackson profiles Leo Felton, who was born to a black father and a white mother but chose to act as "a white, neo-Nazi skinhead who attacked black people because of their race," (19) we can better understand his point. Because Felton is biracial and hates minorities, the authentic scripts surrounding him collide, leaving the real to reside with his sincerely hateful racism. Through this story, the reader can see race differently, as "what you feel in your gut, what you sense in your soul" (20) instead of your family's heritage, and begin to allow for identity beyond racial scripts.
Another of Real Black's compelling profiles is of a high school gospel choir member who appears to "catch the Holy Spirit" during performances, although his principal forbids such an act. Since we do not know what actually happened to that student, should we believe his shaking is religiously inspired or instead consider his actions an elaborate show? Jackson admits here that "sincerity highlights a willful subject who can always, of course, be faking it," (85-86) but this leads to a question that might bother many readers: how can sincerity be preferred if it can always be faked? Jackson answers that despite this possibility of fraud, sincerity prevails because it rejects the scripts that forcefully and autocratically analyze others "from the outside, [as if] they cannot simply speak for themselves." (15) It is this freedom that sincerity gives; this newfound sense of individual control that places it ahead of authenticity's outdated rigidity and makes this book worth reading.
Beyond the intriguing stories, focusing on the author adds another dimension to the book. As mentioned before, Jackson's writing is exceedingly intellectual, thorough and eloquent. On the other hand, Jackson the researcher speaks much differently with his interviewees. His comment to a Brooklyn focus group that "Blood musta had some serious problems, kid," (102) is conspicuously different from his narrative style. This poses another question to the reader: which is Jackson's real voice? Whether included intentionally or not, this insight into the author's world gives a deeper understanding of another aspect of sincerity: its plurality. Both voices are in fact real, as Jackson writes sincerely as an academic and converses sincerely as an ethnographer. This additional layer presents the reader with even more to consider and further develops this book's depth.
In the end, Jackson uses the authenticity afforded him by his Ph.D. in Anthropology to sincerely try to modify overarching notions of scripted racial identity. The best analogy for this effort comes from his outstanding chapter on Hip-Hop identity, which focuses on rap artist Mos Def. He centers on Mos Def because the rapper's "hip-hop credibility (partly as a function of his articulated Brooklyn childhood and masterful lyricism) is beyond reproach." (189) In other words, he fits the authentic scripts assigned to hip hop stars. However, Mos Def takes this solidified authenticity and uses it to push the boundaries of these scripts. He sings, sincerely, in some songs and infuses rock music, again sincerely, in others. Through these efforts, "Mos Def opens up space for the black, male, hip-hop body to sing itself anew, to destroy the categories of expressive difference that make an authentic male rapper different from an authentic male singer" (188) or rock star. In effect, Jackson does the same with this book, creating a space for racial identity to be real without fitting into the traditional, authentic definitions of race.
Book Description
From a distinctive and powerful new voice, here is a novel of rare beauty and extraordinary accomplishment. Set at the turn of the century in the fictional Persian village of Omerijan, Persian Brides tells the magical story of two young girls--Flora and Nazie Ratoryan--and their many neighbors in the almond tree alley in Omerijan where they live. Fifteen-years-old, pregnant, and recently abandoned by her cloth-merchant husband, Flora longs desperately for the return of her unborn baby's father. Nazie consoles and pities her, and though she is still only a child of eleven, she yearns--just as desperately--for her own future marriage. Although the narrative spans only two days, it branches out and back, encompassing the lives and histories of many of Omerijan's inhabitants. A blend of fantasy and reality, the narrative forcefully conveys shocking cruelties endured by many of the characters while at the same time weaving a modern-day Arabic legend where snakes offer jewels in exchange for milk and death is thwarted by appeasing the village demons. Written with passion and elegance, Persian Brides brings a rich array of characters to life - telling of their hardships without ever losing the magic and wonder that is so much a part of the lives.
Customer Reviews:
WONDERFUL.......2006-04-15
A great novel. I could not put it down from start to finish. Funny, sexy, sharp with images and characters that were painfuly exact. I come from an Iranian Jewish family and lived there until I was three - it simply felt real: full of the all love and all the hate. Just wonderful.
Blah blah blah.......2005-01-18
This book was OK.. I didn't finish it. I got about halfway through. It doesn't have much of a plot and any plot it does have, does not move anywhere.
I lost track of characters names and after a while it just became uninteresting.
Its disappointing because the culture and the people is something I wanted to read about, but unfortunately this book does not present a plot! So that pretty much rules it out.
Sensationalism.......2004-07-27
My Father grew up in a small village in Persia during the same period that this book was supposed to be depicting. I can say with authority that the author is not very familiar with Iranian culture or sentiment.
Myths, curses, and neighborhood feuds personify this tale!.......2002-08-07
In a milieu where women's realms are very much relegated to the household and the children, it's easy to see where the world becomes very small and horizons don't extend much past the immediate environs. Miriam Hanoum's queendom is inhabited by nosey neighbors upon whom she is always wishing various plagues and ills because of past or anticipated injuries.
Miriam's daughter Flora is both her pride and her personal bane. She is pretty, spoiled, disobedient...and pregnant by a ne'er do well husband who has "skipped town". Nazie is the story's Cinderella, orphaned by Miriam's in-laws. Nazie is both servant and poor relative who is charitably taken in and becomes the family's obligation.
Lowly though her station she pines for marriage, a woman's natural role. However, her diminutive size, very young age and lack of menses make her ineligible. Moussa, the Hanoum's only son, will be her eventual spouse when proof can be established that she is physically ready, in other words can bear children.
The plot to this story is very thin. It is the cultural aspects and the humourous ways in which they are related that make it readable. Because it is a translation, the reader also wonders what's missing. What is it that I don't understand about time, place, culture and traditions that would give me more of a framework for additional appreciation?
The most enjoyable part of the novel comes at its very end, when poor, pregnant, bloated Flora goes in search of her smelly, ignorant, yet very wily groom. Dragging her heavy body to a seaside town where they honeymooned, Flora finds her husband...married to another woman! His excuses are very entertaining and even poor, non-too-bright Flora, "catches on" that she's been bamboozled.
All told, entertaining but sometimes hard to follow.
Another Land, Another Time.......2002-07-09
"Persian Brides' is the first novel by Israeli-born Dorit Rabinyan. Rabinyan was only 21 at the time that she wrote the book. The novel won the 1999 JEWISH QUARTERLY Wingate Literary Award.
"Persian Brides" takes the reader to a fictional Persian village in the early 1900's. The story focuses on 15 year old Flora, her 11 year old cousin Nazie, and their family, the Hanoums. Flora, is a headstrong girl, with perhaps a bit too much vanity. She rejects many suitors that come to her family proposing marriage. Nazie, who is treated like a servant by her aunt (Flora's mother), sees all this activity and longs to be married herself. The novel is full of culture and folklore and it was very interesting to read about the traditions and rituals that the family followed. The writing was beautiful and full of great imagery. I feel that the book would have been better with a touch more character and plot development. We read this book in my book group and there were mixed feelings on it. Some people didn't like it at all due to the limited plot and others enjoyed the writing and the magical imagery. I personally, love reading about other cultures and their traditions, folklore, superstitions and beliefs, so I found that aspect of this book very satisfying. One example of an interesting tradition in Flora's village is that mothers shout from the rooftop to let the neighborhood know when their daughter has their first menstruation. Flora's mother also performs nighttime inspections of Flora to be sure that she is still `pure'. Can you imagine?! And you thought your mother was bad! The novel will make you smile at some of the other traditions and superstitions that Flora and her family live by.
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Facing the Holocaust: Selected Israeli Fiction
Gila Ramras-Rauch
Manufacturer: Jewish Publication Society of America
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ASIN: 0827602537 |
Book Description
In this timely work Joseph Grassi studies the true meaning of peace found in the New Testament documents. The New Testament reveals that there was a struggle between true and deceptive meanings of peace around the time of Jesus and just after his death and resurrection and subsequent ascension.
The challenge presented to the world by the gospels and St. Paul is the image of Jesus, a Messiah of peace and non-violence--an image that challenges us in today's world. Peace can only be understood from the full image and meaning of shalom as found in the Hebrew Bible and the four gospels. This book studies this image along with practical responses to it that Jesus asks of those who are his true disciples. Here we will find hope, encouragement, and practical examples needed to transform our own lives and by example, the violent atmosphere of so much of the world that surrounds us.
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The Hebrew Bible and Science: Hebrew Bible Ethics, Science, Social Life
Harry Hafner
Manufacturer: Rutledge Books
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ASIN: 1582441839 |
Book Description
In The Hebrew Bible and Science, Dr. Harry Hafner has undertaken a unique and difficult task: to create a digest to the Hebrew Bible that offers illumination and a scientific comparison and interpretation of this difficult work. The book uses a rigorous set of scientific standards to analyze The Hebrew Bible from an ethical-moral, scientific, social and historical viewpoint. Dr. Hafner has coupled painstaking research with a wide-ranging inquiry to produce this comprehensive resource.
Meant for the faithful, the atheist, and anyone in between, The Hebrew Bible and Science covers an astonishing amount of ground, using science to generate a wholly new look at an ancient text. After setting forth a group of definitions and demonstrations easy to follow by the layman reader, the book goes on to discuss the nature of Judaism in a social context and to analyze the text from a scientific standpoint, including close study of a plethora of topics from Genesis to a glimpse of Jewish Oppression.
The Hebrew Bible and Science is an extensive, impressive work, delineating difficult concepts in articulate prose. It is, perhaps, the only book that has seamlessly referenced the Ten Commandments as axioms for the backbone of the celebrated text and finds a surprising reason to include results from Quantum Mechanics in the same paragraph. Inspired by the memory of his late mother's unwavering belief, Dr. Hafner has intertwined science and the base of Jewish faith to create a unique work, and in doing so, sheds light on one of the most important religious works of our time.
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Dan Miron, a professor of Hebrew at both Columbia University and Hebrew University in Jerusalem, explains in a scholarly 70-page introduction that Mendele, the book peddler, was not so much a pseudonym used by Sholem Yankev Abramovitsh as an alternative identity. Abramovitsh, already an established writer of sophisticated Hebrew criticism and short stories, created the character of Mendele in 1863 to allow him to write in vernacular Yiddish, which at that time was considered a barrier to modernity by intellectual cosmopolitan Jews. Later, Mendele's hilarious, digressive, and compassionate tales were recognized as classics of the language. Presented here are marvelous translations of the exploits of Benjamin the Third, a Jewish Don Quixote; and Fishke the Lame, a long-suffering beggar.
Book Description
The founding father of modern Yiddish fiction, Abramovitsh created a rich tapestry of small-town Jewish life in the Russian Pale of Settlement with stories full of humor, heart, and homespun truths. Here are two of his best-known and best-loved tales: "Fishke the Lame" and "Benjamin the Third."
Customer Reviews:
Would European Jewery Please Stand Up.......2001-07-27
In Jerusalem there is a short street called Mendele Mocher Sefarim Street. The street is in the heart of Jerusalem's bustling Jewish life. From its rooftops, one can see almost see across to the Temple Mount, the source of inspiration for Jews throughout the ages.
This volume contains within it some a critical analysis of Jewish life in 19th and early 20th century Europe. Focusing on the down-and-outs of Jewery, Mendele portrays a hypocritical society and one that is much to blame for its misery. Fishke the Lame is a heart wrenching tale. Built as a story within a story, in a manner reminisant of Kabalistic thinking, the book lambasts everything from the poor to Jewish learning and practice. Benjamine the Third is light-hearted and humorous, but the underlying themes are the same - the foolish Jews of Europe living in their insular world.
I wonder what Mendele would make of his namesake street?
For one that seemingly saw little value in the traditional life of European Jewery, would he be pleased that all around there are Jews whose commitment to the Law is unshaken by the barrage of criticism launched by the enlightened Jews of his age?
Despite its themes, this is a worthwhile volume for anyone who cares about the Jewish past and what it means for a jewish future.
Medieval Jewish life in fiction.......1999-10-22
This work is certainly a "must" for anyone interested in Jewish fiction. "Tales of Mendele, the Book Peddler" is a rich source of information about a Jewish life all too often forgotten and neglected, life amongst the Jewish vagabonds, rascals, the poorest of the poor. Even within the scoundrel of society you may find the deepest human feelings and faith in the values rooted in Jewish tradionts, here represented by the character Fishke the Lame. What a lovely character! The message is clear: because the Jewish community isolated itself from the rest of the world, a stigma was created which contributed to a growing prejudice against that same community. "The Brief Travels of Benjamin the Third" is indeed brief! Althogh some critics rightly draw a parallel with "Quijote and Sancho Panza," no doubts this novel falls short of Cervantes classic. The initial impetus of the work promises a great journey, but soon it dwindles and the reader is left with the impression the writer gave up and went about into other matters. An "unfinished symphony..."
Book Description
Social World of the Hebrew Prophets is an introduction to the Hebrew Prophets and the social world of which they spoke. Matthews examines ancient IsraelÂ's prophets chronologically, providing sketches of their historical contexts. He explains pertinent aspects of historical geography, economic conditions, and social forces that influence a prophetÂ's life and message. This analysis includes many of the images and metaphors a prophet used to communicate effectively. Thus, for example, the reader only skims the surface of a text without understanding what it meant to be a member of TekoaÂ's community of hill country farmers and herders, or what an exiled Levite from Anathoth experienced as a prophet in Jerusalem.
Customer Reviews:
So much more can be said!.......2005-01-04
Matthews's book is primarily a discussion of the historical times of the biblical prophets. Unlike similar books, Matthews begins with a brief but interesting outline of historical geography, which surprisingly is not integrated into the book. After a summary of the nature of Hebrew prophets the rest of the book moves through the canon from Moses to the post-exilic period. The book includes brief highlights of key topics and a glossary of key terms highlighted in the text. Both are great ideas but neither are strong features. Often the accentuated topics are no more than a list of related verses on the same issue or a parallel from ancient Near Eastern literature while glossary definitions are so brief they appear disconnected from the text.
Less emphasis upon the social world is found than expected by the title. The book provides a discussion of the basic message and the historical situation of each prophet with some emphasis upon well-known social concerns (justice) but far less on topics like international tensions, class struggles, or economic backgrounds.
One strength of Matthews is his handling of symbolism, which comes out in his discussion of Isaiah's Song of the Vineyard, (84-88), the symbolic use of clothing (93), and the city gate, (120). But over all, the book provides neither a strong discussion of the prophets nor their social setting.
Weak on Delivery.......2003-08-19
The promising title of Victor Matthew's book leads this reader to disappointment. There has been a good deal of sociological and social-world research on the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament in the last 25 years; precious little of it shows up in this book on the Israelite and Judean prophets.
After the requisite introductory materials on the definition of "prophet" and the like, the book settles in to offer primarily thematic treatment of the individual prophetic books, with occasional light excursions into history, historical geography, archaeology and the prominently-promised social world of these writers and rhetors of ancient Israel. Social world topics include very brief treatments of cognitive dissonance theory, the "egalitarian" ideal found in many prophetic books, and a somewhat more developed treatment of "enacted prophecy."
The topical treatment prevails. The Isaiah chapter, for example, offers section-headings like "Isaiah's Call," "Oracles of Warning," "Political Message," and "The Remnant." The "Oracles of Warning" section does contain a helpful discussion of the geographical and agricultural background to the famous "Song of the Vineyard" (Is a 5:1-7). This is one of the more interesting sections of the book.
Often the treatment is quite brief: Haggai and Zechariah together get four pages; Joel gets about 2.
The book seems to be intended for the lay-level or freshmen-level audience, but the title probably finds little appeal within that audience. Theologically, the book seeks a middle ground between historical-critical skepticism and conservative Protestant faith.
Books:
- Journal Of Rudolph Friederich Kurz: An Account Of His Experiences Among Fur Traders And American Indians On The Mississippi And Upper Missouri Rivers (Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletins)
- Jump at the Sun: Cinderella - Fairy Tale Classics (Jats 8x8)
- Literature of Travel and Exploration: An Encyclopedia
- Mein Kampf
- Mothering: Ideology, Experience, and Agency (Perspectives on Gender)
- Murder Most Royal: The Story of Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard
- Muses, Madmen, and Prophets: Rethinking the History, Science, and Meaning of Auditory Hallucination
- Ohne Heim - Ohne Grab: Die Geschichte Der Roma Und Sinti; [Mit Tabellen] (Atv)
- One Hundred Days: The Memoirs of the Falklands Battle Group Commander (Bluejacket Books Series)
- One Hundred Years of Solitude (Oprah's Book Club)
Books Index
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