Israel 201

A broad, sweeping volume that breaches the walls separating biblical and theological disciplines Biblical scholars and theologians engage an important question: Who is Israel’s God for Christian readers of the Old Testament? For Christians, Scripture is the Old and New Testament bound together in a single legacy. Contributors approach the question from multiple disciplinary vantage points. Essays on both Testaments focus on figural exegesis, critical exegesis, and the value of diachronic understandings of the Old Testament’s compositional history for the sake of a richer synchronic reading. This collection is offered in celebration of the life and work of Christopher R. Seitz. His rich and wide-ranging scholarly efforts have provided scholars and students alike a treasure trove of resources related to this critical question.

Reflects the rise of literature in modern-day Israel and the problematic reception of literature in America and within the American Jewish community. Israeli literature provides a unique lens for viewing the inner dynamics of this small but critically important society. In addition, its leading writers such as S. Y. Agnon, Yehuda Amichai, Amos Oz, and A. B. Yehoshua, among others, are recognized internationally as major world literary figures. Despite this international recognition, the rich literary tradition of Israeli literature has failed to reverberate and find significant readership or a following in America even among the American Jewish community. Alan L. Mintz traces the reception of Israeli literature in America from the 1970s to the present. He analyzes the influences that have shaped modern Israeli literature and reflects on the cultural differences that have impeded American and American Jewish appreciation of Israeli authors. Mintz then turns his attention to specific writers, examining their reception or lack thereof in America and places them within the emerging unfolding critical dialogue between the Israeli and American literary culture.

After creating man and woman, God's first recorded blessing upon them is "be fruitful and multiply." Like the blessings of food and health, the human experience of procreation is so common that we may overlook its importance within the biblical narrative. However, I Will Surely Multiply Your Offspring, a comprehensive examination of the progeny blessing, demonstrates that this motif is both prevalent and significant within the Old Testament by tracing its development throughout the redemptive-historical narrative. Viands identifies different progeny blessing traditions associated with the Abrahamic covenant, the Sinai covenant, and the new covenant, and describes their interrelationships as well as their relationship to the universal blessing first found in Genesis 1. This study lays the foundation for a biblical worldview of human proliferation, contributing to contemporary discussions concerning whether humans are obligated to bear children as well as procreation ethics.

Joel Chasnoff and Benji Lovitt pull back the curtain and show you the people, places, and phenomena that make the country truly unique, and that can happen "only in Israel." From Yom Kippur bike sales to Jerusalem's cat conundrum, shomer Shabbos car insurance to LGBTQ combat soldiers in the IDF, this is the Israel you haven't heard about.