The Feminine Messiah

In The Feminine Messiah, Ruth Kara-Ivanov Kaniel explores the theosophical revolution that is reflected by the identification of the figure of King David and the image of the divine presence, the Shekhina, in medieval kabbalistic literature.

DIVThe little-known story of the charismatic, utopian leader Octavia and her devoted followers in the interwar years/div

When she died in America at age forty-eight, having brought her faithful to a new land on the eve of the Revolution, she left behind a religious movement that was to have thousands of followers and become our most important and successful utopian community."--BOOK JACKET.

A timely and fascinating study of an early modern movement that transcended traditional Jewish gender paradigms and allowed women to express their spirituality freely in the public arena.

The little-known story of the charismatic, utopian leader Octavia and her devoted followers in the interwar yearsIn 1919, in the wake of the upheaval of World War I, a remarkable group of English women came up with their own solution to the world's grief: a new religion. At the heart of the Panacea Society was a charismatic and autocratic leader, a vicar's widow named Mabel Bartlrop. Her followers called her Octavia, and they believed that she was the daughter of God, sent to build the New Jerusalem in Bedford.When the last living members of the Panacea Society revealed to historian Jane Shaw their immense and painstakingly preserved archives, she began to reconstruct the story of a close-knit utopian community that grew to include seventy residents, thousands of followers, and an international healing ministry reaching 130,000 people. Shaw offers a detailed portrait of Octavia and describes the faith of her devoted followers who believed they would never die. Vividly told, by turns funny and tragic, Octavia, Daughter of God is about a moment at the advent of modernity, when a generation of newly empowered women tried to re-make Christianity in their own image, offering a fascinating window into the anxieties and hopes of the interwar years.

In The Messianic Hope, book six of the New American Commentary Studies in Bible & Theology series, Jewish Studies professor Michael Rydelnik puts forth a thesis that the Old Testament was intended by its authors to be read as a messianic primer. He explains at length how the text reveals significant direct messianic prophecy when read in its final form. Users will find this topical study an excellent extension of the long-respected New American Commentary series.

One of the worl'ds leading scholars of Jewish thought examines the long tradition of Jewish messianism and mystical experience.

"The story is told by Mongolian elders that some twenty-odd years ago a message was sent down from Mt. Darjeeling to Bombay that a woman child was to be born in America as God's daughter cum messenger. Born of wealthy white parents, an only child, she was brought up against a backdrop of Ivy League well-to-do and moneyed Americans"--Page v.