Religious Responses to Political Crises in Jewish and Christian Tradition [Hardcover]

This book continues a series of volumes containing the papers read at an annual conference held in turn by Tel Aviv and Bochum in the course of a co-operation between the Lester and Sally Entin Faculty of Humanities, Chaim Rosenberg School of Jewish Studies, the Department of Bible of Tel Aviv University and the Faculty of Protestant Theology in the University of the Ruhr, Bochum, since 1985.

As a collection the book focuses on the important role religious views have played in critical moments during Jewish and Christian history. It argues for the significance that the role religious beliefs play in political and economic decision-making and the formation of worldviews; as well as demonstrating common convictions held by both Jewish and Christians that can be used as a foundation to find similar answers to actual problems.

Focusing on the conference held in March 2005 at Tel Aviv, the book contains a collected biography of the literature quoted as well as a list of standard abbreviations.

Part I. The Bible and the Biblical Period
1. Frank Polak, Samuel and the Memory of the Religious Opposition to the Instauration of the Monarchy
2. Henning Graf Reventlow, A Religious Alternative to a Political Response to a Severe Political Crisis. King Ahas and the Prophet Isaiah
3. Yair Hoffman, Patterns of Religious Response to National Crisis In the Hebrew Bible and Some Methodological Reflections
4. Ed Greenstein, The Book of Lamentations: Response to Destruction or Ritual of Rebuilding?
5. Oded Lipschits, Nehemiah's Wall: Religious and Sociological Aspects
Part II. The Postbiblical Period
1. Bilha Nitzan, The Reality and Hopes of the Qumran Community as Response to Crises in Second Temple Judaism
2. Elke Toenges, The Image of God as Father as a Response to Political Crises in the First Century B.C.E.
3. Vered Noam, The Disappearance of the Divine Spirit or a Miraculous Victory? Opposing Religious Interpretl£4