John Joseph Collins

In this clarifying essay, renowned biblical scholar John Collins delves into the lethal side of the biblical text, asking whether the Bible endorses or even foments violence and how its many violent texts may best be understood in today's volatile religious and political context. This work is based on his Presidential Address to the Society of Biblical Literature.

Does the Bible Justify Violence?

John James Collins

An analysis of the messiah figure in ancient literary works, including the Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls, examines the significance of messianic thought, provides insight into Jewish apocalypticism, and identifies messianic similarities in multiple religions.

The Messiahs of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Other Ancient Literature

The Scepter and the Star

Donald Senior

John J. Collins

Includes "A concordance to the New American Bible" (p. 1757-1851) not present in the College ed.

The New American Bible, Including the Revised New Testament and Psalms, Translated from the Original Languages with Critical Use of All the Ancient Sources

The Catholic Study Bible

The Apocalyptic Imagination by John Collins is one of the most widely praised studies of Jewish apocalyptic literature ever written. This second edition represents a complete rewriting and a new chapter on the Dead Sea Scrolls.h

An Introduction to Jewish Apocalyptic Literature

The Apocalyptic Imagination

Peter W. Flint

Cameron VanEpps

International experts offer fresh insights into: (1) Review of Scholarship and Context; (2) Near Eastern Milieu; (3) Interpretation of Specific Passages; (4) Social Setting; (5) Literary Context, Including Qumran; (6) Reception in Judaism and Christianity; (7) Textual History; and (8) Theology of Daniel.

Composition and Reception

The Book of Daniel

Michael A. Fishbane

This is a psychological and historical exploration of belief in a spirit world, imperceptible to the senses, as a pervasive and deeply-rooted characteristic of religion.

Death, Ecstasy, and Other Worldly Journeys

With the full publication of the Dead Sea Scrolls, fresh analysis of the evidence presented can be ? and indeed, should be ? made. Beyond the Qumran Community does just that, reaching a surprising conclusion: the sect described in the Dead Sea Scrolls developed later than has usually been supposed and was never confined to the site of Qumran. / John J. Collins here aims to deconstruct ?the Qumran community? and show that the sectarian documents actually come from a text spread throughout the land. He first examines the Community Rule or Yahad. Rather than confirming the general assumption that this rulebook relates to a monastic-style community living at the site of Qumran, Collins finds instead that the Essene accounts themselves emphasize that they had settlements in every city. He also considers the Teacher of Righteousness, a pivotal figure in the Essene movement, discovering that he was probably active in the first century bce rather than in the Maccabean era. After examining the available evidence, Collins concludes that it is, in fact, overwhelmingly likely that the site of Qumran housed merely a single settlement of this widespread movement.

The Sectarian Movement of the Dead Sea Scrolls

Beyond the Qumran Community

Daniel, with an Introduction to Apocalyptic Literture is Volume XX of The Forms of the Old Testament Literature, a series that aims to present a form-critical analysis of every book and each unit in the Hebrew Bible. Fundamentally exegetical, the FOTL volumes examine the structure, genre, setting, and intention of the biblical literature in question. They also study the history behind the form-critical discussion of the material, attempt to bring consistency to the terminology for the genres and formulas of the biblical literature, and expose the exegetical process so as to enable students and pastors to engage in their own analysis and interpretation of the Old Testament texts. In his introduction to Jewish apocalyptic literature, John J. Collins examines the main characteristics and discusses the setting and intention of apocalyptic literature. Collins begins his discussion of Daniel with a survey of the book's anomalies and an examination of the bearing of form criticism on them. He goes on to discuss the book's place in the canon and the problems with its coherence and bilingualism. Collins's section-by-section commentary provides a structural analysis (verse-by-verse) of each section, as well as discussion of its genre, setting, and intention. The book includes bibliographies and a glossary of genres and formulas that offers concise definitions with examples and bibliography.

With an Introduction to Apocalyptic Literature

Daniel

Apocalypticism arose in ancient Judaism in the last centuries BCE and played a crucial role in the rise of Christianity. It is not only of historical interest: there has been a growing awareness, especially since the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, of the prevalence of apocalyptic beliefs in the contemporary world. To understand these beliefs, it is necessary to appreciate their complex roots in the ancient world, and the multi-faceted character of the phenomenon of apocalypticism. The Oxford Handbook of Apocalyptic Literature is a thematic and phenomenological exploration of apocalypticism in the Judaic and Christian traditions. Most of the volume is devoted to the apocalyptic literature of antiquity. Essays explore the relationship between apocalypticism and prophecy, wisdom and mysticism; the social function of apocalypticism and its role as resistance literature; apocalyptic rhetoric from both historical and postmodern perspectives; and apocalyptic theology, focusing on phenomena of determinism and dualism and exploring apocalyptic theology's role in ancient Judaism, early Christianity, and Gnosticism. The final chapters of the volume are devoted to the appropriation of apocalypticism in the modern world, reviewing the role of apocalypticism in contemporary Judaism and Christianity, and more broadly in popular culture, addressing the increasingly studied relation between apocalypticism and violence, and discussing the relationship between apocalypticism and trauma, which speaks to the underlying causes of the popularity of apocalyptic beliefs. This volume will further the understanding of a vital religious phenomenon too often dismissed as alien and irrational by secular western society.

The Oxford Handbook of Apocalyptic Literature

A collection of essays dealing with apocalypticism, Daniel, the Sibylline oracles, Dead Sea Scrolls and wisdom and apocalypticism. Two of the essays appear here for the first time. This publication has also been published in paperback, please click here for details.

Seers, Sybils and Sages in Hellenistic-Roman Judaism

Adela Yarbro Collins

This book traces the history of the idea that the king and later the messiah is Son of God, from its origins in ancient Near Eastern royal ideology to its Christian appropriation in the New Testament. Both highly regarded scholars, Adela Yarbro Collins and John J. Collins argue that Jesus was called "the Son of God" precisely because he was believed to be the messianic king. This belief and tradition, they contend, led to the identification of Jesus as preexistent, personified Wisdom, or a heavenly being in the New Testament canon. However, the titles Jesus is given are historical titles tracing back to Egyptian New Kingdom ideology. Therefore the title "Son of God" is likely solely messianic and not literal. King and Messiah as Son of God is distinctive in its range, spanning both Testaments and informed by ancient Near Eastern literature and Jewish noncanonical literature.

Divine, Human, and Angelic Messianic Figures in Biblical and Related Literature

King and Messiah as Son of God

The most comprehensive English-language commentary on Daniel in 65 years. Collins situates the Old Testament in its historical context and offers a full explanation of the text, especially its religious imagery.

A Commentary on the Book of Daniel

In this collection of new essays, more than thirty leading scholars from Europe, North America and Israel examine the Composition and Reception of Daniel in eight sections: "Review of Scholarship and Context (J.J. Collins, M. Knibb); "Near Eastern Milieu (K. van der Toorn, S. Paul, J. Walton); "Interpretation of Specific Passages (D. Dimant, R. Kratz, A. Lacocque, E. Haag, J.-W. van Henten); "Social Setting (R. Albertz, S. Beyerle, L. Grabbe, P. Davies, D. Smith-Christopher); "Literary Context, including Qumran (J.-W. Wesselius, G. Boccaccini, P.W. Flint, L. Stuckenbruck, E. Eshel, J. Hobbins); "Reception in Judaism and Christianity (K. Koch, C. Rowland, U. Gle_mer, C.A. Evans, J.D.G. Dunn, M. Henze); "Textual History (E. Ulrich, A.A. Di Lella, K. Jenner) and "Theology of Daniel (J. Goldingay, J. Barton, J. Lust). This is the second volume to appear (following "Writing and Reading the Scroll of Isaiah. Studies of an Interpretative Tradition) in the collection "The Formation and Interpretation of Old Testament Literature, part of the series "Supplements to Vetus Testamentum. Further volumes in preparation on the composition and reception of Old Testament books include Genesis, Leviticus, Kings, Psalms, and Proverbs. This publication has also been published in paperback, please click here for details.

John Joseph Collins

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