This work is of importance to anyone with an interest in whether women, especially Jewish Ashkenazic women, had a Renaissance. It details the participation in the Querelle des Femmes and Power of Women topos as expressed in this hagiographic work on the lives of biblical women including the apocryphal Judith. The Power of Women topos is discussed in the context of the reception of the Amazon myth in Jewish literature and the domestication of powerful female figures. In the Querelle our author pleads with husbands for generosity and respect for their wives’ piety. Whether women living in the Renaissance experienced a renaissance is a debate raging since Joan Kelly raised the possibility that this historic phenomenon essentially did not affect women. The question is raised with reference to the women depicted in Many Pious Women. These topics find their expression in a richly annotated translation with extensive introductory essays of a unique 16th–century manuscript in Western Yiddish (Judeo–German) written in Italy. The text will also be useful to scholars of the history of Yiddish and theorists of its development. Women everywhere, gender and Renaissance scholars, Yiddishists and linguists will all welcome this work now available for the very first time in the original text with an English translation.

This book explores the characterization of Jeroboam in 1 Kings 11-14, tracing the rise and fall of this notorious figure. Close analysis of the Hebrew text reveals a literary achievement of great subtlety and suggests the arrival of Jeroboam's kingship can be read as a direct response to scandalous activity within the Solomonic empire.

Given the recent interest in the emotions presupposed in early religious literature, it has been thought useful to examine in this volume how the Jews and early Christians expressed their feelings within the prayers recorded in some of their literature. Specialists in their fields from academic institutions around the world have analysed important texts relating to this overall theme and to what is revealed with regard to such diverse topics as relations with God, exegesis, education, prophecy, linguistic expression, feminism, happiness, grief, cult, suicide, non-Jews, Hellenism, Qumran and Jerusalem. The texts discussed are in Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic and are important for a scientific understanding of how Rabbinic Judaism and Early Christianity developed their approaches to worship, to the construction of their theology and to the feelings that lay behind their religious ideas and practices. The articles contribute significantly to an historical understanding of how Jews maintained their earlier traditions but also came to terms with the ideology of the dominant Hellenistic culture that surrounded them.

Despite the world-wide association of music and dance with religion, this is the first full-length study of the subject from a global perspective. The work consists of 3,816 references divided among 37 chapters. It covers tribal, regional, and global religions and such subjects as shamanism, liturgical dance, healing, and the relationship of music, mathematics, and mysticism. The referenced materials display such diverse approaches as analysis of music and dance, description of context, direct experience, observation, and speculation. The references address topics from such disciplines as sociology, anthropology, history, linguistics, musicology, ethnomusicology, theology, medicine, semiotics, and computer technology. Chapter 1 consists of general references to religious music and dance. The remaining 36 chapters are organized according to major geographical areas. Most chapters begin with general reference works and bibliographies, then continue with topics specific to the region or religion. This book will be of use to anyone with an interest in music, dance, religion, or culture.