2000 Catholic Press Association Award Winner! Interpreting the Bible respectfully is a cross-cultural enterprise. For those who seek to understand the Bible as a document from the ancient Mediterranean world and communicate it to people in other cultures, The Cultural Dictionary of the Bible is an ideal tool. Scripture expert John Pilch gives the modern Bible reader an appreciation for the world in which each book of the Bible originated and an in-depth look at the Mediterranean personalities who populate the pages of the Bible. With more than 100 distinctive, Middle-Eastern notions, from Abba" to "Work," this collection provides a cultural system of shared interpretations of persons, things, and events relating to the Mediterranean region. By applying a social-scientific approach to interpreting the Bible, Pilch shows how a multi-cultural understanding, enriched with the discoveries and insights taken from contemporary anthropological studies, can bemused to examine the distinctive, Middle Eastern cultural world of the Bible. Since each article discusses a variety of persons, things, and events under its title, the alphabetized tale of contents presents a comprehensive list of these subjects for ready reference. Uppercase entries identify complete articles; lowercase entries list some of the related topics treated in the articles. A bibliography is provided at the end of each major article. A list of basic resources at the end of the volume presents a selection of dictionaries, atlases, and similar books for supplemental information on each topic. Preachers, readers, RCIA participants and students alike will appreciate the index to the Sunday Lectionary readings for the full three-year cycle that is provided and its citation of the words defined in the dictionary that appear in the given readings. Includes illustrations of appropriate entries. Entries include: ABBA Agriculture Alternate Reality ANGER Animals Antonia Fortress Bailey Beard Bread Blindness Boat Burial Carpenter Caves Centurion Christians CLOTHES COINS Corban COSMETICS AND JEWELRY Culture DANCE DEATH DECEPTION AND LYING DRINKING AND EATING Earrings Eating Emotions Evil Eye Eyes Fishing FORGIVENESS Fortresses Frankincense Goats Good Shepherd HAIR Hands HEALING Heaven HOLY MAN Honey Honor and Shame HOUSE HUMOR Individualism Insider/Outsider Israelite Jewelry JEWS ANDCHRISTIANS John the Baptist Judeans Laughter Life Literary Forms Lying MILITARY Milk MUSIC Mother Nazirite NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION Oath Oil Perfume Peter's House Poor PRAYER Puns Rabbi Revenge Roads Salt Satan Sea SECRECY Shalom Shame SHEEP AND GOATS SICKNESS Sign Sin Singing SKY SMELLS AND TASTES Sorghum Space SPIRITS Stonemason SYMBOLISM Tastes Teeth Tents Translation TRAVEL Vengeance Water WEATHER Wheat Wine Wool WORK

Consumers of culture in the modern world - whether high culture or popular culture - discover before long that the Bible, its tales and its characters and its idioms, is woven into the culture. Most of us wish we knew the Bible better, and are often at a loss to know what the biblical source or reference is to phrases or ideas we encounter. The editors of this unique volume have seen the need for an easy-to-use reference guide for those needing to track down information on characters, phrases, places, and concepts originating in the Bible. They assembled 200 scholars to write 1000 encyclopaedia entries on such biblical backgrounds to Western culture. The contributors to the volume have in mind readers without the specialization of formal biblical studies, and even those not familiar with the Bible's basic content.

The Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible gathers nearly 5,000 alphabetically ordered articles that thoroughly yet clearly explain all the books, persons, places, and significant terms found in the Bible. The Dictionary also explores the background of each biblical book and related writings and discusses cultural, natural, geographical, and literary phenomenae matters that Bible students at all levels may encounter in reading or discussion. Nearly 600 first-rate Bible authorities have contributed to the Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible. Intended as a tool for practical Bible use, this illustrated dictionary reflects recent archaeological discoveries and the breadth of current biblical scholarship, including insights from critical analysis of literary, historical, sociological, and other methodological issues. The editorial team has also incorporated articles that explore and interpret important focuses of biblical theology, text and transmission, Near Eastern archaeology, extrabiblical writings, and pertinent ecclesiastical traditions - all of which help make the Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible the most comprehensive and up-to-date one-volume Bible dictionary on the market today.

This reference work explores the images, symbols, motifs, metaphors, figures of speech, and literary patterns found in the Bible. With over 800 articles by over 100 expert contributors, this is an inviting, enlightening and indispensable companion to the reading, study, contemplation and enjoyment of the Bible.

Provides a description of the element or image, shows examples of how it is used in the biblical text, and presents photographs and maps that further illustrate the ideas.

Exploring the major themes and issues of the Pentateuch, this encyclopedic work offers authoritative overviews, detailed examinations and new insights from the world of the ancient Near East. Edited by T. Desmond Alexander and David W. Baker.

The writings of the prophets make up over a quarter of the Old Testament. But perhaps no other portion of the Old Testament is more misunderstood by readers today. For some, prophecy conjures up knotted enigmas, opaque oracles and terrifying visions of the future. For others it raises expectations of a plotted-out future to be reconstructed from disparate texts. And yet the prophets have imprinted the language of faith and imagination with some of its most sublime visions of the future - nations streaming to Zion, a lion lying with a lamb, and endlessly fruiting trees on the banks of a flowing river. We might view the prophets as stage directors for Israel's unfolding drama of redemption. Drawing inspiration from past acts in that drama and invoking fresh words from its divine author, these prophets speak a language of sinewed poetry, their words and images arresting the ear and detonating in the mind. For when Yahweh roars from Zion and thunders from Jerusalem, the pastures of the shepherds dry up, the crest of Carmel withers, and the prophetic word buffets those selling the needy for a pair of sandals. The Dictionary of the Old Testament: Prophets is the only reference book of its kind. Not only does it focus exclusively on the prophetic books; it also plumbs their imagery of mountains and wilderness, flora and fauna, temple and Zion. It maps and guides us through topics such as covenant and law, exile and deliverance, forgiveness and repentance, and the Day of the Lord. Here the nature of prophecy is searched out in its social, historical, literary and psychological dimensions as well as its synchronic spread of textual links and associations. And the formation of the prophetic books into their canonical collection, including the Book of the Twelve, is explored and weighed for its significance. Then too, contemporary approaches such as canonical criticism, conversation analysis, editorial/redaction criticism, feminist interpretation, literary approaches and rhetorical criticism are summed up and assayed. Even the afterlife of these great texts is explored in articles on the history of interpretation as well as on their impact in the New Testament.