Exile is usually defined as the time one lives elsewhere, involuntarily separated from home. However, exile can also be conceptualized more broadly as a process already starting at home, while traveling into exile and/or before arriving in the place of exile. This volume sheds detailed light on those early stages of exile. Exil wird gewöhnlich als die Zeit definiert, in der man unfreiwillig getrennt von der Heimat anderswo lebt. Exil kann aber weiter gefasst auch als Prozess begriffen werden, der bereits in der Heimat, unterwegs und/oder vor der Ankunft im Exilland anfängt. Dieser Band geht den Vorstufen des Exils detailliert nach.

Ernst Papanek was an Austrian pedagogue who worked with Jewish refugee children in France in 1939/40, before he was forced to leave to the United States. There, he nevertheless continued his work to point out the impact of war, genocide and displacement on children, who were often forgotten in major discussions about the war and the losses it had created. This volume provides a short biographical outline of Papanek and a theoretical discussion about the impact of war and genocide on children who are forced out of their lives and who were not only physically displaced as a consequence. The second part of the book assembles some of Papanek's important texts about the children he had worked with and for, to make his thoughts and important considerations accessible for a broader academic and non-academic public alike.

The volume On Stone and Scroll addresses biblical exegesis from the historical, archaeological, theological, and linguistic perspectives, and discusses many of the issues central to the interpretation of the Bible. It is written by colleagues and former students of Graham Davies in his honour on his retirement. It covers three main areas central to his work: inscriptional and archaeological, including socio-historical, studies; theological and exegetical studies, especially of Exodus and the Prophets; and semantic studies. A lasting focus of Graham’s work has been the combination of sources that he has utilised in the interpretation of the biblical text. His approach has been distinctive in biblical studies in his combining of archaeological, inscriptional, linguistic and theological evidence for a deeper understanding of text. His work has ranged from archaeological studies, through an edition of Hebrew inscriptions, contributions to Hebrew semantics and biblical theology, to exegesis of the Pentateuch and Prophets. The essays in this volume reflect that broad view of Old Testament study.

David Janzen argues that the Book of Chronicles is a document with a political message as well as a theological one and moreover, that the book's politics explain its theology. The author of Chronicles was part of a 4th century B.C.E. group within the post-exilic Judean community that hoped to see the Davidides restored to power, and he or she composed this work to promote a restoration of this house to the position of a client monarchy within the Persian Empire. Once this is understood as the political motivation for the work's composition, the reasons behind the Chronicler's particular alterations to source material and emphasis of certain issues becomes clear. The doctrine of immediate retribution, the role of 'all Israel' at important junctures in Judah's past, the promotion of Levitical status and authority, the virtual joint reign of David and Solomon, and the decision to begin the narrative with Saul's death can all be explained as ways in which the Chronicler tries to assure the 4th century assembly that a change in local government to Davidic client rule would benefit them. It is not necessary to argue that Chronicles is either pro-Davidic or pro-Levitical; it is both, and the attention Chronicles pays to the Levites is done in the service of winning over a group within the temple personnel to the pro-Davidic cause, just as many of its other features were designed to appeal to other interest groups within the assembly.

Contributors: Markus Barth Ford Lewis Battles John Bright Walter J. Burghardt, S.J. William R. Farmer Roland Mushat Frye Donald E. Gowan Dikran Y. Hadidian J. Rowe Hinsey W. F. Hobbie A. M. Hunter Halbert M. Jones James L. Mays Roland E. Murphy O. Carm Robert S. Paul Bo Reicke Dietrich Ritschl Culbert G. Rutenber Eduard Schweizer Richard Stauffer Wilhelm Vischer James A. Walther H. Eberhard von Waldow

A COMPANION TO THE ACHAEMENID PERSIAN EMPIRE A comprehensive review of the political, cultural, social, economic and religious history of the Achaemenid Empirem Often called the first world empire, the Achaemenid Empire is rooted in older Near Eastern traditions. A Companion to the Achaemenid Persian Empire offers a perspective in which the history of the empire is embedded in the preceding and subsequent epochs. In this way, the traditions that shaped the Achaemenid Empire become as visible as the powerful impact it had on further historical development. But the work does not only break new ground in this respect, but also in the fact that, in addition to written testimonies of all kinds, it also considers material tradition as an equal factor in historical reconstruction. This comprehensive two-volume set features contributions by internationally-recognized experts that offer balanced coverage of the whole of the empire from Anatolia and Egypt across western Asia to northern India and Central Asia. Comprehensive in scope, the Companion provides readers with a panoramic view of the diversity, richness, and complexity of the Achaemenid Empire, dealing with all the many aspects of history, event history, administration, economy, society, communication, art, science and religion, illustrating the multifaceted nature of the first true empire. A unique historical account presented in its multiregional dimensions, this important resource deals with many aspects of history, administration, economy, society, communication, art, science and religion it deals with topics that have only recently attracted interest such as court life, leisure activities, gender roles, and more examines a variety of available sources to consider those predecessors who influenced Achaemenid structure, ideology, and self-expression contains the study of Nachleben and the history of perception up to the present day offers a spectrum of opinions in disputed fields of research, such as the interpretation of the imagery of Achaemenid art, or questions of religion includes extensive bibliographies in each chapter for use as starting points for further research devotes special interest to the east of the empire, which is often neglected in comparison to the western territories Part of the acclaimed Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World series, A Companion to the Achaemenid Persian Empire is an indispensable work for students, instructors, and scholars of Persian and ancient world history, particularly the First Persian Empire.