In this inspiring book, a preeminent literary critic, takes readers from the Bible to 20th-century writing, searching for the ways in which literature can inform our lives.

Through countless retellings, from the Talmud to Archibald MacLeish and since, the story of Job has been a fixture in the cultural imagination of the West, captivating the human imagination and forcing its readers to wrestle with the most painful realities of human existence. In this study, Susan E. Schreiner analyzes interpretations of the Book of Job by Gregory the Great, Maimonides, Thomas Aquinas, and particularly John Calvin. Reading Calvin's interpretation against the background of his medieval predecessors, she shows how central Job is to Calvin's struggles with some basic theological issues. Calvin and his predecessors put forth a variety of explanations for Job's wisdom, focusing on discussions of suffering, inferiority, enlightenment, union with the Active Intellect, immortality, providence, and faith. The one unifying feature of these precritical Joban commentaries is a concern with intellectual perception - in particular, with what Job saw or understood. What did the friends, who defended God, misperceive? Why did they not see the situation correctly? How does one explain Job's perceptual superiority over his friends? These texts raise basic questions about the human capacity for knowledge: Can suffering, particularly inexplicable suffering, elevate human understandings about God and self? Can humans truly perceive the workings of providence in their personal lives? Are evil and injustice a reality that we must confront before finding wisdom? In her final chapter, Schreiner shows that such concerns are not abandoned in modern critical commentaries and literary transformations of the Joban legend. Her study concludes by tracing the trajectory of these concerns through thewide array of twentieth-century interpretations of Job, including modern biblical commentaries, the work of Carl Jung, and literary transfigurations by Wells, MacLeish, Wiesel, and Kafka. The result is a compelling demonstration of the vital insights the history of exegesis can yield for contemporary culture.

Where Shall Wisdom Be Found: A Grammatical Tribute to Professor Stephen A. Kaufman honors Stephen A. Kaufman, Professor Emeritus of Bible and Cognate Literature at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) and co-founder of the Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon project, for his contributions to the world of Semitic studies and for his influence on young scholars of Bible and ancient Near Eastern studies. Professor Kaufman is a distinguished professor, internationally known expert and scholar, who for several decades guided the doctoral work of numerous graduate students in Hebrew and Cognate Studies at HUC-JIR (Cincinnati). A prolific author, editor, and innovator in the field of Semitic linguistics, Professor Kaufman challenged his students to delve deep into the study of Semitic languages in order to identify what the original authors intended to communicate in these ancient texts. Furthermore, he inspired countless scholars to reexamine the traditional interpretation of Semitic linguistic features and age-old seemingly unshakable paradigms of Akkadian, Ugaritic, Hebrew, Aramaic, and other Semitic languages. Shaped by the expertise of Professor Kaufman, the scholars who contributed to this volume present recent developments in the study of the morphology, grammar, and syntax of Biblical Hebrew: nouns; adjectives; adverbs; definiteness; prepositions; tense, mood, and aspect; the verbal stems (binyanim); qatal; yiqtol;Â volitives; weqatal; wayyiqtol; participles; infinitives; conjunction and disjunction; Hebrew poetry; and Hebrew pedagogy. The volume is intended to serve as a scholarly resource for those interested in the morphological and syntactic features of Biblical Hebrew and as a textbook for advanced Biblical Hebrew classes in institutions of higher learning.

Advice books are no short-lived trend. They continue to top bestseller lists even though much of the "wisdom" being offered proves shallow in the long run. People are looking for practical, proven advice for life and the book of Proverbs is the wisest place to start. Unpacking the book of Proverbs, Lydia Brownback shows how the Bible speaks to real life issues such as money, purity, marriage, and the day-to-day grind. Writing with a familiar yet knowledgeable tone, Brownback draws in the busiest of readers and asks realistic questions for personal reflection or group study. This well-conceived, twelve chapter book contains three parts: What Is Wisdom and Why Does It Matter? Six Things Wise Women Know A Portrait of Wisdom A Woman's Wisdom gives women—a way to be wise, to know the very Author of wisdom, and to understand how to apply his relevant, riches.

Bloom, the best-known literary critic of our time, shares his extensive knowledge of and profound joy in the works of a constellation of major writers, including Shakespeare, Cervantes, Austen, Dickinson, Melville, Wilde, and O'Connor in this eloquent invitation to readers to read and read well.

The wisdom literature of the Old Testament can be daunting. Sidney Greidanus, in the book's foreword, describes Old Testament wisdom literature as "one of the more difficult genres to interpret and preach." Yet the numerous proverbs and sayings meet us in everyday life, teaching us much about understanding and applying the gospel. Pastor Douglas O'Donnell writes, "Just as every book of the Old Testament adds light to our understanding of Jesus, so the revelation of God in the person of Christ enlightens our understanding of the Old Testament." Not only do the wisdom books teach us about Jesus Christ, but we understand the books better in light of the revelation of God's Son. O'Donnell opens up the genre of wisdom literature through six chapters that look at how the gospel shines through Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job. He specifically centers on the first and last chapters of each book, noting how the texts illustrate "the wisdom of God in the sufferings of our Savior." Pastors, church leaders, and students of Scripture will find this thoughtful volume demonstrative of seeing the gospel in the Wisdom Literature.