- A Biblical Translation in the Making
In his youth, R. Saadia Gaon (882–942 CE) dreamed of publishing a proper translation of the Torah for Arabic-speaking Jews, to replace the overly literal ones in vogue at the time. His dream was fulfilled with the issuing of the Tafsir, the most important Jewish Bible translation of the Middle Ages. In this monograph, Richard C. Steiner traces the history of the Tafsir—its roots, its modest beginnings, and its subsequent evolution.
- Hardcover May 2010
- Jewish Renaissance in the Russian Revolution
- Between 1917 and 1921, as revolution convulsed Russia, Jewish intellectuals and writers across the crumbling empire threw themselves into the pursuit of a “Jewish renaissance.” Here is a brilliant, revisionist argument about the nature of cultural nationalism, the relationship between nationalism and socialism as ideological systems, and culture itself, the axis around which the encounter between Jews and European modernity has pivoted over the past century.
- Hardcover October 2009
- Scribal Culture and the Making of the Hebrew Bible
- The scribes of ancient Israel are indeed the main figures behind the Hebrew Bible, and this book tells their story for the first time. Drawing comparisons with the scribal practices of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, van der Toorn details the methods, assumptions, and material means that gave rise to biblical texts. Traditionally seen as the copycats of antiquity, the scribes emerge here as the literate elite who held the key to the production and the transmission of texts.
- Paperback April 2009
See also: All Books in RELIGION.