The biblical personality

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Geoffrey Khan and Paul M. Noorlander

"The Neo-Aramaic dialects are modern vernacular forms of Aramaic, which has a documented history in the Middle East of over 3,000 years. Due to upheavals in the Middle East over the last one hundred years, thousands of speakers of Neo-Aramaic dialects have been forced to migrate from their homes or have perished in massacres. As a result, the dialects are now highly endangered. The dialects exhibit a remarkable diversity of structures. Moreover, the considerable depth of attestation of Aramaic from earlier periods provides evidence for pathways of change. For these reasons the research of Neo-Aramaic is of importance for more general fields of linguistics, in particular language typology and historical linguistics. The papers in this volume represent the full range of research that is currently being carried out on Neo-Aramaic dialects. They advance the field in numerous ways. In order to allow linguists who are not specialists in Neo-Aramaic to benefit from the papers, the examples are fully glossed."--Publisher's website.

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Colin S. Smith

Drawing on Bible passages about the events of the day of Jesus' crucifixion, including the thief's own words, the author creates a narrative of the thief's last day on Earth, told from the thief's point of view looking down from Heaven.

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Elizabeth B. Tracy

Fokkelman states, ""The Bible does not contain one single instance of small talk."" This thesis examines relational dialogue between the Deity and human individuals in Genesis by separating the conversations from narrative through lines that most often inform biblical analysis. I am interested in snapshots of character developed in intimate conversations, when 'face to face' dialogue is allowed to take center stage. These conversations then become surprising and unexpected. In them the Deity talks with the first human to commit murder, not his regarded brother; recognizes a foreign slave as a unique and valued individual yet rebukes the chosen matriarch; potential heirs are dismissed and a legitimate successor only promised. All the while humans argue, cry, wrestle, laugh, express a limited worldview, while demanding a response from their Deity. These conversations challenge our opinion of a distant Deity and push the reader to redefine their understanding of the Divine/Human relationship. -- Publisher's description.

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story by Penny Frank

Recounts the Old Testament story of the Babylonian king's taking of four young Israelites to his palace as servants and prisoners, one of whom was Daniel.