Includes papers presented at a conference held "on February 5-6, 2012, the Leonard and Bea Diener Institute of Jewish Law and the Yeshiva University Center for Jewish Law and Contemporary Civilization, "The Divine Courtroom," at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law." Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents:
Divine judges on Earth and in heaven / Tzvi Abusch -- The divine courtroom scenes of Daniel 7 and the Qumran Book of Giants : a textual and contextual comparison / Joseph L. Angel -- Justice without judgment : pure procedural justice and the divine courtroom in Sifre Deuteronomy / Chaya Halberstam -- Rabbi Nissim of Girona on the heavenly court, truth, and justice / Warren Zev Harvey -- The divine courtroom motif in the Hebrew bible : a holistic approach / Job Y. Jindo -- Getting perspective : the divine courtroom in Tertullian of Carthage's apologeticum / Meira Z. Kensky -- Disqualified olympians : the skeptical Greek view of divine judges / Victor Bers and Adriaan Lanni -- A life of Jesus as testimony : the divine courtroom and the Gospel of John / Andrew T. Lincoln -- Trying the crime of abuse of royal authority in the divine courtroom and the incident of Naboth's vineyard / F. Rachel Magdalene -- The invention of the divine courtroom in the book of Job / Carol A. Newsom -- The qadi before the judge : the social use of eschatology in Muslim courts / Mathieu Tillier -- Lawsuits against God in rabbinic literature / Dov Weiss.
Summary:
Contributors to 'The divine courtroom in comparative perspective' treat one of the most pervasive religious metaphors, that of the divine courtroom, in both its historical and thematic senses. In order to shed light on the various manifestations of the divine courtroom, this volume consists of essays by scholars of the ancient Near East, Hebrew Bible, Second Temple Judaism, early Christianity, Talmud, Islam, medieval Judaism, and classical Greek literature. Contributions to the volume primarily center upon three related facets of the divine courtroom: the role of the divine courtroom in the earthly legal system; the divine courtroom as the site of historical justice; and the divine courtroom as the venue in which God is called to answer for his own unjust acts.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.