Religious Studies

In the exegetical literature, Plutarch's Parallel Lives are often used as comparative texts for the Gospels. But how can and should the comparison between the Gospels and the Vitae be carried out, and what benefits can be gained from it? - In an examination of the research debate on the genre affiliation of the Gospels, David Staub develops his own approach, which he presents and tests using a comparison between Plutarch's Life of Numa and the Gospel of Luke as an example.

In this study, Andreas M. Wagner examines the significance of the Slavonic Enoch for understanding ancient Judaism and the environment of the New Testament. His focus lies on Enoch's role between angels and humans and the depiction of the heavenly world.

This feminist commentary on Massekhet Shevuʿot examines the role of gender in legal oaths. Tanja Hidde analyzes women’s participation in court and their exclusion as witnesses, while Tal Ilan explores how the Babylonian rabbis connect the oath-swearing of the suspected adulteress in Numbers 5 to other oaths taken by both men and women.

This volume sheds light on the intellectual engagement with wealth in the various literary genres of the Hebrew Bible, Greek philosophical and Greek poetic literature, Jewish writings from the Hellenistic-Roman period, Qumran, the writings of the New Testament and the Early Church.