Well, there's a clear winner in the Shavout teaching/learning query, and that winner is Rachav. Coming in at a close second is Qohelet, followed by Ima Shalom and then Tobit (Comedy Absurdum).
Really, no one is curious about Tobit and/or Tobit and Herman the Jew? Yes, I know Tobit isn't a canonical book for us Jews, but good lord is it a Jewish book. If you haven't read it lately, sit down and take a gander. Or email me and I'll send you a copy of either of the papers.
Thanks for voting, friends!
The Votes Are In!
Thursday, May 3, 2012
i don't know about herman the jew. is that a topos i don't know of? would you be so kind to explain?
ReplyDeleteTobit is a canonical book for Catholics! In fact, Tobit's prayer was one of the readings at my wedding. I'm still very much interested in what you have to say about it!
ReplyDeleteThe intro paragraph ...
ReplyDeleteThe Book of Tobit, a probable second-century Judean composition found in the Apocrypha and considered canonical by the Catholic Church, at the outset might seem an unlikely text to be juxtaposed with Herman the Jew, a 12th or 13th century tale of conversion to Christianity. The significance of Tobit for the Church, paired with narrative similarities, however, suggests that the author of Herman the Jew used Tobit as the basis or springboard for his text, borrowing narrative themes and theological concepts from Tobit, tailoring them for his own purposes, and, ultimately, the success of Christian supersessionism. Where Tobit’s happy outcome proves a convincing demonstration of the wisdom of faith, Herman the Jew’s narrative and eventual conversion proves an even more compelling example of the wisdom of what for him could be considered true faith in Jesus as Christ.
thanks! :)
ReplyDelete