Brining the Hidden to Light: The Process of Interpretation (Studies in Honor of Stephen A. Geller)

Geller is Irma Cameron Milstein Professor of Bible at Jewish Theological Seminary. Geller’s attention to language and interest in applying the methods of literary analysis to the Hebrew Bible are reflected in his work throughout his career. He has addressed such topics as “The Dynamics of Parallel Verse” in Deuteronomy 32, the “Language of Imagery in Psalm 114,” and the literary uses of “Cleft Sentences with Pleonastic Pronoun.” Combining a historical orientation with deep exegeses of individual texts, he has focused on the contribution that the literary approach might make to the study of biblical religion. He has developed what he terms a “literary theology,” in which, by examining the literary devices in the passage under consideration, he has been able to formulate emerging religious ideas that the ancient writers did not express in systematic treatises. His method is illustrated in his studies of texts that represent the major religious traditions of the Hebrew Bible; these studies have been collected in Sacred Enigmas, published in 1997.

The essays in this volume were contributed by colleagues, friends, and students of Stephen A. Geller to mark the occasion of his 65th birthday. Contributors include: Tzvi Abusch, Marc Z. Brettler, Alan Cooper, Frank Moore Cross, Stephen Garfinkel, Edward L. Greenstein, Robert A. Harris, S. Tamar Kamionkowski, Kathryn F. Kravitz, Anne Lapidus Lerner, David Marcus, Yochanan Muffs, Benjamin Ravid, Michael Rosenbaum, Raymond P. Scheindlin, William M. Schniedewind, Diane M. Sharon, Benjamin D. Sommer.