By Moti Bassok , Haaretz Correspondent

Some 60 percent of Israelis living below the poverty line come from the ultra-Orthodox or Israeli-Arab sectors, according to a report to be released by the Bank of Israel on Wednesday.

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The long-held view that the Persian period in Israel (known as Yehud) was a historically derivative era that engendered little theological or literary innovation has been replaced in recent decades by an appreciation for the importance of the Persian period for understanding Israel’s literature, religion, and sense of identity. A new image of Yehud is emerging that has shifted the focus from viewing the postexilic period as a staging ground for early Judaism or Christianity to dealing with Yehud on its own terms, as a Persian colony with a diverse population. Taken together, the thirteen chapters in this volume represent a range of studies that touch on a variety of textual and historical problems to advance the conversation about the significance of the Persian period and especially its formative influence on biblical literature. Contributors include Richard Bautch, Jon L. Berquist, Zipporah G. Glass, Alice W. Hunt, David Janzen, John Kessler, Melody D. Knowles, Jennifer L. Koosed, Herbert R. Marbury, Christine Mitchell, Julia M. O’Brien, Donald C. Polaski, Jean-Pierre Ruiz, Brent A. Strawn, and Christine Roy Yoder.

Paperback edition is available from the Society of Biblical Literature (www.sbl-site.org)

About the author(s)

Jon L. Berquist is Executive Editor for Biblical Studies at Westminster John Knox Press in Louisville, Kentucky. His writings on the Persian period include Judaism in Persia’s Shadow: A Social and Historical Approach. In recent years, he has also taught at New Brunswick Theological Seminary in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

In Israele i primi studi su tessuti antichi sono stati condotti negli anni ’50 da Grace Crowfoot e più tardi da sua figlia Elizabeth Crowfoot, che ha analizzato i tessuti provenienti dalla Grotta 1 di Qumran e da Murabba’at.

Crowfoot ha catalogato 77 tessuti rinvenuti nella Grotta 1. Circa 130 frammenti trovati nelle Grotte 8Q, 11Q, nella Grotta di Natale, e altri di provenienza incerta sono stati pubblicati da M. Bélis nel 2003.

Prima di essere puliti i tessuti sono stati esaminati. Elizabeth Crowfoot ha posto in risalto la relazione tra questo materiale e i manoscritti.

Solo nell’agosto del 2003 questi tessuti, insieme a circa duecento altri pezzi provenienti da altre grotte, sono stati puliti da Raya Vinitski della Israel Antiquities Authority e restaurati presso le Israel National Collections.

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Scholars have long questioned the conceptual background for the priestly Christology of the Epistle to the Hebrews, with suggestions including Gnosticism, the thought of Philo of Alexandria, common themes in early Christian theology and exegesis, and the creativity of the author of Hebrews himself. The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls prompted waves of enthusiasm for understanding Hebrews in that context, both in terms of the Qumran sect’s priestly messianism and understanding of Melchizedek, but claims often were excessive and the approach was discredited. The present study reevaluates the priestly Christology of Hebrews and the presentations of the messianic priest and Melchizedek in the Qumran texts, arguing that the latter do indeed provide the closest parallels to Hebrews’ thought.

Billie Jean Collins (Ph.D. Yale University 1989) teaches in the Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies Department at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia and is Acquisitions Editor for the Society of Biblical Literature. She has two edited volumes, A History of the Animal World in the Ancient Near East (Brill 2003) and Anatolian Interfaces (Oxbow 2007), the latter with Mary Bachvarova and Ian C. Rutherford.

Lost to history for millennia, the Hittites have regained their position among the great civilizations of the Late Bronze Age Near East, thanks to a century of archaeological discovery and philological investigation. The Hittites and Their World provides a concise, current, and engaging introduction to the history, society, and religion of this Anatolian empire, taking the reader from its beginnings in the period of the Assyrian Colonies in the nineteenth century B.C.E. to the eclipse of the Neo-Hittite cities at the end of the eighth century B.C.E. The numerous analogues with the biblical world featured throughout the volume together represent a comprehensive and up-to-date survey of the varied and signicant contributions of Hittite studies to biblical interpretation.

Paperback edition is available from the Society of Biblical Literature  www.sbl-site.org)

(By Rageh Omaar - BBC News) There are very few Christian relics as important and as controversial as the Shroud of Turin. This linen cloth, measuring about 4.4m by 1.1m (14.4×3.6 feet) holds the concealed image of a man bearing all the signs of crucifixion.

Scientific tests have proved that there are blood stains around the marks consistent with a crown of thorns and a puncture from a lance to the side.  In a new documentary, we have been given intimate access that no other broadcaster has had before.

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Almeno 150 mila fedeli da tutto il mondo hanno visitato Gerusalemme e i luoghi santi in questi giorni, andando a confortare le comunità cristiane locali, di origine palestinese ed ebraica. La Pasqua è la speranza per tutti i problemi irrisolti nella Terra di Gesù. Battezzati 6 adulti di origine russa. English version

Gerusalemme (AsiaNews) – La Pasqua di quest’anno è stata “normale”. La definisce così il Custode francescano della Terra Santa, p. Pierbattista Pizzaballa in un’intervista ad AsiaNews. “Normale” significa senza incidenti, piena di fede e preghiera, con la città santa traboccante di pellegrini da tutto il mondo.

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Like earlier volumes in the Social Science Commentary series, this volume situates Acts squarely in the cultural matrix of the first century Mediterranean world, elaborating its codes of patron and client, mediatorship, honor and shame, healing and sickening, wizardry and witchcraft accusations, and the understanding of the Spirit of God as well as deities and demons as personal causes of significant events.

Part 1: Jesus First Command to the Twelve – Their Activities Among Israelite Majority Populations (Acts 1:4-12:25)

Part 2: Jesus Second Command to Saul/Paul – His Activities Among Israelite Minority Populations (Acts 12:25-25:31)

Since its publication by Fortress Press in 1992, Mark and Method has been an invaluable resource for the study of Mark, and of the range of methods used in interpreting the New Testament. This second edition offers a new introduction and chapters brought up to date with the latest developments in interpretation, including new chapters on Cultural Studies and Post-Colonial Criticism.

The contributors include: Janice Capel Anderson, Stephen D. Moore, Elizabeth Struthers Malbon, Robert M. Fowler, David Rhoads, Tat-Siong Benny Liew, and Abraham Smith.