For the duration of her writing career, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annie Dillard has unflinchingly asked and kept on asking enormous and difficult questions: What is the relation of Creator to creation? Why is there evil and unjust suffering? How do we make meaning of our experiences? Who is responsible for redeeming the world’s brokenness? Moreover, she has done so in every genre within the impressive range of her canon: her poetry, literary nonfiction, novels, autobiography, literary criticism, and memoirs. Two enduring influences have shaped Dillard’s cosmos-spanning questions and their metanarratives—Christianity and Jewish mysticism, particularly Hasidism and Isaac Luria’s Kabbalism. Though much scholarly attention has been paid to the influence of Christian mysticism in Dillard’s work, none has yet explored the role of her lifelong interest in Jewish mystical traditions. This book seeks to fill that scholarly gap and demonstrate how Dillard’s theological vision and voice both reflect and enact central features of Hasidic and Kabbalistic thought, resulting in what could be called Dillard’s literary shema.

In a divided world, where the one who shouts the loudest often gets the most attention, a story about compromise and listening. "Standing UP " "Lying DOWN " What were the people to do? They decided to ask the rabbi of the town. What are we to do? they asked. Shall we put the mezuzah standing up or lying down? The townspeople have mezuzahs but cannot agree on how to put them up on their doorways. Should they place them horizontally or vertically, standing up or lying down? To end their arguing, they consult the wise rabbi of the town, who advises them to carefully read the Shema in the mezuzah to find the answer. With this lively tale, based on a twelfth-century rabbinic debate, best-selling, award-winning children's author Sandy Eisenberg Sasso helps young people discover that there is often more than one solution to a problem, and that living together and creating home requires cooperation and listening to one another."

In Shema: Assemble the Barn Owls, Charla Apana knits together two seemingly unrelated topics: a supernatural encounter with barn owls and Shema, a Jewish prayer of affirmation. She intertwines her personal life journey and stories with strong biblical teaching. Travel with Charla and Joseph, her husband, to Ireland and join them as they cross the ocean where God moved in the land, connecting them with the right people at the right time. Glean from her intimate insight into the following topics and more: -Why God hides things from us-The breath of God-Metamorphosis or spiritual transformation-The battle for the physical and spiritual lives of their children-Breaking the curse of ancestral DNA. As you take this spiritual journey with them, you will learn how to hear secrets from the Holy Spirit. This wisdom will then enable you to live victoriously from heaven to Earth.

Revised thesis (doctoral) - Norwegian Lutheran School of Theology, Oslo, 2005.

In Mark's Gospel, the Shema language of Deut 6.4 is not merely reiterated in a traditional sense but reinterpreted in a striking way that links Jesus directly and inseparably with Israel's unique God. Such an innovative rereading of the Shema must be understood in light of (a) various elements involved in and surrounding each of the three monotheistic references (Mark 2.7; 10.18; 12.29) relating to their respective literary contexts, and (b) Mark's nuanced, complex, and even paradoxical portrait of Jesus' relationship to God throughout his gospel. John J.R. Lee shows that Mark's use of the one-God language implies that his Jesus is not merely one who, as a Shema-observant Jew, speaks on behalf of God but also one whose status and significance fundamentally correspond to those of Israel's unique deity.

Cognitive poetics is essentially a way of thinking about literature. The reader is encouraged to re-evaluate all the categories used to understand literary reading and analysis.