Take Heart: From Despair to Hope in Turbulent Times - Hardcover

by Hemchand Gossai (Author)

We live in turbulent times. The question is why, and now what. The principal aim of this volume is to provide additional interpretive lenses through which themes of hope and redemption might be seen from a range of biblical and literary texts. Thus, the volume will explore a range of texts, characters, and ideas--from Antigone and Jephthah's daughter to Nabal to the parable of the good Samaritan, from Tobit and Ruth to ideas such as charity and trauma. So, this is a time to Take Heart. In the use of the unusual term Resouling the study emphasizes and accentuates nefhesh. Resouling underlines the possibility of being refreshed after an existential or even routine reality of pain or injustice. The study seeks to understand the possibility of new beginnings, where text and new contexts intersect and shape one another. This study will further enrich the manner in which biblical texts continue to speak to a range of societies and peoples, applying universal themes of social justice and belonging while challenging a status quo that thrives on otherness.

Author Biography

Hemchand Gossai is Associate Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences at Northern Virginia Community College. He is the author of several books, including most recently The Hebrew Prophets after the Shoah (Pickwick, 2014). He speaks widely on civic engagement and social justice.