Katnut d'Katnut

by Br Gilbert Joseph Bloomer

These Are the genealogies: the Hebrew genre of toledot

“A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden…and became four headwaters” (Gen.2:10)

setting the toledot scene

“These are the genealogies…” (elleh toledot….) is a verb-less clause in Hebrew that conceals a mystery that scholars are still seeking to understand.[1] In my first assignment on genre I examined the genre of genealogy in the Hebrew Bible in the context of a comparative study of a wider Near Eastern Culture.

Jewish roots of christian spirituality and practice

by: Br. Gilbert Joseph Bloomer

“But we usually reserve the term spirituality for a relatively developed relationality to self, others, world, and the Transcendent, whether the last is called God or designated by some other term.” writes Sandra M Schneiders.[1] This definition of spirituality by Schneiders is by many considered a good general definition of the term spirituality.

Recently I was writing an essay on genre which led me to reflect on how the reading of Scripture on the level of the four senses can be connected to the four temperaments. Both Judaism and Catholicism teach that there are four main levels to exegeting and reading Scripture. Those four are the peshat (literal historical), the remez (the allegorical), the drash (the moral homiletical) and the sod (mystical anagogical).