CLARK (T. & T.)

Whereas most scholarship has concentrated upon the synagogue, Margaret Barker's work on the Jerusalem temple contributes to our understanding of the meaning and importance of many elements of Christian liturgy which have hitherto remained obscure. This book opens up a new field of research.

Margaret Barker traces the veneration of the Mother of the Lord back to the Old Testament and a female deity in the first Jewish temple.

A controversial examination by an eminent scholar in the field of how biblical studies may function as a secular discourse, in theory and in practice.