This first volume of a two-volume Handbook treats a challenging largely neglected subject at
the crossroads of several academic fields: biblical studies reception history of the Bible
and folklore studies or folkloristics. The Handbook examines the reception of the Bible in
verbal folklores of different cultures around the globe. This first volume complete with a
general Introduction focuses on biblically-derived characters tales motifs and other
elements in Jewish (Mizrahi Sephardi Ashkenazi) Romance (French Romanian) German Nordic
Scandinavian British Irish Slavic (East West South) and Islamic folkloric traditions. The
volume contributes to the understanding of the Hebrew Bible Old Testament the New Testament
and various pseudepigraphic and apocryphal scriptures and to their interpretation and
elaboration by folk commentators of different faiths. The book also illuminates the development
artistry and migration of folktales opens new areas for investigation in the reception
history of the Bible and offers insights into the popular dimensions of Jewish Christian and
Muslim communities around the globe especially regarding how the holy scriptures have informed
those communities' popular imaginations.
