Charles M. Stang. Our Divine Double. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2016. Pp. 309. ISBN 9780674287198. $49.95.Excerpt:
Stang’s argument successfully and elegantly traces the motif of the divine double throughout these 2nd and 3rd century texts. He offers mostly close readings of these texts in ways that echo ancient Aristarchean criticism and “New Criticism,” and, as one can see in the introduction and the philosophical conclusion, he sees these texts in light of perennial questions of selfhood (77-78). The book, however, goes well beyond close reading, as Stang takes up numerous historical, cultural, and literary questions along the way, lightly wielding his masterful command of a formidable range of literature from Plato to contemporary continental philosophy.Past PaleoJudaica notices of the book (with some comments of my own on the divine double tradition) are here and here.
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