Intertextual Explorations in Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature (ed. Corley & Miller)

NEW BOOK FROM DE GRUYTER:

Intertextual Explorations in Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature

Series: Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature Studies, 31

Edited by: Jeremy Corley and Geoffrey David Miller

De Gruyter | 2019
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110416930

From £72.50
FORMATS
Hardcover
ISBN: 978-3-11-041592-6
Published: 06 May 2019
PDF
ISBN: 978-3-11-041693-0
Published: 06 May 2019
EPUB
ISBN: 978-3-11-041695-4
Published: 06 May 2019

OVERVIEW
This volume explores the fundamentals of intertextual methodology and summarizes recent scholarship on studies of intertextuality in the deuterocanonical books. The essays engage in comparison and analysis of text groups and motifs between canonical, deuterocanonical and non-biblical texts. Moreover, the book pays close attention to non-literary relationships between different traditions, a new feature of research in intertextuality.

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A new head of the IAA's DSS unit

INTERVIEW: What is the future of the 2,000-year-old Dead Sea Scrolls? The new head of the Israel Antiquities Authority Dead Sea Scrolls Unit, archaeologist Joe Uziel, spoke to ‘The Jerusalem Post’ about his vision for his tenure (Rossella Tercatin).

Indeed, the dilemma of whether to preserve the scrolls for future generations or to advance research is one of the fundamental questions that the staff of the unit faces on a daily basis, considering how some of the most interesting research avenues, such as carbon dating or DNA analysis, involve some damage of the material.

“For example, we ask ourselves if today is the time to conduct radio-carbon analysis on the scrolls, when perhaps in one, three or five years, the techniques might be much more developed and less invasive,” Uziel pointed out.

Without expressing a view on this specific question, I note that I have been saying for some time that non-invasive and non-destructive technologies are the future of archaeology. I have some thoughts on related issues here. For lots of specific cases, start here and follow the links.

I noted the 2020 retirement of Pnina Shor, the former director of the unit, here.

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Helen Bond remembers Jimmy Dunn

THE CSCO BLOG: Helen Bond remembers J. D. G. (Jimmy) Dunn.

Professor Helen Bond, former CSCO Director and now Head of the School of Divinity at Edinburgh, took her PhD at Durham under the supervision of J. D. G. (Jimmy) Dunn, who died on 26 June. Here she recalls her friendship with Dunn.

Background here.

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Schmidt, Wisdom, Cosmos, and Cultus in the Book of Sirach

NEW BOOK FROM DE GRUYTER:

A. Jordan Schmidt
Wisdom, Cosmos, and Cultus in the Book of Sirach

Series: Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature Studies, 42

De Gruyter | 2019
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110600223

From £118.00
FORMATS
Hardcover
ISBN: 978-3-11-060110-7
Published: 04 Mar 2019
PDF
ISBN: 978-3-11-060022-3
Published: 04 Mar 2019
EPUB
ISBN: 978-3-11-060017-9
Published: 04 Mar 2019

OVERVIEW
Despite the attention that has already been paid to the theme of creation in the book of Sirach, scholarship has yet to provide a comprehensive analysis of Ben Sira's instruction regarding the cosmic order and its role in the divine bestowal of wisdom upon human beings.This book, which consists of two parts, fills a lacuna in scholarship by offering such an analysis. The first part of this study examines Ben Sira's three main treatments of the created world, thus providing a comprehensive description and synthesis of Ben Sira's doctrine concerning the created order of the cosmos. The second part of this work analyzes the place of human beings in general, and the Jewish people in particular, within the cosmic order. This second part includes an analysis of the role of the created order in Ben Sira's wisdom instruction in 1:1-10 and 24:1-34 as well as an elucidation of the way in which his treatments of various kinds of people—civic leaders, wives, doctors, manual laborers, scribes, and cultic personnel—are integral to Ben Sira's doctrine of creation. This study demonstrates that the created order is a fundamental category that Ben Sira relies upon in articulating his instructions about wisdom and wise behavior.

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The mystery of Armageddon

READING ACTS: What is Armageddon? Revelation 16:16. Phil Long continues his blog series on the Book of Revelation. We are on the seven bowls of wrath now, still between bowls six and seven.

For another discussion of the puzzling term "Armageddon," in an Haaretz article, see here. It may be behind the subscription wall, but you can access it through free registration with Haaretz.

For notice of previous posts in Phil's series on Revelation, see here and links.

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Ancient Galilean mikveh found in salvage excavation

ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE: Second Temple period Jewish ritual bath uncovered, in need of rescuing. The 2,000-year-old facility was revealed during a salvage excavation by the Israel Antiquities Authority (Rossella Tercatin, Jerusalem Post). They want to move the whole mikveh to another location, if the can find the funding.

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Place names in Targum Onkelos

PROF. MICHAEL AVIOZ: Targum Onkelos and the Translation of Place Names (TheTorah.com).

The standard Aramaic translation of the Torah, Targum Onkelos, usually renders place names in the original Hebrew or leaves them out. However, there are exceptions.

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Testing and Temptation in Second Temple Jewish and Early Christian Texts (ed. Smith & Stuckenbruck)

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: Testing and Temptation in Second Temple Jewish and Early Christian Texts. Edited by Daniel L. Smith and Loren T. Stuckenbruck. 2020. VII, 213 pages. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2. Reihe 519. 79,00 € including VAT. sewn paper ISBN 978-3-16-155952-5.

Published in English.
From the Wisdom of Ben Sira to the writings of Paul, many Second Temple Jewish and early Christian texts recognize the inescapable role of testing and temptation in human experience. Though God is often presented as one who tests, testing is also attributed to Satan, Mastema, the people of God, and individual humans. How did ancient interpreters react to texts that depict the God of Israel as testing, tested, or intervening on behalf of those undergoing a test? What assumptions do authors have about the role of testing in human experience? How does the vocabulary used for testing and temptation influence the meaning of the text? The essays in the present volume constitute an opening foray into addressing these questions, and this volume aims to catalyze further research into additional dimensions of testing and overlooked motifs in the relevant literature.

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Job at UNIL: Christian and Jewish Apocrypha

THE UNIVERSITY OF LASAUNNE: Career Opportunities: Maître d'enseignement et de recherche 1 (MER1) 70% en Littératures apocryphes juives et chrétiennes (16212). For work on the Corpus Christianorum, Series Apocryphorum, and related matters. (HT Richard Bauckham.)

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Börner-Klein, Jalkut Schimoni zu Rut

NEW BOOK FROM DE GRUYTER:

Jalkut Schimoni zu Rut
Yalkut Shimoni on Esther [sic]

in Jalkut Schimoni

Edited by: Dagmar Börner-Klein
De Gruyter | 2020
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110688290

From £72.50

FORMATS
Hardcover
ISBN: 978-3-11-068825-2
Published: 23 Mar 2020
PDF
ISBN: 978-3-11-068829-0
Published: 23 Mar 2020
EPUB
ISBN: 978-3-11-068834-4
Published: 23 Mar 2020

OVERVIEW
The Yalkut Shimoni is a compilation of rabbinical interpretations of the entire Hebrew Bible. The criteria for selecting the interpretations are not fully understood, nor whether the book was conceived as a comprehensive reference work for exegesis to link with the Biblical interpretation in the Talmud and Midrash, or for reforming the rabbinical tradition of interpretation. Translating this work is a first step toward answering these questions.

I think the English title should read "Ruth" not "Esther." The Esther volume, also edited by Dagmar Börner-Klein, was published in 2019.

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Schiffman lecture on the DSS

PROFESSOR LAWRENCE H. SCHIFFMAN: ONLINE LECTURE: RECLAIMING THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS. On Thursday 16 July. Follow the link for registration details.

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A thievish interpolation?

READING ACTS: I Come Like a Thief! Revelation 16:15. Phil Long continues his blog series on the Book of Revelation. We are on the seven bowls of wrath now, still between bowls six and seven.

For notice of previous posts in Phil's series on Revelation, see here and links.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Kotzé, Images and Ideas of Debated Readings in the Book of Lamentations

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: Gideon R. Kotzé. Images and Ideas of Debated Readings in the Book of Lamentations. 2020. XVI, 142 pages. Orientalische Religionen in der Antike 38. 84,00 € including VAT. cloth ISBN 978-3-16-159503-5.

Published in English.
The Hebrew versions of the five poems in the book of Lamentations are riddled with debated readings. Debated readings are words, phrases, or sentences whose forms and meanings modern readers find difficult or objectionable. In this book, Gideon R. Kotzé adopts a text-critical approach to the interpretation of such readings and suggests that some of them make sense as expressions of images and ideas that circulated widely in the cultural and intellectual environment of Lamentations. After surveying examples of passages in Lamentations where the Hebrew wordings show remarkable resemblances to the images and ideas exhibited by cultural products from all over the ancient Near East, the author discusses five case studies of debated readings that can be explained along similar lines. On this interpretation, the readings in question are not corrupt and do not have to be emended for that reason.

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Licht, The Spiritual World of Second Temple Judaism

THE NSEA BLOG: NEW BOOK: JACOB LICHT ON THE SPIRITUAL WORLD OF SECOND TEMPLE JUDAISM. The full reference: Jacob Licht, The Spiritual World of Second Temple Judaism (Bialik Institute, 2020). In Hebrew. Collected essays published between 1956 and 1991. Follow the link for a link to the publisher's page.

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NT text-critical commentaries

THE ETC BLOG: New Testament Textual Commentaries (Elijah Hixson). News you can use! Especially if you like New Testament textual criticism.

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Those Nephilim again

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: The Nephilim and the Sons of God. Unlike Hercules, Achilles, and Perseus, demigods were seen more negatively by ancient Israelites (John Drummond). As usual this essay is a summary of a longer article behind the subscription wall: Jaap Doedens, “Exploring the Story of the Sons of God,” in the current issue Biblical Archaeology Review. But the BHD essay is a decent overview of the topic.

PaleoJudaica has lots of posts on the Nephilim. Their mythical background is fascinating. And their mythology lives and grows to this day. Background here and links, plus here and here.

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New series - Gorgias Coptic Studies

THE NSEA BLOG: CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS, NEW SERIES – GORGIAS COPTIC STUDIES. This announcement is from early April, but I only noticed it recently. Cross-file under Coptic Watch.

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Crabbe, Luke/Acts and the End of History

NEW BOOK FROM DE GRUYTER:

Kylie Crabbe
Luke/Acts and the End of History

Series: Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft, 238

De Gruyter | 2020
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110615197

From £79.00

FORMATS
Hardcover
ISBN: 978-3-11-061455-8
Published: 18 Nov 2019
PDF
ISBN: 978-3-11-061519-7
Published: 18 Nov 2019
EPUB
ISBN: 978-3-11-061475-6
Published: 18 Nov 2019

OVERVIEW
Luke/Acts and the End of History investigates how understandings of history in diverse texts of the Graeco-Roman period illuminate Lukan eschatology. In addition to Luke/Acts, it considers ten comparison texts as detailed case studies throughout the monograph: Polybius's Histories, Diodorus Siculus's Library of History, Virgil's Aeneid, Valerius Maximus's Memorable Doings and Sayings, Tacitus’s Histories, 2 Maccabees, the Qumran War Scroll, Josephus's Jewish War, 4 Ezra, and 2 Baruch. ...

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A froggy interlude?

READING ACTS: What are the Three Evil Spirits in Revelation 16:13-14? Phil Long continues his blog series on the Book of Revelation. We are on the seven bowls of wrath now, between bowls six and seven.

For notice of previous posts in Phil's series on Revelation, see here and links.

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More questions about the Cave One scrolls

VARIANT READINGS: Qumran Cave 1 Questions, Part 6: 1QSa and 1QSb. Brent Nongbri continues his excavation of old records of the acquisition of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The post is technical, but has significant implications that Brent does not spell out.

If he is correct, a set of fragments from the Rule of the Congregation (1QS^a), The Rule of the Blessing (1QS^b), 1QIsaiah^b (1Q8), and the Genesis Apocryphon (1QapGen) were bought from Kando. They were not, after all, recovered by excavation.

1QSa and 1QSb are both part of the same manuscript as 1QS, the only (more or less) complete copy of the Community Rule/Manual of Discipline.

Does that mean those important works didn't come from Qumran Cave One after all? I doubt it. But it does mean that some (all? I don't know) of the physical proof of their provenance has evaporated.

I think I have that right! If I have misunderstood something, someone please correct me.

I have noted earlier posts in the series here and links

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