The Expanded Text of Ecclesiasticus

The Expanded Text of Ecclesiasticus
Author: Conleth Kearns
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
Total Pages: 345
Release: 2011
Genre: Bibles
ISBN: 3110252589

In spite of its importance for the textual history and the theological significance of the Book of Ben Sira, especially in its two different Greek versions, the 1951 doctoral thesis of Conleth Kearns has never been published and is only in circulation in photocopies. Kearns brought together a great quantity of textual and theological observations on the additions to the first Greek version concerning eschatology which are not to be found anywhere else until now. He has actually shown that these additions are part of a whole pseudepigraphic literature. That is the reason why this monograph deserves publication, even after sixty years.

Congress Volume Leiden 2004

Congress Volume Leiden 2004
Author: André Lemaire
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 482
Release: 2006-04-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9047408772

This volume presents all the main lectures of the XVIIIth Congress of the International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament (IOSOT) held in Leiden (August 2004). It is a very good sample of the main trends and progress of current biblical research on textual criticism (Qumran and Septuagint), biblical archaeology, literary criticism (especially Pentateuch, Joshua, Kings), biblical themes (especially in wisdom literature), as well as about the light thrown on biblical exegesis by current cognitive linguistics. An appendix deals with the connection between world Christianity and the study of the Old Testament. The twenty authors are among the main international figures of current biblical exegesis and their contributions are representative of the study of the Old Testament at the beginning of the third millenium.

Studies in the Book of Ben Sira

Studies in the Book of Ben Sira
Author: Géza Xeravits
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2008-06-25
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004169067

The volume publishes the papers read at an international conference on the Book of Ben Sira, held at the Shime'on Centre, Pápa, Hungary. Renowned specialists of the field treat among others various questions of early Jewish wisdom thought, the interpretation of history, and canon forming.

Between Wisdom and Torah

Between Wisdom and Torah
Author: Jiseong James Kwon
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 512
Release: 2023-05-08
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 3111069923

Previous scholars have largely approached Wisdom and Torah in the Second Temple Period through a type of reception history, whereby the two concepts have been understood as signifiers of independent, earlier “biblical” streams of tradition that later came together in the Hellenistic and Roman eras, largely under the process of a so-called “torahization” of wisdom. Recent studies critiquing the nature of wisdom and wisdom literature as operative categories for understanding scribal cultures in early Judaism, as well as newer approaches to conceptualizing Torah and authorizing-compositional practices related to the Pentateuchal texts, however, have challenged the foundations on which the previous models of Wisdom and Torah rested. This volume, therefore, brings together several essays that aim to reexamine and rethink the ways we can describe the developments of texts categorized as “Wisdom” that proliferated during the Second Temple Period and whose contents point to an engagement with a “Torah” discourse. By asking anew the question of whether “Wisdom” was transformed by/into “Torah” during this period, this volume offers reformulations on the discursive space between Wisdom and Torah through analyzing new identifications, confluences, and transformations.

Ben Sira in Conversation with Traditions

Ben Sira in Conversation with Traditions
Author: Francis M. Macatangay
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 394
Release: 2022-08-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 3110762188

This volume of essays on Ben Sira is a Festschrift on the occasion of the 65th birthday of Prof. Nuria Calduch-Benages. The volume gathers the latest studies on Ben Sira's relationship with other Jewish traditions. With a variety of methods and approaches, the volume explores Ben Sira's interpretation of received traditions, his views on the prevailing issues of his time, and the subsequent reception of his work.

Rewriting Biblical History

Rewriting Biblical History
Author: Pancratius Cornelis Beentjes
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
Total Pages: 413
Release: 2011
Genre: Bibles
ISBN: 3110240939

Old Testament texts frequently offer a theological view of history. This is very evident in the Books of Chronicles and in the final section of Ben Sira (Ecclesiasticus). Today there is renewed interest in both these works as significant theological and cultural Jewish documents from the centuries before Jesus. Both Chronicles and Ben Sira aim to recreate a national identity centered on temple piety. Some chapters in this volume consider the portrayal of Israelite kings like David, Hezekiah, and Josiah, while others deal with prophets like Samuel and Elijah. Jeremy Corley, University of Durham, UK; Harm van Grol, Tilburg University, The Netherlands.

"Happy the One who Meditates on Wisdom" (Sir. 14,20)

Author: Pancratius Cornelis Beentjes
Publisher: Peeters Publishers
Total Pages: 404
Release: 2006
Genre: Bibles
ISBN: 9789042917514

The last four decades have seen a substantial progress in the study of the Book of Ben Sira (Ecclesiasticus) on the literary, historical, theological, and sociological level. The discovery of the Hebrew Ben Sira Scroll at Masada in 1964 and the find of Hebrew Ben Sira fragments among the Dead Sea Scrolls were crucial landmarks to encourage serious investigation into this deuterocanonical document. Nowadays the Book of Ben Sira, which originates from the early second Century B.C.E., is recognized more and more as being an outstanding document of Jewish wisdom literature and an important link between the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. Following a general introduction into the major topics of recent Ben Sira research, this volume offers a detailed study of several passages that are crucial to the book's history, its content and structure. Important theological issues, such as 'canon and scripture', 'prophets and prophecy', 'theodicee', and 'God's mercy', are discussed as well. This study concludes with some essays relating to the Hebrew text(s) of the Book of Ben Sira.

Discovering, Deciphering and Dissenting

Discovering, Deciphering and Dissenting
Author: James K. Aitken
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 452
Release: 2019-01-29
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 3110612976

The discovery of Hebrew manuscripts of Ben Sira in the Cairo Genizah has shaped and transformed the interpretation of the book. It is argued here that a proper appreciation of the manuscripts themselves is also essential for understanding this ancient work. Since their discovery 120 years ago and subsequent identification of leaves, attention has been directed to the interpretation of the ancient book, the Wisdom of Ben Sira. Serious consideration should also be given to the Hebrew manuscripts themselves and their particular contributions to understanding the language and transmission of the book. The surprising appearance of a work that was preserved by Christians and denounced by some Rabbis raises questions over the preservation of the book. At the same time, diversity among the manuscripts means that exegesis has to be built on an appreciation of the individual manuscripts. The contributors examine the manuscripts in this light, examining their discovery, the codicology and reception of the manuscripts within rabbinic and medieval Judaism, and the light they throw on the Hebrew language and poetic techniques. The book is essential reading for those working on Ben Sira, the reception of the deuterocanon, and Medieval Hebrew manuscripts.

Enoch from Antiquity to the Middle Ages

Enoch from Antiquity to the Middle Ages
Author: John C. Reeves
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 412
Release: 2018
Genre: History
ISBN: 0198718411

Across the ancient and medieval literature of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, one finds references to the antediluvian sage Enoch. Both the Book of the Watchers and the Astronomical Book were long known from their Ethiopic versions, which are preserved as part of Mashafa Henok Nabiy ('Book of Enoch the Prophet')--an Enochic compendium known in the West as 1 Enoch. Since the discovery of Aramaic fragments among the Dead Sea Scrolls, these books have attracted renewed attention as important sources for ancient Judaism. Among the results has been the recognition of the surprisingly long and varied tradition surrounding Enoch. Within 1 Enoch alone, for instance, we find evidence for intensive literary creativity. This volume provides a comprehensive set of core references for easy and accessible consultation. It shows that the rich afterlives of Enochic texts and traditions can be studied more thoroughly by scholars of Second Temple Judaism and early Christianity as well as by scholars of late antique and medieval religions. Specialists in the Second Temple period-the era in which Enochic literature first appears-will be able to trace (or discount) the survival of Enochic motifs and mythemes within Jewish literary circles from late antiquity into the Middle Ages, thereby shedding light on the trajectories of Jewish apocalypticism and its possible intersections with Jewish mysticism. Students of Near Eastern esotericism and Hellenistic philosophies will have further data for exploring the origins of 'gnosticism' and its possible impact upon sectarian currents in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Those interested in the intellectual symbiosis among Jews, Christians, and Muslims in the Middle Ages-and especially in the transmission of the ancient sciences associated with Hermeticism (e.g., astrology, theurgy, divinatory techniques, alchemy, angelology, demonology)-will be able to view a chain of tradition reconstructed in its entirety for the first time in textual form. In the process, we hope to provide historians of religion with a new tool for assessing the intertextual relationships between different religious corpora and for understanding the intertwined histories of the major religious communities of the ancient and medieval Near East.