The Greek Versions of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs

The Greek Versions of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs
Author: Robert Henry Charles
Publisher: Forgotten Books
Total Pages: 400
Release: 2017-07-17
Genre: Drama
ISBN: 9780282351953

Excerpt from The Greek Versions of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs: Edited From Nine Mss., Together With the Variants of the Armenian and Slavonic Versions and Some Hebrew Fragments Some of the Sections in the following Introduction have already appeared in the Introduction to my Commentary. My obligations to friends and scholars are deep and manifold. First of all, to the Trustees of the Hibbert Trust for a subvention towards the cost of publication of the Text: to Dr. Sinker, who, when I informed him of my intention of editing the text, most generously lent me the collation of h, the first Mt. Sinai ms, which had been made for him by Mrs. Gibson: to Mrs. Gibson and Mrs. Lowis for the endless pains they took in securing for me a photographic reproduction of i, the second Sinai ms.: to the Directors of the Paris and Vatican Libraries for permission to photograph their mss. Of the Testaments: to Professor Lake for photographing the Mt. Athos ms. To Mr. Cowley for his ever ready help in regard to the Aramaic fragments: and to Dr. James, the Provost of King's, for a collation of portions of Dr. Sinker's text with the Cambridge ms. My warm thanks are specially due to Professor Morfill, who retranslated into Greek for this edition the two recensions of the Slavonic Version: and, finally, I am indebted for the Greek Index to the kindness of Miss Poole. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

The Great Controversy

The Great Controversy
Author: Tom de Bruin
Publisher: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht
Total Pages: 265
Release: 2014-12-10
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 3647540358

The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs (T12P), one of the longest texts of the so-called "Old Testament Pseudepigrapha," presents the fictitious farewell speeches that the twelve sons of Jacob held on their respective deathbeds. Tom de Bruin examines these twelve monologues as literary products in order to understand the function of the text for the setting in which it was composed. He approaches T12P from three directions: an analysis of the paraenetic parts, a discussion of the anthropology, and a comparative examination of other contemporaneous works documenting a world-view similar to T12P.These three approaches merge into a detailed discussion about the reasoning behind the admonition in T12P, and identifies the fundamental message of the text, namely that each person stands between the forces of good and evil and that this person is called to constantly decide which way to follow. Though T12P is still familiar with the apocalyptic origin and plays with the cosmological implications of this 'great controversy', the text clearly puts the emphasis on the battle inside each individual. It is thereby an important witness for reinterpreting and reapplying apocalyptic traditions through ethicizing them and focusing on the individual. Such an individualistic application of the 'great controversy' theme can be found in a number of other (mostly Christian) works, revealing a similar understanding of mankind's existence and development as in T12P. The analysis of the ethical reappropriation of apocalyptic traditions in T12P provides important insights into the foundations of early Christian ethics, ancient anthropology, and the Jewish and Christian understanding of the struggle between good and evil.

Exploring the Scripturesque

Exploring the Scripturesque
Author: Robert A. Kraft
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 324
Release: 2009
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004170103

These essays span about a third of a century and include both previously published and some unpublished studies by Robert A. Kraft which focus on interfaces between Jewish materials and the worlds in which they were transmitted and/or perceived, especially Christian contexts. The initial section on general context and methodology is followed by several detailed studies by way of example. The final section touches on some related issues involving Philonic and other texts. The primary concern is with "scripturesque" materials and traditions, whether they later became canonical or not, that seem to have been respected as scriptural by some individuals or communities in the period prior to (or apart from) the development of an exclusivistic canonical consciousness in some Jewish and Christian circles.