tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378405682024-02-28T05:57:59.289+00:00Old Testament Pseudepigrapha BlogA weblog created for DI4716, a course on the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha at the Divinity School of the University of St Andrews.Jim Davilahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14673780544920553462noreply@blogger.comBlogger46125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37840568.post-53270947415012008332007-04-26T13:33:00.000+00:002007-04-26T12:32:54.621+00:00Irish Pseudepigrapha LectureI have posted Dr. Macaskill's lecture from last week, <A HREF="http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/divinity/irish_pseud.html">The Pseudepigrapha in the Irish Church,"</A> on the <A HREF="http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/divinity/otpseud.html">Old Testament Pseudepigrapha website</A>.Jim Davilahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14673780544920553462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37840568.post-3046368272969559592007-04-24T21:19:00.000+00:002007-04-24T21:29:38.999+00:00Irish Apocrypha/Pseudepigrapha resourcesAs a follow up to Friday's lecture, I thought it might be helpful to post details of two very useful books.<br /><br />First, the starting point for any research on the Irish texts is Martin McNamara's , <em>The Apocrypha in the Irish Church </em>(Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1975), which provides full details of the actual manuscripts of the Irish texts.<br /><br />The second resource to be mentioned is Maire Herbert and Martin McNamara, <em>Irish Biblical Apocrypha: Selected Texts in Translation</em> (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1989). This provides beautifully translated readings from the Irish texts and gives a real flavour of the material. The translations are accompanied by helpful notes that generally provide the essential critical information.<br /><br />My apologies, by the way, to the respected authors listed above: I don't know how to get the appropriate accents for their Gaelic names in this blogging program and so their names have been represented in brute English!<br /><br />I'm not sure if it crosses the Irish-Scottish divide but <em>tha mi duilich, co dhuibh.</em>Grant Macaskillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03138480947365983890noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37840568.post-17949160691330873872007-04-24T16:32:00.000+00:002007-04-24T15:46:58.751+00:006 Ezra LectureI have posted last week's lecture on <I>6 Ezra</I> <A HREF="http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/divinity/6ezra.html">here</A>.<br /><br />UPDATE: Bad link corrected.Jim Davilahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14673780544920553462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37840568.post-42721290897630011692007-04-19T20:01:00.000+00:002007-04-19T20:13:31.416+00:00Irish PseudepigraphaTomorrow's class will examine some of the pseudepigraphal material maintained by the Irish Church. As we will see, that Church had a particular interest in Adam traditions, which parallel and draw upon the Apocalypse of Moses/Latin Life of Adam and Eve.<br /><br />It may be helpful if students are able to read through the Life of Adam and Eve in volume 2 of J.H. Charlesworth, <em>The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha </em>(New York: Doubleday, 1985), 249-295. Some of the comments I make about the distinctives of the Irish Adam and Eve material will make better sense if students have read this first.<br /><br />Those inspired to learn Old Irish (not necessary for tomorrow, by the way) may be interested in the website run by the University of Texas at Austen's <em>Linguistics Research Center</em>:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/eieol/iriol-0-X.html">http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/eieol/iriol-0-X.html</a><br /><br />I have only glanced at the site, which provides lessons and readings from classic texts. I appreciated the Old Church Slavonic site that the same center produced, though, and if it is even remotely as helpful as that site then, frankly, I shall be spending a good deal of time there! The OCS site is:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/eieol/ocsol-0-X.html">http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/eieol/ocsol-0-X.html</a>Grant Macaskillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03138480947365983890noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37840568.post-1176731219524323482007-04-17T13:19:00.000+00:002007-04-26T12:35:00.176+00:00Summary of Testament of Moses Seminar (13 April)Here are some of the points that were raised during our discussion of the <I>Testament of Moses</I> ("Milan manuscript," "Latin Moses fragment") during the seminar on 13 April. The major methodological issue that arose in class discussion was how to balance the need to avoid harmonization of the data (i.e., oversimplifying to make the data fit together) with the need to apply Occam's Razor ("entities must not be multiplied" or "the simplest solution is to be preferred"). This dilemma arises both with the question of whether the Latin Moses fragment is sectarian (if so, which sect, or is it one we otherwise don't know?) and whether it should be identified with any of the lost ancient Moses books already known to us.<br /><br />The question of the purpose of the of Latin Moses fragment came up a number of times. This important issue was outside the scope of the paper, so we devoted some class time to it. It was suggested that chapters 11-12 might offer some insight, in that they dealt with the question of leadership after Moses' death and they taught that the individual leader is not important, nor is the piety of the people, but rather the important thing is divine election and support. The potential inference is that the community was suffering a from a lack of leadership or a recently lost leader and this work was intended to encourage them. It was also pointed out that works that include an <I>ex post facto</I> review of future history frequently bring out their central concerns in the part of the review that culminates in the writer's present as eschatological end time. Chapters 8-9 fit this description and portray a time of persecution and an ideology of nonviolent passive resistance, perhaps hinting at the life situation of the writer. All this, of course, is speculative.<br /><br />There is some reason to believe that the Latin Moses fragment is "sectarian" in the sense that it thinks its own group is right and righteous even in contrast to other Jewish groups (note, e.g., the hostility toward apparently Jewish rulers in chapter 7). But it is difficult to link the writer's group to one particular group or sect such as the Essenes/Qumran sectarians, Pharisees, or Samaritans. Kenneth Atkinson has argued that the <I>Psalms of Solomon</I> were written by an otherwise unknown Jewish sectarian group, and the <I>Testament of Moses</I> may have been produced by still another unknow sect.<br /><br />Is the Latin Moses fragment to be identified with either the <I>Testament of Moses</I> or the <I>Assumption of Moses</I>? In <I>Jude and the Relatives of Jesus</I> Richard Bauckham concludes that the Latin Moses fragment is the same as the <I>Testament of Moses</I>, which is also quoted in Jude 9. In <I>The Provenance of the Pseudepigrapha</I> I argue that, although the <I>Testament of Moses</I> is indeed quoted in Jude 9, the Latin Moses fragment is not to be identified either with the <I>Testament of Moses</I> or the <I>Assumption of Moses</I>, but rather it was a third work. This does multiply entities a bit, but I think in a way required by the evidence (in that what seems to be the description of the first part of the <I>Testament of Moses</I> in the <I>Palaea Historica</I> does not correspond well at all to the surviving material in the Latin Moses fragment). And I noted in class that we do know of a good number of Moses pseudepigrapha going back to antiquity. These include:<UL><LI>The lost <I>Archangelic Book of the Prophet Moses</I> described in <I>On the Origins of the World</I> from the Nag Hammadi Library (NHC II 102, 7-9).<br /><br /><LI>The <I>Eighth Book of Moses</I>, a magical treatise that otherwise has nothing to do with Moses and which is found in Greek Magical Papyrus (PGM) xiii in two versions. The end of this papyrus also mentions the "Hidden Book of Moses Concerning the Great Name," which may be another lost Moses work.<br /><br /><LI>The <I>Sword of Moses</I> (<I>Harba di-Moshe</I>) is a Hebrew and Aramaic magical treatise that likewise has nothing in particular to do with Moses.<br /><br /><LI>The <I>Greatness of Moses</I> (<I>Gedullat Moshe</I>) is a Hebrew account of Moses' travels to paradise and hell.<br /><br /><LI>The <I>Apocalypse of Moses</I> is the title of a Greek version of the Latin <I>Life of Adam and Eve</I>. [26 April: I had the languages reversed and have now corrected them.] It is about Adam and Eve rather than Moses.<br /><br /><LI>The <I>Colloquy of Moses on Mount Sinai</I> is a Syriac work about Moses.</UL>The Latin Moses fragment cannot be identified with any of the above, but they do establish that there have been a number of Moses pseudepigrapha from antiquity on.Jim Davilahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14673780544920553462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37840568.post-1176735948738473552007-04-16T14:42:00.000+00:002007-04-16T15:05:48.750+00:00Ladder of Jacob Class Session 23rd MarchThis post is a rather belated summary of our class session from 23rd March, which involved a student paper examining the Ladder of Jacob.<br /><br />The paper argued that the <em>Ladder of Jacob</em> as a text draws upon several other works or traditions, including Jewish traditions associated with Jacob and Christian traditions such as the Tale of Aphroditianus. The latter work describes events in Persia at the time of Christ's birth and seems to have influenced chapter 7 of the <em>Ladder.</em> Scholars tend to assume that the first six chapters are Jewish but that the seventh is a Christian addition; this paper instead suggested that the work is much more composite in nature than often assumed.<br /><br />Interestingly, the paper picked up on some strong similarities between the <em>Ladder of Jacob </em>and the <em>Apocalypse of Abraham, </em>suggesting that the latter influenced the editor of the <em>Explanatory Palaea, </em>in which the <em>Ladder</em> is found. This raises for us again one of the problems of the Slavonic Pseudepigrapha: where works are clearly related closely to one another but quite different to the other texts with which they are often grouped (i.e., the demonstrably Jewish pseudepigrapha of the Second Temple period), should we not be wary of assigning to them a Second Temple date and regarding them as representing the Judaism of that time?<br /><br />The paper also highlighted the problem that we are essentially dealing with a text that has been extracted from its context in <em>the Explanatory Palaea.</em> In other words, we have no witnesses to the text in the form that it currently takes in English translation. Working with the text, we are faced with the problem that our English translation does not correspond to any actual manuscript and so we are kept from working with the text as it actually is.<br /><br />All in all, the session opened up a difficult text on which little has been written, opening up some interesting lines of research that could be explored further, particularly concerning the extent to which the work is composite.Grant Macaskillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03138480947365983890noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37840568.post-1176478668959865902007-04-13T16:52:00.000+00:002007-04-13T15:54:00.696+00:00Testament of Moses AbstractI have posted the abstract of Fiona Grierson's paper on the <I>Testament of Moses</I> <A HREF="http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/divinity/tmoses.html">here</A>.Jim Davilahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14673780544920553462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37840568.post-1176416362361573892007-04-12T23:18:00.000+00:002007-04-12T22:19:22.370+00:00More on Moses Apocrypha and PseudepigraphaM. R. James collected a great many fragments of Moses apocrypha and pseudepigrapha, some of which we will discuss in class tomorrow. See the <A HREF="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rs/rak/publics/mrjames/james.htm#moses">Moses section</A> of his <A HREF="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rs/rak/publics/mrjames/james.htm"><I>The Lost Apocrypha of the Old Testament</I></A>. And one more lost Moses apocryphon is mentioned in <I>On the Origin of the World</I> in the Nag Hammadi library. See <A HREF="http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2005_09_01_paleojudaica_archive.html#112549449774383879">here</A> for details.Jim Davilahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14673780544920553462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37840568.post-1176331569134791332007-04-11T22:45:00.000+00:002007-04-11T22:46:09.143+00:00Online Translation of the Latin Moses FragmentContra my last posting, the Latin fragment usually known as the <I>Assumption</I> or <I>Testament of Moses</I> can be found in translation online after all. A Mormon site collects translations of pseudepigrapha and apocrypha and it has a page with the <A HREF="http://www.pseudepigrapha.com/pseudepigrapha/assumptionofmoses.html">Charles translation</A> of the Latin fragment. Concentrate on Priest's translation in volume 1 of the Charlesworth OTP, if you have it. But the Charles version is serviceable if you don't.Jim Davilahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14673780544920553462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37840568.post-1176219822325660212007-04-10T16:42:00.000+00:002007-04-10T15:43:42.336+00:00A Note on MosesHere are a few references on the <I>Testament of Moses</I> and related matters. First, Peter Kirby has a web page on the <A HREF="http://www.earlyjewishwritings.com/testmoses.html"><I>Testament of Moses</I></A> on his useful <A HREF="http://www.earlyjewishwritings.com/">Early Jewish Writings</A> website. Unfortunately, there is no translation of the Latin fragment online. On my 1998 <A HREF="http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~www_sd/mediators.html">Divine Mediators in the Biblical World</A> website there an abstract of a paper on <A HREF="http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~www_sd/med_moses.html">Moses</A> by Ysmena Pentelow and also a <A HREF="http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~www_sd/med_bib_1.3_moses.html">bibliography entry</A> on Moses. The listing of secondary literature is both limited and now out of date (cf. the <I>Assumption/Testament of Moses</I> <A HREF="http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~www_sd/otpseud_bibliog_07.html#testmoses">bibliography</A> for the current course), but the entry collects a lot of useful primary evidence.Jim Davilahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14673780544920553462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37840568.post-1176121216433529982007-04-09T13:19:00.000+00:002007-04-09T12:20:16.443+00:00Ladder of Jacob AbstractI have posted the abstract for Kate Piscator's <A HREF="http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/divinity/ladjacob.html">essay</A> on the <I>Ladder of Jacob</I> over at the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha website.<br /><br />Apologies for the long silence on the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha blog. The last two weeks have been the spring break and both Dr. Macaskill and I were thoroughly preoccupied with other things. He will be posting the summary of the <I>Ladder of Jacob</I> class session in due course.<br /><br />Later this week we will be looking at the Latin fragment generally (but perhaps inaccurately) know as the <I>Testament of Moses</I>.Jim Davilahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14673780544920553462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37840568.post-1174605686620588742007-03-23T00:21:00.000+00:002007-03-23T00:21:26.630+00:00Random Notes on the Ladder of JacobBesides the <A HREF="http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~www_sd/otpseud_bibliog_07.html#ladderjacob">bibliography</A> for this course, there's another <A HREF="http://www.marquette.edu/maqom/jacob">bibliography</A> on <I>The Ladder of Jacob</I> posted by Andrei Orlov. For some reason Jacob's Ladder has a strong presence in popular culture. I'm not entirely sure why the <A HREF="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099871/">movie</A> with Tim Robbins has this title, but it does. And then there's the <A HREF="http://www.mp3lyrics.org/h/huey-lewis/jacobs-ladder/">song</A> by Huey Lewis and the News. Also, you can make a Jacob's Ladder, instructions <A HREF="http://www.woodcraftarts.com/jacob.htm">here</A>. I'll be bringing one of these to class tomorrow. But not one of <A HREF="http://www.emanator.demon.co.uk/bigclive/jacobs.htm">these</A>. More tomorrow!Jim Davilahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14673780544920553462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37840568.post-1174320908741673092007-03-20T23:18:00.000+00:002007-03-20T23:18:57.816+00:00Summary of Coptic Apocalypse of Abraham Seminar (16 March)These are some of the points raised during the class discussion of the Coptic <I>Apocalypse of Elijah</I> on 16 March. The <I>Apocalypse of Elijah</I> exemplifies some of the chronic problems one encounters in the study of the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, including a number of problems we have not yet discussed in detail. These include the following.<UL><LI><span style="font-style:italic;">The problem of reconstructed texts.</span> Note that on p. 727 of Charlesworth's OTP vol. 1, Wintermute tells us that various passages of the <span style="font-style:italic;">Apocalypse of Elijah</span> are translated from different manuscripts in different Coptic dialects. The particular text translated in OTP did not exist until put together by Wintermute. This is problem for all eclectically reconstructed ancient texts, but the narrow manuscript base of many of the OT Pseudepigrapha, should give us pause about the reconstructed text we use.<br /><br /><LI><span style="font-style:italic;">The problem of different (?) works with the same or a similar title.</span> Books of Elijah with similar titles are mentioned, for example, in the Sitchometry of Nicephorus and the List of the Sixty Books, and by Origen and Jerome. These may or may not have been the same work as our Coptic apocalypse. In some cases it appears pretty clear that they are not.<br /><br />We know that different books circulated in antiquity with the same or a similar title. Examples are the <span style="font-style:italic;">Infancy Gospel of Thomas</span> and the <span style="font-style:italic;">Gospel of Thomas</span> from the <a href="http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/nhl.html">Nag Hammadi Library</a>; the two <span style="font-style:italic;">Apocalypses of James</span> in the Nag Hammadi Library; and one <span style="font-style:italic;">Apocalypse of Peter</span> from the Nag Hammadi Library and a perhaps Jewish-Christian apocalypse with the same name. So we have no particular reason to suppose that multiple works pertaining to Elijah also circulated. (For more on lost works attributed to Old Testament characters, see <A HREF="http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2005_07_17_paleojudaica_archive.html#112186822211528239">here</A>.)<br /><br /><LI><span style="font-style:italic;">The problem of different recensions of the same work.</span> The Stichometry of Nicephorus gives the length of its Elijah book as 316 stichoi (lines). Wintermute (p. 728) notes evidence that this could be about 7% shorter than our <span style="font-style:italic;">Apocalypse of Elijah</span>. But there is ample evidence that these works circulated in multiple recensions of different lengths. For example the Coptic Gnostic <span style="font-style:italic;">Apocryphon of John</span> - known from the Nag Hammadi Library and elsewhere - survives in a long and a short recension). So a small difference in length (or even a large one) does not automatically prove that a lost work is not a variant recension of a work that survives.<br /><br /><LI><span style="font-style:italic;">The problem of similar works with overlapping material.</span> The classic example of this phenomenon is the three Synoptic Gospels in the New Testament, and it is telling that the interrelationships of this comparatively large corpus continues to be debated in serious scholarship today. So the partly overlapping (and not very close) descriptions of the Antichrist in the Coptic A<span style="font-style:italic;">pocalypse of Elijah</span> and the Hebrew <span style="font-style:italic;">Sefer Elijah</span> could be explained in any number of ways.<br /><br /><LI><span style="font-style:italic;">The problem of similar works with similar titles that have overlapping themes.</span> The Coptic <span style="font-style:italic;">Apocalypse of Elijah</span> and <span style="font-style:italic;">Sefer Elijah</span> share numerous general themes, too many to be coincidental (future battles involving foreign kings and countries, including Assyria; the coming of the Messiah; the coming of the Antichrist/eschatological adversary; the millenial/paradisiacal age; descriptions of hell; etc.) There is some relationship between the works, but it does not seem to be literary.</UL>In general it is clear that there was a Jewish body of tradition about Elijah in antiquity and that ancient Christians drew on this body of tradition and augmented it with their own ideas and legends. How these two fairly vague clouds of tradition led to our Christian Coptic <span style="font-style:italic;">Apocalypse of Elijah</span> (apparently translated from Greek), our Jewish <span style="font-style:italic;">Sefer Elijah</span>, and one or more other works associated with Elijah which now survive only in fragments, is almost certainly a process too complicated for us to reconstruct on the basis of surviving evidence.<br /><br />We also discussed in general how undergraduate students can best approach the material in the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha and we agreed that it was important to begin with the primary texts (i.e., the ancient texts) and to master their content in translation before tackling the secondary literature (the scholarly articles and monographs).<br /><br />We also briefly discussed, among other things, the figure of Tabitha (who seems to draw on traditions about Tabitha in Acts 9; an Egyptian mythological figure with a similar name; and the Greek prophetess know as the <A HREF="http://sibyllineleaves.blogspot.com/index.html">Sibyl</A>); the relationship between the <span style="font-style:italic;">Apocalypse of Elijah</span> and the NT Book of Revelation (at the very least they came from a shared tradition); and possible Jewish traditions in the <span style="font-style:italic;">Apocalypse of Elijah</span>, which are almost impossible to separate out due to our lack of such Jewish sources as the author apparently used.Jim Davilahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14673780544920553462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37840568.post-1174296975980745422007-03-19T10:35:00.000+00:002007-03-19T10:36:16.003+00:00Coptic Apocalypse of Elijah AbstractI have posted the abstract of Oliver Jackson's essay on the Coptic <span style="font-style:italic;">Apocalypse of Elijah</span> <A HREF="http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/academic/divinity/apocelijah.html">here</A>.Jim Davilahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14673780544920553462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37840568.post-1174037329100381952007-03-16T10:10:00.000+00:002007-03-16T10:28:49.110+00:00Monotheism and MediatorsThe course has been exploring whether given texts are (as is often assumed) Jewish and how key figures within them function as "divine mediators."<br /><br />To help appreciate the relevance of this to New Testament studies, I would like to suggest that students read pages 1-22 of Richard Bauckham's book <em>God Crucified: Monotheism and Christology in the New Testament </em>(Carlisle: Paternoster, 1998). The book explores the nature of Jewish monotheism and the character of debates within New Testament studies that concern how Jesus is to be viewed as "divine." Did the portrayal of Jesus as a divine figure evolve from Jewish ideas of divine mediators, exalted patriarchs, etc? Similar issues are explored in Dr Davila's article on divine mediators, as well as in book length treatments such as Larry Hurtado's <em>One God, One Lord: Early Christian Devotion and Ancient Jewish Monotheism </em>(London: SCM, 1988), but the treatment by Bauckham has the advantage of being pitched at a much more accessible level.<br /><br />At this stage in the course, students will be better able to understand the debates touched upon in Bauckham's book and I hope this will help them to appreciate the importance of what we are doing for New Testament research. I want to encourage them, though, to pay attention to the works cited in the footnotes, throughout the chapter, as "Second Temple Jewish" texts. Often these are the works we have placed in the "questionable" category (as far as authorship and date of composition are concerned). Professor Bauckham is actually a very careful scholar, with great expertise in the Pseudepigrapha: the fact that he glosses over the critical issues surrounding these texts reflects the semi-popular nature of this book rather than any carelessness in his scholarship. It is interesting, though, to see how often texts about which we have serious questions occur here. This reflects the extent to which these texts play a role in New Testament scholarship, especially in discussions concerning Christology.Grant Macaskillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03138480947365983890noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37840568.post-1173809974822503722007-03-14T11:55:00.000+00:002007-03-14T11:55:35.393+00:00Elijah Materials OnlineIn advance of Friday's session on the Coptic <I>Apocalypse of Elijah</I>, readers may be interested in the coverage of Elijah in my 1998 Divine Mediator Figures in the Biblical World course. Here is the <A HREF="http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~www_sd/med_elijah.html">abstract</A> of an essay by Christopher Maxwell on Elijah as a divine mediator. And here is a <A HREF="http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~www_sd/med_bib_1.5_elijah.html">bibliography</A> that collects many primary source references to Elijah as well as a now slightly-dated list of secondary references. The bibliography on the <I>Apocalypse of Elijah</I> for our current OT Pseudepigrapha course is <A HREF="http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~www_sd/otpseud_bibliog_07.html#apocelijah">here</A>.<br /><br />There is little else online on the <I>Apocalypse of Elijah</I>, but do have a look at Peter Kirby's <A HREF="http://www.earlyjewishwritings.com/apocelijah.html">page</A> at his useful <A HREF="http://www.earlyjewishwritings.com/">Early Jewish Writings</A> site.Jim Davilahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14673780544920553462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37840568.post-1173711154435848172007-03-13T21:56:00.000+00:002007-03-14T12:01:21.843+00:00Pseudepigraphers and Their PetsThe following passages from the <span style="font-style:italic;">Apocalypse of Abraham</span> have always stood out to me:<blockquote>I am called Jaoel by Him who moveth that which existeth with me on the seventh expanse upon the firmament, a power in virtue of the ineffable Name that is dwelling in me. <span style="font-weight:bold;">I am the one who hath been given to restrain, according to His commandment, the threatening attack of the living creatures of the Cherubim against one another</span> ... (10:8-9a)</blockquote>This last odd comment is expanded upon when Abraham describes his vision of the heavenly throne room:<blockquote>And as the fire raised itself up, ascending into the height, I saw under the fire a throne of fire, and, round about it all-seeing ones, reciting the song, <span style="font-weight:bold;">and under the throne four fiery living creatures singing</span>, and their appearance was one, each one of them with four faces. And such was the appearance of their countenances, of a lion, of a man, of an ox, of an eagle: four heads [were upon their bodies] [so that the four creatures had sixteen faces]; and each had six wings; from their shoulders, [and their sides] and their loins. And with the (two) wings from their shoulders they covered their faces, and with the (two) wings which (sprang) from their loins they covered their feet, while the (two) middle wings they spread out for flying straightforward. <span style="font-weight:bold;">And when they had ended the singing, they looked at one another and threatened one another. And it came to pass when the angel who was with me saw that they were threatening each other, he left me and went running to them and turned the countenance of each living creature from the countenance immediately confronting him, in order that they might not see their countenances threatening each other.</span> And he taught them the song of peace which hath its origin [in the Eternal One]. (18:3-11)</blockquote>Is it just me, or was this passage not written by someone who had watched interactions between house cats, especially when they first meet? Cats can barely tolerate the existence of other cats, and the hissfull reaction of the living creatures (Hayyot) to one another seems entirely true to cat nature. I doubt that I'll ever write this observation up for a journal article, but I still think it's likely that the author of the <I>Apocalypse of Abraham</I> had pet cats.<br /><br />For more on the living creatures see <A HREF="http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2003_09_01_paleojudaica_archive.html#106339878126199160">here</A>.<br /><br />Another interesting point about the living creatures/Hayyot is that they are (as far as I can find) the only female angels in Jewish tradition.<br /><br />UPDATE (14 March): For more on cats and the OT Pseudepigrapha (sort of), see <A HREF="http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2005_11_27_paleojudaica_archive.html#113334361856070105">here</A>.Jim Davilahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14673780544920553462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37840568.post-1173738134782044992007-03-12T23:19:00.000+00:002007-03-12T23:22:14.793+00:00Summary of Friday 9th March Class (The Apocalypse of Abraham)Our session on Friday involved a presentation by one of our students on <em>The Apocalypse of Abraham</em>, followed by a discussion of the paper and of the issues it raised.<br /><br />The paper explored several interwoven themes relating to this problematic text:<br /><br />1) How does the text relate to the national fortunes of the Jewish people, specifically the destruction of the Second Temple?<br />2) How are the themes of monotheism and the appropriate worship of God developed within the text and how might this relate to the choice of Abraham as the central figure in the apocalypse?<br />3) How do the above issues relate to the question of authorship and date of composition? Do they require a Jewish authorship and a date soon after the fall of the Second Temple?<br /><br />The discussion afterward raised a number of interesting issues. We explored some of the connections between the apocalypse and Muslim traditions found in the Qu’ran. We also discussed at some length the question of whether the alleged Hebraisms in the text carry any probative value for establishing whether the text was originally composed in Hebrew. Dr. Davila and I are rather sceptical about this: most, if not all, can be explained on the basis of the influence of Greek translations of biblical narrative. Leading on from this, much of our conversation concerned whether the evidence really requires a Jewish authorship. If we start with the manuscript evidence—and we only have late Slavonic mss.—we can only argue for dates of composition that precede this historical context if elements of the text cannot be accounted for therein. So, only if elements of the text are inexplicable in a Slavic context can we push back towards a putative Jewish original. We discussed at some length what might constitute such evidence. I suggested that the presence of Azazel as the villain of the piece may be one fruitful line of enquiry: Christian texts tend to use Satan as the main figure of evil and in the Slavonic context, especially among the Bogomils, Satan (or Satanael) tends to displace other figures.<br /><br />We also discussed the difficult passage found in chapter 29, a section of the text with numerous internal contradictions. The student paper provided a helpful examination of this passage, which tends to be read as a Christian interpolation, raising the possibility that it belonged to the original layer of the apocalypse and that a Christian author altered it in a more "Christological" direction. This theory would be most compatible with a Jewish authorship, of course, and scholars who have advocated it have tended to assume that the apocalypse was originally Jewish.<br /><br />The discussion, then, highlighted that the question of whether the text is Jewish may not be quite as well-settled as many scholars claim. All in all, it was a very good session and the student paper opened up the questions admirably.Grant Macaskillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03138480947365983890noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37840568.post-1173458685261836582007-03-09T16:42:00.000+00:002007-03-09T16:44:45.270+00:00Apocalypse of Abraham AbstractI have posted the abstract of Maria Elliott's paper on the <I>Apocalypse of Abraham</I> <A HREF="http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/academic/divinity/apocabraham.html">here</A>. Next week, Dr. Macaskill will post a summary of today's seminar discussion.Jim Davilahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14673780544920553462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37840568.post-1173437891253065892007-03-09T10:43:00.000+00:002007-03-09T10:58:11.263+00:00Online Translations of Apocalype of Abraham RevisitedIn my previous post on the online translations of <em>Ap.Ab., </em>I mentioned some of the flaws of the Box-Landsman edition. Reading that translation in preparation for today's class, it occurs to me that while it is indeed flawed in several ways, it also has something in its favour that is lacking from the translation in Charlesworth <em>OTP 1. </em>The appendix to the Box-Landsman translation contains extracts from the Palaeas that <em>Ap.Ab. </em>is found in. One of my concerns in working with the Slavonic texts is that our translations are somewhat inauthentic, the passages having been removed from the contexts in which they were originally embedded. The appendix to Box-Landsman gives us a better sense of how the pseudepigraphon was <em>actually</em> used and introduced in the Palaeas and for this reason students may find it helpful to read through that appendix.<br /><br />The translation can be found <a href="http://www.cimmay.us/pdf/box_landsman.pdf">here.</a>Grant Macaskillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03138480947365983890noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37840568.post-1173434766227571912007-03-09T10:03:00.000+00:002007-03-09T10:06:06.236+00:00Fallen Angels and Genetic SciencePlease don't quote <a href="http://www.angelfire.com/home/thefaery/hafgan.html">this</a> in your exam, students.<br /><br />This is a rather different take on the pseudepigrapha than any we would encourage. There is, incidentally, lots of this stuff out there ("out there" is worthy of emphasis).Grant Macaskillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03138480947365983890noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37840568.post-1173276052828654542007-03-07T13:58:00.000+00:002007-03-07T14:01:37.250+00:00New Testament Job at the University of St. AndrewsTHE UNIVERSITY OF ST ANDREWS invites applications for a Professorship in New Testament (equivalent to a Full Professorship in North America). We are seeking applicants with a strong international research profile in New Testament. You will contribute to the School’s existing strengths in exegetical, literary and historical scholarship. Specialism within the area of New Testament is open, though a research interest in the interface between biblical studies and Christian theology and/or history of interpretation is highly desirable. You will be committed to excellence in teaching and you will be expected to teach students from undergraduate to doctoral level. You are a team-player who will be fully involved in the School's research, supervisory and administrative roles. Informal enquiries to Dr Jim Davila (Tel. +44-1334-462834; email: jrd4@st-andrews.ac.uk) Further information about the School of Divinity can be found at: <a href="http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/divinity">http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/divinity</a>. Application forms and further particulars are available from Human Resources, University of St Andrews, College Gate, North Street, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9AJ, (tel: 01334 462571, by fax 01334 462570 or by e-mail Jobline@st-andrews.ac.uk. The advertisement and further particulars can be viewed at <a href="http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/hr/recruitment/vacancies">http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/hr/recruitment/vacancies</a>. Please quote ref: ME163/07. Closing Date: March 30th 2007. The University is committed to equality of opportunity.<br /><br />Again, I would be grateful if other bibliobloggers would copy or link to this job advert and the <A HREF="http://otpseud.blogspot.com/2007/03/old-testamenthebrew-bible-job-at.html">earlier one</A>.Jim Davilahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14673780544920553462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37840568.post-1173258753444968542007-03-07T08:47:00.000+00:002007-03-07T09:12:33.453+00:00Online Translations of the Apocalypse of AbrahamA good quality pdf file of the first English translation of <em>Apocalypse of Abraham </em>(that of G.H. Box and J.I. Landsman, published in London in 1918 under the title of the Apocalypse) can be found <a href="http://www.cimmay.us/pdf/box_landsman.pdf">here </a>.<br /><br />The translation is a good starting point to orient oneself in the text, but is generally acknowledged to have some fairly serious flaws. The translators seem to have been rather anachronistic in imputing later Russian meanings to Church Slavonic words and the criteria by which they chose which variant to follow among the readings attested by the manuscripts also seem not to have been clear. The translation of R. Rubinkiewicz (which contains additional notes by the great Slavist, Howard Lunt) in Charlesworth's <em>The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, Volume 1: Apocalyptic Literature and Testaments </em>(New York: Doubleday, 1983) points out where these errors occur and should be the text used for our class.<br /><br />A new translation has also appeared in Alexander Kulik's <em>Retroverting Slavonic Pseudepigrapha: Towards the Original of the Apocalypse of Abraham </em>(Atlanta: SBL, 2004), 9-35. While this is an important study, I would not encourage students to make use of it at this stage, as it requires a knowledge of Greek, Hebrew and Church Slavonic to engage with the footnotes. Moreover, Kulik's translation is based on some of his innovatory attemps to establish a hypothetical underlying text; an assessment of whether his arguments are persuasive has not yet been made by the academic community in general and requires linguistic skills that are beyond those we expect from our class members. For the time being, therefore, Kulik's work should be regarded as speculative and as falling outside of the scope of this class.Grant Macaskillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03138480947365983890noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37840568.post-1173091681990883972007-03-05T00:40:00.000+00:002007-03-07T14:03:36.883+00:00Old Testament/Hebrew Bible Job at the University of St. AndrewsTHE UNIVERSITY OF ST ANDREWS invites applications for a Readership/Professorship in <span style="font-weight:bold;">Old Testament/Hebrew Bible</span> (roughly equivalent, respectively, to an Associate or Full Professorship in North America). We are seeking applicants with a strong international research profile in OT/HB. You will contribute to the School’s existing strengths in philological and historical scholarship. Specialism within the area of OT/HB is open, though a research interest in the interface between biblical studies and Christian theology and/or history of interpretation is highly desirable. You will be committed to excellence in teaching and you will be expected to teach students from undergraduate to doctoral level in Old Testament and Hebrew. You are a team-player who will be fully involved in the School's research, supervisory and administrative roles. Salary - £41,392-£47,194 pa (Reader) or negotiable (Professor). Informal enquiries to Dr Jim Davila (Tel. +44-1334-462834; email: jrd4@st-andrews.ac.uk). Further information about the School of Divinity can be found at: <a href="http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/divinity">http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/divinity</a>. Application forms and further particulars are available from Human Resources, University of St Andrews, College Gate, North Street, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9AJ, (tel: 01334 462571, by fax 01334 462570 or by e-mail Jobline@st-andrews.ac.uk. The advertisement and further particulars can be viewed at <a href="http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/hr/recruitment/vacancies">http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/hr/recruitment/vacancies</a>. Please quote ref: SK162/07 <span style="font-weight:bold;">Closing Date: March 30th 2007</span>. The University is committed to equality of opportunity.<br /><br />Note that the deadline is not far away. I would be grateful if fellow biblobloggers would feel free to reproduce or link to this advert on their blogs.<br /><br />UPDATE (6 March): Another job, this one in <A HREF="http://otpseud.blogspot.com/2007/03/new-testament-job-at-university-of-st.html">New Testament</A>.Jim Davilahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14673780544920553462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37840568.post-1172956931177531302007-03-03T21:13:00.000+00:002007-03-03T21:22:11.186+00:00The Measure of God and the Divine FaceI promised in class that I would post links to articles by Andrei Orlov that deal with the idea of the <a href="http://www.marquette.edu/maqom/objatie">"divine measure"</a> and the <a href="http://www.marquette.edu/maqom/enoch">" divine face."</a> Both articles are quite technical, but they will give a flavour of the kind of work that Prof Orlov does on <em>2 Enoch. </em>I am a little unconvinced by much of his argumentation in the latter article, by the way; if you wish to discuss this, let me know in class.Grant Macaskillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03138480947365983890noreply@blogger.com