{"title":"Philosophical cosmology and religious polemic: The “worship of creation” in the writings of Philo of Alexandria and the Wisdom of Solomon","authors":"E. Wasserman","doi":"10.1177/09518207211041308","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09518207211041308","url":null,"abstract":"This article treats Hellenistic Jewish literature that ridicules the alleged worship of the elements, the heavens, the heavenly bodies, or other “parts” of the cosmos, especially as developed in the writings of Philo of Alexandria and Ps-Solomon. It is argued that such claims constitute a distinctive sub-type of religious polemic that draws on and adapts from Platonic and Stoic traditions of cosmology. Such polemics are most clearly developed in Philo’s treatises and in chapter 13 of the Wisdom of Solomon, but they also appear in more abbreviated form in the fragments of Philo of Byblos and Aristobulus. I suggest that these traditions of invective may bear on the interpretation of Rom 1:19–23, but only in an indirect way.","PeriodicalId":14859,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha","volume":"31 1","pages":"6 - 28"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2021-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43643275","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Introduction to Sept 2021 special issue of Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha: The Wisdom of Solomon","authors":"K. Hogan, J. Zurawski","doi":"10.1177/09518207211039472","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09518207211039472","url":null,"abstract":"At the 2017 Annual Meeting of the SBL, as the steering committee of the Wisdom and Apocalypticism Section met to plan its programming for the next few years, it became clear that many of the committee members shared an interest in the Wisdom of Solomon. Yet, despite the obvious relevance of that book to the intersection of wisdom and apocalyptic literature, we realized that our section had not devoted a session to the Wisdom of Solomon in the past two decades. To be sure, there had been a number of individual papers focusing on the Wisdom of Solomon, but we resolved then and there that a sustained examination of this book by our section was long overdue. Over the next 3 years, the Wisdom and Apocalypticism Section hosted three sessions focusing on the Wisdom of Solomon, with a view to eventually publishing some of the papers: “The Wisdom of Solomon at the Crossroads of Wisdom, Apocalypticism, and Philosophy” (2018 AM, Denver); “Knowledge and the Cosmos in the Wisdom of Solomon” (2019 AM, San Diego); and simply “The Wisdom of Solomon” (2020 AM, online). The sustained attention to this book paid off; shortly after the 2020 virtual meeting, Matthias Henze invited us to co-edit two special issues of JSP in 2021 on the Wisdom of Solomon. The co-editors are Jason Zurawski, current co-chair (with Emma Wasserman) of the Wisdom and Apocalypticism section, and Karina Martin Hogan, its former chair/co-chair (with Matthew Goff) from 2010–2015. We are extremely grateful to Matthias Henze for this opportunity to publish some of the finest examples of recent critical scholarship on the Wisdom of Solomon (hereafter, Wis), four pieces in the current issue and four in the December 2021 issue.","PeriodicalId":14859,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha","volume":"31 1","pages":"3 - 5"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2021-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42267609","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The martyrdom of Daniel and the Three Youths","authors":"A. Somov","doi":"10.1177/09518207211015964","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09518207211015964","url":null,"abstract":"This article investigates the legend about the persecution and martyrdom of Daniel and his three companions at the hand of a wicked Persian king. This story is found in Eastern Orthodox liturgical, hagiographical, and homiletical texts and is based on extracanonical traditions similar to those of the “rewritten Bible” in the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. The article investigates how the canonical story about Daniel and the Three Youths developed into this account of their martyrdom for Christ. The origins, liturgical function, and textual history of this legend are discussed, as well as its structure and tradition-history. My analysis demonstrates that this legend combines a martyrological account (similar to other stories about Jewish martyrs, for example, Daniel 3, 6; 2 Macc 7) with a reinterpretation of stories about biblical heroes. The legend also includes a resurrection story based on an unexpected exegesis of Matt 27:52–53 and 1 Cor 15:6.","PeriodicalId":14859,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha","volume":"30 1","pages":"198 - 227"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2021-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44468030","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Noachic traditions in the Book of Parables: Two parallels from the Dead Sea Scrolls","authors":"A. Feldman","doi":"10.1177/09518207211011763","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09518207211011763","url":null,"abstract":"This note draws attention to two passages from the so-called Noachic interpolations in the Book of Parables where Noah traditions embedded in Qumran scrolls may provide helpful parallels. First, it suggests that the dating of the vision in 1 En. 60:1 is illuminated by a comparison to the Flood chronology in 4Q252. Second, it points out a similar use of Isa 24:18–20 in 1 En. 65:1–5, 9 and 4Q370. In both instances, the suggested parallels highlight the Parables’ use of the Flood as a prototype of an eschatological judgment.","PeriodicalId":14859,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha","volume":"30 1","pages":"186 - 197"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2021-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45178032","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The seventy-two elders of the Letter of Aristeas: An ancient midrash on Numbers 11?","authors":"Noah Hacham","doi":"10.1177/09518207211022299","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09518207211022299","url":null,"abstract":"According to the Letter of Aristeas, the ancient treatise on the creation of the Greek translation of the Pentateuch, the high priest Eleazar chose seventy-two elders and dispatched them to Egypt where they translated the Torah into Greek. Scholars discerned the meaning of this number, indicating the affinity to the seventy elders who joined Moses and Aaron in the Sinai covenant (Exod. 24) and the fact that this number represents all the tribes of Israel equally, thus sanctifying the Greek translation in a similar way to the Torah. Particular attention was paid to Epiphanius, the fourth century church father, who explicitly states that the seventy-two elders provide equal representation to all the constituent tribes of Israel. Rabbinic literature, however, has been entirely absent from this discourse. In this article I point to Sifre on Numbers, a second century midrash, that notes that seventy-two elders experienced the Divine revelation (Numbers 11): seventy in the Tabernacle and Eldad and Medad in the camp. I suggest that based on a similar ancient interpretation of Numbers 11, the Letter of Aristeas chose the number seventy-two in order to bestow the aura, authority and sanctity of the seventy-two elders of Number 11 on the Greek translation. This example also highlights Rabbinic literature as an integral element of the cultural context of Jewish-Hellenistic literature.","PeriodicalId":14859,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha","volume":"30 1","pages":"175 - 185"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2021-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41705859","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Putting “the Torah” back into “the Book of Moses” in Miqṣat Ma‘aśe ha-Torah: A new proposed reconstruction of 4Q397 14–21 6","authors":"Jonathan C. Kaplan","doi":"10.1177/09518207211011764","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09518207211011764","url":null,"abstract":"In this article, I build upon observations by Émile Puech regarding the available space in 4Q397 14–21 6, one of the manuscripts of Miqṣat Ma‘aśe ha-Torah (MMT), in order to propose an alternate reconstruction of the middle of this line. I suggest emending the earlier reconstruction of בספר מושה “in the book of Moses,” which is found in numerous editions of 4Q397, with בספר תורת מושה “in the book of the torah of Moses.” I argue that this new proposed reconstruction is plausible given the context of this line, the available space on the line, and the appearance of the phrase elsewhere in other Second Temple period Hebrew literature.","PeriodicalId":14859,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha","volume":"30 1","pages":"228 - 231"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2021-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42202308","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Complexes of Emotions in <i>Joseph and Aseneth</i>.","authors":"Tyler Smith","doi":"10.1177/0951820720948245","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0951820720948245","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The ancient Greek novel introduced to the history of literature a new <i>topos</i>: the \"complex of emotions.\" This became a staple of storytelling and remains widely in use across a variety of genres to the present day. The Hellenistic Jewish text <i>Joseph and Aseneth</i> employs this <i>topos</i> in at least three passages, where it draws attention to the cognitive-emotional aspect of the heroine's conversion. This is interesting for what it contributes to our understanding of the genre of <i>Aseneth</i>, but it also has social-historical implications. In particular, it supports the idea that <i>Aseneth</i> reflects concerns about Gentile partners in Jewish-Gentile marriages, that Gentile partners might convert out of expedience or that they might be less than fully committed to abandoning \"idolatrous\" attachments. The representations of deep, grievous, and complex emotions in Aseneth's transformational turn from idolatry to monolatry, then, might play a psychagogic role for the Gentile reader interested in marrying a Jewish person.</p>","PeriodicalId":14859,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha","volume":"30 3","pages":"133-155"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2021-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/0951820720948245","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"39210207","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Bright ecological wisdom in Baruch 3:33–35","authors":"Trevor Tibbertsma","doi":"10.1177/0951820720963472","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0951820720963472","url":null,"abstract":"This short study seeks to highlight the rhetorical use of creation imagery in the sapiential Torah exhortation of Baruch 3:9–4:4. A methodology of rhetorical criticism will principally be used to investigate the style of this “ecologically” insightful part of the poem as well as its function in the wider message of the exhortation. The few short phrases of 3:33–35 effectively bolster the overall exhortation to adhere to the divine commandments as Israel is thereby invited to an imitation of creation in its reverent, unhesitating, joyful and Patriarch-like obedience to the divine will. To paraphrase this idea, “Hear O Israel, be like the light and the stars! Learn from creation and you will live.” Finally, this study seeks to contribute to the more recent attention to the Book of Baruch by commenting further on the previously accentuated unoriginality of this marvelous short work of Second Temple Jewish literature, especially with regard to its employment of some bright “ecological” wisdom.","PeriodicalId":14859,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha","volume":"30 1","pages":"156 - 165"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2021-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/0951820720963472","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42360544","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Drink and drinking in early Jewish texts: Describing a meal in the World to Come","authors":"Claudia D. Bergmann","doi":"10.1177/0951820721995758","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0951820721995758","url":null,"abstract":"Both the Hebrew Bible and extrabiblical literature consider food and drink to be gifts from the deity to be enjoyed by human beings, especially when they live according to the divine laws and in moderation. When it comes to extrabiblical early Jewish texts about the meal in the World to Come, one notices a curious detail: while the World to Come is portrayed as being one of utter abundance and joy, none of the texts actually describe the righteous as drinking. References to drinking natural water, fruit being turned into drink, or any other possibility for the human consumption of liquids are simply absent from these texts. How is this to be explained? This article investigates the possible reasons for the conscious or subconscious omission of a function of the human body that is most common to all human beings.","PeriodicalId":14859,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha","volume":"30 1","pages":"117 - 132"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2021-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/0951820721995758","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42968515","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Susanna and the Elders: A Hebrew Legend with Egyptian Wordplay?","authors":"D. Domning","doi":"10.1177/0951820721995765","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0951820721995765","url":null,"abstract":"The Egyptian word seshen (“water lily,” a cognate of the Hebrew name Susanna, written with hieroglyphs depicting a door bolt, a garden pool, and water), may have inspired the setting of the Theodotion form of Daniel 13:1–27. This may constitute a novel type of “bilingual visual paronomasia,” and point to an Egyptian source of the details of Susanna’s bath, absent in the earliest (Old Greek) form of the biblical text of Daniel.","PeriodicalId":14859,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha","volume":"30 1","pages":"166 - 171"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2021-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/0951820721995765","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47781840","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}