Jewish Literature: An Anthology

Last updated on: June 3, 2020 at 5:36 am by Michael F. Bird

Jewish Literature: An Anthology 2020-02-04T20:47:52-04:00 Michael F. Bird

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Edited by Brad Embry, Ronald Herms and Archie T. Wright

Early Jewish Literature: An Anthology (2 vols)
Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2018.
Available from Eerdmans.

By Andy Judd

Early Jewish Literature: An Anthology offers more than seventy selections from Second Temple-era Jewish literature, each introduced and translated by a leading scholar in the field. Organized by genre, this two-volume anthology presents both complete works and substantial excerpts of longer works, giving readers a solid introduction to the major works of the era—the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, the writings of Josephus and Philo of Alexandria, and the Septuagint (Apocrypha).

This two-volume set offers a delightful and useful window into second temple Judaism, opening a treasury of translations and commentary on key pre-rabbinic texts. It will be of interest to those seeking a guided tour of this colourful period of early Judaism, as well as those who want to better situate the texts of the New Testament in its literary context.

The anthology includes representative texts from the period 516 BC to AD 70 — from the reconstruction of the temple to its destruction at the hands of the Romans. This fertile period of literary production is introduced with two overview chapters, orienting the reader to early Jewish literature and the broader history of the second temple period. The anthology is then broken up into eight sections split over the two volumes.

Volume one has 4 sections covering perhaps more familiar material with close links to the Hebrew Bible: biblical literature (e.g. Daniel and danielic literature), historical works (e.g. Maccabees), romanticized narratives (e.g. Tobit), and biblical interpretation (e.g. the Pesharim). Volume 2 moves further out into the literary world, tracing the development of important literary genres from the period including wisdom and legal texts (e.g. Sirach, Rule of the Community), apocalyptic literature (e.g. the Sibylline Oracles), psalms, hymns and prayers (e.g. Psalms of Solomon) and testamentary literature (e.g. Testament of Moses).

Each section begins with an introduction to the type of literature and its significance. The individual works are then given their own solid introduction touching on the normal questions of context, structure, themes, theology, sources and reception. A bibliography of introductory and advanced works is also provided. English translations of the individual works are supplied, either in extract (as with the selections from Josephus) or in full (as with 1&2 Maccabees) with some textual notes in footnotes. Most of the translations are original, although some rely on standard texts such as the NRSV. The anthology also includes some maps, useful glossaries of Biographical Names and Terms, as well as indexes of subjects and ancient texts.

This is an incredibly useful anthology and introduction. It gives a much needed orientation for those of us who are not experts in, say, the Qumran literature but would like to get a feel for the literary milieu to which our much more familiar biblical documents owe their style and shape. The mix of commentary and primary documents makes it a fun read, as well as a useful reference work and valuable teaching resource.

Andrew Judd is Lecturer in Old Testament at Ridley College and is a PhD Student at Sydney University.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

May 31, 2020

A Bird's Eye-View of Philippians

Next Post

June 4, 2020 Brown Church - Latina/o History and Theology

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Bible Lands Blogosphere Book Review Calvinism Colleges & Universities Ecclesiology Emerging Adulthood Evangelicalism Foreign Affairs Gospel of John Greco-Roman World Humor Just War N. T. Wright Old Testament Resurrection Terrorism Theological Education Travel Uncategorized Writing

Select a Month September 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 January 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

With only 300 men, torches, and clay jars, I defeated an army as numerous as locusts. Who am I?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Gideon Jephthah Barak Samson

Books by This Author Books by Mike Bird

See All Titles »