Precirculated paper for 10th Nangeroni Seminar, experimentally reflecting on the gendering of knowledge in ancient Jewish literatures (esp. third and second centuries BCE) and modern scholarship upon them.

Conference presentation expanded for publication

Prepared for T&T Clark Companion to Second Temple Judaism

The book of Jubilees stands out for its combination of length, antiquity, and coherence. The structure of the book is considered from four perspectives: as a rewriting of Genesis and Exodus, as a chronology, as an apocalyptic revelation, and as a literary unity that shows seams from the process of reconciling a variety of sources already in…[Read more]

For length, coherence, and antiquity, Jubilees is one of the most significant works of early Jewish literature. It represents a major stage in Jewish history, as Jerusalem emerged from a crisis of confrontation with Hellenistic culture and empire. Jubilees finds a plan for Jewish identity in the interpretation of the traditional books. At the same…[Read more]

Jubilees exhorts Israelites to separate from Gentiles in every way. Jubilees does not simply repeat familiar arguments that Gentiles will lead Israelites to sin if they adopt their ways. Rather, Jubilees argues that merely being in the presence of Gentiles is dangerous because they are liable to a violent death at any moment for their abhorrent…[Read more]

Acts 15 relates a council in Jerusalem discussing the legal status and requirements of gentiles who tum to Christianity. The resulting decree asserts that gentiles can be included as gentiles without adopting the status of a “convert” obligated to the complete laws from Sinai. They are still bound to the law of Moses, however, inasmuch as it…[Read more]

If we set aside the canon of scripture as it endured in Judaism, we see that Jubilees interprets the Book of the Watchers as scripture. Much as it does with Genesis, Leviticus, and Isaiah, Jubilees accounts for the Book of the Watchers, addresses problems in the apparent meaning, and provides a meaning consistent with a broader set of theological…[Read more]

In spite of some scholars’ inclination to include the book of Jubilees as
another witness to “Enochic Judaism,” the relationship of Jubilees to the
apocalyptic writings and events surrounding the Maccabean revolt has
never been adequately clarified. This book builds on scholarship on genre
to establish a clear pattern among the ways Jubil…[Read more]

The study of the book of Jubilees connects several areas of scholarship on Jewish thought and literature in antiquity. The Dead Sea Scrolls cast light on our understanding of Ethiopic Jubilees, and Ethiopic Jubilees casts light on our understanding of the Scrolls. Jubilees witnesses to the growing authority of the Pentateuch, and the ongoing…[Read more]

While creation imagery in general is common in the Hebrew Bible and early Jewish literature, this essay will focus on imagery of new creation and what it implies about the former creation.1 It surveys the diversity of thought about new creation to illustrate a basic point: The images and claims about new creation reflect fundamental views of the…[Read more]

The Book of Jubilees uses the genre “apocalypse” to express a worldview that differs significantly from the cluster of ideas typically expressed by contemporary apocalypses. Jubilees has often been viewed as a borderline or ambiguous case among apocalypses. When viewed with the proper distinctions and definitions, Jubilees is indeed atypical but…[Read more]

The apocalypse literary genre creates a reader expectation of the apocalyptic worldview. The Book of Jubilees uses the apocalypse genre to express a worldview that diverges significantly from the cluster of views typically conveyed by the apocalypse genre. This paper focuses on one aspect of the genre and the worldview. The Book of Jubilees uses…[Read more]

The comparison of Qoheleth and Gilgamesh begins with the so-called carpe diem advice of Siduri and Eccl 9:7-9. Additionally, the rhetoric of kingship evoked through Gilgamesh’s narû (“stele”) at the beginning of the epic parallels the royal voice of Qoheleth beginning in Eccl 1:12. Yet these similarities raise several historical issues. First,…[Read more]

This paper offers an alternative approach to Luke 2:1-7, assuming for argument’s sake that Luke’s presumed chronology agreed with modern reconstructions in placing Quirinius’ census some years after Herod’s death. It is proposed that, on this basis, a coherent reading of the text is feasible in which the reference to Quirinius marks 2:1-5 as a…[Read more]

This essay explores the different ways parts of the Hebrew Bible have been described as historiography. It’s an old essay whose usefulness is limited to giving the reader a snapshot of the state of the question in biblical historiography at the height of the maximalist-minimalist debate.

This essay looks at how the Persian authorization to rebuild of Jewish temple at Elephantine reflects imperial policy and sheds light on post-exilic Judaism.

In this essay I sketch an outline of how the book of Isaiah presents its politics, working from the assumption—based on the research of Peter Ackroyd and others—that the presentation of Isaiah, the prophet, in the book’s opening chapters is key. I end up arguing that the book advocates for Davidic politics, as others have claimed, but that its d…[Read more]

Applies theory of literature as simulation speech to argue that knowledge of the Lord is not reflected in texts of the Hebrew Bible but created by them.

A review of Sören Petershans’s revised dissertation entitled Offenbarung des Namens und versöhntes Leben: Eine Untersuchung zur Gotteslehre bei Kornelis Heiko Miskotte, Arbeiten zur Systematischen Theologie 11 (Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 2016).