This book is a comparative study in the hermeneutics of the ancient interpretations of the biblical Joseph story. Assuming that every interpretation results from a creative encounter between the ultimately open text of Scripture and the specific thought world of the interpreter, it examines the particular way in which each exegete construes the biblical outline of Joseph's character. Paying special attention to the literary nature of the sources, the study begins with an analysis of the narrative methods and the hermeneutic potential of the biblical story, and then proceeds to the...

Explores the use of the words pistis and pisteuein as faith terminology by Josephus. This is the first major study of the pist- word group in the writings of Josephus. The first part of the book examines the development of a religious understanding of the Greek word group. Special emphasis is given to the religious use of the pist- words in Classical and Hellenistic Greek, in the Septuagint, in Sirach and in Philo. The second and main part of the book deals specifically with the use of the word group - both secular and religious - by Josephus. His use of this faith...

The centrepiece of this book is a critical edition of the Targum of Job which notes all variants from a total of 14 manuscripts and 2 printed editions.
In the introductory section the first two chapters give a description of the principal printed editions and the manuscripts. A chapter on "The Stemma" considers how the various strands of textual tradition relate to each other. There is also a chapter on "Multiple Translation," a phenomenon particularly associated with the Targum of Job whereby more than one translation is often given to whole verses or to individual words and phrases. A...

Jewish Identity in Early Rabbinic Writings is more than a question of legal status: it is the experience of being Jewish or of 'Jewishness' in all its social and cultural dimensions. This work describes this experience as it emerges in Talmudic and Midrashic sources. Besides the question of "who is a Jew?," topics include the contrast between Israel and the non-Jews, the physical embodiment of Jewish identity, the 'boundaries' of Israel and resistance to assimilation. Jewish identity, it is argued, hinges essentially on the Divine commandments (mitzvot) and on Israel's...

Paul, Scripture and Ethics evaluates the widely held view that Scripture did not play an important role in the formation of Paul's ethics by investigating 1 Corinthians 5-7. It concludes that in spite of the relatively few quotations of Scripture and other indications to the contrary, Scripture is nevertheless a crucial and formative source for Paul's moral teaching. The major lines and many of the details of Paul's ethics in these chapters are traced back into the Scriptures, in most cases by way of Jewish sources. The conclusion is drawn that the Scriptures were for Paul not only...

Laubhutte Davids und Wolkensohn deals with the history of interpretation of Amos 9:11 -- a passage which is regarded in both, Jewish and Christian tradition, as a messianic prediction. The book examines its interpretation and impact in Qumran and Rabbinic Judaism as well as in the New Testament, the Church Fathers, the Middle Ages, the Reformation and in the scientific discussion up to the present. Special emphasis is laid on (a) its usage at the Apostolic Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15) and its influence on the formation of the Christian Church and (b) hitherto overlooked explicit and...

This volume examines early Jewish and Christian imagery to demonstrate that the most probable interpretation of Christ's descent in Ephesians 4:9-10 refers to the descent of the Spirit at Pentecost subsequent to the ascent mentioned in Ephesians 4:8. The central portion of the book deals with the ascent-descent imagery associating Ps. 68:19 with Moses as found in Targum Psalms, the rabbinic literature, and other early sources. The section dealing with rabbinic interpretations of Ps. 68:19 is of particular importance, demonstrating an approach for dating elements found in the later rabbinic...

This volume offers a state-of-the-art collection of papers on one of the most significant works of Flavius Josephus, by many of the leading scholars in current Josephus research. The collection, which includes a concordance by H. Schreckenberg of the Latin section Contra Apionem 2.52-113, forms a standard, indispensable resource for the study of Josephus' writings, of apologetic literature in general, and particularly for the study of Contra Apionem, one of the most significant apologetic treatises in Antiquity.

Taking into account the backgrounds of Graeco-Roman and Jewish 'triumphal entries', this volume deals with the Lukan version of Jesus' entry to Jerusalem and his subsequent 'cleaning' of its Temple. It is argued that Luke's account has been shaped by identifiable political and theological considerations, including the phenomenon of parousia and the place of Israel in the plan of God. Early chapters explore Luke's political milieu together with various entry phenomena from the ancient world, including the advent of governors, emperors and Jewish kings; a close examination of the Lukan...