This volume gives extracts from and introductions to twelve writings dealing with prominent Old Testament figures. The writings tell what happened to them, what God revealed to them and try to bring home to their readers what can be learned from their example. They give many explicit exhortations; often there is an outlook on the future intended to comfort and to encourage the readers in difficult circumstances. These writings belong to the so-called 'Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament', a term used, rather loosely, to cover writings connected with biblical books, personalities or themes,...

Working from the belief that there is a basic continuity between the ideas of Jesus and those of his first followers, de Jonge sketches a well-grounded, though tentative, outlille of Jesus' own view of his minion. At all stages de Jonge steers a middle course between skepticism and absolute confidence with regard to the reliability and the usefulness of what we know about Jesus from the early Christian sources. He carefully distinguishes between what seems certain, probable, and possible, and he argues that though we cannot fill in all the details, it is possible to present a picture of what...

The primary witnesses of the writings called Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament are, in great majority, of Christian provenance. It has been customary for scholars to look for an originally Jewish form of the documents, reflecting Jewish life and thought in the period between 200 BCE and 100 CE. In this volume, M. de Jonge argues that these writings should, first of all, be studied as documents relevant for Christians. This volume incorporates essays written earlier by the author as well as a number of new chapters. The first part deals with general questions concerning the transmission of...