The Lives of the Prophets, a series of brief biographical sketches of the major and minor prophets of the Hebrew Bible, is a unique composition. Generally held to be a Jewish document from the end of the period of the Second Temple, the Lives offers an abundance of geographical, genealogical, and narrative detail which is not readily paralleled. This study provides the first thorough assessment of the work in nearly a century. A survey of the textual state of the composition and its reception is followed by a detailed examination of the literary structures which underlie the...

This rich collection of articles dedicated to Michael E. Stone by his colleagues and students honors his contributions to the study of Judaism and Christianity. Many of the articles discuss apocryphal and pseudepigraphical works stemming from Jewish or Christian authors and transmitted primarily but not exclusively by Christian scribes. Particularly well-represented are the earliest books of 1 Enoch and the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. A number of articles introduce newly available material from the Dead Sea Scrolls while others deal with Philo, Hellenistic Judaism, and early...

The most prominent Christian theologian and exegete of the third century, Origen was also an influential teacher. In the famed Thanksgiving Address, one of his students--often thought to be Gregory Thaumaturgus, later bishop of Cappadocia--delivered an emotionally charged account of his tutelage in Roman Palestine. Although it is one of the few "personal" accounts by a Christian author to have survived from the period, the Address is more often cited than read closely. But as David Satran demonstrates, this short work has much to teach us today. At its center stands the question...