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Building on the success of the
Jewish Annotated New Testament (JANT) and the
Jewish Study Bible (JSB), Oxford University Press now proceeds to complete the trilogy with the
Jewish Annotated Apocrypha (JAA). The books of the Apocrypha were virtually all composed by Jewish writers in the Second Temple period. Excluded from the Hebrew Bible, these works were preserved by Christians. Yet no complete, standalone edition of these works has been produced in English with an emphasis on Jewish tradition or with an educated Jewish audience in mind. The JAA meets this need.
List of contents
- Contributors
- Contents
- Maps, Charts, and Diagrams
- Alphabetical Listing of the Books of the Apocrypha
- List of Abbreviations
- The Editors' Preface
- To the Reader
- Introduction
- Law
- Jubilees
- Histories and Stories
- 1 Esdras
- Expanded
- Tobit
- Judith
- 1 Maccabees
- 2 Maccabees
- 3 Maccabees
- Prophecies
- Letter of Jeremiah
- Baruch
- Additions to Daniel [3 Pieces]
- Prayer of Azariah/Song of the Three
- Susanna
- Bel and the Dragon
- 4 Ezra
- Poetry and Wisdom
- Psalm 151
- Prayer of Manasseh
- Wisdom of Solomon
- Ben Sira
- 4 Maccabees
- ESSAYS
- Social Contexts
- The Babylonian and Persian Period: History and Culture
- The Hellenistic Period: History and Culture
- The Roman Period
- Ancient Jewish Sectarianism
- The Archaeology of Second Temple Judaism
- The Hasmonean State and Ancient Jewish Nationalism
- The Apocrypha, Canon, and Literary Contexts
- Canon
- The Septuagint
- Dead Sea Scrolls
- The Peshitta and the Syriac Biblical Context
- The Apocrypha in Rabbinic Literature
- Apocrypha in Medieval Hebrew Literature
- Wisdom in the Apocrypha
- Literary Approaches to the Apocrypha
- The Incredible Expanding Bible: From the Dead Sea Scrolls to Haile Selassie
- The Apocrypha and Jewish Life
- Torah, Law, and Commandments
- Prayer in the Apocrypha
- Hanukkah in the Apocrypha
- Jewish Heroes and the Apocrypha
- Gender
- Jewish Theology and the Apocrypha
- Evil and Sin
- Jewish Identity in the Apocrypha
- Truth and Lies in Apocryphal Tales
- TIMELINE
- CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF RULERS
- TRANSLATIONS OF ANCIENT TEXTS
- GLOSSARY
- INDEX
About the author
Jonathan Klawans is Professor of Religion at Boston University. He is the author of Impurity and Sin in Ancient Judaism, Purity, Sacrifice, and the Temple, Josephus and the Theologies of Ancient Judaism, and Heresy, Forgery, Novelty .
Lawrence M. Wills is visiting professor of Judaic Studies and Religious Studies at Brown University. His books include The Jewish Novel in the Ancient World, which was named an Outstanding Academic Book of 1995 by Choice magazine for academic librarians, and also Not God's People: Insiders and Outsiders in the Biblical World.
Summary
Building on the success of the Jewish Annotated New Testament (JANT) and the Jewish Study Bible (JSB), Oxford University Press now proceeds to complete the trilogy with the Jewish Annotated Apocrypha (JAA). The books of the Apocrypha were virtually all composed by Jewish writers in the Second Temple period. Excluded from the Hebrew Bible, these works were preserved by Christians. Yet no complete, standalone edition of these works has been produced in English with an emphasis on Jewish tradition or with an educated Jewish audience in mind. The JAA meets this need.
The JAA differs from prior editions of the Apocrypha in a number of ways. First, as befits a Jewish Annotated Apocrypha, the volume excludes certain texts that are widely agreed to be of Christian origin. Second, it expands the scope of the volume to include Jubilees, an essential text for understanding ancient Judaism, and a book that merits inclusion in the volume by virtue of the fact that it was long considered part of the canon of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (the text is also revered by Ethiopian Jews). Third, it has restructured the order of the books so that the sequencing follows the logic that governs the order of the books in the Jewish canon (Law, History, Prophecy, Wisdom and Poetry).
Each book of the Apocrypha is annotated by a recognized expert in the study of ancient Judaism. An Introduction by the editors guides readers though the making of the volume and its contents. Thematic essays by an impressive array of scholars provide helpful contexts, backgrounds and elaborations on key themes.
