Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha current issue

Text and Context: Domestic Harmony and the Depiction of Hagar in Jubilees

Rothstein, D. — 2008-05-22

The women of Genesis, and their depiction in both biblical and post-biblical sources, have been the focus of much scholarly activity. One beneficiary of this literary output is Jubilees, whose formulation of Israel's matriarchs and their relationships with their respective spouses reveals a systematic, and tendentious, reworking of the biblical material. This study focuses on Jubilees' presentation of Hagar, and demonstrates that, while not according her the same status as that granted Sarah and the other matriarchs, the work does portray her, and her relationship with Abraham, as enjoying a measure of importance not reflected in the biblical text.

The Testament of Moses

Grierson, F. — 2008-05-22

The Moses fragment discovered by Ceriani in 1861 is the only extant copy of a pseudepigraphon containing Moses' farewell to Joshua and anticipating the end of Moses' life. It is assumed that the end of the manuscript contained Moses' death and burial. This article builds upon Bauckham's reconstructions of the Testament of Moses and Assumption of Moses and Davila's recent methodological probes to discuss which title, if any, can be assigned to the fragment. It also evaluates suggestions of authorship and composition dates, based on the fragment's ideals and references to historical events. Due to the fact that the end of the Moses fragment is no longer in existence, many of these suggestions, while plausible, are almost impossible to verify.

Moses--A Well-Educated Man: A Look at the Educational Idea in Early Judaism

Koskenniemi, E. — 2008-05-22

Early Judaism often freely retold the life of the Old Testament heroes. This article analyzes the kind of education provided to Moses as reported in early Jewish texts before the Mishnah. Because Exodus says nothing about the theme, everything is either taken from the tradition or created by the writers. Ezekiel the Tragedian, Artapanus and Philo suppose that Moses had a profound Gentile education. Jubilees only briefly refers to the education given by the father and Liber antiquitatum biblicarum and Josephus say nothing about the studies in Gentile schools. From what we may surmise from the evidence (and lack thereof) it appears that each of these writers emphasizes his own educational ideal.

History and Fiction in the Acts of Thomas: The State of the Question

McGrath, J. F. — 2008-05-22

The Acts of Thomas has not yet received as much attention as the Gospel associated with the same individual, and this is understandable. Current students of this early Christian work, however, are in danger of missing out on the discussions and differing perspectives long offered by scholars of the Indian church and Indian history on this work. This study suggests that, while the Acts of Thomas is almost certainly a work of novelistic fiction, this should not lead us to ignore the instances of confirmable historical information embedded therein, as in many other works of historical fiction. The Acts of Thomas merits renewed detailed study by historians interested in early Christianity both in Syria and in India.

Book Review: J. TROMP, The Life of Adam and Eve in Greek: A Critical Edition. Pseudepigrapha Veteris Testamenti Graece, 6. Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2005. Cloth, viii + 208 pp. Euros 77.00, $104.00 USD. ISBN: 9004143173

Dochhorn, J. — 2008-05-22