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Marko Marttila - Martti Nissinen - Jutta Jokiranta (eds.) Strategies for responding to catastrophe : Examples from deuterocanonical and cognate literature. Berlin : De Gruyter, 2026

Contents

"Like a menstrual cloth" (Esth C 27 LXX) : notes on a simile of defilement in the Greek Bible / Laura Bigoni -- How does Esther cope with the danger of destruction? : observations on Esther's prayer in addition C of the Septuagint text / Daniela Scialabba -- Καὶ νῦν οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ βοηθὸς ἡμῶν ("there is no one to help us now" Jdt 7:25). Responding to catastrophe in the Book of Judith / Giulia Leonardi -- Strategies for responding to catastrophe in the Book of Judith (Jdt 4:9-15) / Marcin Chrostowski -- The I and the we : reactions to catastrophe in the Book of Tobit / Renate Egger-Wenzel -- From catastrophe to salvation : the Tobit story as a resilience narrative / Beate Ego -- Healing and marriage as "radical hope" against exile in the Book of Tobit / Francis M. Macatangay -- Social cohesion and the kairos of the katastrophe : Mattathias's speech in 1 Maccabees 2:49-70 / Barbara Schmitz -- Καταστροφή and καταστρέφειν in Greek Sirach / Pancratius C. Beentjes -- Calamity and divine visitation in the Book of Sirach / Jeremy Corley -- The self-inflicted disaster and the way out : a dramatic example in the Book of Wisdom / Friedrich V. Reiterer -- Failing to find wisdom (Bar 3:16-28) / Núria Calduch-Benages -- Vocabulary and metaphors of sorrow and hope in Psalms of Solomon 8 / Dionisio Candido -- Crime, misfortune or fate? : the destruction of the second temple as depicted by Josephus / Eberhard Bons -- Strategies for responding to emotional suffering amidst the catastrophe of death in the Testament of Job / Adriaan Lamprecht -- Homosexualizing Sodom and the care for masculinity / Martti Nissinen -- The literary construction of catastrophes in ancient Jewish apocalypses / Stefan Beyerle -- "When will you gather them together?" : the gathering motif in Ezekiel traditions during the second temple period / Ignacio Pizarro -- Catastrophe and salvation in Luke 21 : layering the sources and traditions of the Lukan "eschatological discourse" : Mark, LXX, Q / Christoph Hammann -- How early rabbinic liturgy responded to catastrophe : a Jewish desire to return to normality / Stefan C. Reif.

Abstract

"Experts of deuterocanonical and cognate literature shed light on how an individual or a group understood catastrophes in the late Second Temple Judaism. The essays in this volume carefully study questions like: What kind of acts lead to a catastrophe? Is there a chance to avoid a catastrophe? How to respond to a catastrophic situation? Ancient thinkers had strategies for survival and adapting to new situations. The contributors here select and analyze relevant passages covering the main works of the era from Ben Sira to the Book of Judith, from the Book of Tobit to early rabbinic liturgy. They focus on cognitive, psychological, social and ritual mechanisms that helped the ancient authors and their audiences cope with calamities. Disasters do not belong only to the past. Even in the present times people feel themselves weak and vulnerable in front of threatening catastrophes. The strategies developed by the ancient people can offer us insights to topics such as hope and solidarity."--