Spanish Scholarship (1980s)

Overview

In the 1980s Spanish scholarship on Second Temple Judaism and Christian Origins increased considerably if compared to the earlier decades.

Spanish scholars paid some attention to Qumran and the [[Dead Sea Scrolls], though less than in the 1970s and not as much as in the 1990s. Books by Luis Vegas Montaner on the Qumran Biblical scrolls and José María Casciaro Rodríguez on the literature from Qumran and the New Testament were published in 1980 and 1982, respectively. In 1982 Mathias Delcor’s and Florentino García Martínez’s introduction to the Essene literature from Qumran was also published. And in 1985 a new, updated edition of Antonio González Lamadrid's Los manuscritos del mar Muerto (first published in 1971) saw the light. In addition, in 1987 and 1989, respectively, Geza Vermès’s The Dead Sea Scrolls: Qumran in Perspective, and Carsten Peter Thiede’s 1986 study on the hypothetical Markan fragments from Qumran Cave 7 identified by José O'Callaghan Martínez in 1972, were published as well.

Spanish scholarly production on the Targum was clearly prominent through the entire decade, with studies and translations by Miguel Pérez Fernández (1981), Domingo Muñoz León (1986, 1987), Josep Ribera Florit (1987, 1988), and Emiliano Martínez Borobio (1987, 1989). In his 1987 critically acclaimed book on targumic hermeneutics, Muñoz León also addressed several issues dealing with Scriptural interpretation in the New Testament.

In the 1980s Natalio Fernández Marcos continued working on the Greek versions of the Bible and published in 1985 an edited volume on the Septuagint. In 1987, María Victoria Spottorno Díaz-Caro and José Ramón Busto Sáiz translated into Spanish Josephus' Autobiography and Contra Apionem. A year later, Josep Montserrat Torrents translated into Catalan Philo's De Opificio Mundi. In turn, Jean Cazeaux’s 1983 study on Philo’s philosophy of language and mysticism was translated into Spanish and published in 1984.

The historical Jesus and his background, Paul's theology, and the partings of the ways between Judaism and Christianity were thoroughly explored in the 1980s by Rafael Aguirre Monasterio, Juan Huarte Osacar, José Ignacio González Faus, Hernando Guevara, Marcelino Legido López, Jesús Emilio Menéndez Menéndez, Emilio Mitre Fernández, Josep Montserrat Torrents, José Antonio Pagola, Xabier Pikaza, and Senén Vidal García. And several books dealing with these and other related subjects (including the New Testament) by Joseph Auneau, Giuseppe Barbaglio, Gerhard Barth, Günter Bornkamm, Raymond E. Brown, Amédée Brunot, Lothar Coenen, Martin Dibelius, John Drane, Rinaldo Fabris, Joseph A. Fitzmyer, Joachim Gnilka, Martin Hengel, Joachim Jeremias, Joseph Klausner, Helmut Köster, Xavier Léon-Dufour, Gerhard Lohfink, Wayne A. Meeks, Charles Perrot, Rudolf Schnackenburg, Wolfgang Schrage, Emil Schürer, Heinz Schürmann, Eduard Schweizer, Gerd Theissen, Albert Vanhoye, and Ulrich Wilckens, were also translated into Spanish.

Moreover, Spanish translations of Hugues Cousin's Vies d'Adam et Eve, des patriarches et des prophètes, François Castel’s 1983 general history of Israel and Judah, Henry Cazelles’ 1982 historical overview of the early Second Temple period, Christiane Saulnier's 1982 monograph on the Maccabean crisis, and Claude Tassin’s 1986 history of Second Temple Judaism were published between 1981 and 1988.

Yet perhaps the most relevant events were, on the one hand, Carlos de Valle Rodríguez's Spanish edition of the Mishnah, and, on the other hand, Alejandro Díez Macho’s and Antonio Piñero Sáenz’s edition of the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha in Spanish version, of which vols. 1-4 appeared in 1984 and vol. 5 in 1987; vol. 6 was published in 2009, and a 7th vol. is forthcoming. Contributors were recruited by the editors amongst Spanish scholars on Biblical and Targumic literature and Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, Coptic and Arabic studies. A volume on intertestamental literature published by Domingo Muñoz León in 1983 must also be mentioned here, as well as a noteworthy study on the historical method of Flavius Josephus published in English by Pere Villalba i Varneda in 1986.

Statistics

1980s - Books by Spanish scholars originally published in Spanish

• 30 ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■

1980s - Books by Spanish scholars originally published in Spanish, by subject

• 13 ■■■■■■■■■■■■■ Historical Jesus, Time of Jesus, New Testament, and Christian Origins
• 7 ■■■■■■■ Targumic Literature
• 4 ■■■■ Old Testament Pseudepigrapha
• 3 ■■■ Dead Sea Scrolls and Qumran
• 1 ■ Early Rabbinic Literature
• 1 ■ Greek Bible
• 1 ■ Josephus

1980s - Books by Spanish scholars originally published in other languages different from Spanish

• 2 ■■

1980s - Books by Spanish scholars originally published in other languages different from Spanish, by subject

• 1 ■ Josephus
• 1 ■ Philo

1980s - Books by Spanish scholars

• 32 ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■

1980s - Books by Spanish scholars, by subject

• 13 ■■■■■■■■■■■■■ Historical Jesus, Time of Jesus, New Testament, and Christian Origins
• 7 ■■■■■■■ Targumic Literature
• 4 ■■■■ Old Testament Pseudepigrapha
• 3 ■■■ Dead Sea Scrolls and Qumran
• 2 ■■ Josephus
• 1 ■ Early Rabbinic Literature
• 1 ■ Greek Bible
• 1 ■ Philo

1980s - Books by non-Spanish scholars translated into Spanish

• 40 ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■

1980s - Books by non-Spanish scholars translated into Spanish, by subject

• 32 ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ Historical Jesus, Time of Jesus, New Testament, and Christian Origins
• 2 ■■ Dead Sea Scrolls and Qumran
• 2 ■■ Jewish History (general aspects/periods of)
• 2 ■■ Second Temple History
• 1 ■ Old Testament Pseudepigrapha
• 1 ■ Philo

1980s - Total books published in Spain

• 69 ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■

1980s - Total books published in Spain, by subject

• 45 ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ Historical Jesus, Time of Jesus, New Testament, and Christian Origins
• 7 ■■■■■■■ Targumic Literature
• 5 ■■■■■ Dead Sea Scrolls and Qumran
• 5 ■■■■■ Old Testament Pseudepigrapha
• 2 ■■ Jewish History (general aspects/periods of)
• 2 ■■ Philo
• 2 ■■ Second Temple History
• 1 ■ Josephus
• 1 ■ Early Rabbinic Literature
• 1 ■ Greek Bible

1980s - Total books by Spanish scholars originally published outside Spain

• 1 ■

1980s - Total books by Spanish scholars originally published outside Spain, by subject

• 1 ■ Josephus