Past Renewals (2010 Najman), book

<bibexternal title="Past Renewals " author="Najman"/>

Past Renewals: Interpretative Authority, Renewed Revelation, and the Quest for Perfection in Jewish Antiquity (2010) is a book by Hindy Najman.

Abstract

"How did ancient Jewish authors claim authority for their interpretations? How, after the a oeend of prophecya, could they claim the authority of revelation? Whom did one have to be, or aspire to be, in order to merit authority? Hindy Najman addresses these questions through close readings of ancient Jewish texts, e.g., Ezra-Nehemiah, Philo of Alexandria, 4Ezra, Dead Sea Scrolls, and Jubilees. In Seconding Sinai (Brill, 2003), Najman reconceived pseudepigraphy, developing the idea of a Mosaic discourse that comprised a series of ancient texts attributed to Moses. Here she develops the broader notion of a discourse tied to a founder, situating practices of pseudepigraphy and authoritative interpretation within a variety of ways of seeking perfection in ancient Judaism."--Publisher description.

Editions

Published in Leiden: Brill, 2010 (Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism, 53).

Contents

The symbolic significance of writing in ancient Judaism -- Interpretation as primordial writing: Jubilees and its authority conferring strategies -- Torah of Moses: pseudonymous attribution in Second Temple writings -- The law of nature and the authority of Mosaic law -- A written copy of the law of nature: an unthinkable paradox? -- Angels at Sinai: exegesis, theology and interpretive authority -- Towards a study of the uses of the concept of wilderness in ancient Judaism -- Between heaven and earth: liminal visions in 4 Ezra -- Philosophical contemplation and revelatory inspiration in ancient Judean traditions -- Reconsidering Jubilees: prophecy and exemplarity -- Cain and Abel as character traits: a study in the allegorical typology of Philo of Alexandria -- The quest for perfection in ancient Judaism -- How should we contextualize pseudepigrapha? Imitation and emulation in 4 Ezra -- Text and figure in ancient Jewish paideia.

External links

• [ Google Books]