The Jewish Annotated Apocrypha

Edited by Jonathan Klawans and Lawrence M. Wills

First edition of the Apocrypha addressed to a Jewish audience in the English language
The first edition of the Apocrypha to include the book of Jubilees
The first stand-alone Oxford Study Apocrypha to include an Introduction, essays, and sidebars

The Jewish Annotated Apocrypha

Edited by Jonathan Klawans and Lawrence M. Wills

Description

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).

Using the NRSV translation (plus Jubilees), 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.

The Jewish Annotated Apocrypha

Edited by Jonathan Klawans and Lawrence M. Wills

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

The Jewish Annotated Apocrypha

Edited by Jonathan Klawans and Lawrence M. Wills

Author Information

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.

Contributors:

Yonatan Adler
Cynthia M. Baker
Albert I. Baumgarten
Noah Bickart
Alejandro F. Botta
Miryam T. Brand
Tamara Cohn Eskenazi
Lisbeth S. Fried
Naomi Koltun-Fromm
Deborah Levine Gera
Greg Schmidt Goering
Matthew Goff
Leonard J. Greenspoon
Maxine L. Grossman
Noah Hacham
Christine Hayes
Martha Himmelfarb
Karina Martin Hogan
Naomi S. S. Jacobs
Alex P. Jassen
Jonathan Klawans
Paul J. Kosmin
Matthew Kraus
David A. Lambert
Shira L. Lander
Amy-Jill Levine
Doron Mendels
Stuart S. Miller
Eva Mroczek
Aaron D. Panken Z"L
Annette Yoshiko Reed
Eyal Regev
Michael L. Satlow
Daniel R. Schwartz
Nadav Sharon
Malka Z. Simkovich
Steven Weitzman
Rodney A. Werline
Lawrence M. Wills
Jason M. Zurawski

The Jewish Annotated Apocrypha

Edited by Jonathan Klawans and Lawrence M. Wills

Reviews and Awards

"Overall, this volume is an excellent reference book. It targets a Jewish audience, offering guidance for learning the Second Temple heritage which shaped later Judaism. But it would also be a valuable book for Christian students of the bible, not only because the so-called apocryphal texts are part of Scripture in Church tradition, but also because it is important to know the Judaic heritage that formed the foundation of Christianity." -- Lydia Gore-Jones, Phronema

"...excellent essays..." -- Rabbi Dr. Stu Halpern, The Zahava and Moshael Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought