Scholars have shown renewed interest in the Book of Tobit since fragments of the text were found at Qumran. However, the wisdom instructions of Tobit 4 have remained largely ignored. The present study provides an extensive treatment of this important section, reading Tobit's wisdom discourse as a vital component in the literary expression of the author and as a strong indication of the significant role of the sapiential tradition in the world of Diaspora living. In the context of Second Temple Judaism, Tobit's wisdom discourse is part of an essential avenue for shaping identity and creating a distinct ethos for those outside the land.

The Oxford Handbook of the Apocrypha addresses the Old Testament Apocrypha, known to be important early Jewish texts that have become deutero-canonical for some Christian churches, non-canonical for other churches, and that are of lasting cultural significance. In addition to the place given to the classical literary, historical, and tradition-historical introductory questions, essays focus on the major social and theological themes of each individual book. With contributions from leading scholars from around the world, the Handbook acts as an authoritative reference work on the current state of Apocrypha research, and at the same time carves out future directions of study. This Handbook offers an overview of the various Apocrypha and relevant topics related to them by presenting updated research on each individual apocryphal text in historical context, from the late Persian and early Hellenistic periods to the early Roman era. The essays provided here examine the place of the Apocrypha in the context of Early Judaism, the relationship between the Apocrypha and texts that came to be canonized, the relationship between the Apocrypha and the Septuagint, Qumran, the Pseudepigrapha, and the New Testament, as well as their reception history in the Western world. Several chapters address overarching themes, such as genre and historicity, Jewish practices and beliefs, theology and ethics, gender and the role of women, and sexual ethics.

A comprehensive investigation of notions of "time" in deuterocanonical and cognate literature, from the ancient Jewish up to the early Christian eras, requires further scholarship. The aim of this collection of articles is to contribute to a better understanding of "time" in deuterocanonical literature and pseudepigrapha, especially in Second Temple Judaism, and to provide criteria for concepts of time in wisdom literature, apocalypticism, Jewish and early Christian historiography and in Rabbinic religiosity. Essays in this volume, representing the proceedings of a conference of the "International Society for the Study of Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature" in July 2019 at Greifswald, discuss concepts and terminologies of "time", stemming from novellas like the book of Tobit, from exhortations for the wise like Ben Sira, from an apocalyptic time table in 4 Ezra, the book of Giants or Daniel, and early Christian and Rabbinic compositions. The volume consists of four chapters that represent different approaches or hermeneutics of "time:" I. Axial Ages: The Construction of Time as "History", II. The Construction of Time: Particular Reifications, III. Terms of Time and Space, IV. The Construction of Apocalyptic Time. Scholars and students of ancient Jewish and Christian religious history will find in this volume orientation with regard to an important but multifaceted and sometimes disparate topic.

One of the leading Historical Jesus scholars of our time, John Meier has also made significant contributions in the areas of early Judaism and New Testament studies writ large. The Figure of Jesus in History and Theology features more than a dozen prominent scholars who engage Meier's work and address its reception today. These scholars, whose areas of expertise range from second temple Judaism to early Christianity, revisit, extend, and respond to Meier's scholarship in ways that allow readers to appreciate anew Meier's landmark publications. Collectively, these essays cast new light on the question of the Historical Jesus and provide a wealth of insight into John Meier's body of work as viewed through the lens of contemporary research. The volume offers essays that explore early Jewish and Greco-Roman contexts for New Testament writings, with contributions from Gary Anderson, James VanderKam, Michael Duggan, and Michael Theobald. Five related essays involve historical Jesus research, by Francis Moloney, William Loader, Amy-Jill Levine, Barbara Reid, and Michael Benjamin Cover. Five more essays concern the New Testament Gospels, as explored by Donald Senior, David Lincicum, Brant Pitre, Jeremy Corley, and Harold Attridge. The final three contributions by Frank Matera, David Aune and Alan Mitchell examine the Epistle to the Hebrews. This book is essential reading as it chronicles how the capacious scholarship of John Meier has impacted the 21st century.

This volume is written in the context of trauma hermeneutics of ancient Jewish communities and their tenacity in the face of adversity (i.e. as recorded in the MT, LXX, Pseudepigrapha, the Deuterocanonical books and even Cognate literature. In this regard, its thirteen chapters, are concerned with the most recent outputs of trauma studies. They are written by a selection of leading scholars, associated to some degree with the Hungaro-South African Study Group. Here, trauma is employed as a useful hermeneutical lens, not only for interpreting biblical texts and the contexts in which they were originally produced and functioned but also for providing a useful frame of reference. As a consequence, these various research outputs, each in their own way, confirm that an historical and theological appreciation of these early accounts and interpretations of collective trauma and its implications, (perceived or otherwise), is critical for understanding the essential substance of Jewish cultural identity. As such, these essays are ideal for scholars in the fields of Biblical Studies—particularly those interested in the Pseudepigrapha, the Deuterocanonical books and Cognate literature.

Metaphors are a vital linguistic component of religious speech and serve as a cultural indicator of how groups understand themselves and the world. The essays compiled in this volume analyze the use, function, and structure of metaphors in Jewish writings from the Hellenistic-Roman period (including the works of Philo and the texts of Qumran), as well as in apocryphal early Christian texts and inscriptions.

This volume remembers Géza Xeravits, a well known scholar of deuterocanonical and Qumran literature. The volume is divided into four sections according to his scholarly work and interest. Contributions in the first part deal with Old Testament and related issues (Thomas Hiecke, Stefan Beyerle, and Mattew Goff). The second section is about the Dead Sea Scrolls (John J, Collins, John Kampen, Peter Porzig, Eibert Tigchelaar, Balázs Tamási and Réka Esztári). The largest part is the forth on deuterocanonica (Beate Ego, Lucas Brum Teixteira, Fancis Macatangay, Tobias Nicklas, Maria Brutti, Nuria, Chalduch-Benages, Panc Beentjes, Ben Wright, Otto Mulder, Angelo Passaro, Friedrich Reiterer, Severino Bussino, Jeremy Corley and JiSeong Kwong). The third section deals with some cognate literature (József Zsengellér and Karin Schöpflin). The last section about the Ancient Synagogue has the paper of Anders Kloostergaard Petersen. Some hot topics are discussed, for example the Two spirits in Qumran, the cathegorization of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the authorship and antropology of Ben Sira, and the angelology of Vitae Prophetarum.