The nine essays that make up this volume provide cutting-edge studies of how sacred tradition is given new expression through vision and interpretation. The first four essays focus on the expansion of the sacred tradition primarily through vision. The evolution of the Solomon legacy, from wise king to healer and exorcist, is explored, as well as its contribution to the demonology of the desert fathers, especially as it concerns eroticism and sexual temptation. The varied receptions of the Revelation of the Magi and Shepherd of Hermas are also considered. The remaining five essays address important questions relating to polemic and violence in the Pseudepigrapha. How does the author of the Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum justify God's alternating judgment and favor? How does Enoch's Animal Apocalypse make use of the Exodus tradition in its expression of deliverance? On what basis can the author of Qumran's War Scroll confidently predict Israel's vindication? And finally, what accounts for the appearance of the tradition of Gehenna, in which the wicked will meet their fiery end?

The nine essays that make up this volume provide cutting-edge studies of how sacred tradition is given new expression through vision and interpretation. The first four essays focus on the expansion of the sacred tradition primarily through vision. The evolution of the Solomon legacy, from wise king to healer and exorcist, is explored, as well as its contribution to the demonology of the desert fathers, especially as it concerns eroticism and sexual temptation. The varied receptions of the Revelation of the Magi and Shepherd of Hermas are also considered. The remaining five essays address important questions relating to polemic and violence in the Pseudepigrapha. How does the author of the Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum justify God's alternating judgment and favor? How does Enoch's Animal Apocalypse make use of the Exodus tradition in its expression of deliverance? On what basis can the author of Qumran's War Scroll confidently predict Israel's vindication? And finally, what accounts for the appearance of the tradition of Gehenna, in which the wicked will meet their fiery end?

Arthur P. Mendel argues that throughout history man has worried about the Apocalypse, a phenomenon that has changed from God to reason, to history, and then to nature. He calls for a more modest and humane philosophy with regard to the Earth.'

A highly regarded expert on the Jewish apocalyptic tradition, John J. Collins has written extensively on the subject. Nineteen of his essays written over the last fifteen years, including previously unpublished contributions, are brought together for the first time in this volume. Its thematic essays organized in five sections, Apocalypse, Prophecy, and Pseudepigraphy complements and enriches Collins's well-known book The Apocalyptic Imagination.

The primary witnesses of the writings called Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament are, in great majority, of Christian provenance. It has been customary for scholars to look for an originally Jewish form of the documents, reflecting Jewish life and thought in the period between 200 BCE and 100 CE. In this volume, M. de Jonge argues that these writings should, first of all, be studied as documents relevant for Christians. This volume incorporates essays written earlier by the author as well as a number of new chapters. The first part deals with general questions concerning the transmission of the pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament whereas the second part has a particular focus on the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs and the Greek Life of Adam and Eve.

2020 Center for Biblical Studies Book Award (Reference Works) This book introduces readers to a much-neglected and misunderstood assortment of Jewish writings from around the time of the New Testament. Dispelling mistaken notions of "falsely attributed writings" that are commonly inferred from the designation "pseudepigrapha," Daniel Gurtner demonstrates the rich indebtedness these works exhibit to the traditions and scriptures of Israel's past. In surveying many of the most important works, Introducing the Pseudepigrapha of Second Temple Judaism shows how the pseudepigrapha are best appreciated in their own varied contexts rather than as mere "background" to early Christianity or emerging rabbinic Judaism. Foreword by Loren T. Stuckenbruck.