The Dead Sea Scrolls

Despite the impressive strides made in the past century in the understanding of Second Temple Jewish history and the strong scholarly interest in paideia within ancient Greek, Hellenistic, Roman, and late antique Christian cultures, the nature of Jewish paideia during the period has, until recently, received surprisingly little attention. The essays collected here were first offered for discussion at the Fifth Enoch Seminar Nangeroni Meeting, held in Naples, Italy, from June 30 – July 4, 2015, the purpose of which was to gain greater insight into the diversity of views of Jewish education during the period, both in Judea and Diaspora communities, by viewing them in light of their contemporary Greco-Roman backgrounds and Ancient Near Eastern influences. Together, they represent the broad array of approaches and specialties required to comprehend this complex and multi-faceted subject, and they demonstrate the fundamental importance of the topic for a fuller understanding of the period. The volume will be of particular interest to students and scholars of the history and culture of the Jewish people during the Hellenistic and Roman periods, ancient education, and Greek and Roman history.

This tightly focused collection of essays, from an invited seminar of international specialists, centres on the question of the apocalyptic worldview around the time of the Maccabean revolt. What was the nature of apocalyptic at this time? Did the Maccabees themselves have a distinct apocalyptic worldview? These questions lead to other, more specific queries: who of the various groups held such a view? Certain of the essays analyse the characteristics of the apocalypses and related literature in this period, and whether the apocalyptic worldview itself gave rise to historical events or, at least, influenced them.

The collection begins with two introductory essays. Both the main and short papers have individual responses, and two considered responses by well-known experts address the entire collection. The volume finishes with a concluding chapter by the lead editor that gives a perspective on the main themes and conclusions arising from the papers and discussion.

4QCommentary on Genesis scrolls (4Q252, 4Q253, 4Q254, 4Q254a) were edited and published by George Brooke in DJD 22. During our work on the scrolls in the Historical Dictionary Project of the Academy of Hebrew Language, we re-examined these scrolls consulting the new high-quality images of the Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library of the IAA. In the present paper we suggest new improved readings of many of the fragments of the 4QCommentary on Genesis scrolls, accompanied by short notes on their version and language in the light of other contemporary Biblical and non-Biblical sources.

From Bloomsbury's website:

About Interpreting 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch
In this volume Gabriele Boccaccini and Jason M. Zurawski collect together essays from leading international scholars on the books of 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch. The literature of the Second Temple Period has become increasingly studied in recent years as scholars have begun to recognize the importance of these texts for a developed understanding of Rabbinic and Christian origins.  Through close readings of the texts themselves, examining the books in comparison with other Jewish apocalyptic literature and early Christian materials, and reading the texts in light of their social and historical settings, the fifteen papers collected herein significantly advance the current scholarly conversation on these defining Jewish apocalypses written at the end of the first century CE, and they shed light on the everlasting legacy of apocalyptic ideas in both Christianity and Judaism.

Table Of Contents
Introduction: Perspectives on 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch from the Sixth Enoch Seminar - Gabriele Boccaccini (University of Michigan, USA) and Jason M. Zurawski (University of Michigan, USA) 

Part I: 4 Ezra in the Apocalyptic Tradition
1. More than the Present: Perspectives on World History in 4 Ezra and the Book of the Watchers - Veronika Bachmann (University of Zurich, Switzerland)

2. Apocalyptic Ideas in 4 Ezra in Comparison with the Dead Sea Scrolls -Bilhah Nitzan (Tel-Aviv University, Israel)

3. The "Meaning of History" in the Fifth Vision of 4 Ezra - Laura Bizzarro (Universidad Catolica, Argentina)

Part II: Ezra 2, Baruch, and Early Christian Literature
4. The Woman Who Anoints Jesus for his Burial (Mark 14) and the Woman Who Laments her Dead Son (4 Ezra9-10) - Twice the Same Person? - Andreas Bedenbender (University of Dortmund, Germany)

5. Days of Creation in 4 Ezra 6:38-59 and John 1-5 - Calum Carmichael (Cornell University, USA)

6. 2 Baruch, 4 Ezra, and the Epistle to the Hebrews:Three Approaches to the Interpretation of Ps 104:4 - Eric F. Mason (Judson University, USA)

7. "Good Tidings" of Baruch to the Christian Faithful (The Epistle of 2 Baruch78-87) - Rivka Nir (Open University of Israel, Israel)

Part III: Close Readings of 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch
8. The Two Worlds and Adam's Sin: The Problem of 4 Ezra 7:10-14 -Jason M. Zurawski (University of Michigan, USA)

9. Eschatological Rewards for the Righteous in Second Baruch - Daniel M. Gurtner (Bethel Seminary,USA)

10. Death and the Afterlife in 2 Baruch - Jared Ludlow (Brigham Young University, USA)

11. The Calendar Implied in 2 Baruch and 4 Ezra:Two Modifications of the One Scheme - Basil Lourié (St Petersburg State University, Russia)

12. The Fate of Jerusalem in 2 Baruch and 4 Ezra: From Earth to Heaven and Back? - Carla Sulzbach (McGill University,Canada)

Part IV: 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch in their Social and Historical Settings
13. 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch:Archaeology and Elusive Answers to Our Perennial Questions - James Hamilton Charlesworth (Princeton Theological Seminary, USA)

14. The Use of Cryptographic and Esoteric Scripts in Second Temple Judaism and the Surrounding Cultures - Stephen Pfann (University of the Holy Land, Israel)

15. Apocalyptic as Delusion: A Psychoanalytic Approach - J. Harold Ellens (University of Michigan, USA)