Cutting edge reflections on biblical text formation

Empirical models based on ancient Near Eastern literature and variations between different textual traditions have been used to lend credibility to the identification of the sources behind biblical literature and the different editorial layers. In this volume, empirical models are used to critique the exaggerated results of identifying sources and editorial layers by demonstrating that, even though much of ancient literature had such complex literary histories, our methods are often inadequate for the task of precisely identifying sources and editorial layers. The contributors are Maxine L. Grossman, Bénédicte Lemmelijn, Alan Lenzi, Sara J. Milstein, Raymond F. Person Jr., Robert Rezetko, Stefan Schorch, Julio Trebolle Barrera, Ian Young, and Joseph A. Weaks.

Features:

• Evidence that many ancient texts are composite texts with complex literary histories


• Ten essays and an introduction cover texts from Mesopotamia, the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and the Dead Sea Scrolls

Raymond F. Person Jr. is Professor of Religion at Ohio Northern University. He is the author of The Deuteronomic School: History, Social Setting, and Literature (Society of Biblical Literature), and The Deuteronomic History and the Book of Chronicles: Scribal Works in an Oral World (Society of Biblical Literature).

Robert Rezetko is an Independent Scholar and Research Associate of the University of Sydney and Radboud University Nijmegen. He is the author of Source and Revision in the Narratives of David's Transfer of the Ark: Text, Language and Story in 2 Samuel 6 and 1 Chronicles 13, 15-16 (Continuum International) and co-author of Historical Linguistics and Biblical Hebrew: Steps Toward An Integrated Approach (SBL Press).