Authoritative Writings in Early Judaism and Early Christianity

Their Origin, Collection, and Meaning

Edited by Jens Schröter Edited by Tobias Nicklas

Book cover: Authoritative Writings in Early Judaism and Early Christianity

Extent: 362 pages

Publisher: Mohr Siebeck

Subjects: Biblical Studies

Series: Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament

Language: English

Hardback (Published)

(August 2020)

ISBN: 9783161560941

6.5 x 9.45 inches

Price: $239.00

In stock

The Christian and Jewish Bibles did not develop independently but in mutual correlation to each other. What does this mean for our understanding of canon history? The contributions in this volume deal with a broad array of sources from the Hebrew Bible to late antique Apocrypha.


Recent scholarship on the history of the biblical canons has increasingly recognised that the Jewish and Christian Bibles were not formed independently of each other but amid controversial debate and competition. But what does it mean that the formation of the Christian Bible cannot be separated from the developments that led to the Jewish Bible? The articles in this collection start with the assumption that the authorisation of writings had already begun in Israel and Judaism before the emergence of Christianity and was continued in the first centuries CE by Judaism and Christianity in their respective ways. They deal with a broad range of sources, such as writings which came to be part of the Hebrew Bible, literature from Qumran, the Septuagint, or early Jewish apocalypses. At the same time they deal, for example, with structures of authorisation related to New Testament writings, examine the role of authoritative texts in so-called Gnostic schools, and discuss the authority of late antique apocryphal literature.

Konrad Schmid: Textual Authority in Ancient Israel and Judah: Factors and Forces of its Development - Jörg Frey: The Authority of the Scriptures of Israel in the Qumran Corpus - Matthias Henze: 2 Baruch, 4 Ezra, and Israel's Scriptures - Natalio Fernández Marcos: The Meaning of the Septuagint in the Process of Authorization of Israelite Writings - Armand Puig i Tàrrech: Jesus and the Jewish Writings - Dieter T. Roth: The Use of Jewish Writings and Their Collections in the New Testament Gospels - Jens Schröter: The Use of "Canonical" and "Non-canonical" Texts in Early Christianity and its Influence on the Authorization of Christian Writings - Martin Meiser: Die Autorität der Schrift bei Paulus - Benjamin J. Ribbens/Michael H. Kibbe: "He Still Speaks!" - The Authority of Scripture in Hebrews - Susanne Luther: Strategies of Authorizing Tradition in the Letter of James - Judith M. Lieu: Marcion, the Writings of Israel, and the Origins of the "New Testament" - Jean-Daniel Dubois: What Kind of Jewish Bible Did the Gnostics Use? - Tobias Nicklas: Authority and Canon according to Some Ancient "Christian" Apocalypses: 5 Ezra and the Tiburtine Sibyl - Juan Chapa: Early Christian Book Production and the Concept of Canon - Thomas J. Kraus: Hebrew Psalm 91 / Greek Psalm 90: Collections and Contexts, and a Text of Authority

  • Edited by Jens Schröter
  • Edited by Tobias Nicklas