Between Canonical and Apocryphal Texts

How do apocryphal texts rewrite and reinterpret traditions from earlier, authoritative texts? The volume compares processes of reception and interpretation in early Jewish and early Christian literature. It includes detailed studies on the LXX, Qumran texts and Jewish Pseudepigrapha as well as early apocryphal Gospel traditions, Apocryphal Acts and Pseudo-Apostolic Letters.

The present volume aims at a comparative study of the processes of reception, rewriting and interpretation between canonical and apocryphal texts in early Jewish and early Christian literature. A closer look at the respective developments in both corpora of literature can open up new perspectives for understanding the developments and changes between texts that were already considered authoritative, and their reception in new, ‘parabiblical’ or ‘apocryphal’ compositions. The way of reception may also influence the perspective on canonical texts. The range of texts considered includes the LXX, Targumim and Pesharim, books such as Jubilees, the Genesis Apocryphon, the Gospel of Thomas, and Apocryphal Acts, traditions about Esther, Ezra, Manasseh, Peter and Paul, depictions of hell from Enoch to the Apocalypse of Paul, and the development of miracle stories.

I. Introduction
Jörg Frey: From Canonical to Apocryphal Texts: The Quest for Processes of 'Apocryphication' in Early Jewish and Early Christian Literature - Simon Mimouni: Le concept d'apocryphité face au concept de canonicité: retour sur un problème en débat
II. Reception, Rewriting and Interpretation in Early Jewish Literature
Martin Meiser: Interpretive Methods in the Septuagint of the Prophetic Books - Veronika Bachmann: Der persische Königshof als Bühne für Variationen um die Themenkomplexe Macht und Identität. Ein vergleichender Blick auf die Estherbuchversionen EstMT, EstLXX und EstA - Michael Becker: Ein Patriarch mit Schwächen. Zur Darstellung Abrahams im Genesisapokryphon - David Hamidovic: Securizing the Straight Line from Heaven to Earth: The Written Authoritative Catena in the Book of Jubilees - Jutta Jokiranta: Quoting, Writing, and Reading. Authority in Pesher Habakkuk from Qumran - Stefan Krauter: Esra zwischen Kanon und Apokryphen - Alberdina Houtman: The Great Beyond According to Targum Isaiah - Karl-Heinz Ostmeyer: Die Gebete des Manasse (aus Qumran, der Septuaginta und der Kairoer Geniza)
III. Reception, Rewriting and Interpretation in Early Christian Literature
Enno-Edzard Popkes: Die Apokryphisierung der Botschaft Jesu im Thomasevangelium: eine religionshistorische Spurensuche - Claire Clivaz: (According) To the Hebrews. An Apocryphal Gospel and a Canonical Letter Read in Egypt - Wolfgang Grünstäudl: Ein apokryphes Petrusbild im Neuen Testament. Zur Konstruktion apostolischer Autorität in OffbPetr und 2 Petr - Meghan Henning: Hell as 'Heterotopia'. Edification and Interpretation from Enoch to the Apocalypses of Peter and Paul - Julia Snyder: Relationships between the Acts of the Apostles and Other Apostle Narratives - Janet Spittler: The Development of Miracle Traditions in the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles - Jörg Röder: Wegen guter Taten wollen sie ihn töten? Apokryphisierung als Element der Rezeptionsgeschichte dargestellt an Wundern in den Acta Pilati - Tobias Nicklas: Absonderlich und geschmacklos? Antike christliche Wundererzählungen zwischen "kanonisch" und "apokryph" - Michael Sommer: Paulus und Laodicea. Überlegungen zur Schriftrezeption, zur Eschatologie und zum Autorenkonzept des "apokryphen" Laodicenerbriefes

• With Jörg Röder
• Edited by Jörg Frey
• Edited by Tobias Nicklas
• Edited by Claire Clivaz