Bernard M. Levinson – författare

Positioned at the boundary of traditional biblical studies, legal history, and literary theory, Deuteronomy and the Hermeneutics of Legal Innovation shows how the leglislation of Deuteromomy reflects the struggle of its authors to renew late seventh-century Judaean society. Seeking to defend their revolutionary vision during the neo-Assyrian crisis, the reformers turned to earlier laws, even when they disagreed with them, and revised them in such a way as to lend authority to their new understanding of God's will. Passages that other scholars have long viewed as redundant, contradictory, or displaced actually reflect the attempt by Deuteronomy's authors to sanction their new religious aims before the legacy of the past. Drawing on ancient Near Eastern law and informed by the rich insights of classical and medieval Jewish commentary, Levinson provides an extended study of three key passages in the legal corpus: the unprecedented requirement for the centralization of worship, the law transforming the old Passover into a pilgrimage festival, and the unit replacing traditional village justice with a professionalized judiciary. He demonstrates the profound impact of centralization upon the structure and arrangement of the legal corpus, while providing a theoretical analysis of religious change and cultural renewal in ancient Israel. The book's conclusion shows how the techniques of authorship developed in Deuteronomy provided a model for later Israelite and post-biblical literature. Integrating the most recent European research on the redaction of Deuteronomy with current American and Israeli scholarship, Levinson argues that biblical interpretation must attend to both the diachronic and the synchronic dimensions of the text. His study, which provides a new perspective on intertextuality, the history of authorship, and techniques of legal innovation in the ancient world, will engage Pentateuchal critics and historians of Israelite religion, while reaching out toward current issues in literary theory and Critical Legal Studies. `Bernard Levinson is a brilliant young scholar who has written an outstanding book about how the Covenant Code from Mount Sinai became the Code of Deuteronomy at the borders of the River Jordan. It is a fascinating discourse on how to change law without changing tradition. The importance of Biblical law for canon theory, Biblical narrative, and Israelite religion usually is underestimated; this new approach will hopefully get more people reading law, and especially Deuteronomy. It will be compelling to both American and European readers as it integrates the leading scholarly discourses of both communities.' Norbert Lohfink, SJ, Professor of Biblical Studies, Philosophisch-Theologische Hochschule Sankt Georgen, Frankfurt `An exemplary work of biblical scholarship--careful and controlled by analytic rigour, yet bold and innovative in its scope and suggestions. Students of ancient law, legal literature, religion, and culture will greatly benefit from Levinson's work.' Michael Fishbane, Nathan Cummings Professor of Jewish Studies, University of Chicago `In noting that the Deuteronomic innovations were not simply interpolated into a reworked version of the Covenant Code but rather presented in a new, complete composition, Levinson demonstrates his own primary commitment to the text, to the history of textual transmission, and to the social milieu in which the text functions. Levinson elegantly presents the use of the Covenant Code as both a source and resource for the Deuteronomic authors.' Martha T. Roth, Professor, Oriental Institute, University of Chicago and Editor-in-Charge of the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary `Bernard Levinson's book is a major study. He demonstrates the radical break with the past and the way in which the authors or composers of Deuteronomy not only transformed religion and society in ancient Israel but also radically revised its literary history. The power and accomplishment of the Deuteronomic movement has rarely been so clearly demonstrated. Levinson's work is a clarification of the way in which hermeneutics is not something that starts with the interpreter's handling of the canonical text but is a process by which the canonical text itself came into being. He shows how the new text subverts and dominates older texts in behalf of a radical cultural and religious transformation. With this book, Levinson places himself in the front rank of Deuteronomy scholars.' Patrick D. Miller, Charles P. Haley Professor of Old Testament Exegesis and Theology, Princeton Theological Seminary

Positioned at the boundary of traditional biblical studies, legal history, and literary theory, Deuteronomy and the Hermeneutics of Legal Innovation shows how the legislation of Deuteronomy reflects the struggle of its authors to renew late seventh century Judean society. Seeking to defend their revolutionary vision during the neo-Assyrian crisis, the reformers turned to earlier laws, even when they disagreed with them, and revised them in such a way as to lend authority to their new understanding of God's will. Passages that other scholars have long viewed as redundant, contradictory, or displaced actually reflect the attempt by Deuteronomy's authors to sanction their new religious aims before the legacy of the past.Drawing on ancient Near Eastern law and informed by the rich insights of classical and medieval Jewish commentary, Levinson provides an extended study of three key passages in the legal corpus: the unprecedented requirement for the centralisation of worship, the law transforming the old Passover into a pilgrimage festival, and the unit replacing traditional village justice with a professional judiciary. He demonstrates the profound impact of centralisation upon the structure and arrangement of the legal corpus, while providing a theoretical analysis of religious change and cultural renewal in ancient Israel. The book's conclusion shows how the techniques of authorship developed in Deuteronomy provided a model for later Israelite and post- biblical literature.Integrating the most recent European research on the redaction of Deuteronomy with current American and Israeli scholarship, Levinson argues that biblical interpretation must attend to both the diachronic and the synchronic dimensions of the text. His study, which provides a new perspective on intertextuality, the history of authorship, and techniques of legal innovation in the ancient world, will engage pentateuchal critics and historians of Israelite religion, while reaching out toward current issues in literary theory and Critical Legal Studies.

Positioned at the boundary of traditional biblical studies, legal history, and literary theory, Deuteronomy and the Hermeneutics of Legal Innovation shows how the legislation of Deuteronomy reflects the struggle of its authors to renew late seventh- century Judean society. Seeking to defend their revolutionary vision during the neo-Assyrian crisis, the reformers turned to earlier laws, even when they disagreed with them, and revised them in such a way as to lend authority to their new understanding of God''s will. Passages that other scholars have long viewed as redundant, contradictory, or displaced actually reflect the attempt by Deuteronomy''s authors to sanction their new religious aims before the legacy of the past. Drawing on ancient Near Eastern law and informed by the rich insights of classical and medieval Jewish commentary, Levinson provides an extended study of three key passages in the legal corpus: the unprecedented requirement for the centralization of worship, the law transforming the old Passover into a pilgrimage festival, and the unit replacing traditional village justice with a professionalized judiciary. He demonstrates the profound impact of centralization upon the structure and arrangement of the legal corpus, while providing a theoretical analysis of religious change and cultural renewal in ancient Israel. The book''s conclusion shows how the techniques of authorship developed in Deuteronomy provided a model for later Israelite and post- biblical literature. Integrating the most recent European research on the redaction of Deuteronomy with current American and Israeli scholarship, Levinson argues that biblical interpretation must attend to both the diachronic and the synchronic dimensions of the text. His study, which provides a new perspective on intertextuality, the history of authorship, and techniques of legal innovation in the ancient world, will engage pentateuchal critics and historians of Israelite religion, while reaching out toward current issues in literary theory and Critical Legal Studies.

How did the academy react to the rise, dominance, and ultimate fall of Germany's Third Reich? Did German professors of the humanities have to tell themselves lies about their regime's activities or its victims to sleep at night? Did they endorse the regime? Or did they look the other way, whether out of deliberate denial or out of fear for their own personal safety? The Betrayal of the Humanities: The University during the Third Reich is a collection of groundbreaking essays that shed light on this previously overlooked piece of history.The Betrayal of the Humanities accepts the regrettable news that academics and intellectuals in Nazi Germany betrayed the humanities, and explores what went wrong, what occurred at the universities, and what happened to the major disciplines of the humanities under National Socialism.The Betrayal of the Humanities details not only how individual scholars, particular departments, and even entire universities collaborated with the Nazi regime but also examines the legacy of this era on higher education in Germany. In particular, it looks at the peculiar position of many German scholars in the post-war world having to defend their own work, or the work of their mentors, while simultaneously not appearing to accept Nazism.

How did the academy react to the rise, dominance, and ultimate fall of Germany's Third Reich? Did German professors of the humanities have to tell themselves lies about their regime's activities or its victims to sleep at night? Did they endorse the regime? Or did they look the other way, whether out of deliberate denial or out of fear for their own personal safety? The Betrayal of the Humanities: The University during the Third Reich is a collection of groundbreaking essays that shed light on this previously overlooked piece of history.The Betrayal of the Humanities accepts the regrettable news that academics and intellectuals in Nazi Germany betrayed the humanities, and explores what went wrong, what occurred at the universities, and what happened to the major disciplines of the humanities under National Socialism.The Betrayal of the Humanities details not only how individual scholars, particular departments, and even entire universities collaborated with the Nazi regime but also examines the legacy of this era on higher education in Germany. In particular, it looks at the peculiar position of many German scholars in the post-war world having to defend their own work, or the work of their mentors, while simultaneously not appearing to accept Nazism.

This book examines the doctrine of transgenerational punishment found in the Decalogue - the idea that God punishes sinners vicariously, extending the punishment due them to three or four generations of their progeny. Although a 'God-given' law, the unfairness of punishing innocent people in this way was clearly recognized in ancient Israel. A series of inner-biblical and post-biblical responses to the rule demonstrates that later writers were able to criticize, reject, and replace this doctrine with the notion of individual retribution. Supporting further study, it includes a valuable bibliographical essay on the distinctive approach of inner-biblical exegesis, showing the contributions of European, Israeli, and North American scholars. This Cambridge release represents a major revision and expansion of the French edition, L'Herméneutique de l'innovation: Canon et exégèse dans l'Israël biblique, nearly doubling its length with extensive content and offering alternative perspectives on debates about canonicity, textual authority, and authorship.

This book examines the doctrine of transgenerational punishment found in the Decalogue - the idea that God punishes sinners vicariously, extending the punishment due them to three or four generations of their progeny. Although a 'God-given' law, the unfairness of punishing innocent people in this way was clearly recognized in ancient Israel. A series of inner-biblical and post-biblical responses to the rule demonstrates that later writers were able to criticize, reject, and replace this doctrine with the notion of individual retribution. Supporting further study, it includes a valuable bibliographical essay on the distinctive approach of inner-biblical exegesis, showing the contributions of European, Israeli, and North American scholars. This Cambridge release represents a major revision and expansion of the French edition, L'Herméneutique de l'innovation: Canon et exégèse dans l'Israël biblique, nearly doubling its length with extensive content and offering alternative perspectives on debates about canonicity, textual authority, and authorship.

The essays in this volume focus on two crucial topics that have been given short shrift in the contemporary debate on the composition and formation of the Pentateuch: (1) biblical law, and the development of Israelite legal institutions; (2) the significance of ancient Near Eastern law for developing a proper model for the composition and editorial history of the Pentateuch. To correct the imbalance, the focus of this volume is on whether the biblical and cuneiform legal corpora underwent a process of literary revision and interpolation that reflects legal, social, and theological development. If so, what is the nature of this development and the evidence for it? If not, how are the textual phenomena otherwise to be explained? The contributors are Raymond Westbrook, Bernard M. Levinson, Samuel Greengus, Martin Buss, Sophie Lafont, Victor H. Matthews, William Morrow, Dale Patrick, and Eckart Otto. The volume will be of interest to students and specialists in biblical law, pentateuchal studies, and comparative legal history.

This striking new contribution to gender studies demonstrates the essential role of Israelite and Near East law in the historical analysis of gender. The theme of these studies of Babylonian, Hittite, Assyrian, and Israelite law is this: What is the significance of gender in the formulation of ancient law and custom? Feminist scholarship is enriched by these studies in family history and the status of women in antiquity. At the same time, conventional legal history is repositioned, as new and classical texts are interpreted from the vantage point of feminist theory and social history. Papers from SBL Biblical Law Section form the core of this collection.

This striking new contribution to gender studies demonstrates the essential role of Israelite and Near East law in the historical analysis of gender. The theme of these studies of Babylonian, Hittite, Assyrian, and Israelite law is this: What is the significance of gender in the formulation of ancient law and custom? Feminist scholarship is enriched by these studies in family history and the status of women in antiquity. At the same time, conventional legal history is repositioned, as new and classical texts are interpreted from the vantage point of feminist theory and social history. Papers from SBL Biblical Law Section form the core of this collection.

Since antiquity, the five books of Moses have served as a sacred constitution, foundational for both Jews and Samaritans. However long the process of accepting the Pentateuch as authoritative tōrâ (“instruction”) took, this was by all accounts a monumental achievement in the history of these peoples and indeed an important moment in the history of the ancient world. In the long development of Western societies, the Pentateuch has served as a major influence on the development of law, political philosophy, and social thought. The question is: how, where, and why did this process of acceptance occur, when did it occur, and how long did it take?

This book presents twelve selected investigations of textual composition, interpretation, revision, and transmission. With these studies, Bernard Levinson draws on the literary forebears of biblical law in cuneiform literature and its reinterpretation in the Second Temple period to provide the horizon of ancient Israelite legal exegesis. The volume makes a sustained argument about the nature of textuality in ancient Israel: Israelite scribes were sophisticated readers, authors, and thinkers who were conscious of their place in literary and intellectual history, even as they sought to renew and transform their cultural patrimony in significant ways. Originally published over a decade and a half, the significantly revised and updated studies gathered here explore the connections between law and narrative, show the close connections between Deuteronomy and the Neo-Assyrian loyalty oath tradition, address the literary relationship of Deuteronomy and the Covenant Code, reflect on important questions of methodology, and explore the contributions of the Bible to later Western intellectual history. The volume offers essential reading for an understanding of the Pentateuch and biblical law.

The historical-critical method that characterizes academic biblical studies too often remains separate from approaches that stress the history of interpretation, which are employed more frequently in the area of Second Temple or Dead Sea Scrolls research. Inaugurating the new series, Critical Studies in the Hebrew Bible, A More Perfect Torah explores a series of test-cases in which the two methods mutually reinforce one another.The volume brings together two studies that investigate the relationship between the composition history of the biblical text and its reception history at Qumran and in rabbinic literature. The Temple Scroll is more than the blueprint for a more perfect Temple. It also represents the attempt to create a more perfect Torah. Its techniques for doing so are the focus of part 1, entitled “Revelation Regained: The Hermeneutics of KI and ‘IM in the Temple Scroll.” This study illuminates the techniques for marking conditional clauses in ancient Near Eastern literature, biblical law, and the Dead Sea Scrolls. It also draws new attention to the relationship between the Temple Scroll’s use of conditionals and the manuscript’s organized spacing system for marking paragraphs.Part 2 is entitled “Reception History as a Window into Composition History: Deuteronomy’s Law of Vows as Reflected in Qoheleth and the Temple Scroll.” The law of vows in Deut 23:22–24 is difficult in both its syntax and its legal content. The difficulty is resolved once it is recognized that the law contains an interpolation that disrupts the original coherence of the law. The reception history of the law of vows in Numbers 20, Qoh 5:4–7, 11QTemple 53:11–14, and Sipre Deuteronomy confirms the hypothesis of an interpolation. Seen in this new light, the history of interpretation offers a window into the composition history of the biblical text.

Der Band vereint zwölf Studien zur Komposition, Deutung, Bearbeitung und Weiterüberlieferung des alttestamentlichen Rechts. Bernard Levinson schlägt einen weiten Bogen, der sich von den literarischen Vorstufen im Keilschriftrecht bis zu der Neuinterpretation erstreckt, die das biblische Recht in der Epoche des zweiten Tempels erfahren hat. Es entsteht ein fundiertes Bild der Schriftkultur des Alten Israel. Die israelitischen Schreiber waren gebildete Leser, Denker und Schriftsteller, die sich ihrer Stellung in der Literatur- und Geistesgeschichte bewusst waren, so wie sie ihrerseits das überlieferte kulturelle Erbe sich immer von neuem angeeignet und in neue Formen gegossen haben. Die im Laufe von anderthalb Jahrzehnten entstandenen Studien sind umfassend aktualisiert und werden durch eine neue Einleitung erschlossen. Im einzelnen werden behandelt: die Verknüpfung zwischen Gesetz und Erzählung; die engen Verbindungen zwischen dem Deuteronomium und den neuassyrischen Loyalitäts-Eiden; das Verhältnis des Deuteronomiums zum Bundesbuch. Fragen der Methodologie werden erörtert und der Beitrag der Bibel zur Rechtsauffassung der westlichen Welt. Die Sammlung ist ein grundlegender Beitrag zur Entstehung des Pentateuchs und zur Geschichte des biblischen Rechts.

This book examines the development of institutionalized prayer in ancient Israel at a crucial time in the history of Western civilization: from the period of the Qumran writings, in the last three centuries BCE, through to the rabbinic period, after 70 CE. It explores the shift from sacrificial worship by priests to abstract, unmediated, direct approaches to the deity by laypeople. It demonstrates the transition from voluntary, freely composed prayers to obligatory prayers with fixed texts. The study shows how Qumran and Samaritan prayer contrast with rabbinic prayer, shedding light on Jewish customs before the rabbinic reform.Posthumously edited by Bernard M. Levinson.

Bernard M. Levinson nimmt das Prinzip der generationenübergreifenden Strafe aus dem Dekalog in den Blick, also die Vorstellung, dass Gott Sünder indirekt bestraft und die Bestrafung, die ihnen gebührt, auf drei oder vier Generationen ihrer Nachkommen ausdehnt. Trotz der Stilisierung als göttliches Recht wurde im alten Israel das Gerechtigkeitsproblem deutlich gesehen, das sich aus der Vorstellung ergibt, dass unschuldige Menschen allein dafür bestraft werden, Kinder oder Enkel von Übeltätern zu sein. Eine Reihe von innerbiblischen und nach-biblischen Reaktionen auf dieses Prinzip zeigt die Bemühungen späterer Autoren auf, dieses problematische Konzept zu kritisieren, zurückzuweisen und durch die alternative Vorstellung individueller Vergeltung zu ersetzen. So betrachtet ist der grundlegende Kanon die Quelle seiner eigenen Erneuerung: Er fördert das kritische Nachdenken über den überlieferten Text und trägt zur geistigen Freiheit bei.Um eine vertiefte Beschäftigung mit dem Thema zu ermöglichen, enthält das Buch auch einen weiterführenden forschungsgeschichtlichen Essay zum klar abgrenzbaren Ansatz der innerbiblischen Schriftauslegung. Darin werden Beiträge europäischer, israelischer und nordamerikanischer Forscher vorgestellt.Eine frühere, englischsprachige Fassung dieses Buches wurde unter dem Titel Legal Revision and Religious Renewal in Ancient Israel veröffentlicht. Die vorliegende Fassung stellt eine komplette Neuausgabe dar, die speziell mit Blick auf die deutschsprachige Leserschaft überarbeitet und mit umfangreichen Ergänzungen versehen wurde. Es ist das Ziel des Autors, neue Perspektiven auf aktuelle Debatten über Kanonizität, Autorität von Texten und Autorschaft innerhalb der Geisteswissenschaften zu ermöglichen."Es ist eine Wohltat, wenn sich Forscher in den Geistes- und Bibelwissenschaften nicht in ihrer eigenen Disziplin vergraben, sondern Themen in Angriff nehmen, die im eigenen Fach und in den Nachbardisziplinen von unverkennbarer Relevanz sind. B. M. Levinson gehört zu diesen mutigen Forschern. [...] Als Bibelwissenschaftler bahnt er den Weg zu den Geisteswissenschaften und macht sie mit dem bisher ungenutzten Forschungsschatz zur innerbiblischen Exegese vertraut."Aus dem Geleitwort von Hermann Spieckermann