Renate Egger-Wenzel – författare

Als Festgabe für den Salzburger Alttestamentler Friedrich V. Reiterer zur Vollendung des 65. Lebensjahres, dessen Forschung biblischer Weisheitsliteratur vor allem dem Buch Ben Sira gewidmet ist, überreichen Kollegen und Schüler einen Strauß von Untersuchungen, die die Interessengebiete des Jubilars beleuchten: Neben Ben Sira wird die Rolle der Weisheit in weiteren spätbiblischen Schriften, in zwischen- und neutestamentlichen Texten untersucht. Die einzelnen exegetisch-theologisch-philogischen Beiträge des Bandes stehen unter dem Motto „Kommt zu mir … sättigt euch an meinen Früchten” (Sir 24,19).

Die Beiträge des Sammelbandes behandeln spätbiblische Schriften (Tobit, Judit, griechische Esther, 1. Makkabäer, 2. Makkabäer, Buch der Weisheit, Ben Sira, Baruch, griechischer Daniel, Qumran,) aus hellenistischer Zeit unter dem Aspekt von Religion, Literatur und Gesellschaft. Den Schwerpunkt bilden Bedrohungsszenarien und die Abgrenzung gegenüber der hellenistisch geprägten Umwelt und die Identitätsfrage der Gläubigen in den vorchristlichen Jahrhunderten. Geboten werden aktuelle Untersuchungen zu einem bislang wenig beachteten Thema. Dieses ist aber zum Verständnis der Notsituation und der Lösungsmechanismen in den letzten Jahrhunderten vor der Zeitenwende und der Entwicklungen des Juden- und Christentums unverzichtbar.

Die Beiträge des Sammelbandes behandeln spätbiblische Schriften (Tobit, Judit, griechische Esther, 1. Makkabäer, 2. Makkabäer, Buch der Weisheit, Ben Sira, Baruch, griechischer Daniel, Qumran,) aus hellenistischer Zeit unter dem Aspekt von Religion, Literatur und Gesellschaft. Den Schwerpunkt bilden Bedrohungsszenarien und die Abgrenzung gegenüber der hellenistisch geprägten Umwelt und die Identitätsfrage der Gläubigen in den vorchristlichen Jahrhunderten. Geboten werden aktuelle Untersuchungen zu einem bislang wenig beachteten Thema. Dieses ist aber zum Verständnis der Notsituation und der Lösungsmechanismen in den letzten Jahrhunderten vor der Zeitenwende und der Entwicklungen des Juden- und Christentums unverzichtbar.

This volume contains essays by some of the leading scholars in the study of the Jewish religious ideas in the Second Temple period, that led up to the development of early forms of Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity. Close attention is paid to the cosmological ideas to be found in the Ancient Near East and in the Hebrew Bible and to the manner in which the translators of the Hebrew Bible into Greek reflected the creativity with which Judaism engaged Hellenistic ideas about the cosmos and the creation. The concepts of heaven and divine power, human mortality, the forces of nature, combat myths, and the philosophy of wisdom, as they occur in 2 Maccabees, Ben Sira, Wisdom of Solomon and Tobit, are carefully analysed and compared with Greek and Roman world-views. There are also critical examinations of Dead Sea scroll texts, early Jewish prayers and Hebrew liturgical poetry and how they these adopt, adapt and alter earlier ideas. The editors have included appreciations of two major figures who played important roles in the study of the Second Temple period and in the history and development of the ISDCL, namely, Otto Kaiser and Alexander Di Lella, who died recently and are greatly missed by those in the field.

This volume contains essays by some of the leading scholars in the study of the Jewish religious ideas in the Second Temple period, that led up to the development of early forms of Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity. Close attention is paid to the cosmological ideas to be found in the Ancient Near East and in the Hebrew Bible and to the manner in which the translators of the Hebrew Bible into Greek reflected the creativity with which Judaism engaged Hellenistic ideas about the cosmos and the creation. The concepts of heaven and divine power, human mortality, the forces of nature, combat myths, and the philosophy of wisdom, as they occur in 2 Maccabees, Ben Sira, Wisdom of Solomon and Tobit, are carefully analysed and compared with Greek and Roman world-views. There are also critical examinations of Dead Sea scroll texts, early Jewish prayers and Hebrew liturgical poetry and how they these adopt, adapt and alter earlier ideas. The editors have included appreciations of two major figures who played important roles in the study of the Second Temple period and in the history and development of the ISDCL, namely, Otto Kaiser and Alexander Di Lella, who died recently and are greatly missed by those in the field.

This set of varied and stimulating papers, by an international group of younger as well as senior scholars, examines the manner in which peoplehood was understood by the Jewish communities of the Second Temple period and by the religious traditions that emerged from those communities and later flourished in Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism. The Hebrew and Greek terms for "people" and "nation" and the name "Israel" are closely analyzed, especially in forays into wisdom literature, Jewish apologetic and the Dead Sea Scrolls, and their uses are related to geographical, political and theological developments, as well as statehood, authority and rulership in the Persian world, Hasmonean times and Ptolemaic Egypt. Especially interesting are the carefully argued and documented suggestions about how Jewish peoplehood expressed itself with regard to charitable behavior, pagan deities, and marital regulations. Those interested in the history of cultural and theological tensions will be intrigued by the studies centered on how the opponents of Jews behaved towards "the people of God", how Hellenistic Jewish culture located the Jews on the Roman rather than on the Greek side, and how early Christian discourse saw the mission among the peoples and interpreted earlier sources accordingly. The idea of the Jewish "way of life" is seen to have influenced the writer of the longer Greek version of Esther and works of fiction are shown to have had important historical data within them. Modern social theory also has its say here in a careful consideration of Cognitive theory of ethnicity and the dynamic of ethnic boundary-making.

This set of varied and stimulating papers, by an international group of younger as well as senior scholars, examines the manner in which peoplehood was understood by the Jewish communities of the Second Temple period and by the religious traditions that emerged from those communities and later flourished in Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism. The Hebrew and Greek terms for "people" and "nation" and the name "Israel" are closely analyzed, especially in forays into wisdom literature, Jewish apologetic and the Dead Sea Scrolls, and their uses are related to geographical, political and theological developments, as well as statehood, authority and rulership in the Persian world, Hasmonean times and Ptolemaic Egypt. Especially interesting are the carefully argued and documented suggestions about how Jewish peoplehood expressed itself with regard to charitable behavior, pagan deities, and marital regulations. Those interested in the history of cultural and theological tensions will be intrigued by the studies centered on how the opponents of Jews behaved towards "the people of God", how Hellenistic Jewish culture located the Jews on the Roman rather than on the Greek side, and how early Christian discourse saw the mission among the peoples and interpreted earlier sources accordingly. The idea of the Jewish "way of life" is seen to have influenced the writer of the longer Greek version of Esther and works of fiction are shown to have had important historical data within them. Modern social theory also has its say here in a careful consideration of Cognitive theory of ethnicity and the dynamic of ethnic boundary-making.