Theodore A. Bergren - Böcker

6 Ezra is a short, oracular writing that is included in the biblical Apocrypha as the final two chapters (chapters 15-16) of 4 Ezra or 2 Esdras. Cast as the words of God mediated through an unnamed prophet, the main part of the work sets forth predictions of impending doom for the world. It is reminiscent of, and stands in the tradition of, Jewish and Christian prophetic writings that enunciate God's woes and threats against a sinful humanity, and envisage imminent destruction on the earth as a result. 6 Ezra is also concerned to exhort a group of God's chosen people to remain faithful and resist sin in order to escape the impending destruction. There has never been a major study of 6 Ezra or even a complete critical edition of the book, and indeed little has been written about it since the nineteenth century. This book is designed to fill that gap, offering a detailed analysis of the text itself, and addressing the question of its social setting, provenance, date, religious affiliation, and recensional situation of the text. It will also serve to make this important text accesible to a wider audience, while laying the foundations for its further study.

The present volume is a “reader’s edition” of 1 Clement, an important early Christian epistolary writing in Greek that probably dates from the late first century CE. The volume is designed for rapid reading and for classroom use. On each left-facing page is printed a running, sequential section of the Greek text. Opposite that, on each right-facing page, are recorded all of the more unusual words in that section of Greek text, with dictionary form, part of speech, and definition(s). All of the more common words in that same section of Greek text are included in a comprehensive glossary at the end of the book.This system, then, is designed so that the reader of the Greek text will not have to stop to look up every unusual Greek word in a printed or online dictionary. He or she will simply have to look to the facing page. Such constant lookups in a printed or online dictionary are tedious and time-consuming, and have little pedagogical value. Since in the present edition the words recorded on the right-facing page are not parsed, the reader is still faced with the challenge of parsing the word and determining its place in the overall structure of the sentence. It is this process that does serve a useful pedagogical purpose, and the present system preserves the challenge of this process.The introduction to the volume covers (1) 1 Clement’s genre, date, setting in life, purpose, sources, and main themes; (2) the compositional outline of the book; (3) the book’s authorship, history of reception, and textual attestation; (4) discussion of the present “reader’s edition;” (5) a list of scriptural quotations and allusions; and (6) a comprehensive bibliography on the text of 1 Clement.