Studia Samaritana – serie

Die samaritanischen Überlieferungen finden in der Bibelwissenschaft nach wie vor zu wenig Beachtung. Der vorliegende Band mit Beiträgen eines 2010 in Zürich abgehaltenen Symposiums stellt daher die Geschichte der Samaritaner und die Überlieferungen über sie in den biblischen Quellen einerseits und die Perspektiven auf die biblische, frühjüdische und frühchristliche Geschichte in den samaritanischen Quellen andererseits gegenüber. Die Beiträge reichen von der Bedeutung des Samaritanischen Pentateuchs und dem Verhältnis des Garizim-Tempels zum Jerusalemer Tempel über die wechselseitigen Ursprungserzählungen, die samaritanische Geschichte in der Alexanderzeit, das Bild der Samaritaner im Neuen Testament und das Bild Jesu und der frühen Christen in samaritanischen Quellen bis hin zur antisamaritanischen Polemik der Rabbinen und den Religionsgesprächen in arabischer Zeit. Durch die wechselseitige Wahrnehmung biblischer bzw. frühjüdischer und samaritanischer Quellen sollen neue Diskursräume eröffnet und Impulse für die weitere Analyse und Auswertung der samaritanischen Quellen gegeben werden.

The volume collects eighteen studies authored by specialists of various fields. The contributions gathered in this volume mostly originate in lectures delivered at the 8th Congress of the Société d’Etudes Samaritaines (Erfurt, 2012). In these studies, specialists of various fields deal with various aspects of Samaritan languages, especially Samaritan Hebrew and Samaritan Aramaic, with central Samaritan texts, mostly the Samaritan Hebrew Pentateuch, the Samaritan Aramaic Targum, as well as medieval Samaritan exegetical texts in Arabic, and also with traditions relating to the image of the Samaritans, as emerging from the New Testament and Rabbinic literature, to Samaritan theology and to Samaritan genealogy, and with magical traditions as found in Samaritan amulets, and with the contribution of Samaritan traditions to the literary history of the Pentateuch. The volume provides thus a multifarious reflection of the current status quaestionis in Samaritan studies.

The volume contributes to the knowledge of the Samaritan history, culture and linguistics. Specialists of various fields of research bring a new look on the topics related to the Samaritans and the Hebrew and Arabic written sources, to the Samaritan history in the Roman-Byzantine period as well as to the contemporary issues of the Samaritan community.

The volume focuses on variants between the Masoretic Text and the Samaritan Pentateuch promptedby graphic similarities between letters. As a phenomenon that occurs during the transmission of ancient texts, an in-depth study of the linguistic and paleographic background of these variants provides fruitful ground for the exploration of the Pentateuch transmission.This volume gathers all the relevant variants from the Masoretic Text and the Samaritan Pentateuch, comparing them to further witnesses, primarily the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Septuagint. Each case is examined independently through a linguistic analysis of the variants, their process of development and an evaluation of which version is preferable (when possible). It then presents a statistical analysis of the data.Moreover, the volume offers a paleographic analysis of the interchanging letters in the three relevant scripts – Hebrew, Jewish, and Samaritan script. Through this process it determines the script in which the variants have occurred and estimates the chronological framework of the variants.This study has implications for the textual history of the Samaritan Pentateuch and, more broadly, for the distribution of the Pentateuch and the extent of its transmission in the late Second Temple period.

The volume contains the edited papers presented at the 10th international conference of the Société d’Études Samaritaines held in Budapest in 2022. It is dedicated to the famous Hungarian rabbi and scholar Samuel Kohn (1841–1920) whose relevance in Samaritan studies was commemorated by Abraham Tal.The articles discuss the most recent questions of Samaritan research in five different fields. Historical topics and Samaritan synagogue mosaics are investigated by Ingrid Hjelm, Innocent Himbaza and Reinhard Pummer. Greek inscriptions and Aramaic documents are studied by Magnar Kartveit, Andreas Lehnardt, and József Zsengellér. Arabic Torah interpretations, and historical documents are delt with by Jasper Bernhofer, Leonhard Becker and Daniel Boušek. Analyses of Samaritan Hebrew and Aramaic linguistic issues and of Samaritan translation techniques are presented by Moshe Florentin, Christian Stadel, Nehemia Gordon, David Hammidovič, Patrick Pouchelle and Phil Reid. Studies on Samaritan manuscript writings and collections are presented by Evelyn Burkhardt, Stefan Schorch, Mariia Boichun and Golda Akhiezer.Leading scholars and young new colleagues enrich the various fields of Samaritan studies with new findings, insights ad implications.