Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs

by Kugler, Robert

• ISBN13: 9781841271934
• ISBN10: 1841271934
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-08-01
• Publisher: Sheffield Academic Pr

Summary

The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs is of especial interest to students of early Judaism and Christianity, though this importance is not always recognized. This collection preserves extra-biblical traditions about the sons of Jacob, it reflects a moral worldview of Jews and Christians around the turn of the era, and it casts light on its authors' eschatological imagination. Robert A. Kugler introduces the student to the Testaments' contents, their relationship to other texts of the era, textual witnesses and sources, and rehearses the debate regarding authorship, compositional history and purpose. He also examines the Testaments from the fresh perspective of rhetorical strategy, asking what sort of theological notions the Testaments would have conjured in the minds of early Jewish and Christian listeners or readers.

Table of Contents

Preface	7	(2)
Abbreviations	9	(2)
An Introduction to the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs	11	(30)
Contents	12	(4)
Genre	16	(1)
Main Themes	17	(3)
Main Figures	20	(1)
Relationship with Early Jewish and Christian Texts and Traditions and Hellenistic Thought and Literature	21	(4)
Textual Witnesses	25	(3)
Source Documents	28	(3)
Provenance, Date, Compositional History and Purpose	31	(7)
Our Approach to the Testaments	38	(1)
Further Reading	39	(2)
A Closer Look at the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs: Special Characteristics, Critical Points of Interest and Meaning	41	(47)
Testament of Reuben	41	(3)
Testament of Simeon	44	(3)
Testament of Levi	47	(3)
Testament of Levi and Aramaic Levi Compared	50	(7)
Testament of Judah	57	(4)
Testament of Issachar	61	(3)
Testament of Zebulun	64	(3)
Testament of Dan	67	(4)
Testament of Naphtali	71	(3)
Testament of Gad	74	(3)
Testament of Asher	77	(3)
Testament of Joseph	80	(3)
Testament of Benjamin	83	(3)
Further Reading	86	(2)
Exegesis and Theology in the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs	88	(13)
Echoes in the Testament of Reuben	90	(1)
Echoes in the Testament of Simeon	91	(5)
Echoes in the Testament of Judah	96	(1)
Echoes in the Testament of Dan	97	(1)
Echoes in the Testament of Gad	98	(1)
Concluding Remarks	99	(1)
Further Reading	100	(1)
Bibliography	101	(11)
Index of References	112	(9)
Index of Authors	121