Apocrypha and the Septuagint

To understand the New Testament well, it is important to study the larger world surrounding it, and one of the primary avenues for this exploration is through reading related ancient texts, a daunting task for scholars and novices alike given the sheer size of the ancient literary corpora. The ALNTS series aims to bridge this gap by introducing the key ancient texts that form the cultural, historical, and literary context for the study of the New Testament.

This volume explores two vital strands of ancient Jewish literature: (1) the Jewish apocrypha and (2) the Septuagint (the Old Greek translations of the Hebrew Bible). These text-collections reveal the rich and dynamic Jewish environments in which early devotion to Jesus Christ first emerged. Intriguing on their own, these text-collections also backlight the life of Jesus and the faith of his earliest followers, adding contours of depth to the writings of the New Testament in relation to the Jewish matrix of their time.

Contributors: Samuel L. Adams, Loveday Alexander, Philip Alexander, Joshua Alfaro, Sonja Ammann, Anna Angelini, John Barton, Katell Berthelot, Francis Borchardt, Miryam T. Brand, Alma Brodersen, Nuria Calduch-Benages, Adela Yarbro Collins, John J. Collins, Lindsey A. Davidson, David A. deSilva, Susan Docherty, Joseph R. Dodson, Michael W. Duggan, Craig A. Evans, Lisbeth S. Fried, Edmon L. Gallagher, Pieter B. Hartog, Tuukka Kauhanen, Olivia Stewart Lester, David Lincicum, William Loader, Francis M. Macatangay, Jean Maurais, Jill Middlemas, Gerbern S. Oegema, Mika S. Pajunen, Nicholas Perrin, Barbara Schmitz, Marco Settembrini, Shayna Sheinfeld, Jan A. Sigvartsen, Malka Simkovich, Gert J. Steyn, Markus Witte, and Benjamin G. Wright III.

Bruce W. Longenecker (PhD, University of Durham) is Professor of Religion and W. W. Melton Professor of Christian Origins at Baylor University. He has previously taught at the University of St. Andrews, Cambridge University, and the University of Durham. He is the author of several books, including Remember the Poor: Paul, Poverty, and the Greco-Roman World, and The Lost Letters of Pergamum: A Story from the New Testament World.

Marieke Dhont (PhD, Université Catholique de Louvain) is an FWF ESPRIT Senior Postdoctoral Fellow at Salzburg University, an Affiliated Lecturer with the Faculty of Divinity at the University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of Girton College, Cambridge. She is the author of Style and Context of Old Greek Job and the editor of the T&T Clark Handbook to Hellenistic Jewish Literature in Greek.

James K. Aitken (1968-2023) was Professor of Hebrew, Old Testament and Second Temple Studies, and Chair of the Faculty Board of the Faculty of Divinity at the University of Cambridge from 2019–2022. He was also a Fellow of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. He held the Grinfield Lectureship at the University of Oxford in 2021–2022.

Craig A. Evans (PhD, Claremont; DHabil, Károli Gáspár) is Distinguished Research Professor at The Bible Seminary in Katy, Texas.

Cecilia Wassén (PhD, McMaster University) is professor of New Testament at Uppsala University, Sweden.