The Pentateuch as Torah: New Models for Understanding Its Promulgation and Acceptance - Hardcover

Gary N. Knoppers; Bernard M. Levinson

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1575061406 ISBN 13: 9781575061405

Publisher: Eisenbrauns, 2007

Synopsis

Since antiquity, the five books of Moses have served as a sacred constitution, foundational for both Jews and Samaritans. However long the process of accepting the Pentateuch as authoritative tôrâ ("instruction") took, this was by all accounts a monumental achievement in the history of these peoples and indeed an important moment in the history of the ancient world. In the long development of Western societies, the Pentateuch has served as a major influence on the development of law, political philosophy, and social thought. The question is: how, where, and why did this process of acceptance occur, when did it occur, and how long did it take?

About this title

About the Author:

Bernard M. Levinson holds the Berman Family Chair of Jewish Studies and Hebrew Bible at the University of Minnesota. He is author of Deuteronomy and the Hermeneutics of Legal Innovation (1997), which won the 1999 Salo W. Baron Award for Best First Book in Literature and Thought from the American Academy for Jewish Research. He is coeditor of four volumes, most recently The Pentateuch as Torah: New Models for Understanding Its Promulgation and Acceptance (2007), and the author of The Right Chorale: Studies in Biblical Law and Interpretation (2008). The interdisciplinary significance of his work has been recognized with appointments to both the Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton) and the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin/Berlin Institute for Advanced Study.

Review:

"This highly innovative collection of essays effectively orients students of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament to the many facets of contemporary Pentateuch studies. One of the major benefits of the volume is that it truly offers several 'new models' for Pentateuch studies that are not hampered by tenuous and lengthy discussions of redaction criticism. . . . This volume is bound to make a valuable addition to the bookshelves of students, seminarians and scholars alike."--Andrew B. Perrin, Toronto Journal of Theology 24 (2008) 262-263

"This informative and well-written volume provides an excellent entry-point for scholars, advanced undergraduates and graduate students to explore the fast-changing world of Pentateuchal theory and the relationship of the Torah to its literary and cultural environment." --Daniel M. O'Hare, Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 8 (2008): 253-57

"There are many more very fine essays in this volume, and anyone interested in pentateuchal and/or Achaemenid studies would greatly benefit from every one of them." --Charles Halton, Bulletin of Biblical Research 19:2 (2009)

"The Torah as the Pentateuch stimulates thinking, keeps the debate alive, and is a good resource for pentateuchal studies." --Patrick Mazani, Andrews University Seminary Studies 46 (2008): 282-86

"The essays . . . taken as a whole . . . form a contribution which no future work on the subject will be able to ignore." --W. J. Houston, Vetus Testamentum 59 (2009)

About this edition

• Publisher: Eisenbrauns
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1575061406
• ISBN 13: 9781575061405
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 368