Dreamers, Scribes, And Priests: Jewish Dreams In The Hellenistic And Roman Eras (SUPPLEMENTS TO THE JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF JUDAISM, V. 90, 90) - Hardcover

Flannery-Dailey, Frances

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 9004123679 ISBN 13: 9789004123670

Publisher: Brill Academic Pub, 2004

This investigation focuses on divinely-sent dreams in early Judaism and discusses their literary forms and socio-religious functions. It examines Jewish dreams in the Bible, Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, Dead Sea Scrolls, and Josephus, setting them in the wider context of antecedent and contemporary dream cultures.
Part One grounds the project in the dream traditions of the ancient Near East, Hebrew Bible, Greece, and Rome.
Part Two investigates the unique emphases of early Jewish dreams, including: a priestly and scribal milieu, access to various planes of reality, new roles for dream messengers, and incubation rituals.
Part Three explores implications for several related topics of study, including the rise of apocalypticism and early Jewish mysticism, and the social history of early Judaism.

About the Author:

Frances Flannery-Dailey, Ph.D. (2000) in Religion, The University of Iowa, is Assistant Professor of Religion at Hendrix College. This is her first monograph.

Review:

"... readers will find this a well-researched and well-written book. It demonstrates a masterful handling of Hebrew, Greek, and Syriac materials. Moreover, it fills an important gap in the study of ancient dreams and offers scholars a number of new directions for exploration and research." - Scott B. Noegel, in: Journal of Hebrew Scriptures (2005)