The volume is a commentary on 1 Enoch chapters 91-108 that begins with the Ethiopic text tradition but also takes the Greek and Aramaic (Dead Sea Scrolls) evidence into account. This section of 1 Enoch, which contains material from at least five different documents composed some time during the 2nd century BCE, provides a window into the early stages of the reception of the earliest Enoch tradition, as it was being negotiated in relation to elitist religious opponents, on the one hand, and in relation to other Jewish traditions that were flourishing at the time. The commentary, at the beginning of which there is an extensive introduction, is structured in the following way: there is a translation for each unit of text (including the Greek and Aramaic where it exists, with the Greek and Ethiopic translations presented synoptically), followed by detailed textual notes that justify the translation and provide information on a full range of variations among the manuscripts. This, in turn, is followed by a General Comment on the unit of text; after this there are detailed notes on each subdivision of the text which attempt to situate the content within the stream of biblical interpretation and developing Jewish traditions of the Second Temple period. The five documents in 1 Enoch 91-108 are dealt with in the following order: (1) Apocalypse of Weeks (93:1-10; 91:11-17); (2) Admonition (91:1-10, 18-19); (3) Epistle of Enoch (92:1-5; 93:11-105:2; (4) Birth of Noah (106-107); and (5) the Eschatological Appendix (108).

Formerly known by its subtitle “Internationale Zeitschriftenschau für Bibelwissenschaft und Grenzgebiete”, the International Review of Biblical Studies has served the scholarly community ever since its inception in the early 1950’s. Each annual volume includes approximately 2,000 abstracts and summaries of articles and books that deal with the Bible and related literature, including the Dead Sea Scrolls, Pseudepigrapha, Non-canonical gospels, and ancient Near Eastern writings. The abstracts – which may be in English, German, or French - are arranged thematically under headings such as e.g. “Genesis”, “Matthew”, “Greek language”, “text and textual criticism”, “exegetical methods and approaches”, “biblical theology”, “social and religious institutions”, “biblical personalities”, “history of Israel and early Judaism”, and so on. The articles and books that are abstracted and reviewed are collected annually by an international team of collaborators from over 300 of the most important periodicals and book series in the fields covered.

This collection presents innovative research by scholars from across the globe in celebration of Gabriele Boccaccini’s sixtieth birthday and to honor his contribution to the study of early Judaism and Christianity. In harmony with Boccaccini’s determination to promote the study of Second Temple Judaism in its own right, this volume includes studies on various issues raised in early Jewish apocalyptic literature (e.g., 1 Enoch, 2 Baruch, 4 Ezra), the Dead Sea Scrolls, and other early Jewish texts, from Tobit to Ben Sira to Philo and beyond. The volume also provides several investigations on early Christianity in intimate conversation with its Jewish sources, consistent with Boccaccini’s efforts to transcend confessional and disciplinary divisions by situating the origins of Christianity firmly within Second Temple Judaism. Finally, the volume includes essays that look at Jewish-Christian relations in the centuries following the Second Temple period, a harvest of Boccaccini’s labor to rethink the relationship between Judaism and Christianity in light of their shared yet contested heritage.

It has been over 30 years since John Collins’ seminal study The Apocalyptic Imagination first came out. In this timely volume, Apocalyptic Thinking in Early Judaism: Engaging with John Collins’ The Apocalyptic Imagination, leading international experts of Jewish apocalyptic critically engage with Collins’ work and add to the ongoing debate with articles on current topics in the field of apocalyptic studies. The subjects include the genre and sub categories of apocalypses, demonology, the character of dream visions, the books of Enoch, the significance of Aramaic texts, and apocalyptic traditions in the Dead Sea Scrolls as well as in Paul’s writings. The volume ends with Collins’ response to the articles.

The year 167 B.C.E. marked the beginning of a period of intense persecution for the people of Judea, as Seleucid emperor Antiochus IV Epiphanes attempted -- forcibly and brutally -- to eradicate traditional Jewish religious practices. In Apocalypse against Empire Anathea Portier-Young reconstructs the historical events and key players in this traumatic episode in Jewish history and provides a sophisticated treatment of resistance in early Judaism. Building on a solid contextual foundation, Portier-Young argues that the first Jewish apocalypses emerged as a literature of resistance to Hellenistic imperial rule. In particular, Portier-Young contends, the book of Daniel, the Apocalypse of Weeks, and the Book of Dreams were written to supply an oppressed people with a potent antidote to the destructive propaganda of the empire -- renewing their faith in the God of the covenant and answering state terror with radical visions of hope.

The interpretation of the phrase 'the testimony of Jesus' in the Book of Revelation has been the centre of much debate, with no clear consensus regarding its meaning. One of the most important but often neglected issues is whether or not the phrase can be read consistently across each instance of its occurrence. The opening lines of the Apocalypse clearly specify that 'the testimony of Jesus' is a moniker for the book of Revelation itself, indicating that the phrase is an internal self-reference to the book's own message. Nevertheless, most interpreters are reluctant to apply this interpretation to the phrase in other parts of the book, leading to varied and inconsistent interpretations of the phrase. Following the intratextual pattern of the apocalyptic books of Daniel and 1 Enoch we can see that it is entirely possible that 'the testimony of Jesus' is a reference to Revelation's own message, an interpretation which is then supported by Dixon's in-depth study of each of the passages in which the phrase occurs. The exploration of the rhetorical impact of interpreting the phrase in this way shows that 'the testimony of Jesus' is not just another title for John's writing, but is something that is given to and even characterizes those who hear the message of the Apocalypse.

The eighteen studies in this volume in honor of Moshe Bernstein on the occasion of his 70th birthday mostly engage with Jewish scriptural interpretation, the principal theme of Bernstein’s own research career as expressed in his collected essays, Reading and Re-Reading Scripture at Qumran (Brill, 2013). The essays develop a variety of aspects of scriptural interpretation. Although many of them are chiefly concerned with the Dead Sea Scrolls, the significant contribution of the volume as a whole is the way that even those studies are associated with others that consider the broader context of Jewish scriptural interpretation in late antiquity. As a result, a wider frame of reference for scriptural interpretation impinges upon how scripture was read and re-read in the scrolls from Qumran.

Intermarriage and group identity in the Second Temple Period will be investigated from different points of view with regard to methodology and analyzed texts. With an introduction to the history of research and a summarizing final section, the individual contributions will be associated with the larger context of the recent debate. Thus not only the diversity of texts on mixed marriage within the Hebrew Bible and related scripture will be shown and emphasized but the question of continuity and discontinuity as well as the socio-historical background of marriage restrictions will be dealt with, too. Covering a wide range of texts from almost every part of the Hebrew Bible as well as from Elephantine, Qumran and several pseudepigrapha, like Jubilees, its focus is on possible counter texts with a more positive notion of foreign wives, in addition to restrictive and prohibitive texts. These different approaches will illuminate the dynamics of the construction of group identity, culminating in conflicts concerning separation and integration which can be found in the debate on the topic of the "correct" marriage.

2020 Center for Biblical Studies Book Award (Reference Works) This book introduces readers to a much-neglected and misunderstood assortment of Jewish writings from around the time of the New Testament. Dispelling mistaken notions of "falsely attributed writings" that are commonly inferred from the designation "pseudepigrapha," Daniel Gurtner demonstrates the rich indebtedness these works exhibit to the traditions and scriptures of Israel's past. In surveying many of the most important works, Introducing the Pseudepigrapha of Second Temple Judaism shows how the pseudepigrapha are best appreciated in their own varied contexts rather than as mere "background" to early Christianity or emerging rabbinic Judaism. Foreword by Loren T. Stuckenbruck.