Before the Bible reveals the landscape of scripture in an era prior to the crystallization of the rabbinic Bible and the canonization of the Christian Bible. Most accounts of the formation of the Hebrew Bible trace the origins of scripture through source critical excavation of the archaeological "tel" of the Bible or the analysis of the scribal hand on manuscripts in text-critical work, but the discoveries in the Dead Sea Scrolls have transformed our
understanding of scripture formation. Judith Newman focuses not on the putative origins and closure of the Bible, but on the reasons why scriptures remained open, with pluriform growth in the Hellenistic-Roman
period.Drawing on new methods from cognitive neuroscience and the social sciences as well as traditional philological and literary analysis, Before the Bible argues that the key to understanding the formation of scripture is the widespread practice of individual and communal prayer in early Judaism. The figure of the teacher as a learned and pious sage capable of interpreting and embodying the tradition is central to understanding this revelatory phenomenon. The
book considers the entwinement of prayer and scriptural formation in five books reflecting the diversity of early Judaism: Ben Sira, Daniel, Jeremiah/Baruch, Second Corinthians, and the Qumran Hodayot
(Thanksgiving Hymns). While not a complete taxonomy of scripture formation, the book illuminates performative dynamics that have been largely ignored as well as the generative role of interpretive tradition in accounts of how the Bible came to be.
Before the Bible reveals the landscape of scripture in an era prior to the crystallization of the rabbinic Bible and the canonization of the Christian Bible. Most accounts of the formation of the Hebrew Bible trace the origins of scripture through source critical excavation of the archaeological "tel" of the Bible or the analysis of the scribal hand on manuscripts in text-critical work, but the discoveries in the Dead Sea Scrolls have transformed our
understanding of scripture formation. Judith Newman focuses not on the putative origins and closure of the Bible, but on the reasons why scriptures remained open, with pluriform growth in the Hellenistic-Roman
period.Drawing on new methods from cognitive neuroscience and the social sciences as well as traditional philological and literary analysis, Before the Bible argues that the key to understanding the formation of scripture is the widespread practice of individual and communal prayer in early Judaism. The figure of the teacher as a learned and pious sage capable of interpreting and embodying the tradition is central to understanding this revelatory phenomenon. The
book considers the entwinement of prayer and scriptural formation in five books reflecting the diversity of early Judaism: Ben Sira, Daniel, Jeremiah/Baruch, Second Corinthians, and the Qumran Hodayot
(Thanksgiving Hymns). While not a complete taxonomy of scripture formation, the book illuminates performative dynamics that have been largely ignored as well as the generative role of interpretive tradition in accounts of how the Bible came to be.
Introduction
1. Before the Bible: Understanding Text in Light of the Dead Sea
Scrolls
2. The Liturgical Body and the Ubiquity of Prayer
3. The Formation of Scriptures and Discerning Revelation
4. From Literary Text to Scripture
Chapter 1 Shaping the Scribal Self through Prayer and Paideia: the
Example of Sirach
1.1. Prayer and the Formation of the Scribe
1.2. The Self through Neurological Lenses
1.3. The Self as a Cultural Achievement
1.4. Becoming Sirach: Understanding the Fluid Manuscripts
Chapter 2 Confessing in Exile: The Reception and Composition of
Jeremiah in (Daniel) and Baruch
2.1 Daniel and Baruch within the Contours and Practice of
Confessional Prayer
2.2 Daniel, Jeremiah, and the Angelic Oracle
2.3 Confessing with Baruch in Babylon and Jerusalem
Conclusion
Chapter 3 The Eucharistic Body of Paul and the Ritualization of 2
Corinthians
3.1. The Collection for Jerusalem and Group Cohesion
3.2. Blessing as a Source of Consolation and Apostolic
Authority
3.3. Ritualizing the Letter through Performance
Conclusion
Chapter 4 The Hodayot and the Formation of a Textual Community in
The Yahad
4.1 Reading, Studying, and Blessing in a Textual Community
4.2 The Hodayot and the Formation of Communal Identity
4.3 The Maskil's Embodied Performance of Confession
4.4 The Ritualization of the Hodayot
Conclusion
Conclusions
Bibliography
Judith H. Newman is Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible and Early
Judaism in the Department for the Study of Religion and Emmanuel
College in the University of Toronto. Trained at Yale Divinity
School (MAR) and Harvard (PhD), her current research interests are
in the ritual performance of texts particularly as this intersects
with the formation of communities in early Judaism and
Christianity. Emerging projects include a commentary on the book
of
Judith and its reception through the ages; and a study that
reconceives early Jewish temporalities.
"Innovative, learned and well-argued, N.'s book should prove a
significant addition to the field." -- George Nicol, Journal for
the Study of the Old Testament
"Any scholar who wishes to explore the relationship between
literature and prayer, scripture and scripturalization, or text and
performance in ancient Judaism should now be expected to
incorporate the insights proffered by Newman in this exciting and
forward-thinking study." -- Patrick J. AngiolilloÂ, Reading
Religion
"Judith Newman's Before the Bible breaks new and important ground
in our recognition and appreciation of the dynamically fluid
interfaces between scriptural formation and interpretation, prayer,
and their performative enactments by both the social and private
body. Her engagement with both ancient texts and modern theorists
continually encourages us to rethink the very categories into which
we all-too-commonly squeeze these ancient recitations. Her
insights are no less illuminating for the after-history of the
Bible's continuing reception to our day."--Steven Fraade, author of
From Tradition to Commentary: Torah and Its Interpretation in the
Midrash Sifre
to Deuteronomy
"This immensely learned and creative volume presents the much
discussed story of the emergence of the Hebrew Bible in an entirely
new light. Its sophisticated exploration of the role of prayer both
as embodied performance and as a catalyst in the creation of
scripture and identity fundamentally changes the way we approach
the significance of ancient Jewish prayer. A thoughtful and
innovative gem of a book."--Charlotte Hempel, University of
Birmingham
"In this highly original book, Judith Newman casts new light on the
formation of Scripture, by avoiding a teleological narrative, and
focusing instead on the ways in which scriptural texts were used in
prayer, to form the identities of individuals and of communities.
This is an important contribution to our understanding of both
Judaism and Christianity in antiquity."--John J. Collins, Holmes
Professor of Old Testament, Yale University
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