Second Temple pseudepigraphy : a cross-cultural comparison of apocalyptic texts and related Jewish literature / Vicente Dobroruka.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dobroruka, Vicente, 1969- author.

Series:

Ekstasis (Walter de Gruyter & Co.)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Apocalyptic literature--History and criticism.

Apocalyptic literature.

Rabbinical literature--History and criticism.

Rabbinical literature.

Judaism--History--Post-exilic period, 586 B.C.-210 A.D.

Judaism.

History.

Judaism--Post-exilic period (Judaism).

Jews--History--586 B.C.-70 A.D.

Jews.

Physical Description:

xvii, 193 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Boston : De Gruyter, 2014.

Summary:

At this point of the scholarly debate on the nature of Second Temple pseudepigraphy, one may ask why another look at the problem is needed. This book is not the definitive answer to that problem but it proposes different paths - or better still, a two-fold path: on one hand to understand Second Temple pseudepigraphy as a mystical experience and on the other, for lack of a suitable ancient example, to compare it to modern-day automatic writing. The series Ekstasis publishes monographs and collected essays on topics concerning religious experience from Antiquity to the Middle Ages. Volumes in this series will address a diverse array of movements and particular expressions of religious experience, such as ecstatic trances, magic, healing, prophecy, divination, and dreams, as well as other phenomena. Methods will range widely, encompassing contemporary sociological, anthropological, and psychological approaches, as well as historical analysis of textual, archaeological, and artistic evidence. Book jacket.

Contents:

Why a cross-cultural approach is needed in order to try a different understanding of Second Temple pseudepigraphy

Introductory remarks

Nature and purpose of cross-cultural studies in Biblical scholarship

Terminology and definitions

Altered states of consciousness

Ecstasy

Possession

Automatisms

Hypnosis

Automatic writing and ecstatic practices in recent scholarship

The meaning of pseudepigraphy

Outline of scholarship about late Second Temple apocalyptic pseudepigraphy

The concept of corporate identity as applied to apocalyptic pseudepigraphy

Recent discussions on apocalyptic pseudepigraphy regarding identification with alleged author

How much is automatic writing useful as a hermeneutic tool?

Automatic writing as hypnotic phenomenon

Non-mystical automatic writing

Writings in other languages

Multiple-personality phenomena and automatic writing

Automatic writing as possession

Past-lives therapy, hypnosis and identity with past characters

Summary

Automatic writing in modern-day Kardecism

Introductory remarks to the chapter

Brief introduction to the development of Brazilian Kardecism

A survey of Kardecist doctrine

Kardecism in Brazil

Kardecist preparatory processes for automatic writing

Automatic writing and mediumship training

Preparation and meaning of automatic writing in Brazilian Kardecism

Genre and personal identity of the spiritual author

Editorial mediation of psychography

Two modern-day Kardecist apocalypses, and how their alleged authors are portrayed

Automatic writing in Antiquity regarding religious texts

Survey of chosen passages

Full description of the narrator's identity

Other descriptions of the narrator's identity

Passages with smaller number of indications

Authorship of apocalyptic texts and divine manifestations

Brief discussion

Divine interference manifest in the texts

Possible evidence for automatic writing in three specific ancient cases

Writings from a deceased prophet via human hands : the case of 2Chr 21

Texts handed down directly from above : the Book of Elchasai

Fraud and satire : written instructions for the Greek credulous

Philo, Josephus and 4Ezra : the main testimonies for inspired writing during the Second Temple Period

Philo of Alexandria

Josephus

4Ezra

Issues at stake in cross-cultural comparison regarding the three authors

Knowledge and scholarship as essential issues

More sophisticated devices in terms of preparation versus rationalizing

Considerations on religious pseudepigraphy in Antiquity

A survey of chosen names for apocalyptic pseudepigraphy

Pseudepigraphy and forgery

Central elements to the notion of literary forgery

Intention of fraud

Ancient testimonies in individual cases of religious pseudepigraphy caught in the act of writing

Tertullian

Salvian of Marseille

Psychical phenomena related to pseudepigraphy

Authorial ascribing, orthodoxy and wisdom

Conclusion

General remarks on the possible similarities between Second Temple pseudepigraphy and Kardecism

Arguments supportive of actual identification between mechanical writer and apocalyptic visionary

Effects described

Choosing of names

Parallels in other identification-type mystical experiences

Parallels in other identification-type non-mystical experiences

Unmatching styles

Arguments against actual identification between mechanical writer and apocalyptic visionary

Vagueness of the essential link, reincarnation and manipulating of the dead

Weight of stereotypical descriptions

Weak evidence provided by similar hypnotic-like descriptions

Uncertainty of OT passages

Psychography is never intended as deception or confusing evidence

Final remarks

Bibliography

Index for biblical sources

Index for pseudepigraphical sources

Index for classical sources

General index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9783110333541

3110333546

OCLC:

862575423