Scribal culture and the making of the Hebrew Bible / Karel van der Toorn.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Toorn, K. van der.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bible. Old Testament--History.

Bible.

Jews--History--To 70 A.D.

Jews.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (416 p.)

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, 2007.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The scribes of ancient Israel are indeed the main figures behind the Hebrew Bible, and this book tells their story for the first time. Drawing comparisons with the scribal practices of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, van der Toorn details the methods, assumptions, and material means that gave rise to biblical texts. Traditionally seen as the copycats of antiquity, the scribes emerge here as the literate elite who held the key to the production and the transmission of texts.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Introduction

1. Books that are Not Books: Writing in the World of the Bible

2. Authorship in Antiquity: Practice and Perception

3. In Search of the Scribes, I: Comparative Evidence

4. In Search of the Scribes, Ii: The Biblical Evidence

5. Making Books: Scribal Modes of Text Production

6. The Teaching of Moses: Scribal Culture in the Mirror of Deuteronomy

7. Manufacturing the Prophets: The Book of Jeremiah as Scribal Artifact

8. Inventing Revelation: The Scribal Construct of Holy Writ

9. Constructing the Canon: The Closure of the Hebrew Bible

Notes

Selected Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 367-392) and index.

ISBN:

9780674044586

0674044584

OCLC:

436302295