Deuterocanonical additions of the Old Testament books: selected studies

189 Pages·2010·18.12 MB·English

by  Géza G. Xeravits

Deuterocanonical Additions of the Old Testament Books
Deuterocanonical and
Cognate Literature
Studies
Edited by
Friedrich V. Reiterer, Beate Ego, Tobias Nicklas
Volume 5
De Gruyter
Deuterocanonical Additions
of the Old Testament Books
Selected Studies
Edited by
Geza G. Xeravits and J6zsef Zsengeller
De Gruyter
ISBN 978-3-ll-ill4Q52-S
c-ISBN 978-:H 1-024053-5
ISSN 1865-1666
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Preface
The present volume contains selected papers delivered at the Jnten1a·
tiona) Conference on the Deuterocanonical Books, held at the Refom\ed
Theological Academy of Papa, Hungary, 15-17 May, 2008. The contri
butions explore various aspects of the so-called deuterocanonical addi·
tions to the protocanonical books of the Old Testament.
The editor expresses his gratitude to the contributors for their kind
cooperation both in organising the conference <1nd in completing this
volurne. Special thanks are due to Prof. JOzscf Z.~ngeller, \•tho kindly
compiled the indices of the volume, and made invaluable help in proof·
reading the camera ready materiaL Thanks are due to the Rector,
L6dnt Orosz OFM, and the administrative staff of Sapicntia College of
TI1eology, Budapest for their generous support during the editing of
the volume.
Budapest
12. Mard1, 2010.
Geza G. Xeravits
editor

Table of Contents
Preface. .............................................................................................................. v
J6zsef ZSENGEllER:
Addition or Edition? Deconstructing the Concept Qf Additions .............. 1
Beate Eoo:
Mordecai's Refusal of Proskynesis Before Haman
According to the Septuagint. Tradiliophistorical and Literal Aspects ... 16
Stefan 5cHORCH:
Genderising Piety:
The Prayers of Mordecai and Esther in Comparison ............................... 30
Thomas HI EKE:
Atonement in the Prayer of Azariah (Dan 3:40) ........................................ 43
Michael WOJCIECHOWSKI:
Ancient Criticism of Religion in Dan 14 (Bel and lhe Dragon)
Bar 6 (Epistle of Jeremiah), and Wisdom 14 .............................................. 60
Friedrich V. REITERER:
Verstehst du die Tugenden der Klugheit?
Anfragcn zu Gott und zum \•Vert der von Jhm geschenktcn Einsicht ... 77
Benjamin G. WRIGHT Ill:
The Epistle of Jeremiah: Translation or Composition? .......................... 126
Karin ScHOPFUN:
Susanna's Career in Reformalion Drama.
/\Reception Historical Perspective \Vith an Out.look on Fine Art.. ...... 143
Index of Sources .......................................................................................... 171
Index of Autl1ors ......................................................................................... 179

Addition or Edition?
Deconstructing the Concept of Additions
J6ZSEF ZsENGELLER
Introduction
In searching for literature on the internet about the ''additions" previ·
ously unknmvn to me, I found a nice definition of the addition of
Esther:
Addition of E..~ter Enulates to N·Alkyi-2-AuuropyridiniUJn Salts: Tht! rl;;':li-u1t
is Total Synthesis of and (+).Camptot'ht!dn.
(±)-2()..~oxycampt(lt'ht!dn
This is the title of a fascinating article published by a Spanish research
gToup1 in the Jmtrnnl ofO rganic Clremistry. The artide convinced rne that
additions have nothing to do with Esther. After this first step in defini·
Lion I decided to explore in another direction.
In this conference we are dealing with a very debatable text corpus.
There are two problems of classification concerning this corpus. First of
all, there is the issue of the content of the deuterocanonical literature.
What belongs to this c.1tcgory? According to James 01arlesworth's
popular designation, "this ancient literary collection contains 13 works
found in the old Greek codices of the Old Tesroment- namely Codex
Vatic..·mus, Codex Sinaiticus, and Codex Alexandrianus ... The 13
"~
works listed by Charlesworth are: Epistle of Jeremiah, Tobit, Judith, 3
Ezra, Additions to Esther, The Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the
Three Young Men, Susanna, Bel and the Dragon, 1Baruch, Ben Sira,
\•Visdom, 1 Maccabees, 2 tvfaccabees. But there are different measure$ of
the Septuagint collections of extra (Hebrew) canonical texts v~.ritnessed.
by these great uncial manuscriptc;. Codex Vaticanus oontain.s additional
M.·L B£NN,\S,\R e~ aL, in JOC67 (2002) 7465 -7474.
: CIIARU!SWORTf-1, Apocrypha, 292. Chal'leswOI'th c-.alls lhe oolle<:tion 01)1 deuteroc1m
4
onical ralher apoc. .y phal. See al<>o DES!U'A, lnt•·oducing lhe Apoa'ypiM. K,\IS£R,. Tile
Old Te .<>t.lmenl Apocr}tph.a, J.