In The Origins of the Canon of the Hebrew Bible: An Analysis of Josephus and 4 Ezra, Juan Carlos Ossandón Widow examines the thorny question of when, how, and why the collection of twenty-four books that today is known as the Hebrew Bible was formed. He carefully studies the two earliest testimonies in this regardâJosephusâ Against Apion and 4 Ezraâand proposes that, along with the tendency to idealize the past, which leads to consider that divine revelation to Israel has ceased, an important reason to specify a collection of Scriptures at the end of the first century CE consisted in the need to defend the received tradition to counter those that accepted more books.
Juan Carlos Ossandón Widow, Ph.D. (2016), Pontifical Biblical Institute, is Assistant Professor of Biblical Theology at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Rome.
Insgesamt bietet das Buch... fundierte Beiträge zur Problematik der Begriffe "Kanon" und "Bibel" und dazu ausfürliche Textanalysen von Josephus' "Contra Apionem" und dem 4. Esrabuch.
Alma Brodersen, Theologische Literaturzeitung
Contents
AcknowledgmentsâIX
Introduction
â1âA Status Quaestionis on the Formation of the Canon of the Hebrew Bible
â2âSome Preliminary Clarifications
â3âMethodology and Structure
1 The Twenty-Two Books of the Jews According to Josephus
â1âThe Passage of the Against Apion
â2âThe Twenty-Two Books Outside the Against Apion
â3âJosephus and Some Books on the Borderline of the Canon
2 The Ninety-Four Books of the Torah According to 4 Ezra
â1âIntroduction to 4 Ezra
â2âCoordinates for a Comprehensive Understanding of 4 Ezra
â3âThe Characterization of Ezra
â4âFunction and Meaning of the Ninety-Four Books
â5âHistorical Context and Social Function of 4 Ezra
â6âFourth Ezra and the Canon of the Hebrew Bible
3 Comparison and Conclusions
â1âA Short Comparison between Josephus and 4 Ezra on the Books
â2âElements for an Hypothesis
Bibliography
All interested in Second Temple Judaism and in the formation of the biblical canon, and anyone concerned with Josephus or 4 Ezra.