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book: The Rewritten Bible in Late Antiquity
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The Rewritten Bible in Late Antiquity

»Pirqe de-Rabbi Eliezer«, »Jubilees«, and the »Cave of Treasures«
  • Gavin McDowell
Language: English
Published/Copyright: 2025
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Studia Judaica
This book is in the series
Volume 138 | Studia Judaica

About this book

Pirqe de-Rabbi Eliezer (PRE) is most famous for introducing into rabbinic tradition several legends about biblical figures not found in the classical rabbinic corpus of Talmud and Midrash. Modern scholarship considers the non-rabbinic legends in PRE an example of the survival of Second Temple literature within Jewish tradition. The present study, however, will attempt to explain the non-rabbinic material found in PRE as the result of the author’s adoption (and adaptation) of elements from the surrounding Christian and Muslim cultures rather than through the direct transmission of Second Temple works among Jews. This hypothesis will be tested through the examination of two works close to PRE in form and content, Jubilees (second century BCE) and the Cave of Treasures (sixth century CE). All three are examples of the "Rewritten Bible," which recount the history of ancient Israel independently of the biblical text. The study concludes that region, rather than religion, shaped the author’s presentation of the history of the ancient prophets and patriarchs

Author / Editor information

Gavin McDowell, Institut de recherche et d’histoire des textes, CNRS, Paris, France.

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Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
December 15, 2025
eBook ISBN:
9783111590776
Hardcover published on:
December 15, 2025
Hardcover ISBN:
9783111590332
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Front matter:
14
Main content:
509
Tables:
5
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111590776
eBook ISBN: 9783111590776
Hardcover ISBN: 9783111590332
Keywords for this book
Pseudepigrapha; Rewritten Bible; Rabbinic literature; Syriac literature_x000D_
Audience(s) for this book
Scholars in the field of Jewish Studies, Second Temple Judaism, Byzantine, Syriac, and Islamic studies.
Creative Commons
BY-NC-ND 4.0
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