3 Baruch


Book Description

This work provides the key to one of the most enigmatic Jewish Hellenistic texts preserved in Greek and Slavonic. Despite the fact that 3 Baruch is one of the major early Jewish apocalypses, it has been relatively neglected in modern scholarship, probably since 3 Baruch is one of the most difficult works to comprehend and classify. Its content differs significantly from that of other writings of the same genre, as the book preserves syncretistic ideas and tendencies which are combined in unique ways. The worldview, the message, and the very textual structure of 3 Baruch are enigmatic in many respects. The present study demonstrates that the textual history of 3 Baruch, implicit meanings and structural links in its text, as well as conceptions behind the text, are partly reconstructable. Moreover, 3 Baruch, properly read, significantly enriches our understanding of the history of the motifs found in early Jewish lore, at times providing missing links between different stages of their development, and preserves important evidence on the roots of Jewish mysticism, proto-Gnostic and proto-Christian traditions. The study contains the introduction, synoptic translation, textual notes, and detailed commentaries.




The Greek Apocalypse of Baruch (3 Baruch) in Hellenistic Judaism and Early Christianity


Book Description

This study addresses the chief critical issues in the interpretation of 3 Baruch -- including text, genre, setting, function, literary integrity, and original authorship -- and offers a reading of the document as both a Jewish and a Christian text.




The Apocalypse of Baruch


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Mr. Baruch


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Supernal Serpent


Book Description

"A certain king built himself a palace and summoned two persons to decorate it for him. The king divided his palace into two parts, putting one person in charge of one half and the second in charge of the other. One of the persons decorated his part of the palace with beautiful paintings of birds and animals. But the second person painted his half of the palace with black dye which was reflecting everything like a mirror. When the king came to judge the two decorations, everything he had seen in the first person's part he also saw in the second's part, since it was reflected in its black dye like in a mirror. Not only that, but even all the king could wish to put in the first half of his palace appeared in the second half. This found favor in the eyes of the king"--




Studies on Baruch


Book Description

There has been widespread neglect by scholars of deuterocanonical books, especially those (e.g., Baruch) that are thought to lack originality. This book seeks to address this lacuna by investigating some of the major interpretive issues in Baruchan scholarship. The volume comprises a collection of essays from an international team of scholars who specialise in Second Temple Judaism and Old Testament pseudepigrapha. Topics covered include: historical issues (the person of Baruch), literary structure, intertextual relationships between Baruch and the OT (Jeremiah, Isaiah), reception history (Christian and Jewish), and modern translation challenges. This is the first volume of essays that exclusively focus on Baruch and one that seeks to provide a foundation for future investigations.




Invisible Manuscripts: Textual Scholarship and the Survival of 2 Baruch


Book Description

Inspired by New Philology, Liv Ingeborg Lied studies the Syriac manuscript transmission of 2 Baruch. She addresses the methodological, epistemological and ethical challenges of studying early Jewish writings in Christian transmission, re-tells the story of 2 Baruch and promotes manuscript- and provenance-aware textual scholarship.







Baruch and the Letter of Jeremiah


Book Description

Baruch and the Letter of Jeremiah are among the so-called deuterocanonical books of the Bible, part of the larger Catholic biblical canon. Except for a short article in the Women’s Bible Commentary, no detailed or comprehensive feminist commentary on these books is available so far. Marie-Theres Wacker reads both books with an approach that is sensitive to gender and identity issues. The book of Baruch—with its reflections on guilt of the fathers, with its transformation of wisdom into the Book of God’s commandments, and with its strong symbol of mother and queen Jerusalem—offers a new and creative digest of Torah, writings, and prophets but seems to address primarily learned men. The so-called Letter of Jeremiah is an impressive document that unmasks pseudo-deities but at the same draws sharp lines between the group’s identity and the “others,” using women of the “others” as boundary markers.




Only the Third Heaven?


Book Description

Offers a fresh appraisal of the ascent of Christ to the third heaven in 2 Corinthians 12, proposing that it records a failed, not a successful, ascent into heaven.