Yetzer Anthropologies in the Apocalypse of Abraham

Yetzer Anthropologies in the Apocalypse of Abraham
Author: Andrei A. Orlov
Publisher: Mohr Siebeck
Total Pages: 1
Release: 2021-09-08
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 3161593278

In this book, Andrei A. Orlov examines the imagery of "inclination" or yetzer found in the Apocalypse of Abraham. He argues that the text operates with several yetzer anthropologies, some of which are reminiscent of early biblical models, while others are similar to later rabbinic notions. Although the author focuses on the traditions found in the Apocalypse of Abraham, he also treats the evolution of the yetzer symbolism in its full historical and interpretive complexity through a broad variety of Jewish and Christian sources, from the creational narratives of the Hebrew Bible to later rabbinic testimonies. He further argues that a close analysis of the yetzer anthropologies found in the Apocalypse of Abraham challenges previous scholarly hypotheses that yetzer was only sexualized and gendered for the first time in post-Amoraic sources.

The Apocalypse of Abraham in Its Ancient and Medieval Contexts

The Apocalypse of Abraham in Its Ancient and Medieval Contexts
Author: Amy Paulsen-Reed
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 246
Release: 2021-11-22
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004430628

This book examines the multiple contexts for the pseudepigraphal Apocalypse of Abraham, including the ancient Jewish milieu in which it was originally written and its medieval Christian Slavic setting.

Review of Biblical Literature, 2023

Review of Biblical Literature, 2023
Author: Alicia J. Batton
Publisher: SBL Press
Total Pages: 601
Release: 2024-01-30
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1628373474

The annual Review of Biblical Literature presents a selection of reviews of the most recent books in biblical studies and related fields, including topical monographs, multi-author volumes, reference works, commentaries, and dictionaries. RBL reviews German, French, Italian, and English books and offers reviews in those languages.

Demons in Early Judaism and Christianity

Demons in Early Judaism and Christianity
Author:
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 349
Release: 2022-09-19
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004518142

This volume sheds light on how Jews and Christians in Antiquity understood the nature and characteristics of demons. The contributions cover a wide range of corpora and explore aspects of continuity and change as ideas flowed between groups and cultures.

Jewish Culture and Creativity

Jewish Culture and Creativity
Author: Eitan P. Fishbane
Publisher: Academic Studies PRess
Total Pages: 521
Release: 2024-02-20
Genre: Social Science
ISBN:

Jewish Culture and Creativity honors the wide-ranging scholarship of Prof. Michael Fishbane with contributions of his students on subjects that cover the gamut of Jewish studies, from biblical and rabbinic literature to medieval and modern Jewish culture, and concluding with case studies of the creative application of Prof. Fishbane’s thought and theology in contemporary Jewish life. The innovative scholarship represented in this volume offers critical new perspectives from antiquity to contemporary Judaism and will serve as a stimulus for new directions in and beyond the field of Jewish studies.

Divine Scapegoats

Divine Scapegoats
Author: Andrei A. Orlov
Publisher: SUNY Press
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2015-02-10
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1438455836

Explores the paradoxical symmetry between the divine and demonic in early Jewish mystical texts. Divine Scapegoats is a wide-ranging exploration of the parallels between the heavenly and the demonic in early Jewish apocalyptical accounts. In these materials, antagonists often mirror features of angelic figures, and even those of the Deity himself, an inverse correspondence that implies a belief that the demonic realm is maintained by imitating divine reality. Andrei A. Orlov examines the sacerdotal, messianic, and creational aspects of this mimetic imagery, focusing primarily on two texts from the Slavonic pseudepigrapha: 2 Enoch and the Apocalypse of Abraham. These two works are part of a very special cluster of Jewish apocalyptic texts that exhibit features not only of the apocalyptic worldview but also of the symbolic universe of early Jewish mysticism. The Yom Kippur ritual in the Apocalypse of Abraham, the divine light and darkness of 2 Enoch, and the similarity of mimetic motifs to later developments in the Zohar are of particular importance in Orlov’s consideration.

Demons of Change

Demons of Change
Author: Andrei A. Orlov
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2020-12-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1438480903

Antagonistic imagery has a striking presence in apocalyptic writings of Second Temple Judaism and early Christianity. In these visionary accounts, the role of the divine warrior fighting against demonic forces is often taken by a human adept, who becomes exalted and glorified as a result of his encounter with otherworldly antagonists, serving as a prerequisite for his final apotheosis. Demons of Change examines the meaning of these interactions for the transformations of the hero and antihero of early Jewish and Christian apocalyptic accounts. Andrei A. Orlov traces the roots of this trope to ancient Near Eastern traditions, paying special attention to the significance of conflict in the adept's ascent and apotheosis and to the formative value of these developments for Jewish and Christian martyrological accounts. This antagonistic tension plays a critical role both for the exaltation of the protagonist and for the demotion of his opponent. Orlov treats the motif of the hero's apotheosis in the midst of conflict in its full historical and interpretive complexity using a broad variety of Jewish sources, from the creational narratives of the Hebrew Bible to later Jewish mystical testimonies.

The Apocalypse of Abraham

The Apocalypse of Abraham
Author: George Herbert Box
Publisher: Lulu.com
Total Pages: 42
Release: 2017-06-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 1387041762

Considered by many to be 'the last important product of the Apocalyptic movement', The Apocalypse of Abraham is an apocryphon, a work that belongs to a body of prophetic Abrahamic literature flourishing about the time of Christ. The text details the Destruction of the Temple and thus was written after 70 AD. It is considered part of the Apocalyptic literature but not regarded as authoritative scripture.