Theology

Inscribe It in a Book

Scribal Practice, Cultural Memory, and the Making of the Hebrew Scriptures
Edited by Johannes Unsok Ro and Benjamin D. Giffone

[Schreib es in ein Buch ein. Schreibpraxis, kulturelles Gedächtnis und die Entstehung der hebräischen Schriften.]

2022. XIII, 339 pages.

Forschungen zum Alten Testament 2. Reihe 139

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The subfield of orality and scribal culture within Hebrew Bible studies is leading to gradual shifts in the field. The theoretical and empirical essays in this volume contribute to the ongoing conversation within biblical and cognate studies concerning the scribal processes that produced biblical texts.
The subfield of orality and scribal culture within Hebrew Bible studies is leading to gradual shifts in the field, and the nuancing or displacement of entrenched ideas and approaches. The theoretical and empirical essays in this volume contribute to the ongoing conversation within biblical and cognate studies concerning the scribal processes that produced biblical texts. The topics in this volume include scribal education and scribal culture, including comparative studies; the interaction between scribal texts and cultural or collective memory within an oral culture; the overlap and intersections of the roles »prophet,” »priest,” and »scribe” in ancient Israel and beyond; and descriptions of writing and scribal process within biblical texts themselves.
Survey of contents
Johannes Unsok Ro and Benjamin D. Giffone: Introduction
Part I: Comparative Studies
 Daniel Bodi: A New Proposal for the Origin of the Term for 'Letter': Sumerian inim.gar, i5-gar-ra; Akkadian egirtu; Aramaic ʾiggĕrâ, ʾiggartâ, Hebrew ʾiggeret − William R. Stewart: The Death of the Prophet? A Comparative Study of Prophetic Signs in the Royal Archives of Mari, Syria (ARM 26/1.206) and the Hebrew Bible (Jeremiah 19:1–13) − JiSeong James Kwon: Scribal Intertexts in the Book of Job: Foreign Counterparts of Job − Sungwoo Park/Johannes Unsok Ro: Collective Identity through Scribalism: Interpreting Plato's Menexenus and the Book of Chronicles

Part II: Writing about Writing in the Hebrew Bible
 Benjamin Kilchör: »Then Moses Wrote This Torah” (Deut 31:9): The Relationship of Oral and Written Torah in Deuteronomy − Lisbeth S. Fried/Edward J. Mills III: Ezra the Scribe − Johanna Erzberger: Israel's Salvation and the Survival of Baruch the Scribe − Peter Altmann: Tracing Divine Law: Written Divine Law in Chronicles

Part III: Case Studies
 Jin H. Han: Did the Deuteronomist Detest Dreams? − Benjamin D. Giffone: Regathering Too Many Stones? Scribal Constraints, Community Memory, and the 'Problem' of Elijah's Sacrifice for Deuteronomism in Kings − Woo Min Lee: The »Remnant” in the Deuteronomistic Cultural Memory: A Case Study on 2 Kings 19:30–31 − Roger S. Nam: Nehemiah 5:1–13 as Innerbiblical Interpretation of Pentateuchal Slavery Laws − Kristin Weingart: Chronography in the Book of Kings: An Inquiry into an Israelite Manifestation of an Ancient Near Eastern Genre − Benjamin Ziemer: Radical Versus Conservative? How Scribes Conventionally Used Books While Writing Books
Authors/Editors

Johannes Unsok Ro Born 1971; 1998 MA in Theological Studies; 2002 Dr. theol. in Old Testament; 2007 MDiv; currently Professor of Biblical Studies and Director of the Institute for the Study of Christianity and Culture at International Christian University, Japan.
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1835-3093

Benjamin D. Giffone Born 1984; 2009 MS in Biblical Studies; 2012 MTh, 2014 PhD in Old Testament; since 2014 Research Associate, Universiteit van Stellenbosch; currently Associate Professor of Biblical Studies at LCC International University, Klaipėda, Lithuania.
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0907-6514

Reviews

The following reviews are known:

In: Journal for the Study of the Old Testament — 47 (2023), p. 110
In: Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (ZAW) — 135 (2023), pp. 667–668 (Sarah Schulz)
In: Old Testament Abstracts — 47 (2024), p. 244 (Thomas Hieke)
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