Theology

Jeffrey Stackert

Rewriting the Torah

Literary Revision in Deuteronomy and the Holiness Legislation

[Das Fortschreiben der Tora. Die literarische Revision des Deuteronomiums und das Heiligkeitsgesetz.]

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Published in English.
Jeffrey Stackert explores literary correspondences among the pentateuchal legal corpora and especially the relationships between similar laws in Deuteronomy and the Holiness Legislation. He concludes that the Holiness Legislation, like Deuteronomy before it, reformulates its sources even as it attempts to replace them.
Jeffrey Stackert explores literary correspondences among the pentateuchal legal corpora and especially the relationships between similar laws in Deuteronomy and the Holiness Legislation (Lev 17–26, the so-called »Holiness Code,« as well as significant parts of the Priestly source elsewhere in the Pentateuch). Resemblances between these law collections range from broad structure to fine detail and include treatments of similar legal topics, correlations with regard to sequence of laws, and precise grammatical and lexical correspondences. Yet the nature and basis of these resemblances persist as debated points among biblical scholars. Through an analysis of the pentateuchal laws on asylum, seventh-year release, manumission, and tithes, the author argues that the Holiness Legislation depends upon both the Covenant Collection and Deuteronomy. He also elucidates the compositional logic of the Holiness legislators, showing that these authors do not simply replicate pre-existing legal content. Rather, they employ a method of literary revision in which they reconceptualize source material according to their own ideological biases. In the end, the Holiness Legislation proves to be a »super law« that collects and distills the Priestly and non-Priestly laws that precede it. By accommodating, reformulating, and incorporating various viewpoints from these sources, the Holiness authors create a work that is intended to supersede them all.
Authors/Editors

Jeffrey Stackert Born 1977; 2006 PhD in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies (Bible and Ancient Near East) from Brandeis University (Waltham, Massachusetts); Professor of Hebrew Bible at the University of Chicago.

Reviews

The following reviews are known:

In: Zeitschr.f.Katholische Theologie — 131 (2009), S. 473–474 (Simone Paganini)
In: Old Testament Abstracts — 31 (2008), S. 294 (V.H.M.)
In: Biblica — 92 (2011), S. 123–127 (John Bergsma)
In: Shofar — 27 (2009), S. 188–190 (Jonathan Vroom and Mark J. Boda)
In: Catholic Biblical Quarterly — 71 (2009), S. 629–630 (Christophe L. Nihan)
In: Biblical Interpretation — 19 (2011), S. 349–351 (David M. Carr)
In: Salesianum — 71 (2009), S. 380–381 (Rafael Vicent)
In: Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (ZAW) — 121 (2009), S. 160 (J.C. Gertz)
In: Journal for the Study of the Old Testament — 32.5 (2008), S. 180–181 (N. MacDonald)