Composite Citations in Antiquity: Volume One: Jewish, Graeco-Roman, and Early Christian Uses

Description

Sean A. Adams and Seth M. Ehorn have drawn together an exciting range of contributors to evaluate the use of composite citations in Early Jewish, Greco-Roman, and Early Christian authors (up through Justin Martyr). The goal is to identify and describe the existence of this phenomenon in both Greco-Roman and Jewish literature. The introductory essay will help to provide some definitional parameters, although the study as a whole will seek to weigh in on this question. The contributors seek to address specific issues, such as whether the quoting author created the composite text or found it already constructed as such. The essays also cover an exploration of the rhetorical and/or literary impact of the quotation in its present textual location, and the question of whether the intended audiences would have recognised and 'reverse engineered' the composite citation and as a result engage with the original context of each of the component parts. In addition to the specific studies, Professor Christopher Stanley provides a summary reflection on all of the essays in the volume along with some implications for New Testament studies.

Sean A. Adams (PhD, University of Edinburgh, UK) is a Lecturer at the University of Glasgow, UK. He is the author of The Genre of Acts and Collected Biography (2013) and Commentary on Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremiah (2014). Seth M. Ehorn (PhD, University of Edinburgh, UK) is Visiting Assistant Professor of Greek Language and New Testament at Wheaton College, USA. He has published articles in the Journal for Theological Studies, Currents in Biblical Research and is a contributor to the Encyclopaedia of Biblical Reception.

The authors of this volume accomplish at least two rare feats: they opened up new areas of inquiry on a neglected topic, and they have made them academically rigorous...Anyone planning to enter the fray on ancient citation practices would be advised to keep this book handy. * The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology * The new evidence presented in this volume will undoubtedly be instrumental in the study of composite citations, and for those who seek a better understanding for how ancient texts appealed to former texts. * Bulletin for Biblical Research * Perhaps the study of the phenomenon of composite citations and of the composite echo-and indeed the range of possibilities in the phenomenon of the combination of texts in the NT and its possible antecedents in antiquity-may be one of the lines of inquiry stimulated by this groundbreaking collection of essays. The editors are to be congratulated and thanked for their valuable contribution to the study of intertextuality. * Catholic Biblical Quarterly * A vast array of scholars has contributed to this study, including noted specialists in relevant areas. Their work in these texts is commendable and interacts well with the original texts. Furthermore, they helpfully analyze the literary techniques of various Second Temple authors. * The Masters Seminary Journal * One wonders how one form of citation, signaled composite citation, can be studied in isolation from implicit composite citation, unsignaled combination of scriptural elements, single citation, allusion, and so on? That seems to be the most important question raised by this volume. * Novum Testamentum *