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Apocalypse, Prophecy & Pseudepigraphy: On Jewish Apocalyptic Literature
A highly regarded expert on the Jewish apocalyptic tradition, John J. Collins has written extensively on the subject. Nineteen of his essays written over the last fifteen years, including previously unpublished contributions, are brought together for the first time in this volume. Its thematic essays organized in five sections, Apocalypse, Prophecy, and Pseudepigraphy complements and enriches Collins’s well-known book The Apocalyptic Imagination.
- GenresBiblical Studies
399 pages, Paperback
First published October 5, 2015
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About the author
John J. Collins
106 books47 followersJohn J. Collins is Holmes Professor of Old Testament at Yale Divinity School. A native of Ireland, he has a doctorate from Harvard University, and earlier taught at the University of Chicago, and the University of Notre Dame. He has published widely on the subjects of apocalypticism, wisdom, Hellenistic Judaism, and the Dead Sea Scrolls and served as president of both the Catholic Biblical Association and the Society of Biblical Literature.
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May 17, 2020
Sirach 38:34b How different the one who devotes himself
to the study of the law of the Most High!
39:1 He seeks out the wisdom of all the ancients,
and is concerned with prophecies;
2 he preserves the sayings of the famous
and penetrates the subtleties of parables;
3 he seeks out the hidden meanings of proverbs
and is at home with the obscurities of parables.
John Collins is considered one of the world's top academic scholars in the apocalyptic genre. He helped define the genre. Most historical-critical scholars believed apocalyptic writings were inspired by historical crises and used a combination of literary forms and characteristic motifs. In Psuedigaphy he says the name of a venerable ancient figure lent authority to a new revelation and the antiquity of the pseudonymous author is used to present a pseudo-prophecy. Collins allows for two major kinds of an apocalypse, one of which is characterized by an extended review of history (the “historical” type) and the other by the motif of the otherworldly journeys.
In 4 Ezra unless the living pass through difficult and vain experiences, they can never receive those things that have been reserved for them” (7:10-16).
"Uriel says that salvation is like agriculture: not all seeds planted by a farmer grow, and not all who are “sown” in the world are saved (8:41)." p.156
Enoch throughout the literature contrasts between the spiritual, eternal life, on the one hand, and the fleshly, mortal life, on the other. Collins notes Gunkel's "Endzeit gleicht Urzeit" concept." The things of the end time will be similar to those of the primal time."
to the study of the law of the Most High!
39:1 He seeks out the wisdom of all the ancients,
and is concerned with prophecies;
2 he preserves the sayings of the famous
and penetrates the subtleties of parables;
3 he seeks out the hidden meanings of proverbs
and is at home with the obscurities of parables.
John Collins is considered one of the world's top academic scholars in the apocalyptic genre. He helped define the genre. Most historical-critical scholars believed apocalyptic writings were inspired by historical crises and used a combination of literary forms and characteristic motifs. In Psuedigaphy he says the name of a venerable ancient figure lent authority to a new revelation and the antiquity of the pseudonymous author is used to present a pseudo-prophecy. Collins allows for two major kinds of an apocalypse, one of which is characterized by an extended review of history (the “historical” type) and the other by the motif of the otherworldly journeys.
In 4 Ezra unless the living pass through difficult and vain experiences, they can never receive those things that have been reserved for them” (7:10-16).
"Uriel says that salvation is like agriculture: not all seeds planted by a farmer grow, and not all who are “sown” in the world are saved (8:41)." p.156
Enoch throughout the literature contrasts between the spiritual, eternal life, on the one hand, and the fleshly, mortal life, on the other. Collins notes Gunkel's "Endzeit gleicht Urzeit" concept." The things of the end time will be similar to those of the primal time."
Displaying 1 of 1 review