Interpreting 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch International Studies

In this volume Gabriele Boccaccini and Jason M. Zurawski collect together essays from leading international scholars on the books of 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch. The literature of the Second Temple Period has become increasingly studied in recent years as scholars have begun to recognize the importance of these texts for a developed understanding of Rabbinic and Christian origins.

Through close readings of the texts themselves, examining the books in comparison with other Jewish apocalyptic literature and early Christian materials, and reading the texts in light of their social and historical settings, the fifteen papers collected herein significantly advance the current scholarly conversation on these defining Jewish apocalypses written at the end of the first century CE, and they shed light on the everlasting legacy of apocalyptic ideas in both Christianity and Judaism.

Gabriele Boccaccini is Professor of Second Temple Judaism and Early Rabbinic Literature at the University of Michigan, USA.

Jason M. Zurawski University of Michigan, USA.

Introduction: Perspectives on 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch from the Sixth Enoch Seminar - Gabriele Boccaccini (University of Michigan, USA) and Jason M. Zurawski (University of Michigan, USA)
Part I: 4 Ezra in the Apocalyptic Tradition
1. More than the Present: Perspectives on World History in 4 Ezra and the Book of the Watchers - Veronika Bachmann (University of Zurich, Switzerland)
2. Apocalyptic Ideas in 4 Ezra in Comparison with the Dead Sea Scrolls -Bilhah Nitzan (Tel-Aviv University, Israel)
3. The "Meaning of History" in the Fifth Vision of 4 Ezra - Laura Bizzarro (Universidad Catolica, Argentina)
Part II: Ezra 2, Baruch, and Early Christian Literature
4. The Woman Who Anoints Jesus for his Burial (Mark 14) and the Woman Who Laments her Dead Son (4 Ezra9-10) - Twice the Same Person? - Andreas Bedenbender (University of Dortmund, Germany)
5. Days of Creation in 4 Ezra 6:38-59 and John 1-5 - Calum Carmichael (Cornell University, USA)
6. 2 Baruch, 4 Ezra, and the Epistle to the Hebrews:Three Approaches to the Interpretation of Ps 104:4 - Eric F. Mason (Judson University, USA)
7. "Good Tidings" of Baruch to the Christian Faithful (The Epistle of 2 Baruch78-87) - Rivka Nir (Open University of Israel, Israel)
Part III: Close Readings of 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch
8. The Two Worlds and Adam's Sin: The Problem of 4 Ezra 7:10-14 -Jason M. Zurawski (University of Michigan, USA)
9. Eschatological Rewards for the Righteous in Second Baruch - Daniel M. Gurtner (Bethel Seminary,USA)
10. Death and the Afterlife in 2 Baruch - Jared Ludlow (Brigham Young University, USA)
11. The Calendar Implied in 2 Baruch and 4 Ezra:Two Modifications of the One Scheme - Basil Lourié (St Petersburg State University, Russia)
12. The Fate of Jerusalem in 2 Baruch and 4 Ezra: From Earth to Heaven and Back? - Carla Sulzbach (McGill University,Canada)
Part IV: 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch in their Social and Historical Settings
13. 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch:Archaeology and Elusive Answers to Our Perennial Questions - James Hamilton Charlesworth (Princeton Theological Seminary, USA)
14. The Use of Cryptographic and Esoteric Scripts in Second Temple Judaism and the Surrounding Cultures - Stephen Pfann (University of the Holy Land, Israel)
15. Apocalyptic as Delusion: A Psychoanalytic Approach - J. Harold Ellens (University of Michigan, USA)