Second Baruch and its Epistle: A Study in Message and Form

Second Baruch and its Epistle: A Study in Message and FormSyriaca.org: The Syriac Reference PortalThe National Endowment for the HumanitiesThe International Balzan Prize FoundationDavid A. Michelsoncbsc_adminRecord added to Zotero bycbsc_adminSyriaca.org: The Syriac Reference Portalhttp://syriaca.org/cbss/AQ4VLC23/tei

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2024-08-15-04:00

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CREATED: This bibl record was autogenerated from a Zotero record.Mark FrancisWhittersSecond Baruch and its Epistle: A Study in Message and Formhttp://syriaca.org/cbss/AQ4VLC23https://www.zotero.org/groups/a_comprehensive_bibliography_on_syriac_studies/items/AQ4VLC23https://www.zotero.org/groups/4861694/items/AQ4VLC231999The Epistle of Second Baruch (Ep2B) is a document found at the end of Second Baruch (2B), a long-lost apocalyptic book recently rediscovered to be part of the ancient Syriac Bible tradition. This study explains how Ep2B is structurally related to 2B, how it uses ancient biblical genres and themes to convey its message, and how it sheds light on a period of history (70-135 C.E.) heretofore largely undocumented. Scholars have neglected 2B and especially Ep2B. Therefore, Chap. 1 first gives a short textual history of 2B and then a history of how commentators have interpreted the text since its rediscovery. The chapter then addresses the issues of original language and canonical status. A recension of Ep2B called the "Epistle of Baruch" circulated independently in later Syriac MSS, raising the question of Ep2B's structural relation to the rest of 2B. Chap. 2 discusses this question by exploring the literary and structural continuity between 2B and Ep2B. Special attention is given to issues of internal organization, coherence, and literary taxonomy in order to discern the underlying narrative dynamic that unifies 2B. Chap. 3 compares several types of letters in biblical literature to Ep2B. The discussion focuses on whether festal, Diaspora, and liturgical letters represent models for Ep2B. Chap. 4 explores whether the themes of other biblical genres as covenant, testament, and apocalypse lend their typology, structure, and form to Ep2B. Chap. 5 explores NT writings - the Epistle of James, the Gospel of Matthew, and the Book of Revelation - as parallels for Ep2B. Chap. 6 investigates how the narrative dynamic and literary elements identified in earlier chapters fit into the larger historical and theological picture. Discussion focuses on what 2B reveals about the individual or group behind the book, the most likely date of composition, and the Jewish milieu for the production of Ep2B. Whitters, Mark Francis. “Second Baruch and Its Epistle: A Study in Message and Form.” Ph.D. dissertation, The Catholic University of America, 1999. Mark Francis Whitters, Second Baruch and Its Epistle: A Study in Message and Form (Ph.D. dissertation, The Catholic University of America, 1999).2 BaruchLetter of BaruchOT apocryphaletterstranslations from Greektranslations into Syriac