QUESTION: Were I to make a Logos/Verbum index of "pseudepigrapha et. al."
1. Would you want it to cover other related materials such as Philo and Josephus?
2. Would you want items that have been considered canonical at some time to be a separate category?
3. What would be the latest date you would consider pseudepigrapha/apocrypha
4. What would you add to this data:
- primary name / alternative names
- corpus or collective title
- dating
- author/group text attested/scholarly opinion
- manuscripts with language
- original language
- genre (literary not Longacre's)
- Faithlife link: datatype search and milestone search
- Wikipedia link
- Early Jewish Writings link
5. Would you help develop the list of titles to cover?
Think of the end product as being a spread sheet that could be compiled as a personal book..
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
Comments
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MJ. Smith said:
1. Would you want it to cover other related materials such as Philo and Josephus?
2. Would you want items that have been considered canonical at some time to be a separate category?
3. What would be the latest date you would consider pseudepigrapha/apocrypha
4. What would you add to this data:
- primary name / alternative names
- corpus or collective title
- dating
- author/group text attested/scholarly opinion
- manuscripts with language
- original language
- genre (literary not Longacre's)
- Faithlife link: datatype search and milestone search
- Wikipedia link
- Early Jewish Writings link
5. Would you help develop the list of titles to cover?
Think of the end product as being a spread sheet that could be compiled as a personal book..
I wouldn't prefer it, personally. Not that I give much thought to the canonical status of the Pseudepigrapha, but they are from an older time period that sheds light on more intertestamental Judaism and pre-Temple destruction Judaism. Josephus was just speaking for himself, and mostly chronicling Israel's story for outsiders. Philo is practically foreign in thought to me. I'm not one to think he sheds light on the New Testament, but I know a lot disagree there (even some saints!). To me, it's especially a mistake to think the Gospel of John's use of the term Logos is a peer with Philo's Platonic use of it. The Logos is from an older tradition reflected in the aforementioned Apocrypha and Targums - that of the Memra (Word) of the Lord. Before the Logos, there was already a tradition of YHWH having an agent on earth who spoke for him, and spoke as him in the first person. Even in the Hebrew scriptures, there is the Angel of the Lord who appeared to Hagar or Moses in the Burning Bush. https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/10618-memra
Genre is a good idea.
What English translations are you working on anyways? The RH Charles or newer Anchor/Outside the Bible versions?
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Ken Thompsen said:
What English translations are you working on anyways? The RH Charles or newer Anchor/Outside the Bible versions?
Thank you for your reasoned response. As I am trying to build an index, I would include all the resources I have in Logos, in my library, and can find in online journals. At that point I will have to decide whether to drive/fly to an appropriate academic library or support a starving student. The focus would be first on what Faithlife offers and secondly on introducing the literature Faithlife ignores ... at the moment the Armenian materials are of personal interest. And, yes, expect to see the Chinese Jesus sutras included. But don't expect it to be comprehensive - rather think of it as documents a lay student may run into.
My personal interest in the literature is foremost with the literature that has been treated as canonical or bound in Biblical volumes, secondarily in the storytelling aspects of much of the literature, and finally with what the literature tells us about the milieu of thought in which the Biblical texts were written. I think it is important to understand what "oak of Mamre" meant to the original audience in the same way one has to understand "cherry tree" in respect to Washington. However, this table is theology free in the same sense that the manuscript explorer interactives are ... I want to stress this so that this thread does not get hijacked into theological discussions. I've had enough of that recently.
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
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I think this is a great idea. As far as additions to categories to what you already have:
1. translator/translation: I use 1 Enoch as an example. There are several translations, so it would be helpful to have them noted for each version of the text in Logos.
2. Maybe include a note for the resources about the state of their introductions? Some of the collections have better introductions than others, so it would be helpful to know at a glance which resources have the better information. I don't know if this is outside the scope of your project.
Concerning the latest date that should be included, maybe you could look at the major collections and get a feel for their reasoning, and then come up with something comparable.
You might could use Kenton Sparks' Ancient Texts for the Study of the Hebrew Bible and Craig Evans' Ancient Texts for New Testament Studies as a rough guide for organization and classification.
I know you have an exhaustive library, but I try to get every collection of primary texts I can get my hands on, so if you find that you don't have something, feel free to reach out.
Disclaimer: I hate using messaging, texting, and email for real communication. If anything that I type to you seems like anything other than humble and respectful, then I have not done a good job typing my thoughts.
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