From Death to Life: Conversion in Joseph and Aseneth: No. 16. (The Library of Second Temple Studies) - Hardcover

Chesnutt, Randall D.

 
9781850755166: From Death to Life: Conversion in Joseph and Aseneth: No. 16. (The Library of Second Temple Studies)
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 1850755167 ISBN 13: 9781850755166
Publisher: Sheffield Academic Press, 1995

Synopsis

This monograph, the first in English on any aspect of Joseph and Aseneth, examines Aseneth's conversion as narrated in this important but neglected apocryphal Jewish romance. An extensive history of research on Joseph and Aseneth and an analysis of key issues such as text, original language, character, provenance, date, and genre, precede and inform the study of conversion. The story of Aseneth's conversion has too often been understood on the basis of premature and superficial comparisons with other paradigms of conversion and initiation in the Hellenistic world. As a corrective, Chesnutt assigns priority to descriptive over comparative analysis. He draws comparisons and contrasts with other models of conversion and initiation only after he has carefully examined Aseneth's conversion in its own right within the literary context of Joseph and Aseneth and the social context which the document itself reflects. The attention not only to conversion but also to much broader social and religious dimensions of Judaism in antiquity makes this book important for specialists in Christian origins, Greco-Roman religions, women's studies, and patristics, as well as the history of Judaism

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author

Randall D. Chesnutt is Associate Professor of Religion at Pepperdine University, Malibu, California.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Publisher
Sheffield Academic Press
Publication date
1995
Language
English
ISBN 10 
1850755167
ISBN 13 
9781850755166
Binding
Hardcover
Number of pages
312