The New Cambridge History of the Bible: Volume 1, From the Beginnings to 600
New Cambridge History of the Bible Series

Recent years have witnessed significant discoveries of texts and artefacts relevant to the study of the Old and New Testaments and remarkable shifts in scholarly methods of study. The present volume mirrors the increasing specialization of Old Testament studies, including the Hebrew and Greek Bibles, and reflects rich research activity that has unfolded over the last four decades in Pentateuch theory, Septuagint scholarship, Qumran studies and early Jewish exegesis of biblical texts. The second half of the volume discusses the period running from the New Testament to 600, including chapters on the Coptic, Syriac and Latin bibles, the 'Gnostic' use of the scriptures, pagan engagement with the Bible, the use of the Bible in Christian councils and in popular and non-literary culture. A fascinating in-depth account of the reception of the Bible in the earliest period of its history.

Preface; Part I. Languages, Writing Systems and Book Production: 1. The language of the Old Testament Geoffrey Khan; 2. Varieties of Greek in the Septuagint and the New Testament Jan Joosten; 3. Writing and book production in the Ancient Near East William Schniedewind; 4. Writing and book production in the Hellenistic and Roman periods Larry Hurtado and Chris Keith; Part II. The Hebrew Bible and Old Testaments: 5. The text of the Hebrew Bible and its transmission Eugene Ulrich; 6. The literary history of the Hebrew Bible Joachim Schaper; 7. The Old Testament Canons John Barton; 8. The 'Apocryphal' Old Testament John J. Collins; 9. From inner biblical exegesis to Rabbinic exegesis Günther Stemberger; 10. The Aramaic Targums Robert Hayward; 11. Biblical interpretation in Qumran Jonathan G. Campbell; 12. The Septuagint Kristin De Troyer; 13. Biblical interpretation in Greek Jewish writings William Horbury; 14. Scripture in the Jerusalem temple Robert Hayward; 15. The political and legal uses of scripture James W. Watts; 16. Modern editions of the Hebrew Bible E. Tov; Part III. The New Testament: 17. The New Testament Canon Joseph Verheyden; 18. The New Testament text and versions David Parker; 19. The 'Apocryphal' New Testament Keith Elliott; 20. The Old Testament in the New Testament Dale C. Allison; Part IV. Biblical Versions other than the Hebrew and the Greek: 21. The Latin Bible P.-M. Bogaert; 22. The Syriac versions of the Bible Peter Williams; 23. The translation of the Bible into Coptic Wolf-Peter Funk; Part V. The Reception of the Bible in the Post-New Testament Period: 24. The interpretation of the Bible in the second century James Carleton Paget; 25. Gnostic and Manichean interpretation Winrich Löhr; 26. Origen Gilles Dorival; 27. Eusebius Michael J. Hollerich; 28. Jerome Adam Kamesar; 29. Augustine Carol Harrison; 30. Syriac exegesis J. F. Coakley; 31. Figurative readings: their scope and justification Mark Edwards; 32. Traditions of exegesis Frances Young; 33. Pagans and the Bible Wolfram Kinzig; 34. Exegetical genres in the Patristic era Mark Elliott; 35. The Bible in doctrinal development and Christian councils Thomas Graumann; 36. The Bible in liturgy Gerard Rouwhorst; 37. The Bible in popular and non-literary culture Lucy Grig; Select bibliography; Indices.

James Carleton Paget is senior lecturer in New Testament at the University of Cambridge and Fellow and Tutor at Peterhouse College. He is the author of The Epistle of Barnabas (1994) and of Jews, Christians and Jewish Christians in Antiquity (2010).
Joachim Schaper is professor in Hebrew, Old Testament and Early Jewish Studies at the University of Aberdeen. He is the author of Eschatology in the Greek Psalter (1995), Priester und Leviten im achämenidischen Juda (2000), Wie der Hirsch lechzt nach frischem Wasser (2004) and editor of Die Textualisierung der Religion (2009).