Rhetoric in 2Maccabees: Challenging God
From a religio-historical perspective, 2Maccabees should be considered a watershed narrative—one that describes the threat of Hellenisation to traditional Jewish religious society. However, by the time 2Macc was written (c. 124 BCE), Judaism had already been greatly Hellenised and, quite ironically, the Jewish opponents to Hellenisation were deliberately employing Greek rhetorical and literary competencies to combat supposedly iniquitous Greek influences. Accordingly, 2Macc has intrigued scholars since at least the nineteenth century. Here, research has variously focused on the grammatical-historical approach (1891 to 1949), the socio- economical approach (1959 to 1985), and the ubiquitous impact of Hellenisation (1986 to 2012). The chapters in this book reflect post-2012 insights of nine prominent scholars dedicated to presenting some of the very latest findings in the context of 2Macc research. Here, they make use of some of the latest methods, with particular emphasis on narratology and rhetoric. This book, which offers a wide spectrum of the latest theological insights into Second Temple Judaism, should be considered an essential source for serious Biblical scholars.
Nicholas Peter Legh Allen is a Professor at the North-West University (Potchefstroom Campus), South Africa. He has authored and co-authored eight books and a number of accredited articles on sindonology, Judaica and early Christian Church history (specialising in Josephus Flavius). He is the originator of the photographic hypothesis for the manufacturing technique employed on the Shroud of Turin (1988). His most recent books include Construction, Coherence and Connotations: Studies on the Septuagint, Apocryphal and Cognate Literature (with P.J. Jordaan, 2016); Turin Shroud: Testament to a Lost Technology (2017); Passion, Persecution and Epiphany in Early Jewish Literature (with P.J. Jordaan and J. Zsengellér, 2020); and Christian Forgery in Jewish Antiquities: Josephus Interrupted (2020).
Pierre J. Jordaan is a Professor at the North-West University (Potchefstroom Campus), South Africa. He is a founding member of the Association for the Study of the Septuagint in South Africa, and is currently co-steering Septuagint and Cognate Research in Africa with Nicholas Allen. He has published well over 65 papers in accredited journals, and his most recent books include Body, Psyche and Space in Old Testament Apocryphal Literature (with Helen Efthimiades-Keith, 2016); Construction, Coherence and Connotations: Studies on the Septuagint, Apocryphal and Cognate Literature (with N.P.L. Allen, 2016); and Passion, Persecution and Epiphany in Early Jewish Literature (with N.P.L. Allen and J. Zsengellér, 2020).
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