Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion in Armenia (review)

Hebrew Studies 41 (2000) 324 Reviews view that did not take shape until much later. Second, Young repeatedly draws attention to the "chutzpah" and the "humor" of Jewish culture and then locates these elements in Jesus' parables. Although Young clearly admires these "traditional Jewish values," this kind of generalization verges on stereotyping. (In a breathtaking passage, Young asserts that Jesus' parables "exude an authentic flavor of a Middle Eastern situation comedy.") Third, the book demonstrates an uncritical assessment of the authenticity of the gospel parables. E. P. Sanders' sage observation that the early Christian movement probably possessed several great storytellers should give pause to those who indiscriminately accept any,let alone most, of the gospel parables as utterances of the historical Jesus. Young's response to the danger of Jesus' religious identity is to contend that he was a kind of prototypical rabbL Perhaps this solution betrays an ambivalent attitude towards Judaism that Young shares with evangelical Christians? In a telling moment, Young comments that the Jesus of the parables would be more at home with "a band of Pharisees" than with a "symposium of modem Christian theologians." But Young's Jesus promulgates through his parables a "fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man" piety fashioned by nineteenth-century Protestant theologians. The book indeed fits a "Jesus" to a "Judaism," but it is neither the historical Jesus nor the Judaism of his or any other day. Chris Frilingos Michigan State University East Lansing. MI48824 frilingo@pilot.msu.edu AQUILA, SYMMACHUS AND THEODOTION IN ARMENIA. By Claude E. Cox. SBL Septuagint and Cognate Studies 42. pp. xxi + 472. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1996. Cloth, $ 49.95. For the non-specialist Armenia might seem to be a somewhat obscure location. However, this nation played an all-important role in the ancient Near East. During Parthian and Roman times, for instance, it acted as a buffer between these superpowers. A hint of this historical background is provided in the map on p. 19. The author has become known in Septuagintal circles as one of the specialists on matters concerning the Armenian translation of the Hebrew Bible. He has published widely in this regard. He Hebrew Studies 41 (2000) 325 Reviews was, inter alia, invited to present a paper on the Annenian Psalms at the important symposium on the Septuagint Psalms held in Gottingen in July 1997, which was aimed at dealing with issues concerning the preparation of the Gottingen edition of the Greek Psalms. The monograph under review is the result of more than two decades of research by the author (cf. the Preface). As he is a Septuagintologist, one can expect appropriate methodology from him. His sound thinking in this regard is evident from the outset. His view on the Septuagint (p. 3), namely that it refers to the Pentateuch and that the designation Old Greek should preferably be reserved for the books outside this corpus, is clear-cut and to the point. (A question that does arise is what would the position of the socalled "non-Biblical writings" such as Sirach be?) His viewpoint that different books had different translators is true, although it is no easy task to distinguish between translators. He is also correctly apprehensive about making generalizations about the whole LXX corpus that would also be true of individual books (p. 4). Just as valid is his assumption that the Septuagint underwent conscious revision from early on to bring it more in line with the Hebrew. The rather creative title makes it clear that the subject matter has to do with translational, and more specifically revisional, activity. In his own words: ''The Annenian translation of the Old Testament in its present fonn represents a type of text that has been influenced by Origen's work" (p. 7). The essence of this work is that it is minimalist, concentrating on the smaller detail, specifically on marginal notations. Such research naturally requires competence on various levels. On the theoretical side appropriate methodological orientation is fundamental. Just as important is the format in which the material is presented. In this regard the author has endeavoured to make the material accessible to the reader, apparently also to the lay reader. Anticipating possible lack...