The Idea of Biblical Interpretation: Essays in Honor of James L. Kugel (review)

Hebrew Studies 46 (2005) 390 Reviews THE IDEA OF BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION: ESSAYS IN HONOR OF JAMES L. KUGEL. Edited by Hindy Najman and Judith H. Newman. Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism 83. Pp. xx + 604. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2004. Cloth $188.00. ¤ 139. This handsomely produced volume includes twenty-two essays under three major chronological rubrics: “The Bible as it Was,” “Traditions of the Bible in Second Temple Judaism,” and “The Interpretive Life of Biblical Texts from Early Judaism to the Present.” The contributions in order are: “The Conversion of Abraham to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam” (Jon Levenson), “The Alleged ‘Hidden Light’” (Jacob Milgrom), “Golden Calf Stories: The Relationship of Exodus 32 and Deuteronomy 9–10” (Christine E. Hayes), “Plumbing the Depths: Genre Ambiguity and Theological Creativity in the Interpretation of Psalm 130” (Harry P. Nasuti), “Mdah_lk and the Evaluation of Qohelet’s Wisdom in Qoh 12:13 or ‘The “A is so, and What’s More, B” Theology of Ecclesiastes’” (Peter Enns), “The Symbolic Significance of Writing in Ancient Judaism” (Hindy Najman), “Seven Mysteries of Knowledge: Qumran E/Sotericism Recovered” (Elliot R. Wolfson), “The Contribution of the Qumran Discoveries to the History of Early Biblical Interpretation” (Moshe J. Bernstein), “Myth, History, and Mystery in the Copper Scroll” (Steven P. Weitzman), “The Concept of Covenant in the Qumran Scrolls and Rabbinic Literature” (Lawrence H. Schiffman), “Open and Closed Eyes in the Animal Apocalypse (1 Enoch 85–90)” (James C. VanderKam), “Before the Fall: The Earliest Interpretations of Adam and Eve” (John J. Collins), “The Democratization of Kingship in Wisdom of Solomon” (Judith H. Newman), “Two Powers in Heaven; or, the Making of a Heresy” (Daniel Boyarin), “Iterated Quotation Formulae in Talmudic Narrative and Exegesis” (Bernard Septimus), “Moses and the Commandments: Can Hermeneutics, History, and Rhetoric be Disentangled?” (Steven D. Fraade), “The Alphabet of Ben Sira and the Early History of Parody in Jewish Literature” (David Stern), “Does Rashi’s Torah Commentary Respond to Christianity? A Comparison of Rashi with Rashbam and Bekhor Shor” (Shaye J. D. Cohen), “Rashi and Ibn Ezra on the Hitpael: Peshat in the Medieval Disputes of Hebrew Grammar” (Isaiah Teshima), “Paradise Lost and Traditional Exegesis” (Lawrence F. Rhu), “A Nazi New Testament Professor Reads His Bible: The Strange Case of Gerhard Kittel” (Wayne A. Meeks), “The Hermeneutical Significance of Emmanuel Levinas’s Talmudic Readings” (Gerald L. Bruns). Professor Kugel’s influence on the fields of biblical studies, post-biblical interpretation , and midrashic studies is witnessed by the vast terrain covered by these essays offered in his honor. Kugel, as demonstrated by the impressive list of his publications at the front of this volume, is a prolific author who con- Hebrew Studies 46 (2005) 391 Reviews tinues to produce work on a variety of levels. In his more scholarly articles, he regularly challenges certain entrenched orthodoxies. Perhaps more impressive yet, in a number of his books he presents difficult material in a highly accessible style bringing the results of modern scholarship to a wider audience. While this set of essays are on the whole more scholarly and technical, there are a number of essays that continue Kugel’s quest to use scholarship to tackle broad issues that are of concern to readers beyond the scholarly realm. One such example is Jon Levenson’s masterful study of Abraham in the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions. In the face of rising religious violence, many are hoping that conflicts between the three Western traditions might be ameliorated through recognizing that Jews, Christians, and Muslims all claim Abraham as their spiritual forefather. In a penetrating essay, Levenson demonstrates that each tradition’s understanding of Abraham remains stubbornly particularistic, and ultimately one finds three different Abrahams. However, he also argues that there are indeed under-utilized resources within the Judaic and Christian traditions to facilitate true inter-religious dialogue. Rather than seeking to dissolve each tradition’s particularistic view of Abraham, it may be more fruitful to plumb the full range of each tradition’s theological construction of Abraham. In a similarly broad way, John Collins explores the earliest inner-biblical and post-biblical allusions to the Eden story. He demonstrates that although the Adam and Eve...