Innovative Practices of the Self in Early Jewish Narratives

Early Jewish literature (ca. second century BCE to second century CE), composed and/or preserved in Greek, displays a new interest in reflexive practices. This article continues the study of interiority in this literature, initiated by Carol Newsom, David Lambert, and Lawrence Wills. The focus here is on the pervasiveness of this concern in narratives, as case studies (Susanna, Greek Esther, Josephus’s biblical retelling, and the Life of Adam and Eve) illustrate. Each narrative presents a common scenario: an accusation, false or not, is leveled against the protagonists, who, as a result, think or feel about themselves. All narratives are connected with the Hebrew Bible, where such a concern for the self is absent or marginal. Far from involving simple additions, this new attention reshapes narratives and their plotlines. The article concludes with some methodological reflections on how to trace the history of the self in this cultural and literary environment.