Consecutive Authorship: Imagining the Production and Transmission of the Book of Proverbs in Late Antiquity

This article explores late antique Christian conceptualizations of the authorship and transmission of Proverbs in selected works of biblical interpretation preserved in Syriac. In Prov 25:1, the Judean king Hezekiah and his friends are described as writing or transmitting proverbs by Solomon. The ar...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Pragt, Marion (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Interlibrary Loan:Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany)
Published: 2025
In: Early christianity
Year: 2025, Volume: 16, Issue: 1, Pages: 89-104
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Proverbs / Bible. Sprichwörter 25,1 / Hezekiah Judah, King / Solomon Israel, King / Syriac language / Hermeneutics / Scribe / Textual criticism / Journalistic editing
IxTheo Classification:HB Old Testament
HD Early Judaism
TB Antiquity
Further subjects:B Textual Transmission
B commentary traditions
B Authorship
B Hezekiah
B Solomon
B Syriac
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
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Description
Summary:This article explores late antique Christian conceptualizations of the authorship and transmission of Proverbs in selected works of biblical interpretation preserved in Syriac. In Prov 25:1, the Judean king Hezekiah and his friends are described as writing or transmitting proverbs by Solomon. The article argues that to late antique interpreters, Hezekiah's involvement did not raise questions about the authenticity or attribution of Proverbs but rather about its textual history. It is shown how they used the figure of Hezekiah to develop different views on the production and transmission of Proverbs. Commentators presented the book of Proverbs as the result of consecutive compositional practices, in which selecting, ordering, salvaging, and restoring played central roles.
ISSN:1868-8020
Contains:Enthalten in: Early christianity
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1628/ec-2025-0007