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Review of Books / Journalftr the Study ofJudaism 40 (2009) 366-456 419 Perspektiver pd J~disk Apologetik. Edited by Anders Klostergaard Petersen, Jesper Hyldahl and Kare Sigvald Fuglseth. (Antikken og Kristendommen 4). Copenhagen: ForlagetANIS, 2007. Pp. 320. Paperback. Kr. 279. ISBN 978-87-7457-412-5. The anthology has its background in the project Jews, Christiam and Gentiles in Antiquity-Criticism and Apologetics at the Faculty of Theology; University of Arhus. Most of the contributing scholars have been connected to the same faculty. The book is the most comprehensive discussion of Jewish apologetics since the classic Geschichte der judischen Apologetik als Vorgeschichte des Christentums by Friedlander in 1903. It both updates the reader in the recent scholarly discussion and contrib- utes thoroughly to this discussion, both in the studies of individual Jewish writings and in the overall discussion of apologetics. As an anthology the book opens for various voices, but this rather entiches than confuses the presentation as a whole. There are shared understandings of basic issues that unite the various articles. Through the articles there is an ongoing discussion of how to apply and under- stand Jewish apologetics. Traditionally apologetics has been understood as a defense of Jewish beliefs against a critical or even hostile environment. There is a shared apprehension that this understanding in strict sense only apply to Jose- phus' Contra Apionem, and in a somewhat broader sense to Philo's In Flaccum and De legatione ad Gaium. The anthology maintains a broader understanding. There has never existed a Jewish apologetics as a uniform tradition or as a genre. Several times the distinction between apologetics as an emic and etic phenome- non is used. The Jewish writers, with some few exceptions, had no intention themselves to write apologetics (emic), but "apologetics" functions well as an analytic tool in our discussion (etic). Used in this sense we discover that several Jewish writers reacted toward either a felt or a real threat from a competing world-view. Rather than a genre this is a form of awareness manifest in the writ- ings both in their propagandistic communication to an outer environment, and in their inward direction toward a Jewish community to strengthen its beliefs. The anthology is well arranged by its editors. Anders Klostergaard Petersen has also contributed with well argued articles about research history, Aristeas, Aristo- bul, the Books of the Maccabees and Philo. The two articles about Philo and Josephus' Contra Apionem by Per Bilde have also left a clear mark on the book. Jesper Hyldahl's comprehensive contribution about allegory in Judaism and antiquity is very informative and well presented. Danish scholars in theology and religion have a long tradition in publishing scholarly works of high quality in a pedagogic way, made accessible for a broader audience. This is yet a good example of such an enterprise. We wait for an Eng- lish translation. Helge S. Kvanvig University of Oslo © Koninklijke Brill NY, Leiden. 2009 DOl: 10.1163/157006309X443774
Journal for the Study of Judaism – Brill
Published: Jan 1, 2009
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