Books by Jonathan Klawans
Jewish Annotated Apocrypha, 2020
Click here to see more about the Jewish Annotated Apocrypha, co-edited with Lawrence M. Wills. Th... more Click here to see more about the Jewish Annotated Apocrypha, co-edited with Lawrence M. Wills. The first file posted has the TOC and a list of contributors. There is also a flyer posted here with additional information and a 30% discount for direct orders from OUP.
Papers by Jonathan Klawans
Journal of Ancient Judaism, 2023
This article surveys and categorizes problematic arguments that recur in academic authentications... more This article surveys and categorizes problematic arguments that recur in academic authentications of suspicious objects, especially biblically-related forgery cases (often arising from antiquities markets). Academic authenticators are often attracted to the "allure of significance" promised by unprovenanced objects purportedly related to biblical people or places. Authentication often displays a "cooption of creativity": freely imaginative reconstructions of ancient origins are propped up by preclusions of the possibility of forgery. Combining these two moves into a third, authenticators spin inconsistencies to their advantage, arguing that what is unparalleled in the suspicious object provides evidence of new, important, unattested phenomena. Authenticators highlight the "drama of discovery," even if the drama must be invented. Finally, authenticators slip into the language and legalities of crime-solving: if an alleged forger cannot be proven guilty, then the object should be considered authentic. Such arguments appear in failed authentications of the past, resurfacing in present controversies.
Journal of the Jesus Movement in its Jewish Setting, 2022
Morton Smith's arguments defending the authenticity of the Letter to Theodore and its depiction o... more Morton Smith's arguments defending the authenticity of the Letter to Theodore and its depiction of an antinomian Jesus display creative and conjectural characteristics, the sort that Smith ridicules in his methodological essays. The paradox is amplified by nastiness: Smith scorns scholars for fantasy and creativity, but at times Smith deploys nastiness in defense of his elaborate argumentation. Complicating matters further, Smith conjures an antinomian Jesus who not only secretly breaks the laws he publicly keeps, but also does so in a way that we could characterize as abuse. Exploring this territory, this article identifies unnoticed interconnections among Smith's various writings on sexual matters and his contacts with a guru known for sexual license. None of this amounts to direct evidence of forgery on the part of Smith. Indeed, it remains imperative to consider a wider range of possibilities while we ponder the irony that Smith's creative argumentation is undermined by his own methodological rigor.
For the full article, see: http://www.jjmjs.org/uploads/1/1/9/0/11908749/klawans_morton_smith_2022.pdf
Dead Sea Discoveries, 2022
This essay engages Idan Dershowitz's recent attempt to rehabilitate the Deuteronomy fragments Mos... more This essay engages Idan Dershowitz's recent attempt to rehabilitate the Deuteronomy fragments Moses Wilhelm Shapira offered for sale in 1883. After summarizing the contents of Dershowitz's volume, this paper evaluates Shapira's fragments in relation to the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Moabitica and other forgeries connected to Shapira. It considers the implications of Shapira's transcription of the text, which Dershowitz uses to demonstrate Shapira's innocence. To counter Dershowitz's hypothesis regarding the "proto-biblical" origin of the fragments, it is proposed that the composition is better understood as a post-biblical pastiche. Dershowitz has endeavored to sever the text from the possibilities allowed by 19th century European scholarship; the present article contextualizes the find within the religious world of 19th century Jerusalem. While the allure of significance can encourage scholars to overcome doubts and accept the authenticity of suspicious objects, Shapira's fragments remain very dubious indeed.
Jewish Studies: An Internet Journal (19), 2020
This essay—an earlier version of which was presented at the conference held at Neve Ilan in April... more This essay—an earlier version of which was presented at the conference held at Neve Ilan in April 2019—ties together some Josephus-related threads from my recently published book, "Heresy, Forgery, Novelty: Condemning, Denying, and Asserting Innovation in Ancient Judaism." As the modified title implies, this paper focuses on Josephus in particular, and explores the ways his works display early heresiological tendencies, by condemning innovation in some instances, by denying innovation in others.
Journal of Ancient Judaism, 2019
The Letter of Aristeas can best be understood when interpreters attend to the full range of postu... more The Letter of Aristeas can best be understood when interpreters attend to the full range of postures toward Hellenism and Judaism exhibited by the various characters in the work. These stances range from the translators’ public, universalist philosophizing before the king in Alexandria to the High Priest Eleazar’s more particularistic defense of Jewish ritual law articulated in Jerusalem. Yet when the translators work on the Island of Pharos, or when the High Priest writes to the King, these characters display other sides of themselves. For the author of Aristeas – himself a Jew parading rather successfully as a Greek – knowing how much to conceal or reveal, when and where, is a fundamental skill, the secret to success for Jews in the Hellenistic diaspora.
Jewish Quarterly Review, 2018
This essay probes and problematizes purported distinctions between religious pseudepigraphy and l... more This essay probes and problematizes purported distinctions between religious pseudepigraphy and literary deceit. When we attend to what ancient religious pseudepigraphs say about lying, we may be more inclined to recognize the intention to deceive. Apologies for ancient religious pseudepigraphs sometimes resemble defenses for alleged modern forgeries, raising the possibility that academics may not be sufficiently alert to the extent of dishonesty lurking in our source material. In this respect, grappling with ancient lies may also help us recognize modern ones. In any event, the current moment—marked by crises of forgery and falsehood—call for a greater awareness, and increased suspicion.
Religion Compass, 2018
Contemporary scholars of ancient Judaism struggle to describe Jewishness, recognizing that ancien... more Contemporary scholars of ancient Judaism struggle to describe Jewishness, recognizing that ancient Jewish concepts of social collectivity do not fully correspond with modern understandings of ethnicity, nationality, race, or even religion. But despite current efforts, categorical anachronism may be inherently inescapable. Scholars should therefore evaluate modern descriptive terms based on their analytic utility. By this standard, scholars would do well to consider embracing an obviously anachronistic—but nevertheless utilitarian—term to understand ancient Jewishness: “peoplehood.” Mordecai Kaplan's conceptions of “civilization” and “peoplehood” were developed as conscious rejections of more limited (and Protestant) understandings of religion. Kaplan proposed a more nuanced understanding of Jewishness, straddling the same divides (between ethnicity, nationality, and religion) that confound scholars of ancient Judaism today. Kaplan's understanding of the Jewish civilization—land, language, folkways, sanctions, institutions, and arts—presents a striking (if inexact) articulation of the way scholars of ancient Judaism discern Jewishness in our ancient evidence. This in turn justifies utilizing “peoplehood” as an analytic category for the understanding of ancient Jewishness.
For over 150 years, The Sentences of Pseudo-Phocylides has been considered a Jewish work, though ... more For over 150 years, The Sentences of Pseudo-Phocylides has been considered a Jewish work, though scholars have struggled to identify its purpose. This article revisits the question on definitional, evidentiary, and even moral grounds. On definitional grounds, it is problematic to speak of a Jewish work that displays no distinctive Jewish concerns. On evidentiary grounds, we know that the work was transmitted and used by Christians, and we can establish that its selective approach to biblical ethics aligns with identifiably Christian priorities. A Jewish provenance can be hypothesized, but we need not imagine a Christian context for the work. Finally, on moral grounds, we must avoid prejudicial assumptions, such that only a Jew could know the Pentateuch well enough to produce The Sentences. Pseudo-Phocylides's Jewishness is a pseudo-Jewishness. The evidence suggests its Christian use, its Christian allegiance and, therefore, its Christian authorship.
René Girard’s works on religion and violence remain important, above all, for having called atten... more René Girard’s works on religion and violence remain important, above all, for having called attention to the question of religious violence well before the significance of this problem seemed obvious. Despite Girard’s insistence on the scientific nature of his project, various religious aspects of his work can be identified, and his work is often treated religiously by his followers. Mimetic theory will have to accept its limitations if it is to win over its critics.
General insights from the discipline of religious studies may contribute to a better understandin... more General insights from the discipline of religious studies may contribute to a better understanding of the Essene Hypothesis. In its " softer " form, the Essene hypothesis posits a subgroup relationship between the Qumran community and a larger Essene movement as described, above all, by Josephus. This effort to accommodate differences between accounts of the Essenes and the Scrolls can be better understood when contextualized in light of the so-called " insider/outsider " problem. Josephus's use of the term " Essene " can be productively compared to generalized labels for groups of subgroups , like " Quaker, " " Mormon, " " Hasidic " and " Gnostic " —terms used more often by outsiders, and frequently by writers of introductory religion textbooks. The Essene Hypothesis makes a greater deal of sense when seen in light of the ways generalized labels are used in a variety of descriptions of religious groups, both ancient and modern.
Journal of the Jesus Movement in its Jewish Setting 1 (2014): 99-126. Available now online by cli... more Journal of the Jesus Movement in its Jewish Setting 1 (2014): 99-126. Available now online by clicking link posted above.
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Books by Jonathan Klawans
Papers by Jonathan Klawans
For the full article, see: http://www.jjmjs.org/uploads/1/1/9/0/11908749/klawans_morton_smith_2022.pdf
For the full article, see: http://www.jjmjs.org/uploads/1/1/9/0/11908749/klawans_morton_smith_2022.pdf