served from antiquity. In this latter sense, the narrow definition of “pseud-
epigrapha” does not describe all documents which have occasionally been
collected under this heading. A good case in point is James H. Charles-
worth’s edition ofThe Old Testament Pseudepigrapha(1983-1985), which,
for example, includes a number of works or parts of works associated with
their real authors’ names (e.g., Aristeas the Exegete, Aristobulus, Arta-
panus, Cleodemus Malchus, Demetrius the Chronographer, Eupolemus,
Ezekiel the Tragedian, and Theodotus).
Several considerations make a more precise understanding and defini-
tion of an ancient Jewish “pseudepigraphon” possible. (a) The designation
is formally a subset of “anonymous” writings, that is, those compositions
for which the historical author’s identity remains unknown. This means
that any information about the writers depends on what they reveal about
themselves in the texts. (b) Following from this, a “pseudepigraphon” usu-
ally takes one of two basic forms: a writer either (i) communicates in the
first person by directly taking on the name of an important or ancient
paradigmatic figure (e.g.,1 Enoch, 2 Baruch, Testament of Job, Sibylline Or-
acles); or, more loosely, (ii) composes a third-person account that attrib-
utes revelatory knowledge, instruction, or activity to such a figure (e.g., Ju-
bilees [Moses],Life of Adam and Eve, Proverbs of Ahiqar, Testament of
Abraham). (c) Thus, while the assumption of an ancient ideal figure’s
name is fictive in itself, it does not follow that ancient novella or legendary
stories such as Tobit, Judith,Joseph and Aseneth, Book of Giants,or
11QMelchizedek are “pseudepigrapha” in the strict sense. (d) Sometimes
ancient compositions combine these literary forms. Several examples illus-
trate this point. In theGenesis Apocryphon(1Q20) an anonymous author
strings together a series of smaller first-person accounts attributed to dif-
ferent patriarchs such as Lamech, Noah, and Abraham to form a larger
work that as a whole is not a pseudepigraphon. While the macro-genre of
Tobit is that of a tale, part of it is presented as the words of the protagonist,
Tobit; in this case, the first-person idiom, the extent of which differs
among the versions of the book, forms a relatively small part of the work.
Finally, in a number of works the predominant first-person discourse is in-
troduced or framed by a brief third-person narrative that provides a set-
ting (e.g.,Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, Testament of Job, Testament of
Moses, Ladder of Jacob). It is not always clear in these cases whether the use
of the third person is secondary or original to a given work.192
loren t. stuckenbruckEERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
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