very explicit even there. Davila notes thatSibylline Oracles5 shows no inter-
est in circumcision, dietary laws, or the Sabbath, and virtually reduces the
Law to idolatry and sexual sins. But this is quite typical of Jewish writings
from the Hellenistic Diaspora (Collins 2000: 155-85). As this example
shows, the identification of a given text as Jewish depends on the profile of
Judaism one is willing to accept. In some cases, arguments against Jewish
provenance reflect a narrow, normative view of Judaism (Efron 1987: 219-86
on thePsalms of Solomon;Nir on2 Baruch). This is not true of Davila, how-
ever, and the questions may be justified in some cases. The boundaries of
Judaism cannot be restricted to concern for the Torah or covenantal
nomism. Conversely, arguments for Jewish diversity based on pseudepi-
graphic texts of uncertain origin cannot bear the full weight of evidence
unless they are supported by parallels in texts that are clearly Jewish.The Place of Apocalypticism
The controversy over the use of the Pseudepigrapha in the reconstruction
of early Judaism is due in large part to the prominence of apocalyptic liter-
ature. Even pseudepigraphic books that are not formally apocalypses, such
as theSibylline Oracles,thePsalms of Solomon,or theTestaments of the
Twelve Patriarchshave much in common with them, especially in their
view of history and eschatology. Only one apocalyptic writing, the book of
Daniel, was included in the Hebrew Bible, and the apocalyptic tradition
was rejected by rabbinic Judaism. The noncanonical apocalypses were
transmitted by Christians, and were not preserved in Hebrew or Aramaic,
although Aramaic fragments of1 Enochand Hebrew fragments ofJubilees
have been found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. It has been said that apocalyp-
ticism is the mother of Christian theology. R. H. Charles saw it as the link
between biblical prophecy and early Christianity, and the view that it was
“the child of prophecy” has always been popular in English-language
scholarship (Rowley 1944). Bousset, in contrast, attributed its rise to Zoro-
astrian influence. Other sources, both biblical (wisdom literature, von Rad
1965: 2:315-30) and foreign (Babylonian traditions, e.g., Kvanvig 1988) have
occasionally been proposed. Only in the last quarter of the twentieth cen-
tury has apocalypticism been recognized as a phenomenon in its own right
rather than as a mutation (or degeneration) of something else (Collins
1998: 26-42).
After the great burst of creative energy expended on the Pseudepigra-12john j. collinsEERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
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