The Greatest Mirror: Heavenly Counterparts in the Jewish Pseudepigrapha

Author:   Andrei A. Orlov
Publisher:   State University of New York Press
ISBN:  

9781438466903


Pages:   318
Publication Date:   02 July 2018
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   Manufactured on demand   Availability explained
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The Greatest Mirror: Heavenly Counterparts in the Jewish Pseudepigrapha


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Overview

The idea of a heavenly double—an angelic twin of an earthbound human—can be found in Christian, Manichaean, Islamic, and Kabbalistic traditions. Scholars have long traced the lineage of these ideas to Greco-Roman and Iranian sources. In The Greatest Mirror, Andrei A. Orlov shows that heavenly twin imagery drew in large part from early Jewish writings. The Jewish pseudepigrapha—books from the Second Temple period that were attributed to biblical figures but excluded from the Hebrew Bible—contain accounts of heavenly twins in the form of spirits, images, faces, children, mirrors, and angels of the Presence. Orlov provides a comprehensive analysis of these traditions in their full historical and interpretive complexity. He focuses on heavenly alter egos of Enoch, Moses, Jacob, Joseph, and Aseneth in often neglected books, including Animal Apocalypse, Book of the Watchers, 2 Enoch, Ladder of Jacob, and Joseph and Aseneth, some of which are preserved solely in the Slavonic language.

Full Product Details

Author:   Andrei A. Orlov
Publisher:   State University of New York Press
Imprint:   State University of New York Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.50cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.227kg
ISBN:  

9781438466903


ISBN 10:   1438466900
Pages:   318
Publication Date:   02 July 2018
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand   Availability explained
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

Preface Abbreviations Introduction 1. The Heavenly Counterpart Traditions in the Enochic Pseudepigrapha 2. The Heavenly Counterpart Traditions in the Mosaic Pseudepigrapha 3. The Heavenly Counterpart Traditions in the Pseudepigrapha about Jacob 4. The Heavenly Counterpart Traditions in Joseph and Aseneth Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

Reviews

...[a] fascinating and rewarding new book ... [it] is extremely well-written, the topic is endlessly interesting, the evidence is exhaustively covered, and its author has put forward his thesis in the best manner possible. - Reading Religion This book fills a lacuna in the understanding of a fascinating yet enigmatic collection of writings of an obscure genre of Jewish pseudepigrapha dealing with heavenly counterparts of human beings. - CHOICE This book is the first complete effort to show how some pseudepigraphical works develop several unique traditions about heavenly counterparts. It is particularly important for many scholars who do not have control of the Slavonic originals of the Ladder of Jacob and 2 Enoch. Orlov also draws on a broad range of unfamiliar sources, including Manichaean and Mandaean materials, which were often neglected by experts who previously investigated the heavenly counterpart imagery. - Alexander Kulik, coauthor of Biblical Pseudepigrapha in Slavonic Tradition


"""…[a] fascinating and rewarding new book … [it] is extremely well-written, the topic is endlessly interesting, the evidence is exhaustively covered, and its author has put forward his thesis in the best manner possible."" — Reading Religion ""This book fills a lacuna in the understanding of a fascinating yet enigmatic collection of writings of an obscure genre of Jewish pseudepigrapha dealing with heavenly counterparts of human beings."" — CHOICE ""This book is the first complete effort to show how some pseudepigraphical works develop several unique traditions about heavenly counterparts. It is particularly important for many scholars who do not have control of the Slavonic originals of the Ladder of Jacob and 2 Enoch. Orlov also draws on a broad range of unfamiliar sources, including Manichaean and Mandaean materials, which were often neglected by experts who previously investigated the heavenly counterpart imagery."" — Alexander Kulik, coauthor of Biblical Pseudepigrapha in Slavonic Tradition"


This book fills a lacuna in the understanding of a fascinating yet enigmatic collection of writings of an obscure genre of Jewish pseudepigrapha dealing with heavenly counterparts of human beings. - CHOICE This book is the first complete effort to show how some pseudepigraphical works develop several unique traditions about heavenly counterparts. It is particularly important for many scholars who do not have control of the Slavonic originals of the Ladder of Jacob and 2 Enoch. Orlov also draws on a broad range of unfamiliar sources, including Manichaean and Mandaean materials, which were often neglected by experts who previously investigated the heavenly counterpart imagery. - Alexander Kulik, coauthor of Biblical Pseudepigrapha in Slavonic Tradition


Author Information

Andrei A. Orlov is Professor of Judaism and Christianity in Antiquity at Marquette University. He is the author of Dark Mirrors: Azazel and Satanael in Early Jewish Demonology and Divine Scapegoats: Demonic Mimesis in Early Jewish Mysticism, both also published by SUNY Press.

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