4Ezra and 2Baruch: The Status Quaestionis

Abstract

The two books that are the subject of this book, 4Ezra and 2Baruch , are both early Jewish apocalypses. This chapter gives an overview of some more prominent topics in current scholarship on 4Ezra and 2Baruch . Specifically, it looks forward and identifies six areas that seem particularly promising fields of further study with regard to the two texts. These are (1) the place of 4Ezra and 2Baruch in the literature of Second Temple Judaism; (2) some select themes and topics in the study of 4Ezra and 2Baruch ; (3) the relationship of 4Ezra and 2Baruch , with an eye toward their respective compositional structures; (4) 4Ezra , 2Baruch , and early Christianity; (5) 4Ezra , 2Baruch , and post-70 Jewish literature; and (6) the Nachleben of 4Ezra and 2Baruch , with particular attention paid to the manuscript traditions. The chapter concludes with a bibliography of recent scholarship on 4Ezra and 2Baruch , published in between 2000 and 2012. Keywords: 2Baruch ; 4Ezra ; compositional structures; Jewish apocalypses; manuscript tradition; Nachleben ; Second Temple Judaism