Memory, Cultural Memory and Rewriting Scripture

Abstract

The study and analysis of Rewritten Scripture, especially as exemplified by some compositions amongst the Dead Sea Scrolls, has become an increasingly debated and contested area. For the Rewritten Scripture compositions from the late Second Temple period, what might be loosely referred to as the pre-canonical period, at least three schools of thought seem to have emerged. This chapter discusses the profile of memory in the consideration and evaluation of the phenomenon of Rewritten Scripture. It reviews some further aspects of both particular literary compositions and also the phenomenon of Rewriting Scripture more broadly. The chapter concerns with both individual and collective or cultural memory, a combination that has been briefly exploited for the study of some New Testament texts by Markus Bockmuehl. The various forms of the scriptural books that have come to light in the Qumran caves have encouraged reconsideration of some of the canons of text criticism. Keywords: cultural memory; Dead Sea Scrolls; individual memory; Markus Bockmuehl; New Testament texts; pre-canonical period; rewritten scripture