oa The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs: Christian and Jewish

Abstract

This article appears at the end of a six-year period of renewed intensive occupation with the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs following on the publication of a new critical edition of the Greek text of this document in 1978

. In this period H. W. Hollander and the present author prepared The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. A Commentary (SVTP 8), Leiden 1985, incorporating the results of earlier and recent research on the subject. The present paper attempts to explain these results concentrating on a few main issues. In particular, it will deal with the problem whether the Testaments are Jewish or Christian – a question hotly debated during the past hundred years.