4 Maccabees
Updated by:
Shlomo Brand
Research notes:
SB/not checked/20/07/2021
Reference type:
Book section
year:
2021
Full title:
4 Maccabees
Journal / Book Title || Series Title:
The Oxford Handbook of the Apocrypha
Editor(s):
Gerbern S. Oegema
Place of Publication:
New York
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Pages:
200-216
Chapter:
13
Work type:
Essay/Monograph
Abstract:
4 Maccabees is the oldest Jewish writing entirely devoted to martyrdom and one of the four Maccabean books that are part of the Septuagint. It is an anonymous work that combines a philosophical treatise about the autonomy of reason based on religion with praise for the Maccabean martyrs, heroes whose heroic death is already reported in 2 Maccabees 6–7. This chapter offers a survey of the introductory issues (transmission of the text, date, provenance, literary features) and a detailed discussion of the book’s extensive reinterpretation of the Maccabean martyrdoms and important themes: beneficial death, vindication of the martyrs, and political significance of the martyrdoms.
Primary Texts: Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha:
Composition / Author:
4 Maccabees
Record reference:
URL:
https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190689643.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780190689643-e-12
Label:
09/08/2021
Record number:
107 837