Exploring Three Contemporary Scholarly Positions About the Book of Noah

Abstract

The focal point of this thesis is recent discussions and views on the supposedly lost Book of Noah by three scholars namely Michael Edward Stone, Divorah Dimant and Richard Steiner. Thus, the project examines the scholarly debates or discourse, tensions and discussions that are ongoing among scholars in the field of Pseudepigrapha studies particularly regarding the Book of Noah. It explores the different key moments/turns in the history of the Book of Noah about how scholars at different time periods and contexts have imagined and argued for or against the existence of such entity, and what this discussion may tell us about the development of studies of Jewish Antiquity as a modern discipline. It employs meta-critical literary analysis and Book History as method and theory respectively. The thesis belongs to the discipline History of Religions.