Review of Books / Journal for the Study of 39 (2008) 374-453 401

Reading the Present in the Library: Th e Perception of the Contemporary by Means of Scriptural Interpretations. Edited by Kristin De Troyer and Armin Lange, with the assistance of Katie M. Goetz and Susan Bond. (SBL Symposium Series 30). Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2005. Pp. viii, 236. Cloth. €89.00 / $127.00. ISBN 90-04- 13761-0 (also: SBL, Atlanta 2005. Pp. 236. Paper. $32.95, ISBN 1-58983-150-6).

Th is book and its title are based on a collection of essays from a session entitled Reading the Present in the Qumran Library, which was held in 2003 during the SBL International Meeting in Cambridge, England. Th e authors of the eleven essays in this volume are all searching for answers to several intertwined questions: How does the interpretation of authoritative texts reflect the understanding of the present? How is the understanding of the present shaped by the use of the Scrip- ture? And how has the present shaped the interpretation of authoritative texts? Th e outcome of the session is summarized by Kristin de Troyer in the final section of the volume. Th e opening essay is written by a systematic scholar, Christine Helmer, who discusses the status of sacred text as the “truth bearer.” She points out the tension between historical and theological truth that developed after the Enlightenment, an issue that is probably more important for the modern rather than the ancient interpreters of the Bible. Helmer analyzes the value of the Bible as the founda- tional document of a religion. After that, she discusses the twofold truth of the Scripture with both the objective and subjective truths, the dialogue between the transhistorical truth and contemporary, individual interpretations. Finally, she talks about the Bible as a written document and the symbolical act of “eating the Scroll.” Th e truth of the Scripture is an incarnate truth changing and transforming the present of the readers. Th e article shows the different perspectives from which the possibilities and limitations of the hermeneutical processes are seen in system- atic theology, in comparison to . In Jutta Jokiranta’s article, the author utilizes the social identity theory, a meth- odological approach that was developed in field of social psychology, in order to analyze the Habakkuk . Jokiranta rejects the pesharim as a source for his- torical information, and sees them rather as documents reflecting the identity and self-understanding of the Qumran community. In the pesharim, as the authors were reading the present in light of Scripture, they were constructing the identity of the community as the faithful ones. Reading the Habakkuk pesher through the lens of the social identity theory, Jokiranta demonstrates how the persecuted and suffering community could interpret their trials and tribulations as the markers of the truly chosen ones, and thus, create a positive social identity. Lawrence Schiffman shows in his article how the texts found at Qumran con- tain not only contemporizing readings of prophetic texts, but also contemporizing halakic exegesis. Schiffman suggests that the sectarians were aware of their con- temporizing work, even when the texts themselves claim the opposite. Schiffman

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2008 DOI: 10.1163/157006308X313076 402 Review of Books / Journal for the Study of Judaism 39 (2008) 374-453 demonstrates, with examples from the Qumran legal texts, how the interpretation of Scripture moves from differentiation to contemporization, thus updating the biblical legal traditions to meet the needs of the community. In the fourth article, Lutz Doering discusses textual examples from the genre of the “Diaspora letters.” Doering focuses on the Jeremianic texts and traditions, and defines them as fictitious epistles. Th e setting of this genre is that of the exile, either the Diaspora proper or a situation in the land of comparable with or experienced as the exile. He shows in light of new evidence that these texts could be used earlier and more widely than so far has been suggested, even in pre-70 settings. According the Doering, the purpose of these documents was to make sense of the present situation, and to emphasize the unity of the people. Th e article by George J. Brooke investigates the place of Scripture in the process of entering the Qumran movement. Brooke begins by defining the process of becoming a member as a conversion to a minority movement, as suggested by the -in the communi (שוב) frequent use of relevant terminology such as the verb šub ty’s sectarian texts. Brooke continues to search for the role of authoritative litera- ture as a means to justify the conversion and uses the seven-stage conversion theory created by John Lofland and Rodney Stark, refined by insights from Lewis Rambo’s theories. Using these theories, Brooke investigates how the Qumranites, and the new members in particular, might have read their present, and how Scrip- ture was used to support the process of conversion and the emerging new identity during the different stages of the conversion process. From his analysis it emerges that while not all of the changes were necessarily justified by Scripture, the conver- sion theory helps to explain why Scripture was used and interpreted in certain ways in the community, and how it could be used to support and justify the move from mainstream Judaism to a minority identity. Loren T. Stuckenbruck investigates how the present has shaped the way that the Animal Apocalypse (1 Enoch 85-90) creates a selective retelling of past history and the future events. He points out that in texts like the Animal Apocalypse, there are in fact two “presents”: one of the purported author, and one of the real author. Th e presentation of the purported author as the figure of Enoch, is, according to Stuckenbruck, a means to interpret the contemporary situation. One of the first questions Stuckenbruck discusses is which present should be the goal of investiga- tion. Even on the level of the literary present, the voices of young and old Enoch are intertwined; however, after considering the larger context of the entire compo- sition of 1 Enoch, Stuckenbruck places the literary present in the time of young Enoch, before the flood. Th e second present of the text, according to Stuckenbruck, is that of its actual authors/redactors. Th is period is dated to the time of Maccabean revolt. Since Judah’s death is not referred to, 160 B.C.E. provides us the terminus ad quem for the Animal Apocalypse. Th e document contains allusions to contemporary events, presenting Judah as a figure of hope appointed by divine authority. According to