Scribal Culture and the Making of the Hebrew Bible [Hardcover]

Karel van der Toorn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 31, 2007

We think of the Hebrew Bible as the Book--and yet it was produced by a largely nonliterate culture in which writing, editing, copying, interpretation, and public reading were the work of a professional elite. The scribes of ancient Israel are indeed the main figures behind the Hebrew Bible, and in this book Karel van der Toorn tells their story for the first time. His book considers the Bible in very specific historical terms, as the output of the scribal workshop of the Second Temple active in the period 500-200 BCE. Drawing comparisons with the scribal practices of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, van der Toorn clearly details the methods, the assumptions, and the material means of production that gave rise to biblical texts; then he brings his observations to bear on two important texts, Deuteronomy and Jeremiah.

Traditionally seen as the copycats of antiquity, the scribes emerge here as the literate elite who held the key to the production as well as the transmission of texts. Van der Toorn's account of scribal culture opens a new perspective on the origins of the Hebrew Bible, revealing how the individual books of the Bible and the authors associated with them were products of the social and intellectual world of the scribes. By taking us inside that world, this book yields a new and arresting appreciation of the Hebrew Scriptures.

(20070901)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Every decade we see the publication of only one or two works of scholarly excellence that fundamentally advance the understanding of the Hebrew Bible and change the intellectual contours of the biblical field. Karel van der Toorn has accomplished this rarest of intellectual achievements. Different branches of biblical studies, whether literary, theological or historical in orientation, will strongly benefit from this volume.
--Mark S. Smith, Skirball Professor of Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Studies, New York University (20071201)

Van der Toorn has made a masterful case that the Hebrew Bible is the product of the scribal culture of ancient Israel and Judaism. His argument is lucidly and elegantly plotted and relentlessly and convincingly logical. Particularly striking is his ability to bring evidence from other ancient Near Eastern cultures on the scribal craft, especially Mesopotamia, to a penetrating and nuanced elucidation of the Biblical case. In all, this is really a major contribution to Biblical studies and a triumph of the comparative approach to them.
--Peter Machinist, Hancock Professor of Hebrew and Other Oriental Languages, Harvard University

Karel van der Toorn has truly swept away a number of improbable theories and at the same time has laid a firm foundation for future research. He cuts through much of the speculation of the recent scholarly debate and proposes new theories that will be controversial but are based on solid evidence. Future debates on this topic will need to take his contributions into account or risk being perceived to be out of touch with the reality of ancient literary practice.
--Robert R. Wilson, Hoober Professor of Religious Studies and Professor of Old Testament, Yale University

This scrupulous study by the Dutch scholar Karel van der Toorn of how the Hebrew Bible was written and then evolved over time is in most respects finely instructive. Some of what Toorn has to say involves concepts long familiar to Biblical scholars, though even in this regard he provides many fresh insights. Nearly all the book's argument, moreover, offers a strong corrective to misconceptions about the Bible...Karel van der Toorn is the perfect--and bracing--antithesis to Harold Bloom...Scribal Culture and the Making of the Hebrew Bible is a salutary book based on the most formidable scholarly knowledge and analysis. It will compel readers to rethink their conceptions of literary production in ancient Israel, and it is a valuable reminder that in many respects those responsible for the biblical corpus were quite far from being early Iron Age equivalents of Flaubert or Henry James.
--Robert Alter (London Review of Books )

Building upon the growing recognition that the Hebrew Bible came into being as the Near East moved from an oral to a written culture…Van der Toorn...examines the central role ancient scribes played in shaping the biblical text. The author brings to bear his vast knowledge of scribal practices throughout the ancient Near East, and thereby shows how the Bible’s growth is illuminated when seen against this background. While at times speculative (e.g., his contention that Deuteronomy passed through four editions, which he neatly delineates), the author’s research calls into question those who blithely dismiss source and redaction criticism; it also challenges the conclusions of historical minimalists who date the vast bulk of the Hebrew Bible to late in the Persian or early in the Hellenistic era. Furthermore, the portrait Van der Toorn draws of scribal training deals a devastating blow to critics who argue that J may have been a woman. Van der Toorn demonstrates that the scribes who produced the Hebrew Bible were part of a wider scribal culture and that those who ignore this fact end up misunderstanding the biblical text and its history.
--J.S. Kaminsky (Choice )

Van der Toorn covers considerable ground in this volume. He surveys literacy and authorship in the ancient world, the culture and vocation of scribes, production of the Moses and prophetic traditions, and the issues of revelation and canon...This volume is extremely valuable. Scribal Culture is a must-read for anyone interested in the issues of the formation, transmission, and standardization of the Hebrew Bible.
--Charles Halton (Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society )

About the Author

Karel van der Toorn is President of the University of Amsterdam.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Harvard University Press; annotated edition edition (March 31, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674024370
• ISBN-13: 978-0674024373
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #474,752 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Scribes Not Authors, Scrolls Not Books, May 16, 2009

By 

Edward G. Simmons "Author & Speaker" (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Scribal Culture and the Making of the Hebrew Bible (Paperback)

With the exception of the book of Daniel, the Hebrew Bible, says Van der Toorn, was the product of streams of tradition recorded and edited by scribes who were Levites connected to the Temple in Jerusalem. These Levites descended from the priesthood in Israel that had migrated to Judah after the Assyrian conquest and became integrated into the ranks of priests as the scribes. Consequently, Van der Toorn asserts that it is anachronism to refer to the Bible as a collection of books. Books are separate items with an author who designs parts to produce a whole and intends this product to be appreciated by an audience. Books thus presume authors, a book trade, and a literate public. Study of such books can appropriately focus on authenticity of authorship and the general intentions and message of the author. But, according to Van der Toorn, books and authors did not come into existence until the Hellenistic period. Before then the materials that evolved into the Hebrew Bible were streams of tradition recorded on various scrolls by an organized group of scribes. The scrolls represented the product of oral traditions mixed with the editorial activity of the scribes. The way to study the Hebrew Bible, then, is to trace the signs within documents that point to scribal editing. Based on this method, Van der Toorn argues there were four editions of the book of Deuteronomy that came approximately at forty year intervals as the scribes replaced the master copy of the book with an updated edition.

Van der Toorn uses Mesopotamian and Egyptian archeology and literature as he argues that Jewish scribes were part of a Middle Eastern phenomenon. Scribes were usually attached to the palace of the ruler and important temples. Van der Toorn believes that the key work on the Bible was done at the Jerusalem temple. He argues that Mesopotamian scribes were the first to claim that written documents represented authoritative revelation which superseded oral traditions. He says this transition happened in Mesopotamia around 1150 B.C.E. That transition happened in Judah, he maintains, with the Josiah reform of 622 when a written version of Deuteronomy was used as the basis for overruling oral tradition. Thenceforward written documents began to be viewed as revelation and the oral tradition was downgraded. Eventually the doctrine took hold that the era of prophecy had come to a close with the work of Ezra, who is credited with publishing the five books of the Torah as Jewish law, thus representing the closing of the canon as it relates to the Pentateuch. In the final analysis, the books that were included in the Hebrew Bible were those that were considered prior to the prophetic activity of Ezra. The books of prophecy that were admitted to the Masoretic canon derived from streams of tradition prior to Ezra with the exception of Daniel which was the only example of pseudepigraphy that was accepted as legitimately by an ancient prophet.

Van der Toorn goes into the books of Deuteronomy and Jeremiah to show in detail how the scribal procedures resulted in editions of Torah and prophets. Among the interesting facts that are revealed are that Jeremiah denounces the discovery of Deuteronomy in the temple under Josiah as a fraud perpetrated by the scribes; that Malachi was an invented prophet needed to bring the scroll of minor prophets to the perfect number twelve; and that Daniel was erroneously accepted as a legitimate traditional prophet when the book was definitely pseudonymous. He also argues that there was no closure of the canon at a particular time and place. Rather, the scribes were concerned with the closure of the canonization period, which is to say they accepted books that were regarded as reflecting material up to the life of Ezra, whose work was regarded as bringing to an end the age of prophesy. From that time onward, the scribes and their successors in Judaism maintained that revelation could only be found by studying the texts that became the Hebrew Bible.

Van der Toorn's book is very readable and full of provocative insights. Anyone interested in the development of the Hebrew Bible will find this work to be very worthwhile.

45 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good description of early scribal culture, May 12, 2007

By 

Carl Kinbar (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Scribal Culture and the Making of the Hebrew Bible (Hardcover)

The nature of my Ph.D. thesis required an in-depth study of orality theory. Although I had studied early scribal culture, this book -- though clearly intended for the non-specialist -- brings together a significant depth and breadth of material on the subject. Unfortunately, although occasionally referencing orally produced material, van der Toon is overly scribe-centered and does not seriously engage orality theory. This produces a lop-sided impression of how the texts of the Hebrew Scriptures were formed and shaped. Nevetheless, the depiction of scribal culture is easily strong enough for me to recommend the first part of the book.

Unfortunately, I can not recommend the second part of the book, in which van der Toom attempts to reconstruct the writing and collection of the texts that make up the Hebrew Scriptures. Out of the massive mixture of consensus, bold ideas, and cautious suggestions that exist in the scholarship of this field, he fabricates a thesis in which all notions favorable to his paradigm function as equally certain. A more minimalist approach would, in my opinion, have produced less detailed but more convincing conclusions.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Speaking of writing..., June 30, 2009

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Ramon Antonio "RASBooker" (Pueto Rico) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Scribal Culture and the Making of the Hebrew Bible (Paperback)

This book is somewhat elevated reading, meaning that it is not an easy read. However, it is iluminating and insightful on things other than its core theme of jewish scripture historic study. This book provides a very comprehensive overview of culture development and history in the making process. Its impact is well beyond religion evolution and really breaks through in cultural evolution and social organizations. The problem is that it has to be read slowly, it can't be read casually. This is a study book, a guide to anotate other references. it is invaluable for that and a cornerstone in its theme. With this caution, I fully enjoy it continued use.