Encyclopedia of Midrash: Biblical Interpretation in Formative Judaism

Encyclopedia of Midrash: Biblical Interpretation in Formative Judaism. Edited by Jacob Neusner and Alan J. Avery Peck. 2 vols. Leiden: Brill, 2005, xi + 1077 pp., $299.00.

This encyclopedia provides "a systematic account of biblical interpretation in Judaism, from well before the second century B.C.E. through the end of the seventh century C.E." Special attention is given to biblical interpretation coming out of various Jewish groups, with emphasis on Rabbinic Judaism, "which came to predominate and which denned the norm of Judaism from antiquity to the present day." Furthermore, "systematic entries by specialists describe how biblical interpretations produced in other communities of Judaism related to Rabbinic Midrash" (p. ix). The emphasis on Rabbinic Judaism is reflected in the fact that there are few references to Christ, only one extended article on Gospel narratives (rather than separate articles on each of the Gospels), none on Paul or other NT epistolary literature, and very little on the OT pseudepigrapha (Pseudo-Philo and Jubilees each have articles dedicated to them) or the OT apocrypha.

The articles are presented in alphabetical order, but a helpful list of the articles in topical order is also provided. Of 56 articles, 22 are written by Jacob Neusner. The prominence of Neusner's hand and perspective is both a strength and a weakness. It is a strength because his expertise in the area is unquestionable and because it results in a consistency of viewpoint that might otherwise be lacking. It is a weakness because more than one viewpoint or approach would often be enriching and because his style (as we shall see) is not really adapted to that expected for encyclopedia entries. Folker Siegert contributes three valuable articles (which essentially constitute one lengthy three-part article) on Hellenistic Jewish Midrash. Three other contributors offer two articles each.

The contributors, for the most part, are well-known experts in the fields of the assigned articles. Besides Neusner's entries on various Rabbinic works contributors include Lawrence H. Schiffman on biblical interpretation in the Dead Sea Scrolls; Louis Feldman on biblical interpretation in Josephus's version of the Pentateuch; and Daniel Harrington on Pseudo-Philo's Biblical Antiquities. David Instone-Brewer (of Tyndale House in Cambridge), the only known evangelical among the contributors, has contributed an excellent article on "Hermeneutics, Theology of."

Sixteen different articles introduce various aspects of Rabbinic midrash. While each article certainly develops a slightly different theme, a simple reading of the titles suggests the kinds of overlap that can be expected: "Midrash, Definitions of," "Theology of Rabbinic Midrash," "Hermeneutics, Techniques of Rabbinic Exegesis," "Henneneutics, A Critical Account," "Hermeneutics, Theology of," "Theological Foundations of Rabbinic Exegesis," and "Language and Midrash." Some issues, such as the origin of the 13 rules attributed to Hillel and the doubtful nature of the relationship between the those rules and that Rabbi, receive multiple treatments as they are considered foundational to many of the issues addressed in the encyclopedia. The different perspectives and emphases of these articles enrich the reader's understanding of the issues.

It is not unusual for different articles to address different issues with respect to individual Rabbinic works. For instance, one kind of article deals with Rabbinic readings of biblical books (e.g. "Leviticus in Leviticus Rabbah"), while another deals with the theology of individual Rabbinic works (e.g. "Leviticus Rabbah, Theology of"). Neusner has written all of the articles dealing with the theologies of the various Rabbinic midrashim and most of those dealing with the Rabbinic readings of biblical books. His articles tend to be overly full of quotations from the texts under discussion. For example, in his 14-page article on "Exodus in Mekhilta Attributed to R. Ishmael" there are two extended citations, one of six full pages followed after one paragraph by another citation of nearly four full pages. While there might be much to be said for extended citations of the primary sources, the text-and-commentary style is unusual and, in my opinion, not the most effective for encyclopedia articles. Readers familiar with many of Neusner's other writings will recognize this as his default writing style.

The one article focusing on the NT is Robert M. Price's article on "New Testament Narrative as Old Testament Midrash." It is an extremely tendentious piece that informs us that while previous scholars "saw gospel echoes of the ancient scriptures in secondary coloring here or redactional juxtaposition of traditional Jesus stories there . . . more recent scrutiny . . . has made it inescapably clear that virtually the entirety of the gospel narratives and much of the Acts are wholly the product of haggadic midrash upon previous scripture" (pp. 534-35). It is natural, we are told, "to picture early Christians beginning with a more or less vague savior myth and seeking to lend it color and detail by anchoring it in a particular historical period and clothing it in scriptural garb" (p. 535). A modern Christian reader "learns what Jesus did by reading the gospels; his ancient counterpart learned what Jesus did by reading Joshua and 1 Kings. It was not a question of memory but of creative exegesis" (p. 535). So "in the end the result is a new perspective according to which we must view the gospels and Acts as analogous with the Book of Mormon, an inspiring pastiche of stories derived creatively from previous scriptures by means of literary extrapolation" (p. 535). He goes on to walk through the Gospel of Mark and other NT narratives, suggesting how different parts were "derived from previous scripture." As is typical of the Jesus Seminar (with which the author is associated) this article portrays radical skepticism as though it reflects the consensus of contemporary biblical scholarship. It is a tremendous disappointment that the only article dealing with the NT reflects such an unbalanced position. Given the treatment provided in this one article, perhaps we should be grateful that so little space was given to the NT. Of course, many renowned scholars of various stripes have clearly demonstrated the poor scholarship behind such radical skepticism. Readers of this Journal are likely to be aware of substantive responses to these views that can be found in works such as Craig Blomberg, The Historical Reliability of the Gospels (InterVarsity, 1987) and R. T. France and D. Wenham, eds., Studies in Midrash and Historiography (Gospel Perspectives 3; JSOT, 1983), as well as excellent commentaries and monographs on the Gospels and Acts that vindicate their historical reliability.