Texts without Contexts: The Dating of Biblical Texts

Weeks, Stuart

Texts without Contexts: The Dating of Biblical Texts

Weeks, Stuart

Authors

Professor Stuart Weeks s.d.weeks@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Contributors

Gerald Moers
Editor

Kai Widmaier
Editor

Antonia Giewekemeyer
Editor

Arndt Lümers
Editor

Ralf Ernst
Editor

Abstract

We know little about the circumstances which gave rise to the composition of biblical texts, except what they themselves choose to tell us, and there is much debate about their dates and origins. They not only furnish a salutary example, however, of the many problems involved in trying to pin down the date of ancient texts, but also emphasize the need to consider such texts against a broader background. They are not necessarily simple products of single contexts, but may be used and re-used across long periods, with different circumstances potentially providing new contexts and new uses. Ultimately, there is more to texts than their date of composition, and it would be a mistake to rely wholly on theories of origin as a key to interpretation of meaning.

Citation

Weeks, S. (2013). Texts without Contexts: The Dating of Biblical Texts. In G. Moers, K. Widmaier, A. Giewekemeyer, A. Lümers, & R. Ernst (Eds.), Dating Egyptian literary texts (599-616). Widmaier Verlag

Publication Date	Dec 1, 2013
Deposit Date	Mar 7, 2013
Publicly Available Date	Nov 14, 2014
Publisher	Widmaier Verlag
Pages	599-616
Series Title	Lingua Aegyptia – Studia Monographica
Book Title	Dating Egyptian literary texts.
Publisher URL	http://wwwuser.gwdg.de/~lingaeg/lingaeg_studmon11.htm