The volume publishes papers presented at the International Conference on the Deuterocanonical Books (Pápa, Hungary). This conference dealt with the deuterocanonical additions of the Old Testament books. As such, this was one of the most extended discussions of these writings that has ever taken place at a scholarly meeting. The volume contains articles on the traditions and theology of the additions, and demonstrates their relationship with the contemporary literature of early Judaism.
Several writings of the Hebrew Bible – such as Esther, Daniel and Jeremiah – have different textual forms in the Greek Bible, and these forms display amplified material compared to the Hebrew versions. These additions testify to the creative reflection of early Jewish circles on the basic traditions of these Books and the textual fluidity of the writings in question.
The essays of this volume explore these additions, their relationship to the Hebrew parent texts, and their impact on the effective history of the interpretation of later centuries.