Intertextualität und die Kunst des Widerstands. Ein sozio-rhetorischer Kommentar zum 6. Esra-Buch

• Antragsteller: Luigi Walt, Ph.D.
• Fachliche Zuordnung: Katholische Theologie ; Religionswissenschaft und Judaistik
• Förderung: Förderung von 2014 bis 2017
• Projektkennung: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Projektnummer 250016534

From Early Christian times throughout the Middle Ages, many writings have been transmitted under the name of Ezra, and modern scholarship has only partially explored this wide-ranging constellation of texts. Until now, the greatest attention has always been given to the Fourth Book of Ezra (the most important part of the literary complex also known as "2 Esdras", included in the Biblical Apocrypha), often without considering the importance of its later Latin additions, labelled as Fifth and Sixth Ezra. These last two works are both oracular texts, standing within the common tradition of Jewish and Christian apocalyptic literature, but distinctly differing with respect to authorship, provenance, and date of composition. While Fifth Ezra can be regarded as a clearly Christian composition, probably written in the mid-second century, the case of Sixth Ezra appears still controversial, and this should invite a more careful re-examination of its social and religious background. The present project aims to re-open critical debate in this direction, as well as to plea in favour of the opportunity to provide to such a neglected text its own first, independent commentary. Taking advantage of a recent critical edition, the primary goal of the project will be to reassert the historical value of the Sixth Book of Ezra, in order to recover its subtle intertextual plot, reimagine its social world, and re-excavate its puzzling reception history.

• DFG-Verfahren: Sachbeihilfen