Series: Compendia Rerum Iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum

Section 1 - The Jewish people in the first century Historial geography, political history, social, cultural and religious life and institutions Edited by S. Safrai and M. Stern in cooperation with D. Flusser and W.C. van Unnik

Section 2 - The Literature of the Jewish People in the Period of the Second Temple and the Talmud

Section 3 - Jewish Traditions in Early Christian Literature

This work contains selected essays dealing with the Jewish Literature of the Second Temple period, focusing around central themes of recent research. Stone's varied interests are reflected in this book, gathered around four main themes. Under the title "Enoch and the Testaments" are assembled studies which present and draw the implications from recent discoveries (including the Dead Sea Scrolls) as they modify the view of these two pivotal documents of ancient Judaism. Another focus of Stone's work has been 4 Ezra or 2 Esdras, a work reflecting the situation of Judaism, and especially to the understanding of apocalypticism, form a third section of the present work, while the particular development of apocryphal literature in Armenian is its fourth division.
This work presents a range of significant studies in areas standing at the forefront of the study of Ancient Judaism.

Legends about Adam and Eve are to be found in Jewish, Christian and Moslem sources. They develop the first chapters of Genesis in many and varied ways, reflecting the religious understanding of the different traditions.
In this volume 29 new texts are presented for the first time from unpublished Armenian manuscripts. The Armenian texts are accompanied by translations, introductions and commentaries, in which their roots in more ancient Jewish and Christian literature are explored.
These texts illustrate the rich development of Adam traditions in an oriental Christian tradition, with relationship to Greek, Syriac and Georgian sources. Their ramifications extend back into earlier Jewish traditions and they are keys to understanding many aspects of medieval Armenian culture.