Authoritative Texts and Reception History: Aspects and Approaches (ed. Dan Batovici and Kristin De Troyer; BINS; Leiden Brill, 2016), 20-40. - This is a pre-final version, there are still a few errors, especially in the Hebrew text.
The Greek Jewish Scriptures, known generally as the Septuagint, are an important witness to the r... more The Greek Jewish Scriptures, known generally as the Septuagint, are an important witness to the reception of the Hebrew Bible in Second Temple Judaism. The Septuagint is often used for textual criticism, for gleaning the interpretive tendencies of the translators and for tracing its effect upon early Christianity. It is more rarely, at least in modern times, interpreted as a document in its own right, though it was accepted as Scripture for both Second Temple Jewish and early Christian communities (not to mention the historic Orthodox Church). The present essay attempts to sketch how the Septuagint could be read as a text in its own right. Using the hermeneutical metaphor of the worlds behind, in, and in front of the text, this essay assesses several approaches to the Septuagint, especially three recent and differing translation projects: A New English Translation of the Septuagint (NETS), Septuaginta Deutsch (LXX.D), and La Bible d'Alexandrie (BA). Drawing upon Speech-Act Theory, it is suggested that the paradigm of the Septuaginta Deutsch project, and its principle of approaching the Septuagint "auf Augenhöhe mit dem Text" ("the text in its present outlook") provides the best framework for interpreting the text in its own right. It is argued that the LXX is, on the one hand, an instantiation of the reception of Hebrew Bible and should thus be read as a translated text. On the other hand, the LXX has its own reception history and literary identity and should thus be read as a translated text. The paper concludes by offering a reading of 1 Reigns 16 as an example of reading the Septuagint as a literary document in its own right.
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