Demons, Angels, and Writing in Ancient Judaism

A new explanation of the beginnings of Jewish angelology and demonology, drawing on non-canonical writings and Aramaic Dead Sea Scrolls.

Annette Yoshiko Reed (Author)

9781108746090, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 24 February 2022

363 pages, 3 tables
22.8 x 15.3 x 2.1 cm, 0.563 kg

'Reed's work in Demons, Angels, and Writing in Ancient Judaism is monumental and consequential. Not only does it serve as a model for the type of synchronic analysis she undertakes, but also stands as a testament to its fruitfulness. … essential reading, especially for those working on Jewish literature and scribal practices in the Second Temple period.' Michael DeVries, Reading Religion

What did ancient Jews believe about demons and angels? This question has long been puzzling, not least because the Hebrew Bible says relatively little about such transmundane powers. In the centuries after the conquests of Alexander the Great, however, we find an explosion of explicit and systematic interest in, and detailed discussions of, demons and angels. In this book, Annette Yoshiko Reed considers the third century BCE as a critical moment for the beginnings of Jewish angelology and demonology. Drawing on early 'pseudepigrapha' and Aramaic Dead Sea Scrolls, she reconstructs the scribal settings in which transmundane powers became a topic of concerted Jewish interest. Reed also situates this development in relation to shifting ideas about scribes and writing across the Hellenistic Near East. Her book opens a window onto a forgotten era of Jewish literary creativity that nevertheless deeply shaped the discussion of angels and demons in Judaism and Christianity.

1. Multiplicity, monotheism, and memory in Ancient Israel
2. Rethinking scribalism and change in Second Temple Judaism
3. Writing angels, astronomy, and Aramaic in the early Hellenistic age
4. Textualizing demonology as Jewish knowledge and scribal expertise
5. Rewriting angels, demons, and the ancestral archive of Jewish knowledge.

Subject Areas: Judaism: mysticism [HRJX], Judaism: sacred texts [HRJS], Judaism [HRJ], History of religion [HRAX]