Papers by Max Kramer
Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies, 2024
This paper explores Ezekiel's manipulation of the Hellenistic conventions of ekphrasis to articul... more This paper explores Ezekiel's manipulation of the Hellenistic conventions of ekphrasis to articulate the religious distinctiveness of his play. While Moses approaches the burning bush with the confidence of a Hellenistic viewer, who can reveal the meaning of what is before him by an act of virtuosic interpretation, God's rebuke articulates an alternative sensory hierarchy and an assertion of the primacy of words and texts in divine communication. This paper seeks to locate this striking departure from Hellenistic convention in the literary and religious context of both Jews and Greeks living in the era of Ezekiel.
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Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha, 2022
Ezekiel’s Exagoge is unusual as a Greek tragedy not only because it draws on Biblical rather than... more Ezekiel’s Exagoge is unusual as a Greek tragedy not only because it draws on Biblical rather than mythological subject matter but also because it makes such extensive use of an external source for much of its text: the Septuagint. Although the general concept of a Greek tragedy on a Jewish subject has drawn the attention of many scholars, the literary function of the Exagoge’s close relationship with the LXX text remains comparatively unexplored. In this article, I examine in detail several passages which connect the texts. These reveal that Ezekiel’s use of text from the Septuagint is not a symptom of a lack of poetic ingenuity but rather a deliberate literary choice. The intertextual links engage the audience intellectually by encouraging them to consider the ways in which Ezekiel receives, interprets, and occasionally departs from the Biblical text and its associated exegetical traditions. A comparison of Ezekiel’s poetry with that of the Greek poet Callimachus shows that Ezekiel’s engagement with scholarly, interpretational, and literary questions through the medium of poetry reflects the techniques and interests of the so-called Hellenistic poets, the sophisticated non-Jewish writers of his own age.
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Book Reviews by Max Kramer
Journal of Theological Studies, 2018
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Expository Times, 2022
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Conferences and Conference Panels by Max Kramer
The fact that Ezekiel used the Septuagint of Exodus as a source for his play the Exagoge has long... more The fact that Ezekiel used the Septuagint of Exodus as a source for his play the Exagoge has long been recognised. In this paper I argue that he also expected at least some of his audience to have a knowledge of the text of the Septuagint. Indeed, Ezekiel uses his play not only to retell the Exodus story, but to comment on textual and exegetical issues in the LXX. These range from small issues of detail - the number of people who went down into Egypt or the location of Midian - to more thematic questions of the source-basis of his work and the morality of the Biblical account itself. This interplay between two texts, and the writing of poetry that also serves as philological commentary, is reminiscent of the methods and interests of the Hellenistic poets, who shaped Ezekiel's poetic approach to his work. Despite this Hellenistic influence, in the meta-textual scene at the Burning Bush, Ezekiel claims textuality as a Jewish mode of theological epistemology, against a Hellenistic preference for the language of sight.
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This series sets out to consider the importance of Jewish literature written in Greek. Whereas mu... more This series sets out to consider the importance of Jewish literature written in Greek. Whereas much has been said about the historical and theological content of these texts, this series intends instead to look at Jewish writings in Greek as literary works. We take these texts to be the product of the interaction of two cultural identities. We believe that a focus on their form, in addition to their content, has the potential to inform our understanding of the complex negotiations of culture and identity which come with being Jewish, but writing Greek.
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Organised Conferences and Conference Panels by Max Kramer
Greek texts written by Jews in the Hellenistic and Imperial period (ca. 3rd century B.C.E. to 3rd... more Greek texts written by Jews in the Hellenistic and Imperial period (ca. 3rd century B.C.E. to 3rd C.E.) occupy numerous positions within two traditions; Jewish liturgical, religious and legal texts combine with historians, poets, novelists and tragedians. Some are translations, others new compositions. Some are written for a Jewish, others for a non-Jewish audience. Much has been said about the historical as well as theological contexts and content of these works. However, relatively few studies have considered these Jewish writings in Greek as literary works. In this conference, then, we want to bring together scholars from the fields of Classics, Biblical Studies, Jewish Studies and beyond to explore the literary aspects of these Jewish texts in Greek. The interdisciplinary nature of the conference is vital, as we seek to consider these texts as the product of two interacting cultural identities. We believe that a focus on form, in addition to content, has the potential to better our understanding of the negotiations of culture and identity which come with being Jewish, and writing Greek.
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Papers by Max Kramer
Book Reviews by Max Kramer
Conferences and Conference Panels by Max Kramer
Organised Conferences and Conference Panels by Max Kramer