Dreamers, Scribes, and Priests

Book excerpt: This investigation focuses on divinely-sent dreams in early Judaism and discusses their literary forms and socio-religious functions. It examines Jewish dreams in the Bible, Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, Dead Sea Scrolls, and Josephus, setting them in the wider context of antecedent and contemporary dream cultures. Part One grounds the project in the dream traditions of the ancient Near East, Hebrew Bible, Greece, and Rome. Part Two investigates the unique emphases of early Jewish dreams, including: a priestly and scribal milieu, access to various planes of reality, new roles for dream messengers, and incubation rituals. Part Three explores implications for several related topics of study, including the rise of apocalypticism and early Jewish mysticism, and the social history of early Judaism.