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Papers by David Carr
This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyon... more This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers.
Journal of Hebrew Scriptures, 2007
This conversation with Jacob L. Wright, Rebuilding Identity: The Nehemiah Memoir and its Earliest... more This conversation with Jacob L. Wright, Rebuilding Identity: The Nehemiah Memoir and its Earliest Readers (BZAW, 348; Berlin: de Gruyter, 2004) began in a special session of the Chronicles-Ezra-Nehemiah section that was held at the national meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature in November 2006 (Washington, DC). It includes an introduction by the editor and contributions by Deirdre N. Fulton, David M. Carr, Ralph W. Klein and a response by Jacob L. Wright.
Vetus Testamentum, 2020
Past studies of the formation of Genesis 1 have varied between a hypothesis of ‘Word’ and ‘Act’ S... more Past studies of the formation of Genesis 1 have varied between a hypothesis of ‘Word’ and ‘Act’ Strata, the idea of a secondary Sabbath-oriented (Holiness) Stratum, and Arguments for literary unity. This article gathers older and new arguments to advance the hypothesis of a secondary Sabbath-oriented stratum.
Journal of Hebrew Scriptures, 2005
Advances in Ancient, Biblical and Near Eastern Research, 2023
This essay is an updated proposal for a material historical scroll approach to the formation of t... more This essay is an updated proposal for a material historical scroll approach to the formation of the Hebrew Bible, particularly the Pentateuch (cf. Carr in Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 2020). Since this approach draws on data concerning scroll practices in nearby ancient cultures, the article provides a brief survey of potentially significant aspects of ancient Egyptian, Levantine, Greek, Demotic and Second Temple Jewish practices surrounding literary scrolls—how compositions (or parts of them) were inscribed on them, scroll length ranges and types, and ways in which existing scrolls were revised. This preliminary survey suggests that a substantial shift occurred around early Hellenistic period toward development of scrolls with unusually high carrying capacity (both in writing density and length), facilitating somewhat of a media revolution in the amount of literary material that could be recorded on a single written object. Though possibly prompted in part by Greek writing practices and technologies, this development toward use of some high-carrying-capacity scrolls seems associated with some temple and priest-adjacent preservationist scribal contexts where scribes used such high-carrying-capacity scrolls to conserve indigenous literary traditions amidst a broader environment dominated by another language. These and other findings have significant implications for exploring the complex relation between written artifacts and memorized/performed textual works in the Ancient Near East and the development of models for the inscription of Hebrew textual traditions across scrolls in the pre-Hellenistic and Greco-Roman periods. In addition, the article proposes several measures and terms that might be adapted to discuss scroll features across multiple culture areas, such as letter spaces (or the quadrat or other equivalent for Egyptian sign systems) per linear centimeter, cumulative line space, and square centimeters of white space per linear centimeter.
A study of how Christian theological ("allegorical" or "spiritual") interpretation of the Song of... more A study of how Christian theological ("allegorical" or "spiritual") interpretation of the Song of Songs compares with erotic mysticism in other world religious traditions. What do we learn about Christian interpretation of SoS when comparing it with other religious traditions?
Uses documented cases of textual dependence (e.g. the Temple scroll in relation to biblical books... more Uses documented cases of textual dependence (e.g. the Temple scroll in relation to biblical books) to develop rules for determining the direction of textual dependence, and application of these rules to Exod 34:11-26 and its relations with other biblical texts.
An early essay using contemporary studies of trauma to illuminate the impact of the trauma of the... more An early essay using contemporary studies of trauma to illuminate the impact of the trauma of the Babylonian exile on Biblical Prophecy (followed by the book, Holy Resilience: The Bible's Traumatic Origins, Yale, 2014)
Use of documented cases of transmission history to inform theories of the formation of the Pentat... more Use of documented cases of transmission history to inform theories of the formation of the Pentateuch, with a particular focus on evidence for Harmonization/Coordination in the formation of non-Priestly texts.
A historical review of the rise of Torah traditions across Israelite-Judean history, from a relat... more A historical review of the rise of Torah traditions across Israelite-Judean history, from a relatively marginal position to the foundational center of the Hebrew Bible.
A survey of some typical uses of the term intertextuality in study of the (Hebrew) Bible, most of... more A survey of some typical uses of the term intertextuality in study of the (Hebrew) Bible, most of which make it equivalent to inner-biblical allusion. The article advocates reconsideration of Kristeva's and others' early non-genetic understanding of intertextuality and explores its potential for biblical studies.
A critique of recent trends to identify large swathes of Hexateuchal narratives as post-Priestly,... more A critique of recent trends to identify large swathes of Hexateuchal narratives as post-Priestly, with a focus on examples from the primeval history and Joshua 24.
A survey of developments in Pentateuchal theory, 1950-2012
A discussion of good and bad indicators that there was a (late) pre-Priestly compositional connec... more A discussion of good and bad indicators that there was a (late) pre-Priestly compositional connection between Genesis and the Moses story.
Conference Presentations by David Carr
Written in honor of and gratitude to Michael V. Fox, this essay (originally a contribution to an ... more Written in honor of and gratitude to Michael V. Fox, this essay (originally a contribution to an inter-disciplinary conference (biblical scholars and Germanists) on "Practices of Written Communication" in September 2014.
Learning in ancient Israel, as in most societies of its time, was first and foremost a process of internalization of traditional teaching, teaching that was hallowed by itsantiquity and its authority. A main goal of such teaching was verbatim memorization such that the student was to take into himself(or sometimes herself) the most cherished wisdom of earlier generations. Sometimes such teaching used written texts to facilitate memorization of ancient wisdom, but very few explicitly refer to writing of any kind. This essay focuses on two sets of biblical texts, one in Proverbs and the other in Deuteronomy, that use the trope of “writing” to talk about the learning process, and even these textual references turn out to refer to a type of writing that has little to do with education – writing on jewelry and entryways.
This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyon... more This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers.
Journal of Hebrew Scriptures, 2007
This conversation with Jacob L. Wright, Rebuilding Identity: The Nehemiah Memoir and its Earliest... more This conversation with Jacob L. Wright, Rebuilding Identity: The Nehemiah Memoir and its Earliest Readers (BZAW, 348; Berlin: de Gruyter, 2004) began in a special session of the Chronicles-Ezra-Nehemiah section that was held at the national meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature in November 2006 (Washington, DC). It includes an introduction by the editor and contributions by Deirdre N. Fulton, David M. Carr, Ralph W. Klein and a response by Jacob L. Wright.
Vetus Testamentum, 2020
Past studies of the formation of Genesis 1 have varied between a hypothesis of ‘Word’ and ‘Act’ S... more Past studies of the formation of Genesis 1 have varied between a hypothesis of ‘Word’ and ‘Act’ Strata, the idea of a secondary Sabbath-oriented (Holiness) Stratum, and Arguments for literary unity. This article gathers older and new arguments to advance the hypothesis of a secondary Sabbath-oriented stratum.
Journal of Hebrew Scriptures, 2005
Advances in Ancient, Biblical and Near Eastern Research, 2023
This essay is an updated proposal for a material historical scroll approach to the formation of t... more This essay is an updated proposal for a material historical scroll approach to the formation of the Hebrew Bible, particularly the Pentateuch (cf. Carr in Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 2020). Since this approach draws on data concerning scroll practices in nearby ancient cultures, the article provides a brief survey of potentially significant aspects of ancient Egyptian, Levantine, Greek, Demotic and Second Temple Jewish practices surrounding literary scrolls—how compositions (or parts of them) were inscribed on them, scroll length ranges and types, and ways in which existing scrolls were revised. This preliminary survey suggests that a substantial shift occurred around early Hellenistic period toward development of scrolls with unusually high carrying capacity (both in writing density and length), facilitating somewhat of a media revolution in the amount of literary material that could be recorded on a single written object. Though possibly prompted in part by Greek writing practices and technologies, this development toward use of some high-carrying-capacity scrolls seems associated with some temple and priest-adjacent preservationist scribal contexts where scribes used such high-carrying-capacity scrolls to conserve indigenous literary traditions amidst a broader environment dominated by another language. These and other findings have significant implications for exploring the complex relation between written artifacts and memorized/performed textual works in the Ancient Near East and the development of models for the inscription of Hebrew textual traditions across scrolls in the pre-Hellenistic and Greco-Roman periods. In addition, the article proposes several measures and terms that might be adapted to discuss scroll features across multiple culture areas, such as letter spaces (or the quadrat or other equivalent for Egyptian sign systems) per linear centimeter, cumulative line space, and square centimeters of white space per linear centimeter.
A study of how Christian theological ("allegorical" or "spiritual") interpretation of the Song of... more A study of how Christian theological ("allegorical" or "spiritual") interpretation of the Song of Songs compares with erotic mysticism in other world religious traditions. What do we learn about Christian interpretation of SoS when comparing it with other religious traditions?
Uses documented cases of textual dependence (e.g. the Temple scroll in relation to biblical books... more Uses documented cases of textual dependence (e.g. the Temple scroll in relation to biblical books) to develop rules for determining the direction of textual dependence, and application of these rules to Exod 34:11-26 and its relations with other biblical texts.
An early essay using contemporary studies of trauma to illuminate the impact of the trauma of the... more An early essay using contemporary studies of trauma to illuminate the impact of the trauma of the Babylonian exile on Biblical Prophecy (followed by the book, Holy Resilience: The Bible's Traumatic Origins, Yale, 2014)
Use of documented cases of transmission history to inform theories of the formation of the Pentat... more Use of documented cases of transmission history to inform theories of the formation of the Pentateuch, with a particular focus on evidence for Harmonization/Coordination in the formation of non-Priestly texts.
A historical review of the rise of Torah traditions across Israelite-Judean history, from a relat... more A historical review of the rise of Torah traditions across Israelite-Judean history, from a relatively marginal position to the foundational center of the Hebrew Bible.
A survey of some typical uses of the term intertextuality in study of the (Hebrew) Bible, most of... more A survey of some typical uses of the term intertextuality in study of the (Hebrew) Bible, most of which make it equivalent to inner-biblical allusion. The article advocates reconsideration of Kristeva's and others' early non-genetic understanding of intertextuality and explores its potential for biblical studies.
A critique of recent trends to identify large swathes of Hexateuchal narratives as post-Priestly,... more A critique of recent trends to identify large swathes of Hexateuchal narratives as post-Priestly, with a focus on examples from the primeval history and Joshua 24.
A survey of developments in Pentateuchal theory, 1950-2012
A discussion of good and bad indicators that there was a (late) pre-Priestly compositional connec... more A discussion of good and bad indicators that there was a (late) pre-Priestly compositional connection between Genesis and the Moses story.
Written in honor of and gratitude to Michael V. Fox, this essay (originally a contribution to an ... more Written in honor of and gratitude to Michael V. Fox, this essay (originally a contribution to an inter-disciplinary conference (biblical scholars and Germanists) on "Practices of Written Communication" in September 2014.
Learning in ancient Israel, as in most societies of its time, was first and foremost a process of internalization of traditional teaching, teaching that was hallowed by itsantiquity and its authority. A main goal of such teaching was verbatim memorization such that the student was to take into himself(or sometimes herself) the most cherished wisdom of earlier generations. Sometimes such teaching used written texts to facilitate memorization of ancient wisdom, but very few explicitly refer to writing of any kind. This essay focuses on two sets of biblical texts, one in Proverbs and the other in Deuteronomy, that use the trope of “writing” to talk about the learning process, and even these textual references turn out to refer to a type of writing that has little to do with education – writing on jewelry and entryways.