Zahn, Molly M.2016-02-172016-02-172015Zahn, Molly M. "The Samaritan Pentateuch and the Scribal Culture of Second Temple Judaism." Journal for the Study of Judaism 46.3 (2015): 285-313. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15700631-12340103.https://hdl.handle.net/1808/20210This is the author's accepted manuscript. The original is available at http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/journals/10.1163/15700631-12340103The Samaritan Pentateuch (SP), along with its Qumran forebears, has deservedly been regarded as a key source of information for understanding the scribal culture of early Judaism. Yet studies have tended to emphasize the relative uniformity of the characteristic pre-SP readings as evidence of a scribal approach distinct within Second Temple Judaism. This article argues that both the uniformity and the distinctiveness of these readings have been overstated: there is more internal diversity within pre-SP than is usually recognized, and similar or identical readings are also preserved in other manuscript traditions. Rather than representing a distinctive scribal approach or school, the readings of pre-SP are better taken as a particularly concentrated example of scribal attitudes and techniques that appear to have been widespread in early Judaism.Samaritan PentateuchPre-Samaritan textsSecond Temple JudaismScribesScribal CultureHarmonizationQumran biblical manuscriptsHellenistic culture4QpaleoExod4QNumArticle10.1163/15700631-12340103openAccess