John C. Reeves

This project concentrates upon unpacking the history of the transmission of ancient Jewish literary texts and non-canonical lore among a variety of Near Eastern religious communities and movements during late antiquity and the early medieval period. Relatively little attention has been devoted to exploring the afterlife of apocryphal works among literate circles within the Islamicate cultural sphere wherein Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and other scriptural communities were active contributors and interlocutors. Shining light on the shadows that obscure this lively textual commerce, and unraveling the tangled web produced by the intercultural sharing of extracanonical textual lore, are the primary goals of this project. It also tracks the peregrinations of these texts and traditions from literate circles in the East to Jewish (and other) communities located in the West.