The Aramaic Bible: Targums in their Historical Context

STONE Jewish Tradition and the Christian West 449
Thus, the methodological concerns which were enunciated above
may be seen to have their application. Scholars of the Pseudepigrapha
need knowledge and sensitivity to the mediaeval context of transmission
in order fully to assess and evaluate the Pseudepigrapha.
Mediaevalists need the more detailed knowledge of the
Pseudepigraphical texts and traditions for a full understanding of the
way these works functioned in the Middle Ages.
Here, however, one encounters one of the difficulties of the matter.
After all, it is hard enough to control one field of learning moderately
well, yet to study the way the Pseudepigrapha functioned, grew and
developed in ancient Judaism and Christianity or, for that matter, in
mediaeval Christendom, it is necessary to control a variety of fields of
learning. By its very nature, such a requirement leads us in the direction
of joint research. The students of the ancient apocrypha have a
great need of the expertise of the mediaevalists and, I venture to say,
the reverse is true as well. The conceptual (and human) variety drawn
together by the organizers of the present conference is an eloquent
witness to their perception of this need.