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Texts, Groups, Ideas, Voices
Author:
As allegiance to Jesus Christ spread across the Roman Empire in the second century, writings, practices, and ideas erupted in a creative maelstrom. Many of the patterns of practice and belief that later become normative emerged, in the midst of debate and argument with neighbours who shared or who rejected that allegiance. Authoritative texts, principles of argument, attitudes to received authority, the demands of allegiance in the face of opposition, identifying who belonged and who did not, all demanded attention. These essays explore those divergent voices, and the no-less diverse and lively debates they have inspired in recent scholarship.
Texts, Groups, Ideas, Voices
Author:
As allegiance to Jesus Christ spread across the Roman Empire in the second century, writings, practices, and ideas erupted in a creative maelstrom. Many of the patterns of practice and belief that later become normative emerged, in the midst of debate and argument with neighbours who shared or who rejected that allegiance. Authoritative texts, principles of argument, attitudes to received authority, the demands of allegiance in the face of opposition, identifying who belonged and who did not, all demanded attention. These essays explore those divergent voices, and the no-less diverse and lively debates they have inspired in recent scholarship.
Introduction, Translation, and Commentary
Author:
In the treatise On the Change of Names (part of his magnum opus, the Allegorical Commentary), Philo of Alexandria brings his figurative exegesis of the Abraham cycle to its fruition. Taking a cue from Platonist interpreters of Homer’s Odyssey, Philo reads Moses’s story of Abraham as an account of the soul’s progress and perfection. Responding to contemporary critics, who mocked Genesis 17 as uninspired, Philo finds instead a hidden philosophical reflection on the ineffability of the transcendent God, the transformation of souls which recognize their mortal nothingness, the possibility of human faith enabled by peerless faithfulness of God, and the fruit of moral perfection: joy divine, prefigured in the birth of Isaac.
Introduction, Translation, and Commentary
Author:
In the treatise On the Change of Names (part of his magnum opus, the Allegorical Commentary), Philo of Alexandria brings his figurative exegesis of the Abraham cycle to its fruition. Taking a cue from Platonist interpreters of Homer’s Odyssey, Philo reads Moses’s story of Abraham as an account of the soul’s progress and perfection. Responding to contemporary critics, who mocked Genesis 17 as uninspired, Philo finds instead a hidden philosophical reflection on the ineffability of the transcendent God, the transformation of souls which recognize their mortal nothingness, the possibility of human faith enabled by peerless faithfulness of God, and the fruit of moral perfection: joy divine, prefigured in the birth of Isaac.
Author:
These last three books of Josephus’s Antiquities detail Jewish history between the establishment of direct Roman rule in Judea in 6 CE and the outbreak of the Judean rebellion against Rome in 66—a rebellion that culminated in 70 with the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple. Along the way, these books also constitute the main source for the context in which Christianity was born. This volume offers a translation of Josephus’s Greek text, along with a commentary that aims to clarify the history to which Josephus testifies and also its meaning for him as an exiled Jerusalemite and rebel-turned-historian.
Author:
These last three books of Josephus’s Antiquities detail Jewish history between the establishment of direct Roman rule in Judea in 6 CE and the outbreak of the Judean rebellion against Rome in 66—a rebellion that culminated in 70 with the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple. Along the way, these books also constitute the main source for the context in which Christianity was born. This volume offers a translation of Josephus’s Greek text, along with a commentary that aims to clarify the history to which Josephus testifies and also its meaning for him as an exiled Jerusalemite and rebel-turned-historian.
Proceedings of the Sixteenth International Symposium of the Orion Center for the Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Associated Literature, Cosponsored by the University of Vienna, New York University, the Israel Antiquities Authority, and the Israel Museum
Volume Editors:
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The Sixteenth Orion Symposium celebrated seventy years of Dead Sea Scrolls research under the theme, “Clear a path in the wilderness!” (Isaiah 40:3). Papers use the wilderness rubric to address the self-identification of the Qumran group; dimensions of religious experience reflected in the Dead Sea writings; biblical interpretation as shaper and conveyor of that experience; the significance of the Qumran texts for critical biblical scholarship; points of contact with the early Jesus movement; and new developments in understanding the archaeology of the Qumran caves. The volume both honors past insights and charts new paths for the future of Qumran studies.
Proceedings of the Sixteenth International Symposium of the Orion Center for the Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Associated Literature, Cosponsored by the University of Vienna, New York University, the Israel Antiquities Authority, and the Israel Museum
Volume Editors:
, , , , , and
The Sixteenth Orion Symposium celebrated seventy years of Dead Sea Scrolls research under the theme, “Clear a path in the wilderness!” (Isaiah 40:3). Papers use the wilderness rubric to address the self-identification of the Qumran group; dimensions of religious experience reflected in the Dead Sea writings; biblical interpretation as shaper and conveyor of that experience; the significance of the Qumran texts for critical biblical scholarship; points of contact with the early Jesus movement; and new developments in understanding the archaeology of the Qumran caves. The volume both honors past insights and charts new paths for the future of Qumran studies.
Author:
Abstract
In this essay I suggest that the attitudes to Jewish law and the conflicting interpretations reflected by the early Jesus tradition are best understood within a landscape of change, in which the character of torah as instruction, guidance, and description gradually morphed into a more prescriptive and judicial nomos. Although the tensions described in the sources usually concern Jesus and the Pharisees, a comparison with the legal interpretation in some of the texts from Qumran sheds light on the principled differences between the early Jesus movement’s understanding of the law’s character and function and that of its opponents. It is suggested that Jesus and his early followers saw no conflict between the Torah’s guidance and its pragmatic application, but objected to some interpretations associated with its transformation.
Author:
Abstract
In contrast to the biblical tradition, the figure of Phineas saw considerable development in Second Temple traditions. Numerous studies have appeared recently, yet the Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum, which shows awareness of such traditions and reworks them creatively, has been overlooked by scholars. The present contribution aims to investigate the significant testimony of Pseudo-Philo, who constructs a complex and versatile character in his rewriting of biblical history – one who is responsible for the purity of worship against any idolatrous drift and who is the guardian of the Law and its understanding. Moreover, Phineas occupies a central position in the eschatological scenario, since he will be taken up to heaven like Elijah until his return in the last days, when, after his death, he will participate in the divine judgment.
Abstract
The importance and observance of the Sabbath within the Judean exilic communities has often been the subject of debate. Recent studies have argued that the exiles in Elephantine, Egypt, observed the Sabbath but the exilic Judean communities in Babylonia did not. New evidence – in the form of names derived from “Sabbath” among the exiles during the Achaemenid period – seems to reflect a shift in the importance of the Sabbath within Judean identity. In this article we review the occurrences of the name Shabbataya (Šabbatāya) in extrabiblical material and explore possible parallel phenomena in Elephantine and biblical texts, ultimately drawing a picture of an Achaemenid-era evolution in the attribution of significance to the Sabbath. This transformation is evident in Ezra-Nehemiah and corroborated by new evidence; extrabiblical and biblical sources demonstrate that names relating to the Sabbath began to appear at the time.
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Abstract
CPJ 1.23, a second-century BCE contract between two Jews for an interest-free loan secured with a house, briefly stirred interest for the possibility that it shows Jews observing their law in the Hellenistic diaspora. Most regard that as unlikely though, and the text has since languished in obscurity among scholars of Hellenistic Judaism. This article reexamines the text in its proper juridical context—in comparison with other loan contracts from Greco-Roman Egypt—to show that it uses the form for a hypothecated loan to arrange the sale of a house which gives the seller the opportunity to reclaim it within a year of sale according to Leviticus 25:29–30. The article also places this reading of CPJ 1.23 alongside other evidence for Jews using their ancestral norms in handling property matters in Hellenistic Egypt to outline a hypothesis regarding the purpose of this tendency in Ptolemaic-era Jewish legal reasoning.
In Honor of Daniel R. Schwartz
This collection of essays treats many aspects of ancient Jewish history and modern historiography in this area, with an emphasis on the history and literature of the Second Temple period and especially on the writings of Josephus. It is dedicated to Daniel R. Schwarz, and reflects his central academic interests. Additional essays deal with historical and ideological aspects of classical rabbinic literature, with archeological finds and with perceptions of the Jews and Judaism on the part of non-Jews in the Second Temple period and later.
In Honor of Daniel R. Schwartz
This collection of essays treats many aspects of ancient Jewish history and modern historiography in this area, with an emphasis on the history and literature of the Second Temple period and especially on the writings of Josephus. It is dedicated to Daniel R. Schwarz, and reflects his central academic interests. Additional essays deal with historical and ideological aspects of classical rabbinic literature, with archeological finds and with perceptions of the Jews and Judaism on the part of non-Jews in the Second Temple period and later.
Author:
Abstract
This essay explores the rationale behind the different interpretations of the servant of the Lord in Targum Jonathan Isaiah. In order to facilitate understanding of this material, I survey the use of the designation “servant(s) of the Lord” in the Hebrew Bible and then discuss the rationale behind the use of singulars and plurals in the Targum’s translation of Isaiah 40–55. After this, I analyze the relevant passages within the Targum, suggesting that the scribes interpret the figure of the servant to have four different referents: the nation of Israel, the righteous, the prophets, and the messiah. Throughout this analysis, I attend to the features of the text that appear to have influenced the scribes to identify the servant in these ways. I conclude by reviewing the most important factors contributing to these decisions and then highlighting the coherence between my observations and some recent works on the scribes’ hermeneutical orientation.