Scribes, Visionaries, and the Politics of Second Temple Judea

Scribes, Visionaries, and the Politics of Second Temple Judea PDF Author: Richard A. Horsley
Publisher: Presbyterian Publishing Corp
ISBN: 0664229913
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
Judaism and Christianity both arose in times of empire, with roots in Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman periods. In order to understand these religious movements, we must first understand the history and society of these imperial cultures. In these formative years, wisdom and apocalyptic traditions flourished as two significant religious forms. In Scribes, Visionaries, and the Politics of Second Temple Judea, distinguished New Testament scholar Richard A. Horsley analyzes the function and meaning of these religious movements within their social context, providing essential background for the development of early Judaism and early Christianity. It is an ideal textbook for classes on the rise of Judaism or the Second Temple period, as well as the Dead Sea Scrolls and Apocrypha.

Scribes, Visionaries, and the Politics of Second Temple Judea

Scribes, Visionaries, and the Politics of Second Temple Judea PDF Author: Richard A. Horsley
Publisher: Presbyterian Publishing Corp
ISBN: 0664229913
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 274

Get Book Here

Book Description
Judaism and Christianity both arose in times of empire, with roots in Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman periods. In order to understand these religious movements, we must first understand the history and society of these imperial cultures. In these formative years, wisdom and apocalyptic traditions flourished as two significant religious forms. In Scribes, Visionaries, and the Politics of Second Temple Judea, distinguished New Testament scholar Richard A. Horsley analyzes the function and meaning of these religious movements within their social context, providing essential background for the development of early Judaism and early Christianity. It is an ideal textbook for classes on the rise of Judaism or the Second Temple period, as well as the Dead Sea Scrolls and Apocrypha.

Like an Everlasting Signet Ring

Like an Everlasting Signet Ring PDF Author: Bradley C. Gregory
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 311022366X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 397

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Book Description
This work explores the theological and social dimensions of generosity in the book of Sirach and contextualizes them within the culture and thought of Second Temple Judaism. Ben Sira's understanding of generosity is predicated on the tension between affirming the classic wisdom principle of retributive justice and recognizing its breakdown in the socio-economic circumstances of Seleucid Judea. He forges a new Wisdom-Torah ethic of mercy in which giving generously is an integral part of living "the good life". While loans and surety are essential practices, almsgiving is the preeminent act of generosity. The fundamental theological logic at work consists in viewing the poor as proxies for God and is based on the economic structure of Proverbs 19:17. Giving to the poor is, in reality, a deposit in a heavenly treasury and will pay future dividends. By situating Ben Sira's view of almsgiving within the wider framework of retributive justice and its breakdown, new light is shed on the practical tensions regarding the extent of almsgiving and its relationship to the support of the Jerusalem priesthood. The various dynamics of Ben Sira's thought on generosity are situated within the broader Hellenistic world and in their foundational role for later Jewish and Christian thought.

Empire and Gender in LXX Esther

Empire and Gender in LXX Esther PDF Author: Meredith J. Stone
Publisher: SBL Press
ISBN: 0884143449
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 355

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Book Description
A new perspective on essential aspects of Esther’s plot and characters for students and scholars Empire and Gender in LXX Esther foregrounds and highlights empire as the central lens in this provocative new reading of Esther. This book provides a unique synchronic reading of LXX Esther with the Additions, allowing the presence and negotiation of imperial power to be further illuminated throughout the story’s plot. Stone explores and demonstrates how performances of gender are inextricably intertwined with the exertion and negotiation of imperial power portrayed in LXX Esther and offers examples of connections to the range of imperial power experienced by Jewish people during the late Second Temple period. Features: An exploration of the tenets and methodology of imperial-critical approaches Focused attention to the final form of LXX Esther Construction of early audiences for LXX Esther in first-century BCE Ptolemaic Alexandria and Hasmonean Judea

Social and Economic Life in Second Temple Judea

Social and Economic Life in Second Temple Judea PDF Author: Samuel L. Adams
Publisher: Presbyterian Publishing Corp
ISBN: 0664237037
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
Those who study the Bible are becoming increasingly attentive to the significance of economics when examining ancient texts and the cultures that produced them. This book looks at the socioeconomic landscape of Second Temple Judea, from the end of the Babylonian exile to the destruction of the temple by the Romans (532 BCE to 70 CE). Adams carefully examines key themes, paying special attention to family life, the status of women, and children, while engaging relevant textual and archaeological evidence. He looks at borrowing and lending and the burdensome taxation policies under a succession of colonial powers. In this pursuit, Adams offers an innovative analysis of economic life with fresh insights from biblical texts. No other study has specifically analyzed economics for this lengthy timeframe, especially in relation to these key themes. This important book provides readers with a helpful context for understanding religious beliefs and practices in the time of early Judaism and emerging Christianity.

Revolt of the Scribes

Revolt of the Scribes PDF Author: Richard A. Horsley
Publisher: Fortress Press
ISBN: 1451416725
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 482

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Book Description
"If earlier scholarship on apocalyptic literature was once described as "clueless about apocalypticism, " it was due in part to a focus on questions of definition, literary genre, and theological eccentricity. Richard A. Horsley takes a different approach, letting the language of the apocalypses themselves reveal their chief concern: the expanding domination by foreign empires and the form that popular defiance should take. Most telling are the traces where Judean scribes wrote themselves into their texts - and thus into God's purposes in history."--Jaquette du livre.

Dynamics of Charity and Reciprocity in the Book of Sirach

Dynamics of Charity and Reciprocity in the Book of Sirach PDF Author: Stephen Arden Long
Publisher: Mohr Siebeck
ISBN: 3161623843
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 355

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Book Description


By Bread Alone

By Bread Alone PDF Author: Sheila E. McGinn
Publisher: Augsburg Fortress Publishers
ISBN: 1451465505
Category : Cooking
Languages : en
Pages : 271

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Book Description
Important ecclesiastical documents have stressed the urgency of world hunger and put in the foreground its natural and historical causes, from famine to global austerity measures and welfare. This book explores the dynamics of hunger and its causation in ancient Israel and the Greco-Roman world.

Defining All-Israel in Chronicles

Defining All-Israel in Chronicles PDF Author: Louis C. Jonker
Publisher: Mohr Siebeck
ISBN: 9783161545955
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
In this book, Louis C. Jonker considers more sophisticated and nuanced models for applying the heuristic lens of "identity" in the interpretation of the Hebrew Bible book of Chronicles. Not only does he investigate the potential and limitations of different sociological models for this purpose, but the author also provides a more nuanced analysis of the socio-historical context of origin of late Persian-period biblical literature by distinguishing between four levels of socio-historic existence in this period. It is shown that varying power relations were in operation on these different levels which contributed to a multi-levelled process of identity negotiation. Louis C. Jonker shows the value of the chosen methodological approach in his analysis of Chronicles, but also suggests that it holds potential for the investigation of other Hebrew Bible corpora.

Wisdom Literature

Wisdom Literature PDF Author: John Kampen
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 0802843840
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 405

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Book Description
This is an accessible commentary on the Jewish wisdom literature of Qumran by a renowned Dead Sea Scrolls scholar. The book features translations, critical notes, and a line-by-line commentary.

The Origins of Midrash: From Teaching to Text

The Origins of Midrash: From Teaching to Text PDF Author: Paul D. Mandel
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004336885
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 423

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Book Description
In The Origins of Midrash: From Teaching to Text, Paul Mandel presents a comprehensive study of the words darash and midrash from the Bible until the early rabbinic periods (3rd century CE). In contrast to current understandings in which the words are identified with modes of analysis of the biblical text, Mandel claims that they refer to instruction in law and not to an interpretation of text. Mandel traces the use of these words as they are associated with the scribe (sofer), the doresh ha-torah in the Dead Sea scrolls, the “exegetes of the laws” in the writings of Josephus and the rabbinic “sage” (ḥakham), showing the development of the uses of midrash as a form of instruction throughout these periods.