Roots of Pagan Anti-Semitism in the Ancient World

Roots of Pagan Anti-Semitism in the Ancient World PDF Author: Sevenster
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004266526
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 243

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Book Description
Discusses social, economic, and political aspects of antisemitism in the ancient (Greco-Roman) world, based extensively on the writings of Josephus Flavius and Philo.

Roots of Pagan Anti-Semitism in the Ancient World

Roots of Pagan Anti-Semitism in the Ancient World PDF Author: Sevenster
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004266526
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 243

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Book Description
Discusses social, economic, and political aspects of antisemitism in the ancient (Greco-Roman) world, based extensively on the writings of Josephus Flavius and Philo.

Judeophobia

Judeophobia PDF Author: Peter SchŠfer
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674043213
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 330

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Book Description
Taking a fresh look at what the Greeks and Romans thought about Jews and Judaism, Peter Schafer locates the origin of anti-Semitism in the ancient world. Judeophobia firmly establishes Hellenistic Egypt as the generating source of anti-Semitism, with roots extending back into Egypt's pre-Hellenistic history. A pattern of ingrained hostility toward an alien culture emerges when Schafer surveys an illuminating spectrum of comments on Jews and their religion in Greek and Roman writings, focusing on the topics that most interested the pagan classical world: the exodus or, as it was widely interpreted, expulsion from Egypt; the nature of the Jewish god; food restrictions, in particular abstinence from pork; laws relating to the sabbath; the practice of circumcision; and Jewish proselytism. He then probes key incidents, two fierce outbursts of hostility in Egypt: the destruction of a Jewish temple in Elephantine in 410 B.C.E. and the riots in Alexandria in 38 C.E. Asking what fueled these attacks on Jewish communities, the author discovers deep-seated ethnic resentments. It was from Egypt that hatred of Jews, based on allegations of impiety, xenophobia, and misanthropy, was transported first to Syria-Palestine and then to Rome, where it acquired a new element: fear of this small but distinctive community. To the hatred and fear, ingredients of Christian theology were soon added--a mix all too familiar in Western history.

Jew and Gentile in the Ancient World

Jew and Gentile in the Ancient World PDF Author: Louis H. Feldman
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400820804
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 691

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Book Description
Relations between Jews and non-Jews in the Hellenistic-Roman period were marked by suspicion and hate, maintain most studies of that topic. But if such conjectures are true, asks Louis Feldman, how did Jews succeed in winning so many adherents, whether full-fledged proselytes or "sympathizers" who adopted one or more Jewish practices? Systematically evaluating attitudes toward Jews from the time of Alexander the Great to the fifth century A.D., Feldman finds that Judaism elicited strongly positive and not merely unfavorable responses from the non-Jewish population. Jews were a vigorous presence in the ancient world, and Judaism was strengthened substantially by the development of the Talmud. Although Jews in the Diaspora were deeply Hellenized, those who remained in Israel were able to resist the cultural inroads of Hellenism and even to initiate intellectual counterattacks. Feldman draws on a wide variety of material, from Philo, Josephus, and other Graeco-Jewish writers through the Apocrypha, the Pseudepigrapha, the Church Councils, Church Fathers, and imperial decrees to Talmudic and Midrashic writings and inscriptions and papyri. What emerges is a rich description of a long era to which conceptions of Jewish history as uninterrupted weakness and suffering do not apply.

The Origins of Anti-Semitism

The Origins of Anti-Semitism PDF Author: John G. Gager
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019536516X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
This revisionist reading of early anti-Judaism offers a richer and more varied picture of the Jews and Christians of antiquity.

Paul

Paul PDF Author: Paula Fredriksen
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300231369
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 332

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Book Description
A groundbreaking new portrait of the apostle Paul, from one of today’s leading historians of antiquity Often seen as the author of timeless Christian theology, Paul himself heatedly maintained that he lived and worked in history’s closing hours. His letters propel his readers into two ancient worlds, one Jewish, one pagan. The first was incandescent with apocalyptic hopes, expecting God through his messiah to fulfill his ancient promises of redemption to Israel. The second teemed with ancient actors, not only human but also divine: angry superhuman forces, jealous demons, and hostile cosmic gods. Both worlds are Paul’s, and his convictions about the first shaped his actions in the second. Only by situating Paul within this charged social context of gods and humans, pagans and Jews, cities, synagogues, and competing Christ-following assemblies can we begin to understand his mission and message. This original and provocative book offers a dramatically new perspective on one of history’s seminal figures.

The Origin of the Jews

The Origin of the Jews PDF Author: Steven Weitzman
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691191654
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 408

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Book Description
The scholarly quest to answer the question of Jewish origins The Jews have one of the longest continuously recorded histories of any people in the world, but what do we actually know about their origins? While many think the answer to this question can be found in the Bible, others look to archaeology or genetics. Some skeptics have even sought to debunk the very idea that the Jews have a common origin. Steven Weitzman takes a learned and lively look at what we know—or think we know—about where the Jews came from, when they arose, and how they came to be. He sheds new light on the assumptions and biases of those seeking answers—and the religious and political agendas that have made finding answers so elusive. Introducing many approaches and theories, The Origin of the Jews brings needed clarity and historical context to this enduring and divisive topic.

The Roots of Pagan Anti-Semitism in the Ancient World

The Roots of Pagan Anti-Semitism in the Ancient World PDF Author: Jan Nicolaas Sevenster
Publisher: Brill Archive
ISBN: 9789004041936
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
Discusses social, economic, and political aspects of antisemitism in the ancient (Greco-Roman) world, based extensively on the writings of Josephus Flavius and Philo.

The Cambridge Companion to Antisemitism

The Cambridge Companion to Antisemitism PDF Author: Steven Katz
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108787657
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 543

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Book Description
A History of Anti-Semitism examines the history, culture and literature of antisemitism from antiquity to the present. With contributions from an international team of scholars, whose essays were specially commissioned for this volume, it covers the long history of antisemitism starting with ancient Greece and Egypt, through the anti-Judaism of early Christianity, and the medieval era in both the Christian and Muslim worlds when Jews were defined as 'outsiders,' especially in Christian Europe. This portrayal often led to violence, notably pogroms that often accompanied Crusades, as well as to libels against Jews. The volume also explores the roles of Luther and the Reformation, the Enlightenment, the debate over Jewish emancipation, Marxism, and the social disruptions after World War 1 that led to the rise of Nazism and genocide. Finally, it considers current issues, including the dissemination of hate on social media and the internet and questions of definition and method.

The Jesus Mysteries

The Jesus Mysteries PDF Author: Timothy Freke
Publisher: Harmony
ISBN: 0676806570
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 253

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Book Description
Drawing on the cutting edge of modern scholarship, this astonishing book completely undermines the traditional history of Christianity that has been perpetuated for centuries by the Church and presents overwhelming evidence that the Jesus of the New Testament is a mythical figure. “Whether you conclude that this book is the most alarming heresy of the millennium or the mother of all revelations, The Jesus Mysteries deserves to be read.” —Fort Worth Star-Telegram Far from being eyewitness accounts, as is traditionally held, the Gospels are actually Jewish adaptations of ancient Pagan myths of the dying and resurrecting godman Osiris-Dionysus. The supernatural story of Jesus is not the history of a miraculous Messiah but a carefully crafted spiritual allegory designed to guide initiates on a journey of mystical discovery. A little more than a century ago, most people believed that the strange story of Adam and Eve was history; today it is understood to be a myth. Within a few decades, authors Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy argue, we will likewise be amazed that the fabulous story of God incarnate—who was born of a virgin, who turned water into wine, and who rose from the dead—could have been interpreted as anything but a profound parable.

When Christians Were Jews

When Christians Were Jews PDF Author: Paula Fredriksen
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300240740
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
A compelling account of Christianity’s Jewish beginnings, from one of the world’s leading scholars of ancient religion How did a group of charismatic, apocalyptic Jewish missionaries, working to prepare their world for the impending realization of God's promises to Israel, end up inaugurating a movement that would grow into the gentile church? Committed to Jesus’s prophecy—“The Kingdom of God is at hand!”—they were, in their own eyes, history's last generation. But in history's eyes, they became the first Christians. In this electrifying social and intellectual history, Paula Fredriksen answers this question by reconstructing the life of the earliest Jerusalem community. As her account arcs from this group’s hopeful celebration of Passover with Jesus, through their bitter controversies that fragmented the movement’s midcentury missions, to the city’s fiery end in the Roman destruction of Jerusalem, she brings this vibrant apostolic community to life. Fredriksen offers a vivid portrait both of this temple-centered messianic movement and of the bedrock convictions that animated and sustained it.