Aphrodite and the Rabbis

Aphrodite and the Rabbis PDF Author: Burton L. Visotzky
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1250085764
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
Hard to believe but true: - The Passover Seder is a Greco-Roman symposium banquet - The Talmud rabbis presented themselves as Stoic philosophers - Synagogue buildings were Roman basilicas - Hellenistic rhetoric professors educated sons of well-to-do Jews - Zeus-Helios is depicted in synagogue mosaics across ancient Israel - The Jewish courts were named after the Roman political institution, the Sanhedrin - In Israel there were synagogues where the prayers were recited in Greek. Historians have long debated the (re)birth of Judaism in the wake of the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple cult by the Romans in 70 CE. What replaced that sacrificial cult was at once something new–indebted to the very culture of the Roman overlords–even as it also sought to preserve what little it could of the old Israelite religion. The Greco-Roman culture in which rabbinic Judaism grew in the first five centuries of the Common Era nurtured the development of Judaism as we still know and celebrate it today. Arguing that its transformation from a Jerusalem-centered cult to a world religion was made possible by the Roman Empire, Rabbi Burton Visotzky presents Judaism as a distinctly Roman religion. Full of fascinating detail from the daily life and culture of Jewish communities across the Hellenistic world, Aphrodite and the Rabbis will appeal to anyone interested in the development of Judaism, religion, history, art and architecture.

Aphrodite and the Rabbis

Aphrodite and the Rabbis PDF Author: Burton L. Visotzky
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1250085764
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
Hard to believe but true: - The Passover Seder is a Greco-Roman symposium banquet - The Talmud rabbis presented themselves as Stoic philosophers - Synagogue buildings were Roman basilicas - Hellenistic rhetoric professors educated sons of well-to-do Jews - Zeus-Helios is depicted in synagogue mosaics across ancient Israel - The Jewish courts were named after the Roman political institution, the Sanhedrin - In Israel there were synagogues where the prayers were recited in Greek. Historians have long debated the (re)birth of Judaism in the wake of the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple cult by the Romans in 70 CE. What replaced that sacrificial cult was at once something new–indebted to the very culture of the Roman overlords–even as it also sought to preserve what little it could of the old Israelite religion. The Greco-Roman culture in which rabbinic Judaism grew in the first five centuries of the Common Era nurtured the development of Judaism as we still know and celebrate it today. Arguing that its transformation from a Jerusalem-centered cult to a world religion was made possible by the Roman Empire, Rabbi Burton Visotzky presents Judaism as a distinctly Roman religion. Full of fascinating detail from the daily life and culture of Jewish communities across the Hellenistic world, Aphrodite and the Rabbis will appeal to anyone interested in the development of Judaism, religion, history, art and architecture.

Art and Judaism in the Greco-Roman World

Art and Judaism in the Greco-Roman World PDF Author: Steven Fine
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521844918
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description
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The Jewish-Greek Tradition in Antiquity and the Byzantine Empire

The Jewish-Greek Tradition in Antiquity and the Byzantine Empire PDF Author: James K. Aitken
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107001633
Category : Bibles
Languages : en
Pages : 383

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Book Description
This comprehensive survey of Jewish-Greek society's development examines the exchange of language and ideas in biblical translations, literature and archaeology.

Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period

Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period PDF Author: Erwin Ramsdell Goodenough
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400852897
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 377

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Book Description
This volume presents the most important portions of Erwin Goodenough's classic thirteen-volume work, a magisterial attempt to encompass human spiritual history in general through the study of Jewish symbols in particular. Revealing that the Jewish religion of the period was much more varied and complex than the extant Talmudic literature would lead us to believe, Goodenough offered evidence for the existence of a Hellenistic-Jewish mystic mythology far closer to the Qabbalah than to rabbinical Judaism. Originally published in 1989. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Imperialism and Jewish Society

Imperialism and Jewish Society PDF Author: Seth Schwartz
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400824850
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 334

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Book Description
This provocative new history of Palestinian Jewish society in antiquity marks the first comprehensive effort to gauge the effects of imperial domination on this people. Probing more than eight centuries of Persian, Greek, and Roman rule, Seth Schwartz reaches some startling conclusions--foremost among them that the Christianization of the Roman Empire generated the most fundamental features of medieval and modern Jewish life. Schwartz begins by arguing that the distinctiveness of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic, and early Roman periods was the product of generally prevailing imperial tolerance. From around 70 C.E. to the mid-fourth century, with failed revolts and the alluring cultural norms of the High Roman Empire, Judaism all but disintegrated. However, late in the Roman Empire, the Christianized state played a decisive role in ''re-Judaizing'' the Jews. The state gradually excluded them from society while supporting their leaders and recognizing their local communities. It was thus in Late Antiquity that the synagogue-centered community became prevalent among the Jews, that there re-emerged a distinctively Jewish art and literature--laying the foundations for Judaism as we know it today. Through masterful scholarship set in rich detail, this book challenges traditional views rooted in romantic notions about Jewish fortitude. Integrating material relics and literature while setting the Jews in their eastern Mediterranean context, it addresses the complex and varied consequences of imperialism on this vast period of Jewish history more ambitiously than ever before. Imperialism in Jewish Society will be widely read and much debated.

Jews, Christians, and the Roman Empire

Jews, Christians, and the Roman Empire PDF Author: Natalie B. Dohrmann
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 0812245334
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 401

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Book Description
This volume revisits issues of empire from the perspective of Jews, Christians, and other Romans in the third to sixth centuries. Through case studies, the contributors bring Jewish perspectives to bear on longstanding debates concerning Romanization, Christianization, and late antiquity.

Josephus and the History of the Greco-Roman Period

Josephus and the History of the Greco-Roman Period PDF Author: Joseph Sievers
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004509127
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 406

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Book Description
Josephus and the History of the Greco-Roman Period comprises a series of essays on the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus and on the history of the Second Temple period by many of the best-known specialists in the field. The contributions are revised versions of papers delivered at an international colloquium in memory of Professor Morton Smith that was held at San Miniato, Italy, in November, 1992. The essays cover a broad range of historical and historiographical issues concerning the Seleucid, Hasmonean, Herodian, and Roman periods, for which the importance of Josephus — often our only extant source — can hardly be overestimated. Josephus' trustworthiness as a historian is newly investigated from various angles. Fresh light is thrown on philological, literary, geographical, archaeological, sociological, and religious questions. The book includes a critical evaluation of Morton Smith's scholarly achievement.

The Sense of Sight in Rabbinic Culture

The Sense of Sight in Rabbinic Culture PDF Author: Rachel Neis
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107032512
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 333

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Book Description
This book explores the power of sight for ancient rabbis across the realms of divinity, sexuality, idolatry and rabbinic subjectivity.

Classic Essays in Early Rabbinic Culture and History

Classic Essays in Early Rabbinic Culture and History PDF Author: Christine Hayes
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351348639
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 564

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Book Description
This volume brings together a set of classic essays on early rabbinic history and culture, seven of which have been translated into English especially for this publication. The studies are presented in three sections according to theme: (1) sources, methods and meaning; (2) tradition and self-invention; and (3) rabbinic contexts. The first section contains essays that made a pioneering contribution to the identification of sources for the historical and cultural study of the rabbinic period, articulated methodologies for the study of rabbinic history and culture, or addressed historical topics that continue to engage scholars to the present day. The second section contains pioneering contributions to our understanding of the culture of the sages whose sources we deploy for the purposes of historical reconstruction, contributions which grappled with the riddle and rhythm of the rabbis’ emergence to authority, or pierced the veil of their self-presentation. The essays in the third section made contributions of fundamental importance to our understanding of the broader cultural contexts of rabbinic sources, identified patterns of rabbinic participation in prevailing cultural systems, or sought to define with greater precision the social location of the rabbinic class within Jewish society of late antiquity. The volume is introduced by a new essay from the editor, summarizing the field and contextualizing the reprinted papers. About the series Classic Essays in Jewish History (Series Editor: Kenneth Stow) The 6000 year history of the Jewish peoples, their faith and their culture is a subject of enormous importance, not only to the rapidly growing body of students of Jewish studies itself, but also to those working in the fields of Byzantine, eastern Christian, Islamic, Mediterranean and European history. Classic Essays in Jewish History is a library reference collection that makes available the most important articles and research papers on the development of Jewish communities across Europe and the Middle East. By reprinting together in chronologically-themed volumes material from a widespread range of sources, many difficult to access, especially those drawn from sources that may never be digitized, this series constitutes a major new resource for libraries and scholars. The articles are selected not only for their current role in breaking new ground, but also for their place as seminal contributions to the formation of the field, and their utility in providing access to the subject for students and specialists in other fields. A number of articles not previously published in English will be specially translated for this series. Classic Essays in Jewish History provides comprehensive coverage of its subject. Each volume in the series focuses on a particular time-period and is edited by an authority on that field. The collection is planned to consist of 10 thematically ordered volumes, each containing a specially-written introduction to the subject, a bibliographical guide, and an index. All volumes are hardcover and printed on acid-free paper, to suit library needs. Subjects covered include: The Biblical Period The Second Temple Period The Development of Jewish Culture in Spain Jewish Communities in Medieval Central Europe Jews in Medieval England and France Jews in Renaissance Europe Jews in Early Modern Europe Jews under Medieval Islam Jews in the Ottoman Empire and North Africa

Intellect Encounters Faith - A Synthesis

Intellect Encounters Faith - A Synthesis PDF Author: J. Harold Ellens
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1443870366
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 325

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Book Description
Intellect Encounters Faith – A Synthesis is a Festschrift crafted to honor a renaissance man: a literary tribute to Dr. Jay Harold Ellens that has been long overdue. While attending the 2014 International Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature at the University of Vienna (July 6–10), Professor Ellens celebrated his eighty-second birthday. He is still a most engaged and active scholar, practicing clinical psychologist, and military chaplain (with the rank of Colonel). He publishes widely in Second Temple Judaism, and works that are on the cusp between religious studies/history of religions and psychology, as well as spirituality. He is a marvel to behold and is an excellent, indefatigable Vorbild for both professional colleagues, as well as an ever-growing number of aspiring scholars he mentors. He is the model of the modern peripatetic scholar. The Festschrift acknowledges the major foci of Professor Doctor Ellens’ own work: Psychology, Religious Literature, and Military History. Moreover, there are included in this volume several personal reflections by some of his friends and colleagues, also. The essays/chapters contained herein are works of deep and broad scholarship. Yet, they are deeply personal tributes to a master pedagogue who has touched many lives in many walks of life. All, however, reflect Professor Ellens’ influence on the contributors as if one is looking at them through their writings and seeing him. The reader will find this a most informative volume, and will return to it often as an up-to-date reference work on trends in religious studies, psychology, psychology of religion(s), and even the archaeology of the Second Jewish Temple period. One will discover between these covers a rare and valuable reference work that honors a rare, prolific, and generous man.