Origins, Contexts

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. D. Elledge
Keyword(s):  
Near East ◽  
External Influence ◽  
Jewish Literature ◽  
Traditional Values ◽  
Internal Development ◽  
Attitudes Toward Death

Inquiries into the emergence of resurrection have traditionally been dichotomized into those that emphasize either “external influence” or an “internal development” within Israel’s own theology. Some explanations evade the dichotomy in favor of a more nuanced synthesis. The present chapter evaluates these approaches in light of Jewish literature from the Hellenistic and Roman eras. While the literary evidence does not resolve the question of origins, it does point to the significance of a larger framework in which Hellenistic empire brought to the Near East a reorientation of traditional values, including attitudes toward death. Within this disruptive context, scribal circles undertook an urgent reinterpretation of earlier traditions; they further produced a variety of diverse theodicies, some of which came to rely increasingly on the hope of human revivification. Resurrection equipped particular movements within Judaism to legitimate their own identities within the vast Hellenistic empire and across the threatening chasm of death.

Studying Resurrection Today

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. D. Elledge
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
Human Existence ◽  
Jewish Literature ◽  
Literary Genres ◽  
Early Judaism ◽  
Attitudes Toward Death ◽  
Divine Agency

This chapter defines the parameters of the concept of resurrection in early Judaism and charts its reception within various literary genres. Within a diverse conceptual environment of attitudes toward death and human existence, resurrection made bold and selective claims about divine agency, the characteristics of embodied life, and the location of human existence within the larger spatial arena of the cosmos. The representation of resurrection in early Jewish literature is increasingly strong across a variety of literary genres and works of regionally diverse origins. The chapter criticizes the myth, however, that it was somehow dominant within early Judaism. Instead, resurrection emerged as a controversial theodicy within a larger conceptual arena in which attitudes toward death and the body became matters of intense dispute among competing scribal circles within the Hellenistic era.

“Four Kingdoms” in the Dead Sea Scrolls?

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 202-233
Author(s):  
Nadav Sharon
Keyword(s):  
Near East ◽  
World History ◽  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Jewish Literature ◽  
New Jerusalem ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Book Of Daniel

Abstract The “Four Empires” scheme appears in literature from around the ancient Near East, as well as in the biblical book of Daniel. Daniel’s scheme was adopted in subsequent Jewish literature as a basic division of world history. In addition, the book of Daniel appears to have had a prominent place in the Qumran library. Scholars have identified, or suggested, the existence of the “Four Empires” scheme in two texts found among the Qumran scrolls, the “New Jerusalem” text (4Q554), and, especially, in the so-called “Four Kingdoms”(!) text (4Q552–553). This paper will examine these texts, will argue that the “four empires” scheme is not attested in the Qumran scrolls (apart from Daniel), and will suggest alternative understandings of those two texts.

From Mythic Motifs to Sustained Myth: The Revision of Rabbinic Traditions in Medieval Midrashim

1996 ◽  
Vol 89 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey L. Rubenstein
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Rabbinic Literature ◽  
External Influence ◽  
Jewish Mysticism ◽  
Internal Development ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Mythic Thinking ◽  
Mythic Thought

Recent years have witnessed a growing interest in the mythic dimension of rabbinic thought. Much of this work emerged from debates between scholars of Jewish mysticism over the origins of kabbalistic myth. Should these origins be sought in external traditions that influenced medieval Judaism or within the rabbinic tradition? As is well known, Gershom Scholem claimed that the rabbis rejected myth in order to forge a Judaism based on rationality and law. Moshe Idel, on the other hand, argues that mythic conceptions and specifically the mythicization of Torah appear in rabbinic literature. While the medieval kabbalists elaborated and developed these ideas, they inherited a mythic worldview from the rabbis. Scholars are now increasingly likely to characterize many classical rabbinic sources as mythic. Medieval myth need not have been due to external influence, but should be seen as an internal development within Judaism. Despite the appearance of mythic thought in rabbinic literature, however, a tremendous gulf remains between rabbinic and kabbalistic myth. The full-blown theogonic and cosmogonic myths of the kabbalists, the complex divine structure of the Sefirot, and the detailed expressions of the theurgic effect of ritual (that is, the effect that specific rituals have upon God or the Sefirot) represent a mode of mythic thinking far more comprehensive than that of the rabbis. In rabbinic literature one finds mythic motifs—succinct, independent, and self–contained expressions—not fully developed myths. How exactly did rabbinic myth develop into medieval mystical myth?

scholarly journals Wanneer die appels ver van die boom val - Juda se geslagsregister in 1 Kronieke 2:3-4:23

1997 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Snyman
Keyword(s):  
Southern Africa ◽  
Near East ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Traditional Values ◽  
Persian Period ◽  
Chronicles 1 ◽  
Chronicles 2 ◽  
African Community

This article discusses the production of a genealogical text in Chronicles (1 Chron. 2:3-4:23) which probably served as a key to membership within a collective community in the province of Yehud in the Persian period of the Second Temple era. The article starts with a discussion of how genealogies work in Southern Africa: firstly, within a particular church community ravished by racial tensions, secondly, within the African community during Nelson Mandela's presidential inauguration and thirdly, albeit briefly, within the context of Swazi praise songs, where the ideological role of genealogies serves to bolster traditional values. Because it is accepted that in ancient societies writing directly relates to power in ancient societies, the problem of elite groups in society is discussed before the text of 1 Chronicles 2:3-4:23 is analysed. The latter text is discussed with relation to Joel Weinberg's thesis of the bêt ’abót, the strange women in Ezra and Nehemia, and the influence of the Persian administration on the inhabitants of the Ancient Near East. Finally, the elite community is seen as a group of loyal Persian administrators, despite the fact that they were (the) children of exiles.

“Let us Go and Burn Her Body”: The Image of the Jews in the Early Dormition Traditions

1999 ◽  
Vol 68 (4) ◽  
pp. 775-823 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen J. Shoemaker
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Near East ◽  
Virgin Mary ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Recent Book ◽  
Jewish Literature ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Anti Jewish ◽  
Christian Society

In his recent book,Mary through the Centuries, Jaroslav Pelikan notes that “one of the most profound and persistent roles of the Virgin Mary in history has been her function as a bridge builder to other traditions, other cultures, and other religions.” This is particularly true of the late ancient Near East, where Mary's significance frequently reached across various cultural and religious boundaries. But it is equally true that Mary often served to define boundaries between traditions, cultures, and religions. As Klaus Schreiner explains in his similarly recent book,Maria: Jungfrau, Mutter, Herrsherin, “Brücken, die Juden und Christen miteinander hätten verbinden können, schlug Maria im Mittelalter nicht… Maria trennte, grenzte aus.” In the rather substantial chapter that follows, Schreiner presents perhaps the best overview of Mary's role as a focus of Jewish/Christian conflict in late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Scholars have long recognized the role played by the Virgin and her cult in the exclusion of Jews from Christian society during the Western Middle Ages, Marian piety being, along with eucharistic devotion, the most anti-Jewish aspect of medieval piety. Throughout the medieval period, and likewise continuing into the Renaissance and Reformation, the Virgin Mary figured prominently in Christian anti-Jewish literature, where the (alleged) Jewish disparagement of Virgin Mary “weighed heavier than thefts of the host, ritual murders, and … ell poisoning.”

ETHNIC AND CONFESSIONAL IN ISLAM: IS “TRUE ISLAM” SO RELIGIOUSLY PURE?

2021 ◽  
pp. 5-20
Author(s):  
Igor Dobaev
Keyword(s):  
External Influence ◽  
Traditional Values ◽  
Political Extremism ◽  
Traditional Islam

Since the 1980s of the 20 century ideology, and then the practice of the so-called “Pure Islam” began, under external influence, to sneak actively to the territory of Russia. Its adherents entered into irreconcilable confrontation with the supporters of traditional Islam and it resulted in the emergence and development of religious and political extremism and terrorism under the guise of Moslem beliefs. In this regard, it seems relevant to find out whether the so-called “pure Islam,” free from the influence of ethnicity and traditional values really exists.

scholarly journals Priorities in Protecting the Informational and Cultural Space:a Historical-Geopolitical Interpretation

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 157-173
Author(s):  
Alexander Shalak
Keyword(s):  
National Security ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Historical Memory ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Russian Society ◽  
External Influence ◽  
Traditional Values ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Traditional Language ◽  
Constant Growth

Being a hallmark of the current epoch, the constant growth of the civilizational consciousness manifests itself in large-scale societies’ urge to protect their historical roots, language and traditional values. This explains the topicality of the problem stated by the author. From the position of the historical-geopolitical approach, the key element in providing national security is control over the country’s infosphere. The content of activities in Russian information ecosystem should be determined by the necessity to protect the cultural core of the Russian civilization and preserve the national identity. Such strategy will be able to provide for a sovereign policy concerning the language and culture, and become the basis for determining the aims and the content of mass media's activities. Retrospective understanding of the historical background helps to formulate the key forms of civilizational control to build up the axiological identity of Russian society. Since external influence on the norms and vocabulary of the language is always aimed at undermining the basis of a civilization, it is vitally important to exercise control by preserving the traditional language and broadening the areal of its usage. It is also crucial to preserve the historical memory and prevent history rewriting and imposing false historic symbols. Besides, formation of civil identity of Russian people based on common values and ethical and religious roots requires pragmatic support of Оrthodox Christianity. The country’s academia is the most important agent of implementing this strategy.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document