Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Goodman
Keyword(s):  
Second Temple ◽  
Early Church ◽  
Biblical Text ◽  
Religious Institution ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Jerusalem Temple ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

For all Jews in this period, in both diaspora and homeland, the Jerusalem Temple was the central religious institution. The wide dispersal of Jews prevented many from regular participation in Temple worship, but no religious Jew seem to have ignored the significance of the sacrificial and other offerings in Jerusalem. The second pillar of common Judaism was the Torah. It was during these centuries that the biblical text took a form resembling that of the present day and acquired something close to its later authority. Most of the debate about the relation of Jews to the surrounding culture has concentrated on the Hellenization of Judaism. The motivation of Christian scholars for investigating the relationship of Judaism and Hellenism has naturally been very different and more concerned with the origins of ideas found in the early Church.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND THE ACCOUNTING AND ECONOMIC PRACTICES OF A SOCIETY: EVIDENCE FROM THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS

2013 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
David N. Herda ◽  
Stephen A. Reed ◽  
William F. Bowlin
Keyword(s):  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
First Century ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Economic Practices ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Primary Focus ◽  
The Relationship

This study explores the Dead Sea Scrolls to demonstrate how Essene socio-religious values shaped their accounting and economic practices during the late Second Temple period (ca. first century BCE to 70 CE). Our primary focus is on the accounting and commercial responsibilities of a leader within their community – the Examiner. We contend that certain sectarian accounting practices may be understood as ritual/religious ceremony and address the performative roles of the Essenes' accounting and business procedures in light of their purity laws and eschatological beliefs. Far from being antithetical to religious beliefs, we find that accounting actually enabled the better practice and monitoring of religious behavior. We add to the literature on the interaction of religion with the structures and practices of accounting and regulation within a society.

Jewish Identity and the Intercommunal Links between Diaspora Jewish Communities in the Second Temple Period

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Jonathan R. Trotter
Keyword(s):  
Jewish Identity ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
Jewish Communities ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Jerusalem Temple ◽  
Shared Identity ◽  
The City ◽  
The Temple

Abstract Many diaspora communities identify not only with a distant homeland but also with others distant from the homeland. How exactly do these intercommunal connections take place and contribute toward a shared identity? What specific aspects of diasporan identity are created or strengthened? What practices are involved? This study will begin to answer these questions through investigating two practices which were widespread among diaspora Jewish communities during the last two centuries of the Second Temple period (1st cent. B.C.E.–1st cent. C.E.). First, we will show how sending offerings and making pilgrimages to the Jerusalem temple from these communities enabled regular intercommunal contact. Then, we will suggest some ways in which these voluntary practices reinforced a cohesive Jewish identity and the importance of the homeland, especially the city of Jerusalem and the temple, for many diaspora Jews, whether they lived in Alexandria, Rome, Asia Minor, or Babylonia.

Sealing the Demons, Once and For All: The Ring of Solomon, the Cross of Christ, and the Power of Biblical Kingship

2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-130
Author(s):  
Raʿanan Boustan ◽  
Michael Beshay
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Jewish Tradition ◽  
Third Century ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Jerusalem Temple ◽  
The Third ◽  
Signet Ring ◽  
Cross Of Christ ◽  
The Cross

Abstract This paper traces the historical development of the tradition that King Solomon made use of a signet-ring to marshal the demons as a labor-force for the construction of the Jerusalem Temple and analyzes the shifting ritual uses to which this tradition was put.We argue that this tradition, which is most fully articulated in the Testament of Solomon, is a Christian innovation of the third and fourth centuries rather than a venerable Jewish tradition with roots in the Second Temple period. This branch of the Solomon tradition first emerged within the context of internal Christian debates of the third century concerning proper baptismal practice, where the power of baptism to provide protection from the demons was linked to debates concerning the efficacy of Solomon’s act of sealing the demons in the temple. In the post-Constantinian period, the ring of Solomon was venerated by pilgrims to Jerusalem as a “relic” of Israelite kingship alongside the True Cross. Like certain strands of the Testament of Solomon literature, the pilgrimage practices performed at this potent site figure Christ’s victory on the cross as the fulfillment-once and for all-of Solomon’s only provisional mastery over the demons. In this context, Solomon’s ring gave concrete expression to Christian claims on the Old Testament past, while also mediating between imperial and ecclesiastical power.

scholarly journals Wisdom and Law in the Hebrew Bible and at Qumran

2017 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-181
Author(s):  
Charlotte Hempel
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Jewish Literature ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Spread Model ◽  
Community Rule ◽  
Relationship Of

This article begins by noting the paucity of engagement between scholarship on the Dead Sea Scrolls (dss) and a number of significant studies on the relationship of wisdom and law in the Hebrew Bible. A substantial case study on Proverbs 1-9 and the Community Rule from Qumran is put in conversation with the seminal work of, especially, Moshe Weinfeld on Deuteronomy and its refinement by subsequent research to trace a dynamic interaction between wisdom and law in the Second Temple period. The article ends with critical reflections on the wide-spread model of segmenting ancient Jewish literature and those responsible for it into neat categories such as wisdom and law. It is argued that such a model presupposes a degree of specialization that is not borne out by the range of literature that found its way into the Hebrew Bible or the caves in the vicinity of Khirbet Qumran.

Observations on Inner-Scriptural Scribal Expansion in MT Ezekiel

2008 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jake Stromberg
Keyword(s):  
Second Temple ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Textual Evidence ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractTextual evidence from the Second Temple Period attests a principle by which Hebrew manuscripts were edited in light of other scriptural texts (e.g. 1QIsaa). Such inner-scriptural editing was often undertaken along lines of connection perceived between the texts before the expansion took place, so that these perceived connections served as a guide for the scribe's own work. This study argues that the same textual procedure was at work in creating the longer text of MT Ezekiel, which is 4-5% longer than LXX Ezekiel. In light of the work of E. Ulrich, this study concludes with reflections on what MT Ezekiel contributes, as an empirical example, to the discussion about the relationship between text and canon.

The Origins of the Seder and Haggadah

2005 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-134
Author(s):  
Joshua Kulp
Keyword(s):  
Second Temple ◽  
Rabbinic Literature ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Jerusalem Temple ◽  
Rabbinic Judaism ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Last Supper ◽  
Death Of Jesus ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Temple

Emerging methods in the study of rabbinic literature now enable greater precision in dating the individual components of the Passover seder and haggadah. These approaches, both textual and socio-historical, have led to a near consensus among scholars that the Passover seder as described in rabbinic literature did not yet exist during the Second Temple period. Hence, cautious scholars no longer seek to find direct parallels between the last supper as described in the Gospels and the rabbinic seder. Rather, scholarly attention has focused on varying attempts of Jewish parties, notably rabbis and Christians, to provide religious meaning and sanctity to the Passover celebration after the death of Jesus and the destruction of the Temple. Three main forces stimulated the rabbis to develop innovative seder ritual and to generate new, relevant exegeses to the biblical Passover texts: (1) the twin calamities of the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple and the Bar-Kokhba revolt; (2) competition with emerging Christian groups; (3) assimilation of Greco-Roman customs and manners. These forces were, of course, significant contributors to the rise of a much larger array of rabbinic institutions, ideas and texts. Thus surveying scholarship on the seder reviews scholarship on the emergence of rabbinic Judaism.

scholarly journals Visual and Functional Aspects of Inscriptions in Early Church Floors

1970 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 45-63
Author(s):  
Bente Kiilerich
Keyword(s):  
Sacred Space ◽  
Random Selection ◽  
Early Church ◽  
Functional Aspects ◽  
Floor Mosaics ◽  
East And West ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church ◽  
Selection Of

Floor mosaics in early churches often display inscriptions of various kinds: names and labels, artists’ signatures, donor inscriptions, longer epigrams and, more rarely, Biblical quotations. Examining a selection of monuments of the fourth to sixth centuries, from both East and West, this paper discusses visual aspects of design, layout and framing, the functions of inscriptions and the relationship of text to image. While some examples appear to be representative for general tendencies in the period, others are unique and generalizations cannot be drawn from them. The paper demonstrates that the floor inscriptions in early churches had many purposes: they labeled figures, explained scenes, commemorated benefactors. Even a random selection of inscriptions shows that care was taken to make the words integral to the mosaic decoration, both aesthetically and conceptually. Placed in the “humblest” part of the church, the floor inscriptions may offer a first key to unlocking the cosmic meaning of the sacred space of the church.

Concluding Thoughts

2019 ◽  
pp. 314-318
Author(s):  
Eyal Regev
Keyword(s):  
First Century ◽  
Jerusalem Temple ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Standard Manner ◽  
The One ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Temple ◽  
Do So

This concluding chapter discusses two general issues that build on the previous chapters, namely, the relationship of the early Christians to Judaism and the implications of comprehending the Jerusalem Temple in the first century. Early Christian authors draw heavily on the Temple as a major Jewish institution as well as on the concepts of the Temple and the sacrificial cult. They do so while minimally discrediting the legitimacy of the Jerusalem Temple and the sacrifices, even as they propose alternatives after its destruction. Whether referring to the Temple in the standard manner or a radical one, these authors are undoubtedly aware that they are sharing this key symbol with non-Christian Jews, and this seems to be one of their hidden messages: that they share the same holy center devoted to the one and only God despite their differences and persecution by fellow Jews.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document