The Terror of Time: The Festival of Dionysus and Saturnalia in Jewish Responses to Foreign Rule

2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-178
Author(s):  
Catherine E. Bonesho
Keyword(s):  
Jewish Literature ◽  
Jewish Communities ◽  
Textual Practices

Abstract Proper observance of festivals is a major concern in early Jewish literature, but the festivals of the gentiles also figure prominently in this period. Two such festivals are the Greek Festival of Dionysus, described in Second Maccabees, and the Roman festival of Saturnalia, described in the Palestinian Talmud. I show the varied ways in which the authors of these texts, members of different groups, with different textual practices, and living centuries apart, problematize foreign holidays in their responses to imperial rule. Though the polemic against gentiles is heightened in both texts, the epitomator primarily problematizes the Festival of Dionysus because its observance is a violation of ancestral law, while the Palestinian Amoraim stress Saturnalia’s status as a Roman holiday. The different emphases in these discussions of gentile festivals distinguish the prerogatives of these two Jewish communities, their understandings of gentile festivals, and their respective responses to Greek and Roman hegemony.

Transgression in Jewish Literature

1994 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-120
Author(s):  
Jyl Felman
Keyword(s):  
Short Stories ◽  
Jewish Identity ◽  
Literary Tradition ◽  
Pulitzer Prize ◽  
Jewish Literature ◽  
Tony Kushner ◽  
Jewish Communities ◽  
Library Collection ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
Angels In America

Jewish library collection policies as they relate to Jewish gay and lesbian issues are discussed. Questions considered are whether a book about gay Jews or a book written by a Jewish gay author should be included in Judaica collections. The issue is placed within a historical Jewish literary tradition which includes authors such as Grade, Ozick, Miller, Roth and Rukeyser-who write about such transgressive themes as sexuality, assimilation, self-loathing, agnostic rabbis, etc. Through personal examples drawn from her collection of Jewish short stories, Hot Chicken Wings, the author makes a case for including books with Jewish lesbian content. Also considered are the consequences of excluding such works and the ultimate arbitrariness of banning works with gay content from the Jewish library shelf. The author also comments on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Angels in America, written by a gay Jewish man, Tony Kushner. Even though Angels is being touted as an AIDS play, it is replete with Jewish characters, questions about assimilation, and Jewish self-loathing as exhibited by the lead character Roy Cohn. The play derives from a long tradition of Jewish avant-garde writing dealing with the nature of Jewish identity. For this reason, the author uses Angels to make a case against censoring gay themes in Judaica collections. Jewish literature throughout the ages has had a transgressive bent, and gay themes must be read in this context and viewed by Jews as legitimate literary material worthy of reading by Jewish communities.

Reflecting on Roots: Robert Jenson's Theology of Judaism in a Pentecostal Key

2011 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-37
Author(s):  
Michael Jay Chan
Keyword(s):  
Jewish Literature ◽  
Jewish Communities ◽  
God's Will ◽  
Pentecostal Theology ◽  
The World ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Common Vision

AbstractThe identity of 'Israel' has been important for Pentecostals for some time, especially in circles influenced by dispensationalism. Recent developments in ecumenical studies suggest that it is possible to construct an alternative theology of Judaism. Ecumenist Robert Jenson argues that Judaism's continued commitment to the Torah reflects God's will, even though it represents an implicit 'no' to Christ. This is because Jesus' resurrected Jewish body is only made available to the world through both church and synagogue. While problems remain in Jenson's work, a pneumatological rereading of his proposal – based on the NT's depiction of Christ's body as Spirit-anointed (e.g. Lk. 3.22; 4.1, 18-19) – is a constructive step toward a theology of Judaism. This rereading of Jenson suggests that both Christian and Jewish communities are communities of the Spirit. If true, Jewish literature might play a larger role in shaping Pentecostal theology. I propose three examples: (1) in the development of Pentecostal hermeneutical strategies, (2) in providing untapped pneumatological resources, and (3) concerning our common vision of a divinely recreated world.

scholarly journals Julian the Apostate's interpretation of the religious ecumene of the Empire in the context of the project for the restoration of the Jerusalem Temple

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 231-239
Author(s):  
Roman Svetlov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Jewish Literature ◽  
Human Communication ◽  
Jewish Communities ◽  
Jerusalem Temple ◽  
Lack Of Information ◽  
Religious Piety ◽  
Platonic Theology

Julian the Apostate carried out his religious reforms, relying on the concept of religious piety, which he developed on the basis of the "Chaldean oracles" and contemporary Neoplatonism. His attempt to find a concordat with the Jewish communities fully fits into this concept. Having discovered the "Chaldean" origins of the religion of Abraham, Julian was able to include even the worship of Yahweh in the framework of neo-Platonic theology. The restoration of the Jerusalem temple was for him one of the elements of the renovation of divine-human communication. The lack of information about these events in medieval Jewish literature demonstrates that his attempt to include Judaism in the imperial religious ecumene was based on a misinterpretation of the Abrahamic type of religion.

Book reviews

1987 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-63
Author(s):  
Roger Syrén ◽  
Morton Narrowe ◽  
Karl-Johan Illman
Keyword(s):  
Jewish Communities

Judendom och kristendom under de första århundradena. Nordiskt patristikerprojekt 1982–85. Vol. 1 (eds. Sten Hidal, Karl-Johan Illman, Tryggve Kronholm et al, 1986) is reviewed by Roger Syrén and M.H. Narrowe.The Jewish communities of Scandinavia. Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland (Daniel J. Elazar, Adina Weiss Liberles & Simcha Werner, 1984) is reviewed by M.H. Narrowe.Svensk antisemitism 1880–1930 (Mattias Tydén, 1986) is reviewed by Karl-Johan Illman.Helvetestransporten (Ragnar Kvam, 1986) is reviewed by Karl-Johan Illman.

The Jewish Communities in Eastern Rough Cilicia

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 204-216
Author(s):  
Mark R. Fairchild
Keyword(s):  
Western Anatolia ◽  
Eastern Anatolia ◽  
Jewish Communities ◽  
Bear Witness ◽  
Written Sources

This article discusses Jewish communities and their material remains in Eastern Rough Cilicia mainly during the Hellenistic and Roman Periods. After mentioning some written sources about the Jewish presence in western Anatolia, the general paucity of testimonies about Jewish communities in central and eastern Anatolia is emphasized. This lack of evidence might be due to the fact, that both areas are not as well explored and researched as Western Anatolia. The focus of the paper lies on the eastern most region of Rough Cilicia. It discusses rock inscriptions, rock carvings, and (decorated) architectural remains which bear witness to a strong Jewish presence in many cities of this region.

Going Through Hell; ΤΑΡΤΑΡΟΣ in Greco-Roman Culture, Second Temple Judaism, and Philo of Alexandria

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 352-378
Author(s):  
Clint Burnett
Keyword(s):  
Second Temple ◽  
Second Temple Judaism ◽  
Jewish Literature ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Philo Of Alexandria ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Literary Sources ◽  
Roman Culture ◽  
Greek Myths

This article questions the longstanding supposition that the eschatology of the Second Temple period was solely influenced by Persian or Iranian eschatology, arguing instead that the literature of this period reflects awareness of several key Greco-Roman mythological concepts. In particular, the concepts of Tartarus and the Greek myths of Titans and Giants underlie much of the treatment of eschatology in the Jewish literature of the period. A thorough treatment of Tartarus and related concepts in literary and non-literary sources from ancient Greek and Greco-Roman culture provides a backdrop for a discussion of these themes in the Second Temple period and especially in the writings of Philo of Alexandria.

The Sephardic Voice of Elias Canetti

2000 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-117
Author(s):  
Maria Esformes
Keyword(s):  
Nobel Prize ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Creative Development ◽  
Jewish Communities ◽  
Social Critic ◽  
Elias Canetti ◽  
Intellectual Autobiography ◽  
The Way

One of the most fascinating memoirs to appear in recent years is that of Elias Canetti, recipient of the 1981 Nobel Prize in Literature. his three-volume spiritual and intellectual autobiography is a complex and insightful rendering of his personal background and his creative development as a novelist, philosopher, and social critic. However, Canetti's autobiography is much more than a compelling account of the development of a great artist – it is a portrait of the tragic character of an entire era that witnessed the destruction of cultures and the way of life o many Jewish communities throughout Europe.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document