Beyond Judaisms: Metatron and the Divine Polymorphy of Ancient Judaism

2010 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 323-365 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Boyarin
Keyword(s):  
First Century ◽  
Rabbinic Literature ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Scholarly Literature ◽  
Son Of Man ◽  
Ancient Judaism ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One ◽  
Specific Project

AbstractMy specific project in this paper is to combine several related and notorious questions in the history of Judaism into one: What is the nexus among the semi-divine (or high angel) figure known in the Talmud as Metatron, the figure of the exalted Enoch in the Enoch books (1-3 Enoch!), "The One Like a Son of Man" of Daniel, Jesus, the Son of Man, and the rabbinically named heresy of "Two Powers/Sovereignties in Heaven?" I believe that in order to move towards some kind of an answer to this question, we need to develop a somewhat different approach to the study of ancient Judaism, as I hope to show here. I claim that late-ancient rabbinic literature when read in the context of all contemporary and earlier texts of Judaism—those defined as rabbinic as well as those defined as non-, para-, or even anti-rabbinic—affords us a fair amount of evidence for and information about a belief in (and perhaps cult of) a second divine person within, or very close to, so-called "orthodox" rabbinic circles long after the advent of Christianity. Part of the evidence for this very cult will come from efforts at its suppression on the part of rabbinic texts. I believe, moreover, that a reasonable chain of inference links this late cult figure back through the late-antique Book of 3 Enoch to the Enoch of the first-century Parables of Enoch—also known in the scholarly literature as the Similitudes of Enoch—and thus to the Son of Man of that text and further back to the One Like a Son of Man of Daniel 7.

Like a Hedge of Lilies

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Shai Secunda
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
The Other ◽  
Rabbinic Literature ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Jewish Women ◽  
Babylonian Talmud ◽  
New Approaches ◽  
Ancient Judaism ◽  
Male Dominated ◽  
The One

This chapter considers some of the challenges of studying late antique Jewish women and their practices through a text composed and transmitted in male-dominated contexts. It describes how menstruation made meaning through difference and differentiation in the Hebrew Bible, ancient Judaism, and rabbinic Literature. The chapter reviews new approaches to understanding the Babylonian Talmud as situated between classical (Palestinian) rabbinic literature, on the one hand, and its Sasanian context, on the other. It then closely analyzes a story about a rabbi and a heretic recorded at b. Sanhedrin 37a to illustrate the book’s main hermeneutical assumptions and potentialities.

scholarly journals Late Antique Dalmatia and Pannonia in Cassiodorus’ Variae

Millennium ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 211-274
Author(s):  
Hrvoje Gračanin
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One

Abstract As the title suggests, the present paper offers an analysis of selected letters from Cassiodorus’ Variae, which are important for late antique history of Dalmatia and Pannonia. The study is intended to be twofold: on the one part, it examines the information that can be derived from the letters about both provinces’ political, administrative, economic, social and ethnic picture in the time of Ostrogothic rule over the Eastern Adriatic and Middle Danube regions; on the other part, it explores literary and political contexts and underlying ideologies that are present in the selected letters.

Flavius Josephus

2019 ◽  
pp. 281-298
Author(s):  
Michael Tuval
Keyword(s):  
Jewish History ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
First Century ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Old Russian ◽  
Russian Version ◽  
Manuscript Tradition ◽  
History Of ◽  
Greek Manuscript

The works of first century CE Jewish historian Flavius Josephus constitute our main source for the study of Jewish history of the Second Temple period. In this chapter, we briefly discuss Josephus’ career and his four compositions, as well as the condition of the Greek manuscript tradition of his works. The chapter also deals with the Latin translations of Josephus, a late antique Christian adaptation of mainly Judean War in Latin, known as Hegesippus, and the remnants of Judean War in Syriac. Next comes Josippon, a medieval Hebrew adaptation of Josephus and some other sources, and finally the much-discussed Slavonic, or Old Russian, version of the Judean War.

Early Rabbinic Judaism and the Danger in Ezekiel 1

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 168-192
Author(s):  
Rick Van De Water
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Text ◽  
Biblical Hebrew ◽  
First Century ◽  
Rabbinic Judaism ◽  
Son Of Man ◽  
Jewish Revolt ◽  
The One

Rabbinic tradition indicates a revision of the text of the Book of Ezekiel in the first century ce and suggests the rationale behind it. Hanania ben Hezeqiah is said to have “harmonized” Ezekiel with the Torah shortly before the first Jewish revolt, to save the book from suppression by the rabbis. Hasty redaction, followed by immediate standardization, offers the best explanation for the atrocious grammar, orthography, and syntax of the received Hebrew text, along with the plethora of words and expressions common to post-biblical Hebrew. The goal of Hanania’s project was to discourage the conflation of the enthroned figure in Ezek. 1 with the “one like a son of man” in Dan. 7:13 and thus combat the “two Powers heresy.” His project is related to the outburst of speculation on the throne of yhwh and the merkabah in the mid-first century ce

Church Architecture of Late Antique Northern Mesopotamia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elif Keser Kayaalp
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Classical Tradition ◽  
First Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
Church Architecture ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
Frontier Region ◽  
The One ◽  
The Church

Church Architecture of Late Antique Northern Mesopotamia examines the church architecture of Northern Mesopotamia between the fourth and eighth centuries. It focuses on settlements, plan types, artistic encounters, the remarkable continuity of the classical tradition in the architectural decoration, the heterogeneity of the building techniques, patrons, imperial motivations, dedications of churches, and stories that claim and make spaces. Employing archaeological and epigraphical material and hagiographical and historical sources, the book presents a holistic picture of the church architecture of this frontier region, encompassing the cities of Nisibis (Nusaybin), Edessa (Şanlıurfa), Amida (Diyarbakır), Anastasiopolis (Dara/Oğuz), Martyropolis (Silvan), Constantia (Viranşehir), and their surroundings, and the rural Tur Abdin region. The period covered spans the last centuries of Byzantine and the first century and a half of Arab rule, when the region was, on the one hand, a stage of war and riven by religious controversies, and a cultural interspace on the other. The book discusses the different dynamics in this frontier region and the resulting built environment and church architecture in pursuit of providing a regional contribution to the study of the transformation that the Byzantine civilization underwent in the late antique period and understanding the continuities and changes after the Arab conquest.

The Restaurant

Migrant City ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 225-253
Author(s):  
Panikos Panayi
Keyword(s):  
Eating Habits ◽  
First Century ◽  
Mass Consumption ◽  
History Of ◽  
East End ◽  
Post War ◽  
The One ◽  
The City ◽  
Vast Range

This chapter explains how migrants have impacted the eating habits of all sections of the population in both social and geographical terms. While the evolution of modern London remains inconceivable without the role of migrants, the chapter shows that they may have had a more profound impact upon eating out than any other aspect of the history of the city. In the first place they have opened and staffed some of the most famous restaurants in the world. But this only tells one side of the story because settlers from Europe and beyond have, at the other end of the scale, also opened up establishments which serve up the dishes that characterize mass consumption, from the first fish and chip shops in the East End to the Chinese and Indian restaurants of the post-war period and the vast range of foreign food establishments which exist in the global capital of the twenty-first century. While, on the one hand, these restaurants cater for the ethnic majority, which increasingly became a vanishing concept, many migrants have also opened up restaurants for their countrymen as such establishments form a key part of local ethnic economies.

Josephus on Fate, Free Will, and Ancient Jewish Types of Compatibilism

Numen ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Klawans
Keyword(s):  
Free Will ◽  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
The Other ◽  
Rabbinic Literature ◽  
Jewish Literature ◽  
Ben Sira ◽  
Ancient Judaism ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
The One

AbstractRecent scholarship on fate and free will in ancient Judaism is characterized by a lack of precision with regard to the nature of these disputes. There is also some disagreement concerning the degree to which the disparate positions can be constructively compared with either Hellenistic philosophical approaches or later rabbinic theological ones. It is argued here that Josephus's brief typology of ancient Jewish disputes on this topic finds confirmation in other ancient Jewish literature, especially the Wisdom of Ben Sira, the sectarian Dead Sea Scrolls, and later rabbinic literature. Yet it is imperative to nuance Josephus's typology so as to avoid imposing Hellenistic philosophical systems onto ancient Jewish theological ones. These observations hold true especially when it comes to understanding the balance between fate and free will — the “compatibilism” — that characterizes the Pharisaic approach. It is rarely noticed that Josephus's accounts attribute to this group two distinct ways of balancing fate and free will. On the one hand, each of these two approaches finds distinct analogues within rabbinic literature, a fact that further confirms both Josephus's reliability and the productivity of comparing his accounts with later rabbinic traditions. On the other hand, neither of the two types of compatibilism attributed by Josephus to the Pharisees can be identified with Stoic compatibilism. Nonetheless, the term “compatibilism” remains the most appropriate term for distinguishing the Pharisaic compromises from the more extreme (but by no means uncomplicated) positions that seem to have characterized the Sadducees and Essenes in Josephus's day.

Islamic Charities and Islamic Humanism in Troubled Times

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Benthall
Keyword(s):  
Charitable Giving ◽  
War On Terror ◽  
The United States ◽  
First Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
Religious Toleration ◽  
Human Sciences ◽  
General Introduction ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One

This book is the fruit of twenty years’ reflection on Islamic charities, both in practical terms and as a key to understand the crisis in contemporary Islam. On the one hand Islam is undervalued as a global moral and political force whose admirable qualities are exemplified in its strong tradition of charitable giving. On the other hand, it suffers from a crisis of authority that cannot be blamed entirely on the history of colonialism and stigmatization to which Muslims have undoubtedly been subjected – most recently, as a result of the “war on terror”. The book consists of seventeen previously published chapters, with a general Introduction and new prefatory material for each chapter. The first nine chapters review the current situation of Islamic charities from many different viewpoints – theological, historical, diplomatic, legal, sociological and ethnographic – with first-hand data from the United States, Britain, Israel–Palestine, Mali and Indonesia. Chapters 10 to 17 expand the coverage to explore the potential for a twenty-first century “Islamic humanism” that would be devised by Muslims in the light of the human sciences and institutionalized throughout the Muslim world. This means addressing contentious topics such as religious toleration and the meaning of jihad. The intended readership includes academics and students at all levels, professionals concerned with aid and development, and all who have an interest in the future of Islam.

Great projects and crude realities

2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 186-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel Ángel Giménez Martínez
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
First Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One ◽  
The Right ◽  
Universal Schooling

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the circumstances that have conditioned the development of education in Spain from the enlightenment to the present day. Design/methodology/approach – Multidisciplinary scientific approach that combines the interpretation of the legal texts with the revision of the doctrinal and theoretical contributions made on the issue. Findings – From the beginning of the nineteenth century, the history of education in Spain has been marked by constant fluctuations between the reactionary instincts, principally maintained by the Catholic Church and the conservative social classes, and the progressive experiments, driven by the enlightened and the liberals first, and the republicans and the socialists later. As a consequence of that, the fight for finishing with illiteracy and guaranteeing universal schooling underwent permanent advances and retreats, preventing from an effective modernization of the Spanish educative system. On the one hand, renewal projects promoted by teachers and pedagogues were inevitably criticized by the ecclesiastical hierarchy, obsessed with the idea of preserving the influence of religion on the schools. On the other hand, successive governments were weak in implementing an educational policy which could place Spain at the level of the other European and occidental nations. Originality/value – At the dawn of the twenty-first century, although the country has overcome a good part of its centuries-old backwardness, increasing economic difficulties and old ideological splits keep hampering the quality of teaching, gripped by neoliberal policies which undermine the right to education for all. The reading of this paper offers various historical clues to understand this process.

A Sidelight on the ‘Son of Man’

1969 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Gelston
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Previous History ◽  
First Century ◽  
Small Contribution ◽  
The Third ◽  
Son Of Man ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
History Of

The term ‘Son of Man’ is one of the enigmas of the Gospels. G. Vermes has re-examined the Aramaic background of the phrase in Appendix E of the third edition of M. BlacK's Aramaic Approach to the Gospels and Acts. Even if his argument that barnāsh (ā) is in some passages a mere circumlocution for ‘I’ is not wholly convincing,page 2 he has demonstrated beyond doubt that the phrase was not in New Testament times a title with a clear and recognised meaning, whether messianic or other. The phrase in itself merely signifies ‘man’, whether mankind in general, or a particular man. Only the context can determine its meaning more precisely. Apart from Act 7.56 it is used virtually exclusively in the New Testament by Jesus, and the question of the crowd in John 12.34—‘who is this Son of Man?’ —shows clearly that the expression was not immediately intelligible to the first century,page 3 and that we are not at liberty to dismiss it as no more than an elaborate way of saying ‘man’ or ‘I’. This is the justification of the immense activity that has gone into the exploration of the previous history of the expression, and to which this article is a small contribution.page 4

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