Jewish Studies

Adam Gregerman

Building on the Ruins of the Temple

Apologetics and Polemics in Early Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism

[Auf den Ruinen des Tempels bauen. Apologetik und Polemik im frühen Christentum und im rabbinischen Judentum.]

2016. XIV, 266 pages.

Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism 165

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Adam Gregerman analyzes explanations for the Romans' destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple in writings by Justin, Origen, and Eusebius, and in the Midrash on Lamentations, all roughly contemporaneous texts from the land of Israel. He demonstrates how the authors interpret the event apologetically, in order to prove (in the case of Christians) or make it impossible to disprove (in the case of Jews) that their own community – and not the other community – is the people of God.
In the immediate centuries after the Romans' destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple in 70 CE, Jews and Christians offered contrasting religious explanations for the razing of the locus of God's presence on earth. Adam Gregerman analyzes the views found in three early Christian texts (Justin's Dialogue with Trypho, Origen's Contra Celsum, and Eusebius' Proof of the Gospel) and one rabbinic text (the Midrash on Lamentations), all of which emerged in the same place – the land of Israel – and around the same time -the first few centuries after 70. The author explores the ways they interpret the destruction in order to prove (in the case of Christians), or make it impossible to disprove (in the case of the Jews) that their community is the people of God. He demonstrates the apologetic and polemical functions of selected explanations, for claims to the covenant made by one community excluded those made by the other.
Authors/Editors

Adam Gregerman Born 1973; PhD in Religion at Columbia University; currently Assistant Professor of Theology and Religious Studies and Assistant Director, Institute for Jewish-Catholic Relations, Saint Joseph's University, Philadelphia, PA.

Reviews

The following reviews are known:

In: Theologische Literaturzeitung — 142 (2017), S. 1318–1320 (Günter Stemberger)
In: New Testament Abstracts — 61 (2017), S. 370
In: Antisemitism Studies — 2 (2018), S. 369–375 (Christine Shepardson)
In: Religious Studies Review — 43 (2017), S. 288 (Andrew W. Higginbotham)
In: Reading Religion — www.readingreligion.org/books/building-ruins-temple (2/2017) (Linda S. Harrington)
In: Catholic Biblical Quarterly — 83 (2021), pp. 140–142 (Lawrence Frizzell)
In: Review of Biblical Literature — https://www.bookreviews.org (12/2017) (Daniel M. Gurtner)
In: AJS Review — 42 (2018), pp. 219–221 (Dov Weiss)
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