Jewish Studies

Torah, Temple, Land

Constructions of Judaism in Antiquity
Edited by Markus Witte, Jens Schröter, and Verena M. Lepper

[Tora, Tempel, Land. Konstruktionen des Judentums in der Antike.]

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ISBN 978-3-16-159853-1
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Published in English.
This volume is devoted to different forms in which ancient Judaism was shaped. As is well known, Judaism in antiquity was a religion in constant flux with different perspectives on essential categories, such as Tora, Temple, and the Holy Land. Consequently, what was regarded as »Judaism« or »Jewish« was not fixed, but had to be constantly negotiated.
The present volume contains the proceedings of a conference held in October 2018 at Humboldt University Berlin. The articles reflect the different categories of describing Judaism of the Second Temple Period in view of their sustainability in characterising an ancient religious community in different historical situations and discuss relevant (re)constructions of ancient Judaism in the history of scholarship. Since the Persian period, ancient Judaism existed in a world which was in constant flux regarding its political, social, and religious contexts. Consequently, Judaism was subject to permanent processes of change in its self-perception as well as its external perception. In all complexity, however, the Torah, the Temple(s) as a place where heaven meets the earth, and the 'holy' or 'promised' land as the dwelling place of God's people can be regarded as institutions to which all kinds of Judaism in the Babylonian and Egyptian dispora as well in Israel/Palestine were related in some way or another.
Survey of contents
Jens Schröter/Markus Witte/Verena Lepper: Introduction – Peter Schäfer: Judaism or Judaisms: The Construction of Ancient Judaism – Benedikt Hensel: Debating Temple and Torah in the Second Temple Period. Theological and Political Aspects of the Final Redaction(s) of the Pentateuch – Sebastian Grätz: The Golah, the Temple and the Torah in the Book of Ezra: Biblical and religious-historical perspectives on Judah and Jerusalem in post-exilic times – Stefan Schorch: »Mount Garizim is the house of God and the dwelling place for his glory«: The origins and early history of Samaritan theology – Karel van der Toorn: The Religion of the Elephantine Jews – John J. Collins: Jewish Communities in the Dead Sea Scrolls – Charlotte Hempel: The Dead Sea Scrolls: Challenging the Particularist Paradigm – Robert Kugler: Finding »Judaism« in Documentary Papyri: The Case of the Petitions from the Herakleopolis Archive – Lutz Doering: Torah and Temple in Judaean Pseudepigrapha From Jubilees to Fourth Ezra and Second Baruch – Gabriele Boccaccini: What Does the Forgiving Jesus Have to Do with the Unforgiving Enoch? Forgiveness of Sins in the Enochic Traditions – Maren R. Niehoff: Constructing Temple and Torah in Philo of Alexandria – Martin Goodman: Paul as Persecutor and the History of Judaism – Adela Yarbro Collins: What Sort of Jew is the Jesus of Mark? – René Bloch: Jew or Judean: The Latin Evidence – Werner Eck: Die – fast – unsichtbare jüdische Diaspora im Westen des Imperium Romanum vor der Spätantike – Shaye J.D. Cohen: Jews and Judaism in Antioch as Portrayed by John Chrysostom and the Rabbinic Sages – Catherine Hezser: The Contested Image of King David in Rabbinic and Patristic Literature and Art of Late Antiquity
Authors/Editors

Jens Schröter Geboren 1961; 1992 Promotion; 1996 Habilitation; Professor für Exegese und Theologie des Neuen Testaments sowie die antiken christlichen Apokryphen an der Theologischen Fakultät der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7878-2709

Markus Witte Geboren 1964; Studium der Ev. Theologie, Judaistik und Semitischen Philologie; 1993 Promotion; 1997 Habilitation; 2001–09 Professor für Altes Testament an der Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt/M.; Professor für Literaturgeschichte und Theologie des Alten Testaments an der Theologischen Fakultät an der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9358-1147

Verena M. Lepper Born 1973; Dr. phil.; Curator for Egyptian and Oriental Papyri and Manuscripts, Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection of the National Museums in Berlin, SPK & Honorary Professor at the Humboldt University of Berlin.

Reviews

The following reviews are known:

In: RES – Review of Ecumenical Studies — 15 (2023), pp. 164–167 (Nicholas H. Taylor)
In: New Testament Abstracts — 66 (2022), p. 330
In: — Neotestamentica, 56 (2022), pp. 381–386 (Christoph Stenschke)
In: Theologische Literaturzeitung — 146 (2021), pp. 905–907 (Michael Tilly)
In: Journal for the Study of Judaism (JSJ) — 54 (2023), pp. 277–282 (Malka Zeiger Simkovich)