Download or read book Cult as the Catalyst for Division written by Paul Heger and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2007-03-31 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The study asserts that conflicting sacrificial rules were the motive of the schism in Judean society, in the last period of the Second Temple. The study substantiates the thesis by a meticulous examination and comparison of the rabbinic and Qumran exegetical methods, and an exhaustive scrutiny of biblical sacrificial rules, demonstrating their deficiencies, the cause of the exegetical dissensions among the different groups. A short record of historical struggles, due to cult issues, and a scrutiny of Qumran literature, corroborating the utmost significance of the Temple cult in that group, complement the study. The study is useful for a comprehension of Qumran literature and particularly of the system of thought of its authors and their approach to the biblical writings.
Download or read book Law Power and Justice in Ancient Israel written by Douglas A. Knight and published by Westminster John Knox Press. This book was released on 2011-01-01 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Using socio-anthropological theory and archaeological evidence, Knight argues that while the laws in the Hebrew Bible tend to reflect the interests of those in power, the majority of ancient Israelites--located in villages--developed their own unwritten customary laws to regulate behavior and resolve legal conflicts in their own communities. This book includes numerous examples from village, city, and cult. --from publisher description
Download or read book Authoritative Scriptures in Ancient Judaism written by Mladen Popović and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2010-06-14 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many scholars of the Second Temple period have replaced the concept of canonization by that of canonical process. Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls has been crucial for this new direction. Based on this new evidence taxonomic terms like biblical, nonbiblical or parabiblical seem anachronistic for the period before 70 C.E. The notion of authoritative Scriptures plays an important part in the new paradigm of canonical process, but it has not yet been sufficiently reflected upon and is in need of clarification. Why were some texts more authoritative than others? For whom and in what contexts were texts authoritative? And what are our criteria to determine to what extent a text was authoritative? In short, what do we mean by “authoritative”? This volume focuses on specific texts or corpora of texts, and approaches the notion of authoritative Scriptures from sociological, cultural and literary perspectives.
Download or read book The Qumran Rule Texts in Context written by Charlotte Hempel and published by Mohr Siebeck. This book was released on 2013 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ever since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Community Rule has been at the forefront of the scholarly imagination and is often considered a direct channel to life at Khirbet Qumran - an ancient version of 'reality TV'. Over the course of the last fifteen years - the Cave 4 era - scholars have increasingly come to recognize the significance of the Scrolls as a rich text world from a period when texts, traditions, and interpretation laid the foundations of Western civilisation. The studies by Charlotte Hempel gathered in this volume deal with several core Rule texts from Qumran, especially with the Community Rule (S), the Rule of the Congregation (1QSa), the Damascus Document (D), and 4Q265 (Miscellaneous Rules). The author uncovers a complex network of literary and more murkily preserved social relationships. She further investigates the Rule literature within the context of wisdom, law, and the scribal milieu behind the emerging scriptures.
Download or read book Scribes and Their Remains written by Craig A. Evans and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2019-09-05 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scribes and Their Remains begins with an introductory essay by Stanley Porter which addresses the principal theme of the book: the text as artifact. The rest of the volume is then split into two major sections. In the first, five studies appear on the theme of 'Scribes, Letters, and Literacy.' In the first of these Craig A. Evans offers a lengthy piece that argues that the archaeological, artifactual, and historical evidence suggests that New Testament autographs and first copies may well have remained in circulation for one century or more, having the effect of stabilizing the text. Other pieces in the section address literacy, orality and paleography of early Christian papyri. In the second section there are five pieces on 'Writing, Reading, and Abbreviating Christian Scripture.' These range across numerous topics, including an examination of the stauros (cross) as a nomen sacrum.
Download or read book Devils and Deviants written by Jason L. Merritt and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2017-01-30 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Devils and Deviants takes up the question of the impact of religious schism on the composition of 1 and 2 John. After decades attempting to reconstruct the beliefs of the schismatics referenced briefly in 1 John, Johannine scholars have largely rejected the notion that such a reconstruction can in fact be accomplished. In addition, there has been a notable move by some to interpret 1 and 2 John non-polemically, arguing that the schism has little or no bearing on the composition of these epistles and our ability to interpret them. In this volume, Merritt turns to the anthropology and sociology of religious schism to reconstruct the processes by which groups separate themselves from one another. He then applies that model as a heuristic device in reading 1 and 2 John, arguing in the process that, while the beliefs of the schismatics cannot be reconstructed with any accuracy, the schism has indeed had a profound impact on the Johannine community and 1 and 2 John.
Download or read book Beyond the Qumran Community written by John J. Collins and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2010 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the full publication of the Dead Sea Scrolls, fresh analysis of the evidence presented can be and indeed, should be made. Beyond the Qumran Community does just that, reaching a surprising conclusion: the sect described in the Dead Sea Scrolls developed later than has usually been supposed and was never confi ned to the site of Qumran. / John J. Collins here deconstructs the Qumran community and shows that the sectarian documents actually come from a text spread throughout the land. He examines the Community Rule, or Yahad, and considers the Teacher of Righteousness, a pivotal fi gure in the Essene movement. After examining the available evidence, Collins concludes that it is, in fact, overwhelmingly likely that the site of Qumran housed merely a single settlement of a very widespread movement.
Download or read book Civic Ideology Organization and Law in the Rule Scrolls written by Yonder Moynihan Gillihan and published by Yonder Moynihan Gillihan. This book was released on 2011 with total page 614 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Conquering the World written by Brian Schultz and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2009 with total page 469 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Unique in its genre and content, the War Scroll (1QM) presents a vision of an impending eschatological war. Although originally interpreted as being the product of a single author from the Qumran Sect, the composition's inconsistencies quickly led to the view that it is in fact an eclectic document with an elaborate compositional history. Yet all such theories were formulated prior to the publication of War Scroll-like texts from Caves 4 and 11. A careful re-examination of the War Scroll suggests instead that what began as a primitive and cohesive composition from the Hellenistic period about a two-stage conquest of the world was eventually updated in order to fit the new historical realities faced by the sectarians under Roman rule.
Download or read book The Jerusalem Temple and Early Christian Identity written by Timothy Wardle and published by Mohr Siebeck. This book was released on 2010 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Slightly revised and expanded version of the author's thesis (Ph.D.)--Duke University, Durham, 2008.
Download or read book Institutionalized Routine Prayers at Qumran Fact or Assumption written by Paul Heger and published by Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. This book was released on 2019-09-16 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the development of institutionalized prayer in ancient Israel at a crucial time in the history of Western civilization: from the period of the Qumran writings, in the last three centuries BCE, through to the rabbinic period, after 70 CE. It explores the shift from sacrificial worship by priests to abstract, unmediated, direct approaches to the deity by laypeople. It demonstrates the transition from voluntary, freely composed prayers to obligatory prayers with fixed texts. The study shows how Qumran and Samaritan prayer contrast with rabbinic prayer, shedding light on Jewish customs before the rabbinic reform. Posthumously edited by Bernard M. Levinson.
Download or read book Law Literature and Society in Legal Texts from Qumran written by Jutta Jokiranta and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2019-02-11 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The essays in this collection examine halakhic and rule texts found at Qumran, focusing on legal issues, the role of halakhah in relations with other Second Temple groups, and the literary development and intertextual relationships of the manuscripts.
Download or read book Josephus and the Theologies of Ancient Judaism written by Jonathan Klawans and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2013-01-10 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Though considered one of the most important informants about Judaism in the first century CE, the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus's testimony is often overlooked or downplayed. Jonathan Klawans's Josephus and the Theologies of Ancient Judaism reexamines Josephus's descriptions of sectarian disagreements concerning determinism and free will, the afterlife, and scriptural authority. In each case, Josephus's testimony is analyzed in light of his works' general concerns as well as relevant biblical, rabbinic, and Dead Sea texts. Many scholars today argue that ancient Jewish sectarian disputes revolved primarily or even exclusively around matters of ritual law, such as calendar, cultic practices, or priestly succession. Josephus, however, indicates that the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes disagreed about matters of theology, such as afterlife and determinism. Similarly, many scholars today argue that ancient Judaism was thrust into a theological crisis in the wake of the destruction of the second temple in 70 CE, yet Josephus's works indicate that Jews were readily able to make sense of the catastrophe in light of biblical precedents and contemporary beliefs. Without denying the importance of Jewish law-and recognizing Josephus's embellishments and exaggerations-Josephus and the Theologies of Ancient Judaism calls for a renewed focus on Josephus's testimony, and models an approach to ancient Judaism that gives theological questions a deserved place alongside matters of legal concern. Ancient Jewish theology was indeed significant, diverse, and sufficiently robust to respond to the crisis of its day.
Download or read book Challenges to Conventional Opinions on Qumran and Enoch Issues written by Paul Heger and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2011-12-09 with total page 429 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Some literary expressions in the Dead Sea Scrolls led scholars to allege that their authors professed a dualistic and deterministic worldview of Zoroastrian origin and that the omission of Moses and Sinai from the Enoch writings evinces that a segment in Jewish society marginalized the Torah, adopting Enoch’s prophecies as its ethical guideline. This study challenges these allegations as utterly conflicting with essential biblical doctrines and the unequivocal beliefs and expectations of Qumran’s Torah-centered society, arguing that scholars’ allegations are erroneously based on interpreting ancient texts with a modern mindset and influenced by the interpreter’s personal cultural background. The study interprets the relevant texts in a manner compatible with the presumed doctrines of ancient Jewish authors and readers.
Download or read book Dualism in Qumran written by Géza G. Xeravits and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2010-09-02 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: >
Download or read book Land and Temple written by Benjamin D. Gordon and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2020-04-06 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This exploration of the Judean priesthood’s role in agricultural cultivation demonstrates that the institutional reach of Second Temple Judaism (516 BCE–70 CE) went far beyond the confines of its houses of worship, while exposing an unfamiliar aspect of sacred place-making in the ancient Jewish experience. Temples of the ancient world regularly held assets in land, often naming a patron deity as landowner and affording the land sanctity protections. Such arrangements can provide essential background to the Hebrew Bible’s assertion that God is the owner of the land of Israel. They can also shed light on references in early Jewish literature to the sacred landholdings of the priesthood or the temple.
Download or read book The Dead Sea Scrolls in Context written by Armin Lange and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2011 with total page 1015 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Dead Sea Scrolls enrich many areas of biblical research, as well as the study of ancient and rabbinic Judasim, early Christian and other ancient literatures, languages, and cultures. With nearly all Dead Sea Scrolls published, it is now time to integrate the Dead Sea Scrolls fully into the various disciplines that benefit from them. This two-volume collection of essays answers this need. It represents the proceedings of a conference jointly organized by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of Vienna in Vienna on February 11 14, 2008.
