Understanding Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism"UNDERSTANDING SECOND TEMPLE AND RABBINIC JUDAISM examines the history of Judaism as it developed from the religion of biblical Israel to the Judaism of the talmudic rabbis. Each step in this process is discussed from historical, literary, and religious points of view in the context of the political history of the Jews. The book starts with an overview of the biblical heritage and moves into the Persian period followed by the confrontation of Judaism with Hellenism. It discusses the writings of Second Temple times including the apocrypha, pseudepigrapha, and Dead Sea Scrolls, the sects of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes, the rise of Christianity, the Jewish revolts against Rome, and the consolidation of rabbinic Judaism in the Mishnah and Talmud.One of the book's major theses is that the various approaches to Judaism shared sufficient common ground as to be classified as one, albeit variegated, religious tradition. Diverging trends are traced during this period, as is the question of the role of interpretation, the impact of external influences, and the process by which the competing approaches were eventually supplanted by the rabbinic tradition, which became the basis for medieval and modern Judaism. In this way, Judaism is shown to have traveled the long road from the textual heritage of the Hebrew Bible to the oral tradition of the rabbis. It is highly readable, illustrated with maps and photographs, and each chapter concludes with a selection of primary source material in English translation to elucidate the narrative. |
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Understanding Second Temple and rabbinic Judaism
User Review - Not Available - Book VerdictSchiffman (Edelman Professor of Hebrew & Judaic Studies, NYU; Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls) presents a basic introduction to Jewish history from the Second Temple to the rabbinic period. He ... Read full review
Contents
Introduction | 3 |
The Biblical Heritage | 15 |
Judaism in the Persian Period | 39 |
The Hellenistic Age | 74 |
Judaism in the Hellenistic Diaspora | 117 |
Sectarianism in the Second Commonwealth | 150 |
Apocrypha Pseudepigrapha | 197 |
The JewishChristian Schism | 224 |
Restoration | 270 |
The New Scripture | 292 |
Formative Judaism Comes of Age | 327 |
The Sea of the Talmud | 356 |
The Triumph of the Babylonian Talmud | 378 |
| 392 | |
| 400 | |
Revolt | 254 |
Common terms and phrases
according Alexander altar amoraic amoraim Antiochus apocrypha Aramaic Aristobulus Babylon Babylonian Talmud Bar Kokhba Revolt Bible biblical brother century b.c.e. Christianity culture Dead Sea Scrolls death destruction Diaspora Egypt Eleazar emperor Empire Essenes Ezra father festival fortress Galilee Gentiles Gerousia Greek halakhah halakhic Hasmonean Hebrew Hellenistic Hellenized Herod high priest Hillel holy House Hyrcanus interpretation Jerusalem Talmud Jesus Jewish community Jewish law Jews Josephus Judah the Prince Judea killed king kingdom Land of Israel later Levites Lord Maccabean Maccabees messianic midrashic midrashim Mishnah Moses Nehemiah offering Onias oral law Palestine Palestinian patriarchate Pharisees prayer priestly prophets Ptolemy Qumran Rabbi Akiva Rabbi Judah rabbinic Judaism redaction reign religious ritual Roman Rome rule Sabbath sacrifices Sadducees sages Samaritans Sanhedrin scholars Second Temple Second Temple period Seleucid Simeon sons sources synagogue tannaitic teachings texts tion took Torah tradition Trans worship written Yohanan
Bibliographic information
| Title | Understanding Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism |
| Author | Lawrence H. Schiffman |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | KTAV Publishing House, Inc., 2003 |
| ISBN | 088125813X, 9780881258134 |
| Length | 409 pages |
| Subjects | › › Religion / Judaism / History |
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