The History of the Jews in the Greco-Roman World examines Judaism in Palestine throughout the Hellenistic period, from Alexander the Great's conquest in 334BC to its capture by the Arabs in AD 636. Under the Greek, Roman and finally Christian supremacy which Hellenism brought, Judaism developed far beyond its biblical origins into a form which was to influence European history from the Middle Ages to the present day. The book focuses particularly on the social, economic and religious concerns of this period, and the political status of the Jews as both active agents and passive victims of history. The author provides a straightforward chronological survey of this important period through analysis and interpretation of the existing sources. With its accessible style and explanation of technical terms, the book provides a useful introduction to students and anybody with an interest in post-biblical Judaism.

First Published in 1995. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Jerome rocked the boat in which the early church had been comfortably settled for two hundred years. He upset Christian tradition by arguing for the priority of the Hebrew Old Testament over the supposedly inspired Greek Septuagint. He learned Hebrew from a Jewish teacher and translated the Old Testament directly from Hebrew into Latin. Not only did his new Latin translation create turmoil, but the inclusion of Jewish interpretations in his commentaries furthered the controversy. Unlike his contemporaries, Jerome viewed the Jews and their homeland as a source of information and inspiration. However, at the same time, Jerome freely admitted his hatred of the Jews and their religion. His caustic rhetoric reinforced the Christian church's displacement of the Jews, but it seems to oppose his move toward appreciating Jewish resources. This book illuminates Jerome's contradictory personality, proposes a solution, and explores avenues for current Christian and Jewish relations in light of Jerome's model.

This volume of essays presents a compelling and comprehensive analysis of the intriguing issue of the gift of the land of Israel and the fate of the Canaanites as presented in diverse biblical sources. Jewish thought has long grappled with the moral and theological implications and challenges of this issue. Innovative interpretive strategies and philosophical reflections were offered, modified, and sometimes rejected over the centuries. Leading contemporary scholars follow these threads of interpretation offered by Jewish thinkersfrom antiquity to modern times.

Dieses Buch enthalt die Vortrage die auf der Konferenz, die im Januar 1991 in Berlin stattfand, der Patristischen Arbeitsgemeinschaft gehalten wurden. Bei der christlichen Exegese zwischen Nicaea und Chalcedon handelt es sich um die Arbeit am Bibeltext wahrend der Hochzeit der Vatertheologie. In den Hauptvortragen fasst der Patristiker Ulrich Wickert (Berlin) in einer Uberschau "Horizonte und Grundaspekte" ins Auge; der klassische Philologe Christoph Schaublin (Bern) charakterisiert die "pagane Pragung der christlichen Exegese"; der Neutestamentler William Horbury (Cambridge) handelt von "Jews and Christians on the Bible: Demarcation and Convergence". Die Kurzvortrage befassen sich mit Ahtanasius (Christopher Stead - Cambridge), Apollinaris (Ekkehard Muhlenberg - Gottingen), Asterius (Wolfram Kinzig - Cambridge), Theodoret (Silke-Petra Bergjan - Munchen), Hieronymus (Ralph Hennings - Heidelberg), Augustinus (Dietmar Wyrwa - Berlin). Dieser Index zeigt, dass ausser dem genuin christlichen Kern auch das judische und heidnische Erbe der Vaterexegese zur Sprache kam.

The humanities offer insights into the highest (and lowest) capabilities of our own natures and, at their best, they function as prophetic champions of human dignity and as inspired celebrants of beauty. Envisioning God in the Humanities pays tribute to the career of Melissa Harl Sellew, a scholar and teacher who embodies the ideals of these academic disciplines. The collaboration of these essays attests to the potentialities for transcendence that emerge from rigorous and collective reflection on the texts, images, and ideas produced in ancient societies. Taking its cue from Professor Sellew's own distinguished scholarship, this collection of studies begins with analyses of the New Testament Gospels, then moves more broadly toward the religious life of the ancient world as attested both in literature and materiality, among Jews and Christians, Greeks and Romans. Just as Sellew has done throughout her career, so this volume invites us into to the joy of exploring distant societies and, in so doing, into the fuller discovery of one's own self.

Recent New Testament scholarship has raised the question of the effect of the New Testament on readers including an 'implied' reader. How did the New Testament affect ancient readers who rejected it? John Granger Cook contributes to the ongoing investigation of the relationship between Christianity and Greco-Roman antiquity. He addresses the response to the New Testament in the following authors: Celsus, Porphyry, the anonymous philosopher of Macarius Magnes, Hierocles, and Julian the Apostate. These authors are readers who found the New Testament to be a rejection of values they took to be fundamental in Greco-Roman culture. The works of these pagans exist in fragments preserved by Christian apologists who attempted to respond to their critique of Christian texts and practices. The doctrine of the resurrection, for example, contradicts the belief in reincarnation and an immortal bodiless soul. Apocalyptic texts rejected the eternity of the universe. Jesus was considered to be inferior to the heroes of Hellenistic culture such as Apollonius of Tyana who conducted themselves as philosophers should. Pagans were disturbed by the ability of Christian language to persuade people to join the movement. Both pagans and Christians made use of apologetic techniques designed to attract people to their respective positions. Rhetoric and literary criticism were tools that both used in their ongoing arguments. John Granger Cook makes use of these tools to analyze the texts of the pagan readers of the New Testament.