Mixed Marriages Intermarriage and Group Identity in the Second Temple Period

by Frevel, Christian

• ISBN13: 9780567310507
• ISBN10: 0567310507
• Edition: Bilingual
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-10-06
• Publisher: Bloomsbury T&T Clark

Summary

Intermarriage and group identity in the Second Temple Period will be investigated from different points of view with regard to methodology and analyzed texts. With an introduction to the history of research and a summarizing final section, the individual contributions will be associated with the larger context of the recent debate. Thus not only the diversity of texts on mixed marriage within the Hebrew Bible and related scripture will be shown and emphasized but the question of continuity and discontinuity as well as the socio-historical background of marriage restrictions will be dealt with, too. Covering a wide range of texts from almost every part of the Hebrew Bible as well as from Elephantine, Qumran and several pseudepigrapha, like Jubilees, its focus is on possible counter texts with a more positive notion of foreign wives, in addition to restrictive and prohibitive texts. These different approaches will illuminate the dynamics of the construction of group identity, culminating in conflicts concerning separation and integration which can be found in the debate on the topic of the "correct" marriage.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
Abbreviations	p. ix
List of Contributors	p. xiii
Introduction: The Discourse on Intermarriage in the Hebrew Bible	p. 1
Deepening the Water: First Steps to a Diachronic Approach on Intermarriage in the Hebrew Bible	p. 15
An Ethnic Affair? Ezra's Intermarriage Crisis against a Context of "Self-Ascription" and "Ascription of Others"	p. 46
The Question of Mixed Marriages Between the Poles of Diaspora and Homeland: Observations in Ezra-Nehemiah	p. 60
Intermarriage and Group Identity in the Ezra Tradition (Ezra 7-10 and Nehemiah 8)	p. 78
All the Same as Ezra? Conceptual Differences Between the Texts on Intermarriage in Genesis, Deuteronomy 7 and Ezra	p. 89
Understanding the Mixed Marriages of Ezra-Nehemiah in the Light of Temple-Building and the Book's Concept of Jerusalem	p. 109
Mixed Marriage in Torah Narratives	p. 132
From the Well in Midian to the Baal of Peor: Different attitudes to Marriage of Israelites to Midianite Women	p. 150
"Married into Moab": The Exogamy Practiced by Judah and his Descendants in the Judahite Lineages	p. 170
the question of "mixed marriages" (intermarriage): The Extra-Biblical Evidence	p. 192
Mixed Marriages and the Hellenistic Religious Reforms	p. 205
"Separate Yourself from the Gentiles" (Jubilees 22:16): Intermarriage in the Book of Jubilees	p. 220
Intermarriage in Qumran Texts: The Legacy of Ezra-Nehemiah	p. 251
Moses' Cushite Marriage: Torah, Artapanus, and Josephus	p. 280
Feminist- and Gender-Critical Perspectives on the Biblical Ideology of Intermarriage	p. 303
Index of References	p. 316
Index of Authors	p. 333
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