Scribes, Visionaries, and the Politics of Second Temple Judea

by Horsley, Richard A.

• ISBN13: 9780664229917
• ISBN10: 0664229913
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-09-19
• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Pr

Summary

Judaism and Christianity both arose in times of empire, with roots in Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman periods. In order to understand these religious movements, we must first understand the history and society of these imperial cultures. In these formative years, wisdom and apocalyptic traditions flourished as two significant religious forms. InScribes, Visionaries, and the Politics of Second Temple Judea, distinguished New Testament scholar Richard A. Horsley analyzes the function and meaning of these religious movements within their social context, providing essential background for the development of early Judaism and early Christianity. It is an ideal textbook for classes on the rise of Judaism or the Second Temple period, as well as the Dead Sea Scrolls and Apocrypha.

Author Biography

Richard A. Horsley is Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and the Study of Religion at the University of Massachusetts-Boston.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. vii
Abbreviations	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
Origins of the Judean Temple-State under the Persian Empire	p. 15
The Judean Temple-State and Persian Imperial Rule	p. 16
Multiple Conflicts in Yehud under Persian Rule	p. 22
The Temple-State and the People of Yehud toward the End of Persian Rule	p. 31
The Judean Temple-State under the Hellenistic Empires	p. 33
Changes in the Imperial Situation and Administration	p. 34
First Crisis: Aristocratic Factions under the Ptolemaic Empire	p. 37
Second Crisis: Aristocratic Factions and the Change of Imperial Regimes	p. 41
Third Crisis: Aristocratic Factions under the Seleucid Regime	p. 45
Exacerbating the Division between Temple-State Aristocracy and Judean Peasantry	p. 50
Ben Sira and the Sociology of Judea	p. 53
Ben Sira's Portrayal of Social Structure and Social Roles in Judea	p. 55
Sociologies of Agrarian Societies	p. 58
Social Structure, Social Relations, and Social Dynamics in Ben Sira's Judea	p. 62
Scribes and Sages: Administrators and Intellectuals	p. 71
Scribes and Scribal Training in Mesopotamia and Egypt	p. 72
Scribes in Judah-Yehud-Judea	p. 76
Scribal Training and Range of Knowledge	p. 82
Orality, Writing, and the Cultivation of Texts	p. 89
Scribal Instruction as Oral	p. 90
Toward an Appropriate Approach	p. 91
Kinds of Writing and Their Uses	p. 94
Orality and Writing in Scribal Learning, Teaching, and Practice	p. 101
The Cultural Repertoire of the Judean Scribes	p. 109
The Evidence from Qumran	p. 111
Ben Sira's Relation to Torah and Prophets	p. 119
Cultivation of Texts Earlier in the Second-Temple Period	p. 120
Kinds of Wisdom	p. 126
Cultural Repertoire and New Composition	p. 128
The Wisdom of Jesus Ben Sira	p. 131
Instructional Wisdom Speeches	p. 133
Hymns of Praise	p. 142
Ben Sira and the Politics of the Second Temple	p. 144
1 Enoch	p. 151
General Aspects of Enoch Texts and Considerations of Approach	p. 152
Book of the Luminaries (1 Enoch 72-82)	p. 156
Book of Watchers (1 Enoch 1-36)	p. 157
Animal Vision (1 Enoch 85-90)	p. 163
The Epistle of Enoch (1 Enoch 92-105)	p. 166
Daniel	p. 173
The Tales in Daniel 1-6	p. 174
The Visions in Daniel 7-12	p. 179
The Maskilim in the Political Crisis	p. 189
Conclusion: Understanding Texts in Contexts	p. 193
The Broader Context of the Social Structure and Roles	p. 193
The Broader Context of Judean Culture	p. 194
The Broader Context of Historical Crisis in Judea	p. 201
Further Implications	p. 203
	p. 207
Notes	p. 209
Index	p. 253
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