An Introduction to Second Temple Judaism

CONTENTS

OUTLINE OF MAJOR EVENTS

1INTRODUCTION: HISTORICAL OVERVIEW AND SOURCES

1.1Historical and Religious Background

1.1.1The Period of the Israelite and Judahite Monarchies

1.1.2Persian Rule

1.1.3The Greek Conquest and Ptolemaic Rule

1.1.4The Seleucids and the ‘Hellenistic Reform’

1.1.5The Maccabaean Revolt

1.1.6The Hasmonaean Dynasty

1.1.7The Roman Yoke

1.1.8The Reign of Herod the Great

1.1.9A Roman Province Once Again

1.1.10The 66–70 War with Rome and its Consequences: A New Form of Judaism

1.1.11Further Jewish Revolts against Rome

1.2The Sources: How Do We Know What We Know?

1.2.1Books of the Bible

1.2.2Josephus

1.2.3Philo of Alexandria

1.2.4The Apocrypha

1.2.5The Pseudepigrapha

1.2.6The Dead Sea Scrolls

1.3Guide to Further Reading

2TEXTUAL JUDAISM: THE PRIESTLY AND SCRIBAL CURRENT

2.1Introduction

2.2Priests and Levites

2.3Priestly Rule of Judah

2.4The Wise and the Intellectual Tradition

2.6The Pharisees

2.6.1The New Testament

2.6.2Rabbinic Literature

2.6.3Josephus

2.6.4Conclusions

2.7The Sadducees

2.8The Essenes

2.9Conclusions

2.10Guide to Further Reading

3REVOLUTIONARY JUDAISM: THE POLITICAL AND ‘MESSIANIC’ CURRENT

3.1Introduction

3.2The Maccabaean Revolt

3.3The Roman Overlords

3.4Revolts during the ‘War of Varus’

3.5The ‘Fourth Philosophy’ and the Sicarii

3.6The Zealots and the 66–70 War

3.7The Bar Kokhba Revolt

3.8Messianic Expectations

3.9Conclusions

3.10Guide to Further Reading

4ESCHATOLOGICAL JUDAISM: THE APOCALYPTIC CURRENT

4.1Introduction

4.2Definition and Origins of Apocalypticism

4.3Apocalypses and Related Literature

4.4Ideas about Life after Death

4.4.1Introduction

4.4.2Resurrection of the Dead

4.4.3The Immortality of the Soul

4.5Expectations far the End of the World

4.6Calculating the Endtime

4.6.1 .The Age of the World

4.6.2The Seventy-Weeks Prophecy

4.7The Heavenly Messiah

4.8Conclusions

4.9Guide to Further Reading

5INVERTED JUDAISM: THE GNOSTIC CURRENT

5.1Introduction

5.2Gnostic Sources

5.2.1Nag Hammadi Codices

5.2.2Patristic Sources

5.3The Basic Gnostic Myth

5.4Manichaeans

5.6Examples of Jewish and Gnostic Parallels

5.6.1Plays on Semitic Words

5.6.2The Myth of the Fallen Angels

5.6.3.The Garden of Eden

5.6.4.Other Parallels

5.7Conclusions

5.8Guide to Further Reading

6SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

INDEX OF NAMES AND SUBJECTS

INDEX OF MODERN AUTHORS