Shaye J. D. Cohen

A comprehensive analysis of Judaism and its experiences in the Second Temple Period and the transition into the Rabbinic period.

The author begins by establishing definitions and a basic description of the history of the times. He explores the relationship between Jews and Gentiles and their cultural connections and separations, the range of Gentile reactions to Jews, the practices and beliefs of the "religion" of the Jews throughout the period; the community of the people and its institutions; the existence and nature of the sects (or lack thereof); text and canon; development of rabbinic Judaism; he concludes with the separation of Judaism and Christianity.

Throughout the author is in conversation with fellow scholars. I appreciated his insistence that Second Temple Judaism (and Gentile paganism, for that matter) were not creedal, based on belief, as Christianity and Islam would be, but orthopraxic in nature. He challenges assessments of the reasons for the separation of Judaism and Christianity and is far more sanguine about the "dominance" of the rabbis in Judaism during the Roman and early Byzantine periods.

It seems at times that the author is a little too overbearing with the reassessments (dare I say deconstruction?) of some previously commonly held views, especially about the relationship between "Judaism" and "Christianity"; it assuredly was a bit more fluid than a stark dichotomy but in the reassessment Jewish people conveniently seem much less specifically anti-Christian. Perhaps meager evidence is evidence in and of itself; perhaps it is only an indication of how much has been lost.

Nevertheless, overall, an important work for understanding the developments within Judaism through the Second Temple Period into the Rabbinic era.

**--galley received as part of early review program… (mais)

NO OF PAGES: 426 SUB CAT I: Jewish Identity SUB CAT II: SUB CAT III: DESCRIPTION: In modern times, various Jewish groups have argued whether Jewishness is a function of ethnicity, of nationality, of religion, or of all three. These fundamental conceptions were already in place in antiquity. The peculiar combination of ethnicity, nationality, and religion that would characterize Jewishness through the centuries first took shape in the second century B.C.E. This brilliantly argued, accessible book unravels one of the most complex issues of late antiquity by showing how these elements were understood and applied in the construction of Jewish identity-by Jews, by gentiles, and by the state.
Beginning with the intriguing case of Herod the Great's Jewishness, Cohen moves on to discuss what made or did not make Jewish identity during the period, the question of conversion, the prohibition of intermarriage, matrilineal descent, and the place of the convert in the Jewish and non-Jewish worlds. His superb study is unique in that it draws on a wide range of sources: Jewish literature written in Greek, classical sources, and rabbinic texts, both ancient and medieval. It also features a detailed discussion of many of the central rabbinic texts dealing with conversion to Judaism.NOTES: Donated by Barbara Kase, during the first BH book drive. SUBTITLE: Boundaries, Varieties, Uncertainties… (mais)