Between Athens and Jerusalem: Jewish Identity in the Hellenistic Diaspora (The Biblical Resource Series) by John J. Collins (PDF)

Description

One of the most creative and consequential collisions in Western culture involved the encounter of Judaism with Hellenism. In this widely acclaimed study of the Jews who lived in Hellenistic Egypt, “between Athens and Jerusalem,” John J. Collins examines the literature of Hellenistic Judaism, treating not only the introductory questions of date, authorship, and provenance but also the larger question of Jewish identity in the Greco-Roman world.First published in 1984, this landmark study by one of the world’s leading experts in Hellinistic Judaism is now fully revised and updated to take into account the best of recent scholarship.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review David E. Aune in The Catholic Biblical Quarterly “A remarkable book. . . Collins has provided us with an exceptionally well-crafted discussion of the variety of religious self-definitions that characterized Egyptian diaspora Judaism.” Journal of Biblical Literature “This important work is fresh and suggestive. . . An impressive display of insight and careful scholarship. . . Exemplary in both its design and its execution.” Religious Studies Review “As an introduction and an exegetical tool, this book is indispensable for study of the ancient literature and especially of the fragmentary material. It provides us with an innovative perspective on Jewish religion, theology, and culture in the Greco-Roman period.” Choice “This book should be in libraries of all colleges and universities where the Bible, ancient Israel, Christian origins, formative Judaism, or classical culture are taught to upper-level undergraduates.” Society for Old Testament Study Booklist “This is a very useful and reliable introduction to those Second Temple Jewish writings in Greek. . . All students of Second Temple Judaism and related areas will be pleased to have an updated edition in a handy and affordable form.” Martin Goodman in Journal of Jewish Studies “Scholars and students who have benefited immensely from this work will. . . be delighted to see it re-emerge in a second edition. . . Collins’s mastery of the range of material treated in this book is awesome, and his close engagement with these Diaspora texts and their cultural meaning is a model for all. Minor Diaspora authors who have long been neglected, or even generally unknown, are here again brought to the attention of the scholarly world in a way that should ensure their recognition in future debates about Second Temple Judaism. . . Students and scholars will be immensely grateful for this guide, which will play a central role in future discussion of the Diaspora.” About the Author John J. Collins is Holmes Professor of Old Testament Criticism and Interpretation at Yale Divinity School. His many other books include The Apocalyptic Imagination: An Introduction to Jewish Apocalyptic Literature, Early Judaism: A Comprehensive Overview, and The Oxford Handbook of Apocalyptic Literature.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Definitely as book filled with real scholarship and analysis.

⭐Good book for a required class. Excellent shipping on behalf of the company!! Thanks so much.

⭐When Jews discuss the intellectual history of Judaism, they tend to focus on sacred texts produced in the Land of Israel- first the Bible, then the Mishnah (produced several hundred years after the last Biblical book, and about a century after the Second Temple’s destruction). But during the late Second Temple period, Greek-speaking Jews throughout the Middle East produced a lot of Jewish literature; the purpose of Collins’s book is to review this literature.Some of this literature, like Zionist literature today, was primarily nationalistic, focusing on attempts to combat anti-Semitism. But the surviving religious literature is more interesting. Unlike the Mishnah, it tends not to go beyond the Bible in explaining the details of Jewish law. Instead, much of this Jewish literature focuses on the virtues of monotheism and the evils of idolatry. For example, the Letter of Aristeas wrote that both Jews and enlightened non-Jews worship “the only God omnipotent over all creation” and that non-Jews who worship Zeus as their only deity worship the same God as Jews do. In addition, Greek-speaking authors focused heavily on social and sexual morality; for some reason, many of them sharply criticized homoseuxality. However, Greek-speaking authors were certainly not proto-Reform Jews; for example, the Letter of Aristeas defended Jewish dietary laws.

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