The Invention of Judaism: Torah and Jewish Identity from Deuteronomy to PaulMost people understand Judaism to be the Torah and the Torah to be Judaism. However, in The Invention of Judaism, John J. Collins persuasively argues this was not always the case. The Torah became the touchstone for most of Judaism’s adherents only in the hands of the rabbis of late antiquity. For 600 years prior, from the Babylonian Exile to the Roman destruction of the Second Temple, there was enormous variation in the way the Torah was understood. Collins provides a comprehensive account of the role of the Torah in ancient Judaism, exploring key moments in its history, beginning with the formation of Deuteronomy and continuing through the Maccabean revolt and the rise of Jewish sectarianism and early Christianity. |
Contents
Jews Judeans and the Maccabean Crisis | 1 |
1 | 21 |
Torah in the Persian Period | 45 |
The Persistence of NonMosaic Judaism | 62 |
Torah as Narrative and Wisdom | 80 |
Torah as | 97 |
Torah and Apocalypticism | 114 |
The Law in the Diaspora | 134 |
Notes | 189 |
| 255 | |
Index of Scripture and Other Ancient Sources | 301 |
| 313 | |
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4QMMT Abraham ancestral laws Ancient Judaism Antiochus apocalyptic Aramaic argued Assyrian authority Ben Sira biblical Book of Jubilees Boyarin Brill century b.c.e. Christ Christian circumcision Collins common Judaism covenant cult cultic cultural Daniel Dead Sea Scrolls Deut Deuteronomy diaspora distinctive E. P. Sanders Eerdmans Egypt Eisenbrauns Elephantine Enoch Essays Esther Ethnic Identity Exodus Ezra Ezra’s Fortress Gentiles God’s Grand Rapids Greek Hasmonean Hellenistic History holy Ibid interpretation Ioudaios Israel Israelite Jerusalem Jewish Identity Jews John Joseph and Aseneth Josephus Josiah JSJSup Judah Judean Judean identity king Kratz Kugler Law of Moses Leiden literature Maccabees Mohr Siebeck narrative Nehemiah observance Oxford University Press papyri Paul Paul’s Pentateuch Persian period Philo priestly priests Pseudepigrapha Qumran reference reform religion revelation righteous Roman Sabbath Schiffman scholars Schwartz Scripture Second Temple Period sectarian Sira STDJ story Temple Scroll tion Torah Torah of Moses tradition Tübingen VanderKam Winona Lake Wisdom Text