25 research outputs found
Historical groupings in second temple Judaism : a comparative analysis on religious, social and political impact of Sadducees, Pharisees, and Essenes
The Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes are three groups within the history of Second
Temple Judaism that carry importance which cannot be ignored. They carry religious,
social and political characteristics that are intertwined with the life of the
intertestamental times as powerful determinators even prior to the emergence of
Christianity. It is within this important context that the three groups are comparatively
assessed, analysed and evaluated from religious, social and political perspectives. In
the same vein, the comparative analysis will form a firm foundation for the three
religious, social and political groups It is the comparative dimensions and their impact,
wherein the causes of success or failure, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the
three groups, will emerge. This emergence will reveal the fundamental reasons for the
survival or death of the groups during the changing times.
The traditional perspective is that the Sadducees and Essenes and all other groups/sects
disappeared after 70 CE, leaving the Pharisees as the only surviving group. Scholars
such as Shaye J.D. Cohen, Mathew J. Grey and Pieter J.J. Botha differ from that
perspective. This thesis aims to navigate a narrow space which shows the strength of
the Pharisees compared to that of the Sadducees and Essenes but does not necessarily
agree that the Pharisees are the only ones in any form who survived the destruction of
the Second Temple in 70 CE. It shows the comparative dynamics before 70 CE which
through religious, social and political strategies and tactics laid a solid foundation that
gave the Pharisees an ideological advantage with the masses of the people, but it does
not make the blanket statement that other groups automatically died due to the Temple
destruction; rather, it simply shows that the Pharisees strategies and tactics gave them advantages over their contenders such as the Sadducees and Essenes.
This thesis differs from the traditional view that only the Pharisees survived the
destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, and it differs from Shaye J.D. Cohenâs assertion
that the Phariseesâ characteristics cannot be identified post 70 CE. However, that the
difference between the Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes was downplayed with the
postâ70 CE demise of Jewish sectarianism and variant views within the body of a larger
rabbinic group were acknowledged and respected. Moreover, the thesis is also on the
cutting edging edge, beyond the vigorous debate as to whether the Essenes and
Sadducees (and all other groups or sects) perished around 70 CE or the Pharisees survived the destruction of the Second Temple intact. It is navigating within Second
Temple Judaism, bringing to the surface the strengths that advantaged the Phariseesâ
whatever form Pharisaism may have takenâafter 70 CE. It is a comparison which is
advancing the importance of aligning with the ordinary masses of the people through
the doctrine of oral and written law within the religious, social and political discourse
of Second Temple Judaism and not beyond.Biblical and Ancient StudiesD. Litt. et Phil. (Ancient Near Eastern Studies
The Construct of Identity in Hellenistic Judaism
This volume assembles twenty-three essays by Erich S. Gruen, who has written extensively on the literature and history of early Judaism and the experience of the Jews in the Greco-Roman world. Twenty-two of the articles have previously been published, and one new one was composed for the volume
Report of the Secretary of the Interior; being part of the message and documents communicated to the two Houses of Congress at the beginning of the first session of the Fifty-fourth Congress, 1896; Annual Report of the Commissioner of Education.
Annual Report of the Sec. of Interior. 27 Nov. HD 5, 54-1, v14-22 , 7924p. [3381-3389] Indian affairs in the U.S.; annual report of the Gen. Land Office (Serial 3381); annual report of the CIA (Serial 3382) ; etc
Vision, Narrative, and Wisdom in the Aramaic Texts from Qumran
This volume is a collection of scholarly articles on the Aramaic Dead Sea scrolls, some of the oldest and most fascinating literary compositions among the ancient Jewish manuscripts found in the Qumran caves. Readership: Anyone interested in the Bible, ancient Judaism, the Dead Sea Scrolls, biblical interpretation, and the history of religion
Judaism of Jesus' day
This item was digitized by the Internet Archive. Thesis (M.A.)--Boston Universityhttps://archive.org/details/judaismofjesusda00coo
Lithuanians in the Shadow of Three Eagles: Vincas Kudirka, Martynas Jankus, Jonas Ć liĆ«pas and the Making of Modern Lithuania
The Lithuanian national movement in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was an international phenomenon involving Lithuanian communities in three countries: Russia, Germany and the United States. To capture the international dimension of the Lithuanian national movement this study offers biographies of three activists in the movement, each of whom spent a significant amount of time living in one of the three âpartsâ of the Lithuanian nation: Vincas Kudirka, Martynas Jankus and Jonas Ć liĆ«pas. The biographies focus on the following questions. To what extent did each of the three activists assimilate into a âforeignâ (i.e., non-Lithuanian) culture and was this a voluntary process? How did they free themselves from foreign cultural dominance? How did they understand nationality in general and Lithuanian nationality in particular? What goals did they incorporate into their nationalist agendas? What causes of anti-Semitism and philosemitism can be identified by analyzing their discourse about Jews? The conclusion puts the answers to some of these questions into comparative perspective. This study uses published and archival sources in seven languages from libraries and archives in seven countriesâsome of which have never been used before. It is the first to use the unpublished typescript of Jonas Ć liĆ«pasâ 1942 autobiography, which, until recently, was unavailable to researchers
Vision, Narrative, and Wisdom in the Aramaic Texts from Qumran
This volume is a collection of scholarly articles on the Aramaic Dead Sea scrolls, some of the oldest and most fascinating literary compositions among the ancient Jewish manuscripts found in the Qumran caves. Readership: Anyone interested in the Bible, ancient Judaism, the Dead Sea Scrolls, biblical interpretation, and the history of religion