Contrary to the widespread view that nationalism is a modern phenomenon, Goodblatt argues that it can be found in the ancient world. He argues that concepts of nationalism compatible with contemporary social scientific theories can be documented in the ancient sources from the Mediterranean Rim by the middle of the last millennium BCE. In particular, the collective identity asserted by the Jews in antiquity fits contemporary definitions of nationalism. After the theoretical discussion in the opening chapter, the author examines several factors constitutive of ancient Jewish nationalism. He shows how this identity was socially constructed by such means as the mass dissemination of biblical literature, retention of the Hebrew language, and through the priestly caste. The author also discusses each of the names used to express Jewish national identity: Israel, Judah and Zion.

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Elements of ancient Jewish nationalism

The Davidic motif is well recognised in the Lukan narrative but David's identity as God's shepherd king has not seemed to influence how scholars have understood the Lukan Jesus and his mission to seek and save the lost. This thesis argues that David's identity as God's shepherd cannot be separated from his kingship, and that Luke takes this aspect of David into his narrative. I use a narrative methodology that relies heavily on exegetical discussion to explore the text. Luke's own intention to write a διήγησις that is orderly (καθeξῆς) and written from the beginning (ἄνωθeν) is thus followed. In light of the path Luke has set, I pay particular attention to the primacy effect as this sets the trajectory for a narrative, the cumulative and cohesive nature of narrative, gaps and blanks in narrative which invite the reader to find meaning, and the use of Leitwortstil to reveal and clarify meaning. I also use Hays' test for echoes since Luke's writing uses a number of implicit tools to direct the reader to understand Jesus' mission and ministry. The thesis considers, first, the pervasive nature of the shepherd king motif in Israel's history and especially Kingdoms' portrayal of David in the Septuagint. Second, it takes the motif in Luke's infancy narrative and after reviewing the well recognised motif of David in Luke 1, asks again why the angels went to the shepherds in the birth narrative? I conclude that Micah 5:2-5 lies behind Luke's expression of the 'City of David, Bethlehem' and that here Luke points to Jesus as Micah's messianic shepherd. Further, in Luke's genealogy, which follows a different path to Matthew, we find Luke draws on Zech 12:10-14 and Jer 22:30-23:6 where the end of the kingly line from Jeconiah would be superseded by the Davidic shepherd king who brings God's salvation. Third, four shepherd sayings and passages are considered in Luke-Acts (Luke 10:3; 12:32; 15:1-7; Acts 20:28). These demonstrate that the motif of the Davidic shepherd king has an on-going influence on how the reader understands Jesus' ministry to the marginalised. I note that this shepherd task is passed onto the wider discipleship group in the household mission and also influences Paul's Abschiedsrede at Miletus. God's concern for the disciples' welfare

https://ourarchive.otago.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10523/2409/HarrisSarahJG2012PhD;sequence=1

The Davidic Shepherd King in the Lukan Narrative

How did Jews perceive the first Christians? By what means did they come to appreciate Christianity as a religion distinct from their own? In The Christian Schism in Jewish History and Jewish Memory, Professor Joshua Ezra Burns addresses those questions by describing the birth of Christianity as a function of the Jewish past. Surveying a range of ancient evidences, he examines how the authors of Judaism's earliest surviving memories of Christianity speak to the perspectives of rabbinic observers who were conditioned by the unique circumstances of their encounters with Christianity to recognize its adherents as fellow Jews. Only upon the decline of the Church's Jewish demographic were their successors compelled to see Christianity as something other than a variation of Jewish cultural expression. The evolution of thought in the classical Jewish literary record thus offers a dynamic account of Christianity's separation from Judaism counterbalancing the abrupt schism attested in contemporary Christian texts.

The Christian Schism in Jewish History and Jewish Memory

This article proposes that a language divide and two systems of communication have brought to a serious gap between the western Jewish Diaspora and the eastern one. Thus the western Greek-speaking Jews lost touch with the Halakhah and the Rabbis, a condition that had far-reaching consequences on Jewish history thereafter. The Rabbis paid a high price for keeping their Halakhah in oral form, losing in consequence half of their constituency. An oral law did not develop in the western diaspora, whereas the existing eastern one was not translated into Greek. Hence it is not surprising that western Jews contributed nothing to the development of the oral law in the east. The Jewish communities that were isolated from the Rabbinic network served as a receptive basis for the development of an alternative Christian network by Paul and the apostles, which enabled it to spread throughout the Mediterranean basin. The Jews that remained ‘biblical’ surfaced in Europe in the Middle Ages.

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A Split Jewish Diaspora: Its Dramatic Consequences:

This article offers an overview of what every theologian and scholar of religion should know about changes in biblical studies that have taken place concerning the past depreciation of Second Templ...

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Changes in research on Judaism in the Hellenistic and early Roman periods

This conference volume is structured by the five research areas of the Lund syna-gogue project “The Ancient Synagogue: Birthplace of Two World Religions,” funded by The Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundations, and by its time limit up to ca 200 C.E. The aim of the conference was to give an opportunity for young, emerging scholars to interact with some of the most prominent and established scholars of the field. Lee I. Levine, in his opening paper, carefully defines the results and the main problems of the synagogue research of today, and the main papers contribute to five central themes: the origins of the synagogue (J. F. Strange, A. Runesson, P. Richardson), the life in the Diaspora synagogues (C. Claussen, M. Zetterholm, J. Lieu), the languages of the synagogue (E. Tov, G. Walser, J. Watt), the worship of the synagogue (R. Kimelman, I. von Gortz-Wrisberg, D. K. Falk) and the herme-neutics of the synagogue (K. Hedner Zetterholm, P. V. M. Flesher). Introductions and evaluations of the contributions to these areas and a discus-sion about the synagogue at ancient Ostia are included. Old positions are refined and discussed, new hypotheses are presented. Persian colonial strategy is the beginning of the synagogue in Palestine; local temples devel-oped into synagogues in Egypt; a special variety of Greek, formed by the Penta-teuch in Greek, was used by Jews and Christians; a Palestinian Targum was used already at the end of the second century; the separation into two competing groups, Judaism and Christianity, is an “inner-Christian” process in a synagogue context among Jesus-believing Jews and Jesus-believing non-Jews. The summarizing presentation and discussion of results and problems, the broad approach to the ancient synagogue as such, the combination of several methods, the use of theories and models, new definitions, new hypotheses, new insights, new combinations of older results and new questions make the conference volume a challenging contribution to the investigation of the an-cient synagogue today. (Less)

The Ancient Synagogue from Its Origins until 200 C.E. : Papers Presented at an International Conference at Lund University October 14-17

The angels still do not know how to sing during Christmas night. Some have three lines in Luke 2.14, others only two. Some have good liturgical hymns in their textbooks, others must use bad prose versions. This article reconstructs a Hebrew version with its focus on the righteous remnant of Israel, the "Anawim" in Jerusalem who saw Jesus as the beginning of the restoration of Israel, and goes on to analyse the original and the liturgical versions in Greek, different Latin translations and renderings into Syriac and Coptic. Finally it gives some later interpretations of the canticle in literature, art and music. There are good reasons to include much more of reception history into the NT discipline.

The "'Canticle of the Holy Ghost'" (Luke-II,14) in history and culture (Regarding the reception of the hermeneutical process in biblical translation and interpretation)

"All my teaching was done in synagogues..." (John 18,20)

This article reconstructs a Hebrew version of the Gloria in Luke 1: 14 with its focus on the righteous remnant of Israel and then analyses the early versions in Greek, Latin, Syriac and Coptic. Finally it gives some later interpretations of the canticle in literature, art and music.

Birger Olsson

Papers

The Ancient Synagogue from Its Origins until 200 C.E. : Papers Presented at an International Conference at Lund University October 14-17

The "'Canticle of the Holy Ghost'" (Luke-II,14) in history and culture (Regarding the reception of the hermeneutical process in biblical translation and interpretation)

"All my teaching was done in synagogues..." (John 18,20)

Gloria in a multitude of voices