Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies

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

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Anti-Semitism and Religious Violence as Flawed Interpretations of the Gospel of John

The Myth of a Gentile Galilee is the most thorough synthesis to date of archaeological and literary evidence relating to the population of Galilee in the first-century CE. The book demonstrates that, contrary to the perceptions of many New Testament scholars, the overwhelming majority of first-century Galileans were Jews. Utilizing the gospels, the writings of Josephus, and published archaeological excavation reports, Mark A. Chancey traces the historical development of the region's population and examines in detail specific cities and villages, finding ample indications of Jewish inhabitants and virtually none for gentiles. He argues that any New Testament scholarship that attempts to contextualize the Historical Jesus or the Jesus movement in Galilee must acknowledge and pay due attention to the region's predominantly Jewish milieu. This accessible book will be of interest to New Testament scholars as well as scholars of Judaica, Syro-Palestinian archaeology, and the Roman Near East.

https://assets.cambridge.org/97805218/14874/sample/9780521814874ws.pdf

The Myth Of A Gentile Galilee

This dissertation is an analysis of the spread of Christianity in the first three centuries and the commensurate activation and development of what Michel Foucault calls disciplinary mechanisms of power. It sets out to explore two questions, first, what were the theoretical conditions that led to Christianity’s rapid expansion? And second, what were the historical precursors to the mechanisms of disciplinary power? It then seeks to combine these two questions to propose that early Christianity was successful in overtaking the Roman Imperial government because it activated underlying disciplinary mechanisms of power in a world governed and controlled by sovereign power. Through this activation it created a space within which the Christian subject could be formed and envision life outside the sovereign power of Caesar. To demonstrate this thesis, this dissertation begins with the claim that the idea of resurrection was inherently subversive in nature, and took on a significant, if not primary role in the formation of early Christian identity. Following this claim, it develops through commensurate chapters that show how the idea of resurrection became instantiated in various material and textual forms, and how this instantiation activated disciplinary mechanisms of power. Namely, it looks specifically at the formation of the Christian calendar, adaptation of Christian architecture, theological development of the soul and the nature of the post-resurrected Jesus, and the construction of the Christian martyr. The iii collection of historically substantive chapters, by necessity, function together. I propose that through their relation they demonstrate a coalescence of mechanisms of disciplinary power on the micro-level of force relations, which thereby constitutes a system that is resistant to Roman sovereign power. Throughout this dissertation, each point of historical evidence is connected to Foucault’s mechanisms of disciplinary power both demonstrate this coalescence and document the long history behind these techniques of power. Further, I demonstrate that each mechanism arises in connection with the idea of the resurrection. This connection, between the mechanisms of power and the idea of resurrection, provides the necessary theoretical foundation to the claim that the resurrection of Jesus is a subversive idea. In short, this dissertation demonstrates that correlative with the rise of the Christian movement was the activation of disciplinary techniques of power which stood in contrast with Rome’s sovereign power. It then proposes that this correlation contributes to the explanation for Christianity’s early expansion.

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The Power of Resurrection: Early Christian Resistance Through the Rise of Disciplinary Power

It is instructive to see the similarities and the differences between the account of the origins of the synagogue in the Jewish Encyclopedia of 1907 and the more extended discussion of the subject in the Encyclopedia Judaica of 1971. In the earlier work, Wilhelm Bacher observes that by the time the synagogue had become the central institution in Judaism, it was already regarded as of ancient origin, dating back to Moses.1 He was of the opinion that the synagogue as a permanent institution originated during the Babylonian captivity,2 and conjectured that the reference in Isa 56. 7 to the temple as a ‘house of prayer’ was to be understood as connected with the term for place of prayer, proseuche, which was used during the exile and among Jews in the diaspora in later centuries. Balcher's theory continues that it was Ezra and his successors who reorganized the religious life of Israel into congregational worship, with special place for prayers and the reading of the scriptures. This development, he proposed, took place in parallel with the revival of the temple cult and led to the building of synagogues. He finds evidence for synagogues in Palestine in the pre-exilic period in Ps 74. 8, although in fact this psalm comes from the Maccabean period or even later.3 Then, astonishingly and without any attempt to explain, he asserts that the complete absence of allusions to synagogue in 1 or 2 Maccabees is the result of the author's primary concern for the purity of the temple ritual.

The Transformation of the Synagogue After 70 C.E.: Its Import for Early Christianity

The Terminology of Mark's Exorcism Stories

The basic assumptions of many New Testament scholars about the nature of the synagoge in the first century prior to the First Jewish Revolt continue to match those enunciated by Lee Levine in his introduction to Ancient Synagogues Revealed. The features which he includes in his description are (1) regular prayers; (2) study; (3) sacred meals; (4) repository for communal funds; (5) law courts; (6) general assembly hall; (7) hostel; (8) residence for synagogue officials. Although he refers to Josephus, Acts and Ezra as sources for this historical reconstruction, the primary basis for his assumptions is the familiar Theodotus inscription, found by the French archaeologist Raimond Weill in the course of excavations in the socalled City of David section of the southeastern hill of Jerusalem from November 1913 to March 1914

Defining The First-Century CE Synagogue: Problems And Progress

Reponse a la critique de R.E. Oster sur l'article de l'A. The Transformation of the Synagogue after 70 CE (NTS 36,1990). La discussion concerne la signification de synagogue et d'assemblee ou congregation

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/3CAA700F426B3F4635FC5188988048FA/S0028688500020609a.pdf/div-class-title-the-changing-meaning-of-synagogue-a-response-to-richard-oster-div.pdf

Howard Clark Kee

Papers

The Transformation of the Synagogue After 70 C.E.: Its Import for Early Christianity

The Terminology of Mark's Exorcism Stories

Defining The First-Century CE Synagogue: Problems And Progress

The Changing Meaning of Synagogue: A Response to Richard Oster

The Ethical Dimensions of the Testaments of the XII as a Clue to Provenance