History Of The Samaritans

Engaged with previous scholarship and bringing to bear new material and literary evidence, this book offers a new understanding of the history, identity, and relationship of early Samaritans and Jews.

This book evaluates the methods often used for finding the origin of the Samaritans, assesses well known and new material, and suggests that the decisive event was the construction of the temple on Mount Gerizim in the first part of the fourth century b.c.e.

Papers in this volume were presented at the seventh international conference of the Société d’Études Samaritaines held at the Reformed Theological Academy of Pápa, Hungary in July 17–25, 2008. The discussed Samaritan topics permeate different areas of biblical studies: The question of the Samaritan Pentateuch has a serious impact on the textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible. The pre-Samaritan text-type among the Dead Sea Scrolls, as well as the dating and isolation of Samaritan features of the Samaritan Pentateuch provide fresh and important data for gaining a better understanding of the composition of the Torah/Pentateuch. New reconstructions of the early history of the Samaritans have a great effect on the history of the Jewish people in the Persian and Hellenistic period. As a distinct group in the centuries around the turn of the Common Era in Palestine, Samaritans played an important role in the social and religious formation of early Judaism and early Christianity. Living for centuries under Islamic rule, Samaritans provide a good example of linguistic, cultural and religious developments experienced by ethnic and religious group in Islamic contexts.

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"An emerging field of study that explores the Hispanic minority in the United States, Latino Studies is enriched by an interdisciplinary perspective. Historians, sociologists, anthropologists, political scientists, demographers, linguists, as well as religion, ethnicity, and culture scholars, among others, bring a varied, multifaceted approach to the understanding of a people whose roots are all over the Americas and whose permanent home is north of the Rio Grande. Oxford Bibliographies in Latino Studies offers an authoritative, trustworthy, and up-to-date intellectual map to this ever-changing discipline."--Editorial page.

Samaritanism is an outgrowth of Early Judaism that has survived until today. Its origin as a separate religious entity can be traced back to the 2nd/1st centuries B.C.E. Samaritans were found not only in their core-area in and around Shechem-Neapolis (modern Nablus) and on neighboring Mount Gerizim, but also in other parts of Palestine as well as in various other Mediterranean countries. Oppression at the hand of Jews, Christians and Muslims decimated the Samaritan population and obliterated all Samaritan manuscripts written prior to the 10th/11th centuries C.E. For the early period of Samaritanism we must therefore rely on Christian authors.Reinhard Pummer edits Christian Greek and Latin texts about Samaritans and their beliefs and practices, dating from the second century C.E. to the Arab conquests. The passages are quoted in their original language and translated into English. In addition, they are commented on and analyzed in view of their significance for our knowledge of Samaritanism within the wider framework of early Judaism and Christianity.