Samaria Samarians Samaritans

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.

Winner of the R.B.Y. Scott Award from the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies Even in antiquity, writers were intrigued by the origins of the people called Samaritans, living in the region of ancient Samaria (near modern Nablus). The Samaritans practiced a religion almost identical to Judaism and shared a common set of scriptures. Yet the Samaritans and Jews had little to do with each other. In a famous New Testament passage about an encounter between Jesus and a Samaritan woman, the author writes, "Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans." The Samaritans claimed to be descendants of the northern tribes of Joseph. Classical Jewish writers said, however, that they were either of foreign origin or the product of intermarriages between the few remaining northern Israelites and polytheistic foreign settlers. Some modern scholars have accepted one or the other of these ancient theories. Others have avidly debated the time and context in which the two groups split apart. Covering over a thousand years of history, this book makes an important contribution to the fields of Jewish studies, biblical studies, ancient Near Eastern studies, Samaritan studies, and early Christian history by challenging the oppositional paradigm that has traditionally characterized the historical relations between Jews and Samaritans.

This volume began as the John Bohlen Lectures in 1906. Contents 1 The Re-discovery of the Samaritans 2 The Land of Samaria and the City of Shechem 3 The Modern Samaritans 4 The Origin of the Samaritan Sect 5 The Samaritans under the Hellenic Empire 6 The Samaritans under the Roman Empire 7 The Samaritans under Islam 8 The Geographical Distribution of the Samaritans 9 The Samaritans in the Apocryphal Literature, the New Testament, and Josephus 10 The Samaritans in the Talmuds and Other Rabbinic Literature 11 The Talmudic Booklet, the Masseket Kutim 12 The Theology of the Samaritans 13 The Samaritan Sects: Gnosticism 14 The Languages and Literature of the Samaritans

The Gospel of John indicates that in biblical times the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans. The hostility between these two groups is well-known by all who read the Bible, but little is known of how and when the hostility began. R.J. Coggins claims that it was not a sudden dramatic event but a long period of bitter relations that led to the Samaritans' division from the Jews. He looks again at Old Testament and Jewish literary references to Samaritans, evaluates archaeological investigations, and studies the Samaritans' own understanding of their early history.

Many Bible readers will think that chapter 17 of the second book of Kings refers to the origin of the Samaritans. This understanding of the chapter has its earliest attestation in the works of Josephus. The present book evaluates the methods often used for finding the origin of the Samaritans, makes an assessment of well known and new material, and ventures into some uncharted territory. It is suggested that the moment of birth of the Samaritans was the construction of the temple on Mount Gerizim. This happened in the first part of the fourth century b.c.e. in accordance with the original commandment of Moses in Deut 27:4.

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Reprint of the original, first published in 1873.

The articles in this volume originated from lectures given in two meetings devoted to the Samaritans. The first was the sixth conference of the Société d’Etudes Samaritaines, which took place at the University of Haifa in July 2004. The second meeting was part of the SBL International Conference in Vienna, July 2007. The volume reflects the current state of research on the Samaritans. It presents a wide spectrum of approaches, including historical questions, the political, religious and social context of the Samaritans in the past and present, linguistic approaches, the role of the Samaritans in the Talmudic literature, and questions of identity of the Samaritans up to now.