The Idea Of Israel In Second Temple Judaism

A new paradigm for how the biblical concept of Israel impacted early Jewish apocalyptic hopes for restoration.

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Based on a conference held Apr. 4-5, 2008 at Amherst College.

In Hebrews and the Temple Philip Church examines attitudes to the temple in the literature of the Second Temple period and in Hebrews and argues that Hebrews was written to counter the recipients’ preoccupation with the temple.

This book represents the fruit of a long process of study and reflection, a powerful but subtle synthesis, by one of the most eminent scholars of Second-Temple Judaism. Far from a conventional narrative history, it is organized around themes and seeks to uncover the essence of Hebraic/Jewish religious thinking while confronting the phenomenon of its division into several 'parties' and traditions. Drawing also on recent studies of Christianity as a 'Judaism', Sacchi provides a stimulating perspective on the nature of ancient Oriental and Occidental thought and the intellectual and spiritual heritage of European civilization.

A collection of essays showing that the postexilic period was an age of robust religious vitality that gave birth to Rabbinic Judaism and early Christianity focuses on the range of religious advances in this time period, from the Sabbath and the synagogue to the vitality of feminine spirituality, wisdom traditions, and apolcalyptic visions, all of which demonstrate the richness of Second Temple Judaism. Original.

This work criticizes the terms "Pseudepigraphy" and "Rewritten Bible", which presuppose conceptions of textual fidelity foreign to ancient Judaism. It develops the concept of a discourse whose creativity and authority depend on repeated returns to the exemplary figure of a founder.