Challenges to Conventional Opinions on Qumran and Enoch Issues

Challenges to Conventional Opinions on Qumran and Enoch Issues PDF Author: Paul Heger
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004218823
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 429

Book Description
Some literary expressions in the Dead Sea Scrolls led scholars to allege that their authors professed a dualistic and deterministic worldview of Zoroastrian origin and that the omission of Moses and Sinai from the Enoch writings evinces that a segment in Jewish society marginalized the Torah, adopting Enoch’s prophecies as its ethical guideline. This study challenges these allegations as utterly conflicting with essential biblical doctrines and the unequivocal beliefs and expectations of Qumran’s Torah-centered society, arguing that scholars’ allegations are erroneously based on interpreting ancient texts with a modern mindset and influenced by the interpreter’s personal cultural background. The study interprets the relevant texts in a manner compatible with the presumed doctrines of ancient Jewish authors and readers.

Challenges to Conventional Opinions on Qumran and Enoch Issues

Challenges to Conventional Opinions on Qumran and Enoch Issues PDF Author: Paul Heger
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004217223
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 430

Book Description
The study disputes allegations of dualism and determinism in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the substitution of Enoch’s prophecies for the Mosaic Torah, which are incompatible with the biblical doctrines that dominated Jewish society in the late Second Temple period.

Godly Fear or Ungodly Failure?

Godly Fear or Ungodly Failure? PDF Author: Michael Kibbe
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 311042259X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 296

Book Description
A cursory glance at Hebrews' critique of Israel's fear at Sinai in Heb 12:18-29 suggests that the author has misunderstood or manipulated his sources. In the Pentateuch, the appointment of Moses as Israel's mediator receives explicit approval (Exod 19:9; Deut 5:28), while Heb 12:25 labels their request for mediation a "refusal" to heed the word of God.This bookargues that Hebrews' use of the Sinai narratives resides on a complex trajectory established by four points: the Sinai covenant according to Exodus, the reenactment of that covenant according to Deuteronomy, the call for a NEW covenant according to Jeremiah, and the present reality of that covenant established by God and mediated by Jesus Christ. The basis for Hebrews' critique arises from its insight that while Israel's request established covenant-from-a-distance, Jesus demonstrates that true covenant mediation brings two parties into a single space. The purpose for Hebrews critique lies in its summons to Zion, the mountain on which Jesus sits at the right hand of God as the high priestly mediator of the new covenant.

The Early Reception of the Torah

The Early Reception of the Torah PDF Author: Kristin De Troyer
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110691809
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 218

Book Description
This volume contains the papers presented at the 2017 meeting of the SBL Program Unit on Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature in Boston, MA. The theme of the sessions was the interpretation of Torah in deuterocanonical literature. The contributions cover a variety of concepts and themes related to Torah and trace these through the Hebrew Bible, into the Septuagintal deuterocanonical books and other relevant and cognate literature.

Institutionalized Routine Prayers at Qumran: Fact or Assumption?

Institutionalized Routine Prayers at Qumran: Fact or Assumption? PDF Author: Paul Heger
Publisher: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht
ISBN: 3647571318
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 319

Book Description
This book examines the development of institutionalized prayer in ancient Israel at a crucial time in the history of Western civilization: from the period of the Qumran writings, in the last three centuries BCE, through to the rabbinic period, after 70 CE. It explores the shift from sacrificial worship by priests to abstract, unmediated, direct approaches to the deity by laypeople. It demonstrates the transition from voluntary, freely composed prayers to obligatory prayers with fixed texts. The study shows how Qumran and Samaritan prayer contrast with rabbinic prayer, shedding light on Jewish customs before the rabbinic reform. Posthumously edited by Bernard M. Levinson.

Crucible of Faith

Crucible of Faith PDF Author: Philip Jenkins
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0465096417
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 336

Book Description
One of America's foremost scholars of religion examines the tumultuous era that gave birth to the modern Judeo-Christian tradition In The Crucible of Faith, Philip Jenkins argues that much of the Judeo-Christian tradition we know today was born between 250-50 BCE, during a turbulent "Crucible Era." It was during these years that Judaism grappled with Hellenizing forces and produced new religious ideas that reflected and responded to their changing world. By the time of the fall of the Temple in 70 CE, concepts that might once have seemed bizarre became normalized-and thus passed on to Christianity and later Islam. Drawing widely on contemporary sources from outside the canonical Old and New Testaments, Jenkins reveals an era of political violence and social upheaval that ultimately gave birth to entirely new ideas about religion, the afterlife, Creation and the Fall, and the nature of God and Satan.

The Invention of Judaism

The Invention of Judaism PDF Author: John J. Collins
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520294114
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 332

Book Description
"Judaism is often understood as the way of life defined by the Torah of Moses, but it was not always so. This book identifies key moments in the rise of the Torah, beginning with the formation of Deuteronomy, advancing through the reform of Ezra, the impact of the suppression of the Torah by Antiochus Epiphanes and the consequent Maccabean revolt, and the rise of Jewish sectarianism. It also discusses variant forms of Judaism, some of which are not Torah-centered and others which construe the Torah through the lenses of Hellenistic culture or through higher, apocalyptic, revelation. It concludes with the critique of the Torah in the writings of Paul"--Provided by publisher.

The Chosen People

The Chosen People PDF Author: A. Chadwick Thornhill
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 0830899154
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 293

Book Description
One of the central touchstones of Second Temple Judaism is election. The Jews considered themselves a people set apart for God?s special purpose. So it is not surprising that this concept plays such an important role in Pauline theology. In this careful and provocative study, Chad Thornhill considers how Second Temple understandings of election influenced key Pauline texts. Thornhill seeks to establish the thought patterns of the ancient texts regarding election, with sensitivity to social, historical and literary factors. He carefully considers questions of "extent" (ethnic/national or remnant), the relationship to the individual (corporate or individual in focus), and the relationship to salvation (divine/human agency and the presence of "conditions"). Thornhill looks at the markers or conditions that defined various groups, and considers whether election was viewed by ancient authors as merited, given graciously or both. Thorough and measured, the author contends that individual election is not usually associated with a "soteriological" status but rather with the quality of the individual (or sometimes group) in view—the collective entity is in view in the Jewish notion of election. While Paul is certainly able to move beyond these categories, Thornhill shows how he too follows these patterns.

To the Jew First

To the Jew First PDF Author: A. Chadwick Thornhill
Publisher: Liberty University Baptist Theological Seminary
ISBN: 1303352133
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 351

Book Description
Paul's "doctrine" of election has remained a controversial and enigmatic topic for centuries. Few studies, however, have approached Paul's doctrine through the context of Second Temple Judaism. This study examines Paul's view of election through the lens of Second Temple Jewish texts written prior to 70 CE. In doing so, it is argued that the best framework through which to view Paul's discussion of election is through a primarily corporate model of election. While such a model is rooted in Judaism, Paul departs from his Jewish contemporaries in arguing that the locus of election is in God's Messiah, Jesus.

Women in the Bible, Qumran and Early Rabbinic Literature

Women in the Bible, Qumran and Early Rabbinic Literature PDF Author: Paul Heger
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004277110
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 434

Book Description
Women in the Bible, Qumran and Early Rabbinic Literature: Their Status and Roles explores the different attitudes toward the woman’s guilt for the expulsion from the Garden and human’s calamities and the legal ramifications of her lower social and legal status regarding independence, ownership and membership in the community.