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This volume asks why Jewish groups - Sadducees, Pharisees, Essenes and the Dead Sea Scroll sect - flourished during the Maccabean era. It argues that such a result is uncommon, requiring special explanation.
In the introduction, sectarianism is defined and its varieties in Second Temple Judaism assessed. Among the causes of the known results suggested are the encounter with an outside culture that seemed to be weakening the external national perimeter, the impact of expanded literacy, the move to the city from the farm, as well as eschatological hope aroused by Maccabean victory. In proposing these conclusions, full advantage is taken of recently published Qumran sources, such as 4QMMT. The objective is to discover the connection between context and consequence, which will explain why sectarianism was so prominent at that time.
In the introduction, sectarianism is defined and its varieties in Second Temple Judaism assessed. Among the causes of the known results suggested are the encounter with an outside culture that seemed to be weakening the external national perimeter, the impact of expanded literacy, the move to the city from the farm, as well as eschatological hope aroused by Maccabean victory. In proposing these conclusions, full advantage is taken of recently published Qumran sources, such as 4QMMT. The objective is to discover the connection between context and consequence, which will explain why sectarianism was so prominent at that time.
Price: $210.00
Pages: 242
Publisher: Brill
Imprint: Brill
Series: Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism
Publication Date:
01 September 1997
ISBN: 9789004107519
Format: Other
'This is a significant study and has much to teach both in its main concerns and in the detailed data and in the bibliography (the extensive Hebrew language bibliography is especially helpful)...This book will provide a firm foundation on which to carry out further work on sect origin and development'
'...Baumgarten's book is a breath of fresh air. He takes the broadest possible view of the limited evidence for early Jewish sects, generating multiple possible interpretations...a fertile, thoughtful, anf suggestive treatment...'
Anthony J. Saldarini, The Jounal of Religion.
'This book is extraordinarily important and should be read by every student of Second Temple Judaism.
James E. West, The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 1998.
'...fluently written...a fine book...'
J.R. Bartlett
'...the book has interesting ideas of widely varying kinds on almost every page...This is an important book to which both students and scholars will turn for stimulation and elightenment.'
Martin Goodman, Journal of Biblical Literature.
'…the depth and vigor of this enquiry are so impressive that many of his multifarious observations may well become standard…the book has interesting ideas of widely varying kinds on almost every page…This is an important book to which both students and scholars will turn for stimulation and enlightenment.'
Martin Goodman, Review of Biblical Literature, 1999.
'...Baumgarten's book is a breath of fresh air. He takes the broadest possible view of the limited evidence for early Jewish sects, generating multiple possible interpretations...a fertile, thoughtful, anf suggestive treatment...'
Anthony J. Saldarini, The Jounal of Religion.
'This book is extraordinarily important and should be read by every student of Second Temple Judaism.
James E. West, The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 1998.
'...fluently written...a fine book...'
J.R. Bartlett
'...the book has interesting ideas of widely varying kinds on almost every page...This is an important book to which both students and scholars will turn for stimulation and elightenment.'
Martin Goodman, Journal of Biblical Literature.
'…the depth and vigor of this enquiry are so impressive that many of his multifarious observations may well become standard…the book has interesting ideas of widely varying kinds on almost every page…This is an important book to which both students and scholars will turn for stimulation and enlightenment.'
Martin Goodman, Review of Biblical Literature, 1999.
Albert I. Baumgarten, Ph.D. (1972) in History, Columbia University, is Associate Professor of Jewish History at Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel. He has published numerous studies applying social scientific methods to the understanding of Second Temple Judaism.