NOTES
- Smith , J. Z. 1969 . ‘Earth and Gods’ . The Journal of Religion , XLIX : 106 f On the need for the application of History of Religions categories of analysis to Judaism and Christianity, see In this provocative and pioneering article Smith deals with the category of sacred space as manifest in Jewish traditions in a very ‘Eliadean’ style. There are, of course, some problems inherent in drawing upon the literary production of a people that has persisted over more than three millennia and that has been spread through so much of the world. Smith does, in fact, concentrate on Biblical texts and the rabbinic tradition (including Kabbalah and collections of Hassidic sayings). What is required for the historian is that the materials be even further worked through with attention to context, to source and from criticism, etc
- Schmidt , J. M. 1969 . Die Jüdische Apokalyptic , Neukirchen . The literature on Jewish apocalypticism is vast. For an exhaustive survey, see A good, albeit brief, presentation of the argument for Persian origins of Jewish apocalypticism is given in
- Murdock , W. R. 1967 . ‘History and Revelation in Jewish Apocalypticism’ . Interpretation , XXI : 167 – 87 . By pushing the origins of the essential themes of the Jewish apocalyptic literature back into the prophecy of the sixth century B.C.E., Paul Hanson attempts to demolish Murdock's position. The argument between these two positions has been carried out totally through literary criticism and analysis and thus, as we shall see below, is not wholly to the point. See
- Hanson , P. D. 1971 . ‘Jewish Apocalyptic Against its Near Eastern Environment’ . Revue Biblique , LXIX : 31 – 58 . Hanson concludes, ‘It is our belief that apocalyptic was born within the circle of those who regarded themselves as disciples of Second Isaiah, and who saw it was their task to apply the message of their master to their situation. Two factors, however, placed them in circumstances quite different from those of Second Isaiah: (1) they were not of the theological stature of their master; (2) their community had been swept into a period of inner tension and strife (49 f.)’. He touches upon the social determinants of a newly emerging world view, but really blames its appearance on the intellectual inadequacies of the master's disciples. His conclusions do not adequately respond to Murdock's main question about the move to an apocalyptic consciousness, i.e., why the development in Judaism from monotheism to dualism? A more important question for me to which neither seriously addresses himself: why do the communities in which and for which the apocalypticists wrote find themselves compelled to adopt apocalypticism as their construction of reality?
- Tcherikover , V. 1959 . Hellenistic Civilization and the Jews Philadelphia See
- Lieberman , S. 19622 . Hellenism in Jewish Palestine New York
- Bickerman , E. 1962 . From Ezra to the Last of the Maccabees New York See also the monumental survey by
- Hengel , M. 1969 . Judentum und Hellenismus , Tubingen .
- Bell. , II 119 – 66 . The evidence of Palestinian Judaism given by Josephus, the Jewish historian, is of incalculable value since there is so much of it and it is securely datable to the first century C.E. Given his general tendentiousness, he must be used with caution—but he must be used! In his accounts of the major Jewish groups
- Ant. , XVIII 12 – 15 . he appears to be making implicit comparisons with non‐Jewish Hellenistic groups. His description of the Pharisees in
- Ant. , XVIII 12 – 15 . reminds one of Stoic doctrines and his account of the Sadducean doctrine of the soul bears comparison with the Epicurean (see
- Ant. , XVIII 16
- Douglas , Mary . 1970 . Natural Symbols: Explorations in Cosmology New York There are two goals for synchronic studies. The first, most obvious, and most difficult is to establish historical connections between apparently similar phenomena. Historians seem normally to take this approach, and, if unable to establish a probable connection, to dismiss the importance of the similarity. But similarities and parallels seldom disappear by neglect. So the second goal should be a search for explanations other than that by causal connection. What similar problems were faced by the different groups? What in their worldviews would tend toward producing similar answers to their problems? For a fascinating attempt to connect social structure with a typology of cosmological systems, see
- 1967 . Structural Anthropology New York Lévi‐Strauss deals with the synchronic‐diachronic distinction when he discusses the relationship between anthropology and history in his ch. 1. In criticism of Malinowski and his followers, he demands more concern for the diachronic history of communities studied by anthropologists; as an historian I ask for more concern for synchronic analysis in the study of Judaism and Christianity in the Greco‐Roman period. As for the relationship between the disciplines of anthropology and history, Lévi‐Strauss confirms their essential identity, an identity which is a premise of the present study, in the following: “… the fundamental difference between the two disciplines is not one of subject, of goal, or of method. They share the same subject, which is social life; the same goal, which is a better understanding of man; and, in fact, the same method, in which only the proportion of research techniques varies. They differ, principally, in their choice of complementary perspectives; History organizes its data in relation to conscious expressions of social life, while anthropology proceeds by examining its unconscious foundations (18 f.)’. But even this difference is appropriately dissolved into another which, I believe, is less basic: ‘It would be inaccurate, therefore, to say that on the road toward the understanding of man, which goes from the study of conscious content to that of unconscious forms, the historian and the anthropologist travel in opposite directions. On the contrary, they both go the same way. The fact that their journey together appears to each of them in a different light—to the historian, transition from the explicit to the implicit; to the anthropoligist, transition from the particular to the universal—does not in the least alter the identical character of the fundamental approach.… The anthropologist goes forward, seeking to attain, through the conscious, of which he is always aware, more and more of the unconscious; whereas the historian advances, so to speak, backward, keeping his eyes fixed on concrete and specific activities from which he withdraws only to consider them from a more complete and richer perspective. A true two‐faced Janus, it is the solidarity of the two disciplines that makes it possible to keep the whole road in sight (24 f.)’
- 1969 . New Heaven, New Earth New York The main features of the analytic grid I utilize are adapted from a methodologically oriented study of millenarian movements by K. Burridge entitled His treatment arises from his own anthropological field work and that of others, yet his analysis and discussion of data seem very relevant to phenomena in first century Palestine. In his work I believe Burridge satisfies both requirements for the anthropological study of religion as formulated by Geertz
- Banton , M. , ed. 1966 . “ 'Religion as a Cultural System’ ” . In Anthropological Approaches to the Study of Religion , A.S.A. Monograph Series, 3 42 London in ‘.. .first, an analysis of the system of meanings embodied in the symbols which make up the religion proper, and, second, the relating of these systems to social‐structural and psychological processes’. That is to say that although the research methods of field anthropologists and historians of ancient religions necessarily differ, the questions asked of the data need not necessarily differ. See above, n. 5
- Zuckermandel , ed. bat qôl’ , Vol. 13.2 , 318 T. Sot. . ‘From the time that the last prophets, Haggai, Zecharaiah, and Malach, died the holy spirit ceased from Israel, but nevertheless they were permitted to hear the A bat qôl is a voice from heaven which, according to the rabbis, is the only spontaneous revelatory agency remaining. It differs from prophecy, being less significant and quite sporadic, and it was viewed by the rabbis with mixed emotions. A presumably early passage (pre‐200 C.E.) in the Babylonian Talmud (B.M. 59b) rejects the halachic (legal) authority of the bat qôl. In the post‐Tannaitic period (after 200 C.E.), however, it was considered legally authoritative. See in the Jerusalem Talmud, Ber. 3b, where the bat qôl decrees the precedence of one rabbinic school's legal opinion over those of another while the earlier version of the story (T. Yeb. 1.13, Zuckermandel ed., 243) merely states the ruling of precedence without the appeal to the bat qôl for authority. See ‘Bat Kô1’ in The Jewish Encyclopedia
- Urbach , E. E. 1969 . The Sages: Their Concepts and Beliefs , 254 Jerusalem : Hebrew . There seems to have been an early distinction made between cultic regulations and other requirements of Torah. Thus Leviticus was called tôrat kôhanim (Torah of the priests) to differentiate it from the rest of the Torah. See
- Eppstein , V. 1964 . ‘The Historicity of the Gospel Account of the Cleansing of the Temple’ . Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft , LV : 42 – 58 . On the problems involved in determining who controlled the cult in pre‐70 Judea, see Elsewhere Eppstein argues that Pharisaic control of the cult directly caused the disappearance of the Sadducees, an ingenious piece of deduction, the results of which are about as secure as the dating of his evidence. See idem.,
- 1966 . ’When and how the Sadducees were excommunicated’ . Journal of Biblical Literature , LXXXV : 213 – 24 . Compare the treatment of these problems in
- Urbach , E. E. Class‐status and Leadership in the World of the Palestinian Sages Jerusalem n.d.)
- Neusner , J. 1966 . ‘In Quest of the Historical Rabban Yohanan Ben Zakkai’ . Harvard Theological Review , LIX : 391 – 413 . There are enormous difficulties involved in reconstructing Jewish history in Palestine before and immediately following the destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E. from rabbinic sources because all the extant rabbinic sources were finally edited no earlier than 200 C.E. See Independent witnesses, such as Josephus and the New Testament, are crucial, but all too rarely available. Much of the literature on Pharisees presupposes a significant continuity, if not identity, between the early Pharisees and the rabbis who followed. Such a continuity can only be hypothetical, although the hypothesis is often useful
- Josephus . Ant. , XVIII 12 f See where he describes the Pharisaic Oral Law and is thus an independent witness to its antiquity. See below
- Neusner , J. 1971 . The Rabbinic Traditions About the Pharisees Before 70 Leiden Scholarly treatment of the Pharisees and their disputes with Sadducees and others, because of the ambiguity of the evidence, has tended to be highly tendentious. The problems have been invitations for scholars to project their own feelings about contemporary religious conflicts into their historiography. For a comprehensive and very critically annotated bibliography of historical studies of Pharisaism, see part 3, appendix: ‘Bibliographical Reflections’
- Hillers , D. R. 1969 . Covenant: The History of a Biblical Idea , Johns Hopkins Press . For the Biblical idea of covenant and its antecedents in the ancient Near East, see Essentially, the Israelite community assumed its obligation to Yahweh as a consequence of Yahweh's past beneficences, but also to ensure his continued aid. Thus, individual misfortune and community disaster were explicable as failures to fulfil mitzvot, i.e., breaking the covenant on man's part. Punishment was thus to be expected. Of course, Judaism also dealt with theodicy problems, where the punishments seemed to outweigh any conceivable disruption of the covenantal relationship. That is what the book of Job is all about. But such questioning appears not to have disrupted the mitzvah system
- Rivkin , E. 1969–70 . ‘Defining the Pharisees: The Tannaitic Sources’ . Hebrew Union College Annual , XL‐XLI : 234 Collecting all pre‐200 C.E. rabbinic sources relating to the term ‘Pharisees’, Rivkin arrives at this as one of his conclusions. (Emphasis his.)
- Ginzberg , L. 1955 . “ ‘The Significance of the Halachah for Jewish History’ ” . In On Jewish Law and Lore Philadelphia and Both L. Ginzberg and L. Finkelstein have emphasized the economic class bases for legal controversies between the Pharisees and Sadducees. See
- Finkelstein , L. 19623 . The Pharisees: The Sociological Background of Their Faith New York Reading their accounts of the legal controversies, one must admit the attractiveness of understanding the Sadducees as a patrician, priestly class and the Pharisees as ‘urban plebeians’. Yet there is still the problem of virtually undatable evidence so that their conclusions, although reasonable, are not satisfactorily verifiable. But the Sadducean rejection of the Pharisaic Oral Law seems solidly proven. The advantages to a ruling group of excluding ever more encompassing applications of revealed law by a rival group seem obvious
- Worsley , P. 19682 . The Trumpet Shall Sound New York ‘Millenarism’, ‘millennium’, ‘millenarian’ are terms picked up by anthropologists from Christianity and applied analogically (and inaccurately). Their usage by now, however, seems sufficiently well established and their now more generalized meanings capture the essences of Melanesian cargo cults as well as Jewish apocalyptically oriented groups. Besides Burridge (op. cit.) there are two other volumes which make important methodological contributions to the study of millenarism in general. See esp. the introduction to the second edition, ix—lxix; and
- Thrupp , S. L. , ed. 1970 . Millennial Dreams in Action New York
- Cohn's , N. 19612 . The Pursuit of the Millenium New York For what follows I am again indebted to Burridge (op. cit.), but the picture is composite, drawing also on the works cited in n. 25 above as well as
- Aberle , D. F. “ ‘A Note on Relative Deprivation Theory as Applied to Millenarian and Other Cult Movements’ ” . In Millennial Dreams in Action 209 – 14 . See in (op. cit.) and Worsley, op. cit., xxxix ff. Worsley makes an important distinction between small ‘coteries’ adhering to millenarian beliefs and sizable millenarian movements. The latter are class bound: ’… the millenarian movements that have been historically important… are movements of the disinherited’ (xlii, emphasis his). The former may, and indeed, do, come from the upper classes, but unless they broaden their appeal to include those in the society who are economically deprived, according to Worsley's argument, they will never become ‘historically important’. The Essenes, as we shall see, do not appear to have been paupers. Their leadership, and presumably much of their membership, was drawn from the priesthood. And, in fact, they never did constitute a mass movement. On the other hand, there are non‐economic deprivations which can elicit millenarian ideology and behaviour, and that fact is particularly relevant to Palestinian Judaism in the Greco‐Roman period
- Brandon , S. G. F. 1967 . Jesus and the Zealots New York On the Zealots, see The sources for the Zealots in Josephus, rabbinic literature and elsewhere are collected and exhaustively analysed by
- Hengel , M. 1961 . Die Zeloten Leiden in his Both deal with various anti‐Roman, anti‐Herodian, and even anti‐Jewish‐Establishment activities in Jewish Palestine which led to the first war against Rome. These activities and their perpetrators are lumped together as ‘Zealot’ and the ‘Zealots’ are identified with the ‘Fourth Philosophy’ discussed by
- Josephus . Ant. , xviii 23 – 25 . in M. Smith argues against Hengel and Brandon convincingly that the name ‘Zealot’ is used by Josephus narrowly, referring only to a fanatical group in besieged Jerusalem who are to be distinguished from the Sicarii and all other Jewish revolutionaries of the time. Hengel is particularly singled out for criticism of his use of sources. See
- 1971 . ‘Zealots and Sicarii, Their Origins and Relation’ . Harvard Theological Review , LXIV : 1 – 19 . My concern, however, is with the totality of activities like those of the Zealots, the Sicarii, and other revolutionary groups
- Emmet , D. 1956 . ‘Prophets and their Societies’ . The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute , LXXXVI : 13 – 24 . Ibid., 11 ff. There are, of course, other kinds of prophets. See where she criticizes Weber's requirement that a prophet always be of the ‘charismatic’ type and socially abnormal. Worsley, too, is critical of the Weberian concept of ‘charisma’, objecting mainly to its circularity and to its emphasis on the personality of the leader to the exclusion of the leader's function in the situation and the structure of the situation in which he functions (op. cit., ix‐xxi). Yet I believe that Burridge is correct in emphasizing the analytical and interpretive abilities of the prophet, characteristics which are surely part of his individual, unique makeup. It is methodologically just as dangerous to ignore the unique abilities of the leader (why this person rather than just anyone?) for the sake of a totally structural analysis; surely the whole process is dialectical. The millenarian prophet is a catalyst, but not just any catalyst!
- Gross's , F. M. 1961 . The Ancient Library of Qumran, , 2nd ed. Garden City The literature of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls is mammoth. The best treatment of the community and the problems involved in studying its history is still See also
- Ringgren , Helmer . 1963 . The Faith of Qumran Philadelphia
- Josephus . Ant. , xviii 19 Cross, op. cit., 138 f. The crucial evidence for an independent sacrificial system, a highly unusual phenomenon in the light of the Deuteronomic prohibitions of sacrifice outside of Jerusalem, is essentially the careful burial of animal bones discovered, further buttressed by See Cross, 101 f. n. A careful review of the scholarly discussion on the matter appears in
- Klinzig , Georg . 1971 . Die Umdeutung des Kultus in der Qumrangemeinded und im Neuen Testament 22 – 49 . Göttingen Working through the relevant archeological and literary evidence, Klinzig concludes that the Qumranites did not have their own private sacrificial cult in replacement of the Temple sacrificial system. Rather, they considered the very act of joining the community and the fulfilment of the liturgical requirements of the sect to be their sacrifice in a situation where the Temple sacrifice was not accessible to them (ibid., 93–106). Further, at various points the community referred to itself in Temple imagery. For relevant texts and discussion, see ibid., 49–93. What is important to remember, however, is that in their eschatological vision, the Essenes fully expected to return to the normal Temple cult. Their present state which to some might reflect a ‘spiritualization’ of sacrifice was not for them the ideal situation. See Cross, op. cit., 101
- Vermes , G. 1966 . The Dead Sea Scrolls in English Baltimore In the Scrolls this type of interpretation is called a pesher. The method of interpretation is exemplified in the following passage from the commentary on Habakkuk (IQ,pHab. 2), a passage which also justifies the method. It deals with Hab. 1.5 which reads, ‘Behold the nations and see, marvel and be astonished; for I accomplish a deed in your days but you will not believe it when told’. The commentary is as follows: ['Interpreted, this concerns] those who were unfaithful together with the Liar, in that they [did] not [listen to the word received by] the Teacher of Righteousness from the mouth of God. And it concerns the unfaithful of the New Covenant in that they have not believed in the Covenant of God [and have profaned] His holy Name. And likewise, this saying is to be interpreted [as concerning those who] will be unfaithful at the end of days. They, the men of violence and the breakers of the covenant will not believe when they hear all that [is to happen to] the final generation from the Priest [in whose heart] God set [understanding] that he might interpret all the words of His servants the prophets, through whom He foretold all that would happen to His people and [His land]’. Translation taken fromad loc. Characteristic of this kind of interpretation is the direct application of Scripture to the history and situation of the Essenes. Note that the Essene claim is to an understanding of previous prophecy not even available to the original prophets
- Turner , V. 1969 . The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti‐Structure New York Although I have concentrated on mediating between anthropological studies of millenarism and the history of Jewish parties and social‐movements in Greco‐Roman Palestine, there are other social‐anthropological and social‐psychological models and approaches to be considered. There are questions about status, identity and self‐valuation. What happens at Qumran, for instance, when one moves from non‐member to initiate to full member? At this point the concept of ‘liminality’ developed in connection with ‘rites of passage’ in primitive and not‐so‐primitive societies deserves full attention. The same concept must be applied also to the Essene self‐understanding as a community which has withdrawn from society‐at‐large and expects to return to, indeed to constitute, the new‐born society‐at‐large. See Of particular interest is the loss of the traditional Jewish societal structure through the system of communal property, etc., together with the heightened status stratification in connection with the priesthood and the Holy War plans—an odd combination of communitas and structure
- Coser , L. 1956 . The Functions of Social Conflict New York In another area research should focus on internal relations within the community, including those revealed in the ritual life, as they relate to their self description as ‘sons of light’ opposed to all others, the ‘sons of darkness’. The cohesiveness of apocalyptic communities in the face of the enemy (i.e., the rest of the world) would be illuminated by social‐psychological research in conflict theory. See M. Douglas's ‘group‐grid’ analysis of religious communities and religious movements within larger communities is ripe for application to Palestine in our period. Indeed, Qumran may turn out to be an important anomaly in her system (op. cit.).