[Rezension von: Collins, John J., 1946-, The invention of Judaism : Torah and Jewish identity from Deuteronomy to Paul]
At what point did a sense of Jewish identity emerge and what characterized it? In this learned volume based on a series of public lectures at UC-Berkeley, pre-eminent scholar John Collins weighs in on a current debate. Recent scholarship locates the origins of Judaism in the Hellenistic period with...
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| Format: | Electronic Review |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Oxford University Press
2020
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| In: |
The journal of theological studies
Year: 2020, Volume: 71, Issue: 2, Pages: 837-839 |
| Review of: | The invention of Judaism (Oakland, California : University of California Press, 2017) (Newman, Judith H.)
The invention of Judaism (Oakland, California : University of California Press, 2017) (Newman, Judith H.) The invention of Judaism (Berkeley, CA : University of California Press, 2017) (Newman, Judith H.) |
| Further subjects: | B
Book review
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| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | At what point did a sense of Jewish identity emerge and what characterized it? In this learned volume based on a series of public lectures at UC-Berkeley, pre-eminent scholar John Collins weighs in on a current debate. Recent scholarship locates the origins of Judaism in the Hellenistic period with differences of opinion as to whether ‘Jews’ or ‘Judeans’ might have any sense of religious identity separate from ethnicity and ties to a homeland. Collins argues for two innovative points. First, the distinguishing feature of Jewishness is a commitment to the ancestral laws, the patrioi nomoi, imbedded in the Torah of Moses. Second, ‘Judaism’ originated not in the Hasmonean period or later in defining itself against an emerging ‘Christianity’, but much earlier in the Persian period. In his words: ‘Once the Law/Torah of Moses became accepted as the ancestral law of the Judeans, it was possible to become “Jewish” or “Judean” in virtue of observance of that law, regardless of birth or genealogy’ (pp. 18-19). Judaism is neither purely ethnic nor purely ‘religious’ without a concern for genealogical descent, but both. The book thus explores the different ways in which a wide range of communities embraced the Torah of Moses—or did not. On the way to his final argument, Collins deftly navigates his way through reams of scholarship, judiciously evaluating arguments and weighing relevant evidence from primary sources. |
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| ISSN: | 1477-4607 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The journal of theological studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/jts/flaa108 |