Scribes, Visionaries, and the Politics of Second Temple Judea »

"It was a time in the Near East when indigenous intellectuals and local insurgents were challenging imperial rule. Inspired by the revival of traditional religion, exclusive devotion to the one God, intellectuals and peasants alike became increasingly unhappy with their own rulers, who were being maintained in their positions of power and privilege by the imperial regime. Intellectuals were bothered that the rich and powerful elite were becoming ever more wealthy at the expense of the poor. Some of the more tradition-minded intellectuals continued to support the established order and incumbent rulers. Others struggled to comprehend why the times seemed so out of joint, why their own aristocratic families collaborated with the imperial power and assimilated more and more to the dominant imperial culture, and how the imperial regime was becoming an ever greater threat to the traditional way of life.... This escalating crisis and these books that responded to it were political-economic as well as cultural-religious, and these dimensions were inseparable."

Judaism and Christianity both arose in times of empire, with roots in Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman periods. In order to understand these religious movements, one must first understand the history and society of these imperial cultures. In these formative years, wisdom and apocalyptic traditions flourished as two significant religious forms. In Scribes, Visionaries, and the Politics of Second Temple Judea, distinguished New Testament scholar Richard A. Horsley analyzes the function and meaning of these religious movements within their social context, providing essential background for the development of early Judaism and earlyChristianity.

About the Author:
Richard A. Horsley is Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and the Study of Religion at the University of Massachusetts-Boston

Acknowledgments     vii
Abbreviations     ix
Introduction     1
Origins of the Judean Temple-State under the Persian Empire     15
The Judean Temple-State and Persian Imperial Rule     16
Multiple Conflicts in Yehud under Persian Rule     22
The Temple-State and the People of Yehud toward the End of Persian Rule     31
The Judean Temple-State under the Hellenistic Empires     33
Changes in the Imperial Situation and Administration     34
First Crisis: Aristocratic Factions under the Ptolemaic Empire     37
Second Crisis: Aristocratic Factions and the Change of Imperial Regimes     41
Third Crisis: Aristocratic Factions under the Seleucid Regime     45
Exacerbating the Division between Temple-State Aristocracy and Judean Peasantry     50
Ben Sira and the Sociology of Judea     53
Ben Sira's Portrayal of Social Structure and Social Roles in Judea     55
Sociologies of Agrarian Societies     58
Social Structure, Social Relations, and Social Dynamics in Ben Sira's Judea     62
Scribes and Sages: Administrators and Intellectuals     71
Scribes and Scribal Training in Mesopotamia and Egypt     72
Scribes in Judah-Yehud-Judea     76
ScribalTraining and Range of Knowledge     82
Orality, Writing, and the Cultivation of Texts     89
Scribal Instruction as Oral     90
Toward an Appropriate Approach     91
Kinds of Writing and Their Uses     94
Orality and Writing in Scribal Learning, Teaching, and Practice     101
The Cultural Repertoire of the Judean Scribes     109
The Evidence from Qumran     111
Ben Sira's Relation to Torah and Prophets     119
Cultivation of Texts Earlier in the Second-Temple Period     120
Kinds of Wisdom     126
Cultural Repertoire and New Composition     128
The Wisdom of Jesus Ben Sira     131
Instructional Wisdom Speeches     133
Hymns of Praise     142
Ben Sira and the Politics of the Second Temple     144
1 Enoch     151
General Aspects of Enoch Texts and Considerations of Approach     152
Book of the Luminaries (1 Enoch 72-82)     156
Book of Watchers (1 Enoch 1-36)     157
Animal Vision (1 Enoch 85-90)     163
The Epistle of Enoch (1 Enoch 92-105)     166
Daniel     173
The Tales in Daniel 1-6     174
The Visions in Daniel 7-12      179
The Maskilim in the Political Crisis     189
Conclusion: Understanding Texts in Contexts     193
The Broader Context of the Social Structure and Roles     193
The Broader Context of Judean Culture     194
The Broader Context of Historical Crisis in Judea     201
Further Implications     203
Appendix A     207
Notes     209
Index     253