Difference between revisions of "Category:Second Temple Studies"

Second Temple Studies (Home Page) Second Temple Studies is a field of research that specialized on the social and intellectual history of Second Temple Judaism, from the Babylonian Exile to the Bar Kokhba Revolt. Topics : Second Temple History -- Second Temple Literature -- Christian Origins -- Rabbinic Origins -- Parting of the Ways -- Intertestamental Judaism -- Late Judaism -- Early Judaism -- Middle Judaism -/- Ascetism -- Atonement -- Calendars -- Celibacy -- Chronography -- Circumcision Texts : Dead Sea Scrolls -- Hebrew Bible -- New Testament -- OT Apocrypha -- OT Pseudepigrapha -- Philo's Works -- Josephus' Works -- Septuagint -/- Canon Events : (1) Babylonian Exile -- (2) Persian Period -- (3) Greek Period -- (4) Maccabean Period -- (5) Roman Period -//- People : Babylonian Kings -- Persian Kings -- Ptolemaic Kings -- Seleucid Kings -- Hasmoneans -- Herodians -- Roman Emperors -- Roman Governors of Judea -//- High Priests -- Zadokites -- House of Annas -- House of Boethus -//- Tobiads -- Samaritans -- Essenes -- Pharisees -- Sadducees -- Sicarii -- Therapeutae -- Zealots -- Messiah Claimants -//- Berenice -- Gamaliel -- Herod the Great -- Herod Antipas -- Hillel -- Jesus of Nazareth -- John -- John the Baptist -- Josephus -- Judas Maccabeus -- Paul of Tarsus -- Peter -- Philo -- Salome Alexandra -- Teacher of Righteousness -- Tiberius Julius Alexander -- Tigranes the Great Timeline : 2010s (Top) -- 2000s (Top) -- 1990s (Top) -- 1980s (Top) -- 1970s (Top) -- 1960s (Top) -- 1950s (Top) -- 1940s (Top) -- 1930s (Top) -- 1920s (Top) -- 1910s (Top) -- 1900s (Top) -- 1850s (Top) -- 1800s (Top) -- 1700s (Top) -- 1600s (Top) -- 1500s (Top) -- 1400s (Top) -- PreModern (Top) -- Medieval (Top) Languages : English -- French -- German -- Italian -- Spanish -//- Arabic -- Croatian -- Czech -- Danish -- Dutch -- Estonian -- Greek -- Hebrew -- Hungarian -- Japanese -- Latin -- Maltese -- Persian -- Polish -- Russian -- Serbian -- Slovenian Scholarship : 4 Enoch -- Journal for the Study of Judaism -- Library of Second Temple Studies -/- Enoch Seminar -/- Paul Eber -- Samuel Usque -- Azariah de' Rossi -- John Lightfoot -- Samuel Cradock -- Humphrey Prideaux -- Augustin Calmet -- Jean-Baptiste Honoré Raymond Capefigue -- Aurelio Bianchi-Giovini -- Joseph Salvador -- Isaac Mayer Wise -- Emil Schürer -- Ernest Renan -- Crawford Howell Toy -- Wilhelm Bousset -- Robert Henry Charles -- George F. Moore -- R. Travers Herford -- Charles Guignebert -- Elias J. Bickerman -- Robert Henry Pfeiffer -- Joseph Bonsirven -- David S. Russell -- Morton Smith -- Donald E. Gowan -- Ed Parish Sanders -- Michael E. Stone -- Jacob Neusner -- George W.E. Nickelsburg -- Paolo Sacchi -- John J. Collins -- Shaye J.D. Cohen -- Lawrence H. Schiffman -- Gabriele Boccaccini -- Tal Ilan -- James C. VanderKam -- Lester L. Grabbe -- Martin Goodman -- Loren T. Stuckenbruck Fiction : Second Temple Fiction -//- Ben-Hur -- Herod & Mariamne -- Salome -- Titus & Berenice -- Wandering Jew -//- Elizabeth Cary -- Nicolas Poussin -- Madeleine de Scudéry -- Jean Baptiste Racine -- Pietro Metastasio -- Georg Frideric Haendel -- Edward Bulwer Lytton -- Giuseppe Verdi -- Gustave Doré -- Lew Wallace -- Oscar Wilde -- James Tissot -- Richard Strauss -- Howard Fast -- William Wyler Cognate Fields : Christian Origins Studies -- Hellenistic-Jewish Studies -- Historical Jesus Studies -- Qumran Studies This page is edited by Gabriele Boccaccini, University of Michigan

Timeline Second Temple Studies : 2020s -- 2010s -- 2000s -- 1990s -- 1980s -- 1970s -- 1960s -- 1950s -- 1940s -- 1930s -- 1920s -- 1910s -- 1900s -- 1850s -- 1800s -- 1700s -- 1600s -- 1500s -- 1450s -- Home General : 2020s -- 2010s -- 2000s -- 1990s -- 1980s -- 1970s -- 1960s -- 1950s -- 1940s -- 1930s -- 1920s -- 1910s -- 1900s -- 1850s -- 1800s -- 1700s -- 1600s -- 1500s -- 1450s -- Medieval -- Home Languages Second Temple Studies : English -- French -- German -- Italian -- Spanish -//- Afrikaans -- Bulgarian -- Chinese -- Croatian -- Czech -- Danish -- Dutch -- Finnish -- Greek -- Hebrew -- Hungarian -- Japanese -- Korean -- Latin -- Portuguese -- Polish -- Russian -- Swedish -- Yiddish

Highlights (Second Temple History and Literature)

1500s

• Contexta populi Iudaici historia (Uninterrupted History of the Jewish People / 1548 Eber), book

• Consolaçam ás tribulaçoens de Israel (Consolation for the Tribulations of Israel / 1553 Usque), book (Portuguese)

1600s

• Exame das tradições farisaicas (Examination of Pharisaic Traditions / 1623 Acosta), book

• The Temple Service, as it Stood in the Dayes of Our Saviour (1649 Lightfoot), book

• Historia doctorum misnicorum (1672 Otho), book

• The History of the Old Testament Methodized: to which is annexed a short History of the Jewish Affairs, from the end of the Old Testament to the birth of our Saviour (1683 Cradock), book

1700s

• The Old and New Testament Connected in the History of the Jews, and Neighbouring Nations (1716-1718 Prideaux), book

• Miscellaneous Discourses Relating to the Traditions and Usages of the Scribes and Pharisees in Our Saviour Jesus Christ's Time (1718 Wotton), book

1800s

• Specimen historico-theologicum; quo continetur, Historia conditionis judaeorum religiosae et moralis inde ab exsilo Babylonica usque ad tempora J.C. immutatae (1834 Boon), book

• Storia degli Ebrei e delle loro sette e dottrine religiose durante il secondo tempio (1844 Bianchi-Giovini), book

1850s

• The Gentile and the Jew in the Courts of the Temple of Christ = Heidenthum und Judenthum (1862 @1857 Döllinger / Darnell), book (English ed.)

• Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1880 Wallace), novel

• History of the Hebrews’ Second Commonwealth (1880 Wise), book

• Geschichte des jüdischen Volks im Zeitalter Jesu Christi (A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ / 1886-90 Schürer), book

• Judaism and Christianity: A Sketch of the Progress of Thought from Old Testament to New Testament (1890 Toy), book

1900s

• Le monde juif au temps de Jésus-Christ et des apôtres (1900 Beurlier), book

• A History of the Jewish People during the Maccabean and Roman Periods (1900 Riggs), book

• Die Religion des Judentums im neutestamentlichen Zeitalter (1903 Bousset), book

• Die religiösen Bewegungen innerhalb des Judentums im Zeitalter Jesu (1905 Friedländer), book

• Between the Testaments (1907 Grant), book

• Between the Testaments; or, Interbiblical History (1907 Gregg), book

• Hellenismus und Judentum im neutestamentlichen Zeitalter (1908 Krüger), book

1910s

• The Makers and Teachers of Judaism from the Fall of Jerusalem to the Death of Herod the Great (1911 Kent), book

• Religious Development between the Old and the New Testaments (1914 Charles), book

1920s

• The Teaching of Jesus and the Jewish Teaching of His Age (1923 Walker), book

• Die Religion des Judentums im späthellenistischen Zeitalter (1926 Bousset, Gressmann), book (revised ed.)

• Judaism in the First Centuries of the Christian Era (1927-1930 Moore), book

• Judaism in the New Testament Period (1928 Herford), book

• The Literary Background of the New Testament (1928 Hurst), book

• The Origins of the Synagogue and the Church (1929 Kohler/Enelow), book

1930s

• Religious Thought in Palestine in the Time of Christ (1931 Bindley), book

• Le judaïsme avant Jésus-Christ (1931 Lagrange), book

• A History of Israel. Vol. 2: From the Fall of Jerusalem, 586 BC, to the Bar-Kokhba Revolt, AD 135 (1932 Oesterley), book

• Storia d’Israele. 2: Dall'esilio al 135 dopo Cristo (1932 Ricciotti), book

• Le judaïsme palestinien au temps de Jésus-Christ: sa théologie (1934-1935 Bonsirven), book

• Le monde juif vers le temps de Jésus (The Jewish World in the Time of Jesus / 1935 Guignebert), book

• Hebrew Religion between the Testaments (1937 Walker), book

1940s

• Neutestamentliche Zeitgeschichte (History of New Testament Times / 1940 Foerster), book

• History of New Testament Times (1949 Pfeiffer), book

• The Jews from Cyrus to Herod (1949 Snaith), book

1950s

• Le judaïsme palestinien au temps de Jésus-Christ (Palestinian Judaism in the Time of Jesus / 1950 Bonsirven), book

• Histoire de la littérature hébraïque et juive: depuis les origines jusqu'à la ruine de l'état juif, 135 après J.-C. (1950 Lods), book

• Judaism: Postbiblical and Talmudic Period (1954 Baron, Blau), book

• The New Testament Background: Selected Documents (1956 Barrett), book

• The Jewish World in the Time of Jesus = Le monde juif vers le temps de Jésus (1959 @1935 Guignebert / Hooke), book (American ed.)

1960s

• Between the Testaments (1960 Russell), book

• Les sectes juives au temps de Jésus (Jewish Sects at the Time of Jesus / 1960 Simon), book

• The Threshold of Christianity: Between the Testaments (1960 Toombs), book

• Daily Life in the Time of Jesus = Le vie quotidienne en Palestine au temps de Jésus (1962 @1961 Daniel-Rops / O'Brian), book (English ed.)

• The Rise and Fall of the Judean State (1962-1978 Zeitlin), book

• Palestinian Judaism in the Time of Jesus = Le judaïsme palestinien au temps de Jésus-Christ (1964 @1950 Bonsirven / Wolf), book (English ed.)

• From the Exile to Christ: A Historical Introduction to Palestinian Judaism = Das Judentum Palästinas zur Zeit Jesu und der Apostel (1964 @1959 Foerster / Harris), book (American ed.)

• The Creative Era between the Testaments (1965 Howie), book

• The Jews from Alexander to Herod (1967 Russell), book

• Jewish Sects at the Time of Jesus = Les sectes juives au temps de Jésus (1967 @1960 Simon / Farley), book (English ed.)

• Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus = Jerusalem zur Zeit Jesu (1969 Jeremias / Cave), book (English ed.)

• The First Christian Century in Judaism and Christianity (1969 Sandmel), book

1970s

• Umwelt des Neuen Testament (1971 Lohse), book

• The Shaping of Jewish History: A Radical New Interpretation (1971 Rivkin), book

• Palestinian Parties and Politics That Shaped the Old Testament (1971 Smith), book

• The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ (1973-87 Schürer, Vermès), book

• The Jewish People in the First Century (1974-1976 Safrai, Stern), edited volume

• The History and Literature of the Palestinian Jews from Cyrus to Herod (1975 McCullough), book

• Intertestament (1975 Paul), book

• Introduction to the Intertestamental Period (1975 Surburg), book

• Bridge Between the Testaments (1976 Gowan), book

• The Am ha-Aretz: A Study in the Social History of the Jewish People in the Hellenistic-Roman Period (1977 Oppenheimer / Levine), book

• Judaism and Christian Beginnings (1978 Sandmel), book

1980s

• Galilee, from Alexander the Great to Hadrian (1980 Freyne), book

• Bridge Between the Testaments, 2nd ed. (1980 Gowan), book

• Scriptures, Sects and Visions: A Profile of Judaism from Ezra to the Jewish Revolts (1980 Stone), book

• Jewish Literature between the Bible and the Mishnah (1981 Nickelsburg), book

• Le mond des Juifs a l’heure de Jésus: histoire politique (1981 Paul), book

• Intertestamental Literature (1983 McNamara), book

• Faith and Piety in Early Judaism: Texts and Documents (1983 Nickelsburg, Stone), book

• The Jewish and Christian World, 200 BC to AD 200 (1984 Leaney), book

• Jewish Writings of the Second Temple Period (1984 Stone), edited volume

• Bridge Between the Testaments, 3rd ed. (1985 Gowan), book

• Rebecca's Children: Judaism and Christianity in the Roman World (1986 Segal), book

• Early Judaism and Its Modern Interpreters (1986 Kraft, Nickelsburg), edited volume

• From the Maccabees to the Mishnah (1987 Cohen), book

• Backgrounds of Early Christianity (1987 Ferguson), book

1990s

• Zwischen den Testamenten (Between the Testaments / 1990 Maier), book

• The World of Jesus: First-Century Judaism in Crisis (1990 Riches), book

• Middle Judaism: Jewish Thought, 300 BCE to 200 CE (1991 Boccaccini), book

• The Religious World of Jesus: An Introduction to Second Temple Palestinian Judaism (1991 Murphy), book

• From Text to Tradition: A History of Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism (1991 Schiffman), book

• Pharisäer, Sadduzäer, Essener (1991 Stemberger), book

• Jewish Civilization in the Hellenistic-Roman Period (1991 Talmon), edited volume

• Judaism from Cyrus to Hadrian (1992 Grabbe), book

• Judaism: Practice and Belief, 63 BCE - 66 CE (1992 Sanders), book

• Backgrounds of Early Christianity, 2nd ed. (1993 @1987 Ferguson), book

• Storia del Secondo Tempio (1994 Sacchi), book

• Jewish Contemporaries of Jesus: Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes (1995 Stemberger), book (English ed.)

• Literatura judía intertestamentaria (1996 Aranda Pérez, García Martínez, Pérez Fernández), book

• Dictionary of Judaism in the Biblical Period, 450 BCE to 600 CE (1996 Neusner, Green), edited volume

• Texts and Traditions: A Source Reader (1998 Schiffman), book

• The Flourishing of Jewish Sects in the Maccabean Era (1997 Baumgarten), book

• Integrating Jewish Women into Second Temple History (1999 Ilan), book

2000s

• Dictionary of New Testament Background (2000 Evans, Porter), dictionary

• Judaic Religion in the Second Temple Period (2000 Grabbe), book

• The History of the Second Temple Period (2000 Sacchi), book (English ed.)

• An Introduction to Early Judaism (2001 VanderKam), book

• Roots of Rabbinic Judaism: An Intellectual History, from Ezekiel to Daniel (2002 Boccaccini), book

• Exploring Jewish Literature of the Second Temple Period (2002 Helyer), book

• Backgrounds of Early Christianity, 3rd ed. (2003 @1987 Ferguson), book

• A History of Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period. Vol. 1: Yehud: A History of the Persian Province of Judah (2004 Grabbe), book

• From Joshua to Caiaphas (2004 VanderKam), book

• Jewish Literature between the Bible and the Mishnah, 2nd ed. (2005 @1981 Nickelsburg), book

• From the Maccabees to the Mishnah, 2nd ed. (2006 @1987 Cohen), book

• A History of Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period. Vol. 2: The Coming of the Greeks: The Early Hellenistic Period (2008 Grabbe), book

2010s

• The Eerdmans Dictionary of Early Judaism (2010 Collins / Harlow), dictionary

• Stone and Dung, Oil and Spit: Jewish Daily Life in the Time of Jesus (2011 Magness), book

• From the Maccabees to the Mishnah, 3rd ed. (2014 @1987 Cohen), book

• Mind the Gap: How the Jewish Writings Between the Old and New Testament Help Us Understand Jesus (2017 Henze), book

• Discovering Second Temple Literature: The Scriptures and Stories That Shaped Early Judaism (2018 Simkovich), book

2020s

• A History of Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period. Vol. 3: The Maccabaean Revolt, Hasmonaean Rule, and Herod the Great (2020 Grabbe), book

• Early Judaism and Its Modern Interpreters, 2nd ed. (2020 Henze, Werline), edited volume

• T&T Clark Encyclopedia of Second Temple Judaism (2020 Stuckenbruck, Gurtner), edited volumes

• A History of Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period. Vol. 4: The Jews under the Roman Shadow (2021 Grabbe), book

Overview

The Second Temple Period is a crucial stage in the history of the Jewish people, as well as in the foundation of both Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism, but only in contemporary times it has emerged as an autonomous field of research.

(a) The Forgotten Era

The Second Temple period was for centuries equally neglected by both Christians and Jews. If Christianity was the fulfillment and replacement of the “old” covenant, and Rabbinic Judaism the continuation of the “old” Mosaic covenant, then Second Temple Judaism was a theologically insignificant period. There were exceptions. The continuous fortune of Josephus (and of his Christian and Jewish doubles, Hegesippus and Josippon), and the works of Epiphanius and Philastrius, Ibn Daud and Maimonides, kept alive the memory of ancient Jewish diversity up to the Middle Ages. But the Second Temple period caught no theological and scholarly attention. Not accidentally, the most comprehensive and original treatment of Second Temple Judaism would be offered in the Middle Ages outside both the Christian and the Rabbinic tradition by the Karaite leader Yusuf Yaqub al-Qirqisani at the beginning of the tenth century CE.

(b) The Rediscovery of Second Temple Judaism (15th-17th centuries)

The revival of interest in Second Temple Judaism during the Renaissance was prepared by the movement of the Christian Cabbalists, notably, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494), Johann Reuchlin (1455-1522), and Guillaume Postel (1510-1581). Their philosophical search for universal wisdom gave theological meaning and dignity to post-biblical Jewish literature, effectively defending it from the charge of “heresy.” But it was the “rediscovery” of Flavius Josephus, that made post-biblical Judaism historically significant, after centuries of oblivion, in the broader context of a renewed interest in Classical Studies. In particular, scholarly work inspired by Josephus added new dramatic details to the characters (also known from the Bible) of the Maccabees, Herod the Great (and Mariamne), and Herod Antipas (Herodias, Salome, and John the Baptist). In 1548, Paul Eber (1511-1569), Professor of Old Testament at Wittenberg, was the first to write a history of the Second Temple period in modern times, following the model of Josephus. In the 1580s, Corneille Bonaventure Bertram (1531-1594) and Carlo Sigonio (1524-1584) offered a first reconstruction of Jewish political and religious institutions in post-biblical times.

The interest in Classical Studies also penetrated Jewish culture. Azariah de' Rossi was the first modern Jewish scholar to focus on Second Temple Judaism, its history, archaeology and literature (especially Aristeas, Philo and Josephus), and to use non-Jewish sources (secular and Christian) to supplement or check the data in Talmudic literature.

Among Christian Hebraists, post-biblical Jewish sources began more and more frequently to be studied for apologetic reasons in order to illustrate the New Testament and confirm its "credibility." In the 17th century, John Lightfoot (1602-1675) wrote the first comprehensive commentary of New Testament based on Jewish, mostly halakhic, literature.

(c) The "Intertestamental" Age (18th century)

The rise of critical scholarship produced a first, important turn. As a result of the new critical interest in history and philology, Christian theology began to admit that, to a certain extent, post-biblical Judaism served to prepare for the coming of Jesus. At the beginning of the 18th century, Humphrey Prideaux (1648-1724), clergymen and scholar, dean of Norwich, reinvented "Second Temple Judaism" as the “intertestamental” period. His work (The Old and New Testament Connected in the History of the Jews, and Neighbouring Nations; from the Declension of the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah to the Time of Christ, 2 vols., London 1716-1718) dominated the field for more than a century with numerous editions and translations in French, Italian, and Germany. It also prompted interest in the literature of the period. The Codes Pseudepigraphus Veteris Testamenti (Hamburg 1713-33) by Johann Albert Fabricius (1668-1736) was the first published collection of Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. The age "from Malachi to Jesus" emerged in Christian scholarship as a distinct historical period--it was the necessary "connection" between the Old and the New Testament, the time in which God's providence acted to create the right conditions for the spreading of the Christian message.

(d) From "Intertestamental" to "Late" Judaism (19th century to 1945)

The interest of Christian scholarship in the religious life of the Jews at the time when Jesus was born, strengthened in the nineteenth century; the neutestamentliche Zeitgeschichte became an established field of research. The new climate created by the French revolution and the Emancipation encouraged Christian scholars, such as Johann Gottfried Eichhorn (1752-1827) and Aurelio Bianchi-Giovini (1779-1862), to approach the period in conversation with Jewish scholars. For the first time, Jewish scholars, notably, Isaak Markus Jost (1793-1860), Joseph Salvador (1796-1873), and Morris Jacob Raphall (1798-1868), entered the scholarly arena as scholars, greatly contributing to the development of the field.

The scholarly interest did not result, however, in a more appreciative approach to Judaism. On the contrary, the spread of anti-Semitic attitudes, which came to dominate European culture particularly since the second half of the nineteenth century, added to the legacy of medieval religious anti-Judaism to make most Christian scholars even harsher in their contempt of Second Temple Judaism. What was previously seen as a time of stagnation and insignificance, marked by the production of 'non-canonical" literature, came more and more to be labeled as a time of religious decadence. After the Babylonian exile and the end of the prophecy Judaism regressed from its biblical premises to become "in the age of Jesus" the legalistic and sanctimonious religion against which the Christ had to fight and his followers in the present were still committed to claim superiority. The term Spa"tjudentum (Late Judaism) appeared the most appropriate--chronologically and morally--to denote this period. The masterpiece of Second Temple Studies in the 19th century, Die Geschichte des jüdischen Volks im Zeitalter Jesu Christi (The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ) by Emil Schürer was not unaffected by this climate.

Even in the face of such derogatory attacks, the reaction of Jewish scholars, or actively pro-Jewish scholars like George F. Moore, was significantly ambiguous; while defending the validity of the one Judaism, they showed little interest in defending the religious value of the Second Temple period. Against the neutestamentliche Zeitgeschichte, the jüdische Wissenschaft concentrated on the cultural importance of the period in the long, glorious and not yet concluded history of the Jewish people. The rise and influence of Zionism added a political touch to this otherwise theologically meaningless age: after all, the Second Temple period was the last glorious time of Jewish independence and self-government in the land of Israel--the time of the second Jewish Commonwealth.

(e) From "Late" to "Early" Judaism (1945-1980)

The Second World War and the Holocaust shook even the most insulated consciences. In France, Jules Isaac denounced the responsibilities of the Christian teaching of contempt, which preached the religious "end" of Judaism. His appeal was heard by the conference of Seelisburg in 1947 and by the Vatican Council in 1965; the two events mark the formal debut of the contemporary Jewish-Christian dialogue on the grassroots and the official level respectively. The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls came timely to open wide, unhoped-for horizons of research and fostered a renewed interest in ancient Jewish literature other than rabbinic. This did not mean immediately the collapse of the single-Judaism model. Post-war scholarship retreated to the less controversial notions of intertestamental or New Testament history; the "new Schurer" revised critically the work of the past generations. The most derogatory traits having now being removed, time was ripe for a reappraisal of Second Temple Judaism as a dynamic age of Jewish diversity and creativity and the common cradle of both Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism. The Jewish monolith began showing its first cracks.

The term Frujudentum ("early Judaism") established itself in the 1970s and early 1980s as an attempt to voice this new understanding of Second Temple Judaism not as a time of stagnation or regression but as a creative and dynamic age of new beginning. James H. Charlesworth went straight to the point: "as early Christianity signifies the origins of Christianity, so early Judaism denoted the beginning of synagogal (modern) Judaism." The breakdown with the polemical concerns that originated the single Judaism model could not be expressed more effectively: what once was "late" was now labeled "early".

(f) From "Early" to "Middle" Judaism (1980-2000)

The last twenty years of the 20th century have wiped out any residual confidence about the immutability of Rabbinic Judaism and its normativeness in the Second Temple period. The unbroken normative tradition from Moses to the Mishnah has been unveiled for what it is--nothing more than an ideological construct without any historical foundation, not less artificial than the Christian historia sacra.

Far from being the trustees of the accepted tradition of Israel, the sages were the leaders of a bold reform movement that developed in the aftermath of the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple and took its shape in the first centuries of the Common Era. "Through their distinctive literature and patterns of religion [the sages] gave Judaism a new form of expression... The destruction of the Temple thus marked not only an end but also a beginning" (Shaye J.D. Cohen).

At its inception, the rabbinic movement, with its theology and halakhah, was just one of several varieties of Judaism of the time, competing with, and being influenced by, other theological and halakhic systems. With their major competitors (namely, Christians and Hellenistic Jews) the sages engaged a life-or-death fight for supremacy and survival that would shape their own identity and ultimately decide the destiny of Israel. "Many of the Judaic worlds of Second Temple Judea and the Hellenistic Diaspora persisted for quite some time into the post-70 CE period and influenced rabbinic Judaism dramatically... Rabbinic Judaism did not even begin to dominate the religious imagination and life patterns of large groups of Jews until the third century CE at the earliest. And it did not finally succeed until well after 650 CE" (Martin S. Jaffee). In fact, only during Islamic times was Rabbinic Judaism able to claim a clear victory within the entire Jewish people and become the norm, although neither totally exclusive nor unchallenged, of Jewish life.

The rise of Rabbinic Judaism as a reform movement out of the diverse world of Second Temple Judaism strikingly parallels that of its christian sibling. The centuries from the Maccabean revolt to the Jewish War were neither the end point of an already established monolithic Judaism before Jesus ("late Judaism"), nor the starting point of a linear process of evolution naturally leading to the rabbinic stage ("early Judaism"). Those centuries were the transitional and diverse age ("middle Judaism") of many competing Judaisms, in which both Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism had their "origins" in common "roots" in post-exilic Jewish thought (Gabriele Boccaccini). After the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple, their ways gradually parted; "formative" Judaism and "formative" Christianity shared a destiny of struggle and competition before "the Judaism of the rabbis and the Christianity of the church fathers... emerged as... primary Western religions" (Lawrence H. Schiffman)

(g) The Diversity of Second Temple Judaism (the 21th century)