Category:Second Temple Studies--1450s

Overview

At the roots of the modern study of "Second Temple Judaism" 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.

But it was the movement of the Christian Cabalists and their philosophical search for universal wisdom, that gave theological meaning and dignity to post-biblical Jewish literature. Giovanni Pico della Mirandola identified the Jewish cabalistic books as the "seventy secret books" preserved by Ezra in addition to the Torah of Moses. In Pico's view these book are a source of philosophical truth that predates the establishment of Judaism, Christianity and Islam and is also at the foundation of the philosophy of the Greeks.