Ancient Judaism questions a broad range of basic assumptions made by students of Second Temple Judaism and calls for a radical rethinking of approaches to Jewish history studies. Michael Stone challen
Ancient Judaism questions a broad range of basic assumptions made by students of Second Temple Judaism and calls for a radical rethinking of approaches to Jewish history studies. Michael Stone challenges theologically conditioned histories of ancient Judaism devised by later orthodoxies, whether Jewish or Christian, and he stresses the importance of understanding religious experience as a major factor in the composition of ancient religious documents. Addressing the Dead Sea Scrolls and apocalyptic literature as well as recent theories, Stone emphasizes the stunning complexity of both the raw data and the resulting picture of Judaism in antiquity.
?Drawing on his vast knowledge of the Judaisms of the late Second Temple period, Michael Stone analyzes the scholarship of the past sixty years, indicating areas of significant progress and promise as well as some dead ends. Students of early Judaism and Christian origins should read, mark, and inwardly digest this book and keep it on their shelves, both for what it discusses and for the light its methodological clarity sheds on topics yet to be explored.?
? George W. E. Nickelsburg
University of Iowa
?Michael Stone?s work is unique in contemporary biblical and pseudepigrapha studies. In this book he covers a wide range of subjects and illuminates the way in which scholarly debate has been conducted. Stone?s wide knowledge and the originality of his approach converge here to produce studies of insight and perceptiveness that push the boundaries of our understanding of the world of the pseudepigrapha, their history, and their reception. Scholars and students alike continue to be in his debt.?
? Christopher Rowland
Queen?s College, Oxford
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