Imperialism and Jewish society, 200 B.C.E. to 640 C.E / Seth Schwartz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Schwartz, Seth.

Series:

Jews, Christians, and Muslims from the ancient to the modern world.

Jews, Christians, and Muslims from the ancient to the modern world

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jews--History--168 B.C.-135 A.D.

Jews.

Jews--History--70-638.

Judaism--History--Post-exilic period, 586 B.C.-210 A.D.

Judaism.

Jews--Civilization--Greek influences.

Palestine--History--To 70 A.D.

Palestine.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (334 p.)

Edition:

Core Textbook

Place of Publication:

Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, c2001.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This provocative new history of Palestinian Jewish society in antiquity marks the first comprehensive effort to gauge the effects of imperial domination on this people. Probing more than eight centuries of Persian, Greek, and Roman rule, Seth Schwartz reaches some startling conclusions--foremost among them that the Christianization of the Roman Empire generated the most fundamental features of medieval and modern Jewish life. Schwartz begins by arguing that the distinctiveness of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic, and early Roman periods was the product of generally prevailing imperial tolerance. From around 70 C.E. to the mid-fourth century, with failed revolts and the alluring cultural norms of the High Roman Empire, Judaism all but disintegrated. However, late in the Roman Empire, the Christianized state played a decisive role in ''re-Judaizing'' the Jews. The state gradually excluded them from society while supporting their leaders and recognizing their local communities. It was thus in Late Antiquity that the synagogue-centered community became prevalent among the Jews, that there re-emerged a distinctively Jewish art and literature--laying the foundations for Judaism as we know it today. Through masterful scholarship set in rich detail, this book challenges traditional views rooted in romantic notions about Jewish fortitude. Integrating material relics and literature while setting the Jews in their eastern Mediterranean context, it addresses the complex and varied consequences of imperialism on this vast period of Jewish history more ambitiously than ever before. Imperialism in Jewish Society will be widely read and much debated.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Introduction

Part I. The Jews of the Palestine to 70 C.E.

Part II. Jews in Palestine From 135 to 350

Part III. Synagogue and Community from 350 to 640

Conclusion

Selected Biography

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [293]-315) and index.

ISBN:

9786612087103

9781282087101

128208710X

9781400824854

1400824850

OCLC:

437140503