The spirit within me : self and agency in ancient Israel and Second Temple Judaism / Carol A. Newsom.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Newsom, Carol A. (Carol Ann), 1950- author.

Series:

Anchor Yale Bible reference library

The Anchor Yale Bible reference library

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

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

Judaism.

History.

Judaism--Post-exilic period (Judaism).

Self--Israel--History--To 1500.

Self.

Self--Religious aspects--Judaism--History--To 1500.

Agent (Philosophy)--History--To 1500.

Agent (Philosophy).

Self--Religious aspects--Judaism.

Israel.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xii, 277 pages ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

New Haven, Connecticut ; London : Yale University Press, [2021]

Summary:

Conceptions of "the self" have received significant recent attention in philosophy, anthropology, and cultural history. Scholars argue that the introspective self of the modern West is a distinctive phenomenon that cannot be projected back onto the cultures of antiquity. While acknowledging such difference is vital, it can lead to an inaccurate flattening of the ancient self. In this study, Carol A. Newsom explores the assumptions that govern ancient Israelite views of the self and its moral agency before the fall of Judah, as well as striking developments during the Second Temple period. She demonstrates how the collective trauma of the destruction of the Temple catalyzed changes in the experience of the self in Israelite literature, including first-person-singular prayers, notions of self-alienation, and emerging understandings of a defective heart and will. Examining novel forms of spirituality as well as sectarian texts, Newsom chronicles the evolving inward gaze in ancient Israelite literature, unveiling how introspection in Second Temple Judaism both parallels and differs from forms of introspective selfhood in Greco-Roman cultures. --Dust Jacket Front Inside Flap.

Contents:

The self in Israelite culture: a preliminary overview

Agency in Biblical narrative

Moral agency in Israelite perspective: three case studies

Sin-consciousness, self-alienation, and the construction of interiority

Rational agency and the birth of the human: Genesis 2-3 and its early interpretation

The Hodayot of the Maskil and the subjectivity of the masochistic sublime

Conclusion.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 231-249) and indexes.

ISBN:

0300208685

9780300208689

OCLC:

1245472359