Paradise in antiquity : Jewish and Christian views / edited by Markus Bockmuehl and Guy G. Stroumsa.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Bockmuehl, Markus N. A., editor.

Stroumsa, Guy G., editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Paradise.

Future life.

Paradise--Judaism.

Paradise--Christianity.

Future life--Judaism.

Future life--Christianity.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 260 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The social and intellectual vitality of Judaism and Christianity in antiquity was in large part a function of their ability to articulate a viably transcendent hope for the human condition. Narratives of Paradise - based on the concrete symbol of the Garden of Delights - came to play a central role for Jews, Christians, and eventually Muslims too. The essays in this volume highlight the multiple hermeneutical perspectives on biblical Paradise from Second Temple Judaism and Christian origins to the systematic expositions of Augustine and rabbinic literature. They show that while early Christian and Jewish sources draw on texts from the same Bible, their perceptions of Paradise often reflect the highly different structures of the two sister religions. Dealing with a wide variety of texts, these essays explore major themes such as the allegorical and literal interpretations of Paradise, the tension between heaven and earth, and Paradise's physical location in space and time.

Contents:

Introduction : the paradise chronotrope / Guy G. Stroumsa

Part I. Paradises of Second Temple Judaism and Christian Origins. The messiah in the garden : John 19.38-41, (royal) gardens, and messianic concepts / Joachim Schaper

Philo's scholarly inquiries into the story of paradise / Maren R. Niehoff

Paradise in the Biblical antiquities of Pseudo-Philo / Richard Bauckham

Paradise, gardens, and the afterlife in the first century CE / Martin Goodman

Paradise in the New Testament / Grant Macaskill

Quis et unde? : heavenly obstacles in Gos. Thom. 50 and related literature / Simon Gathercole

Part II. Contemporizing paradise in late antiquity. Tertullian's law of paradise (Adversus Judaeos 2) : reflections on a shared motif in Jewish and Christian literature / Sabrina Inowlocki

The language of paradise : Hebrew or Syriac? : linguistic speculations and linguistic realities in late antiquity / Yonatan Moss

The tree of life and the turning sword : Jewish biblical interpretation, symbols, and theological patterns and their Christian counterparts / Menahem Kister

Erotic Eden : a rabbinic nostalgia for paradise / Galit Hasan-Rokem

Paradise for pagans? : Augustine on Virgil, Cicero, and Plato / Gillian Clark

Heaven as a political theme in Augustine's City of God / Emile Perreau-Saussine

Locating paradise / Markus Bockmuehl

Epilogue : a heaven on Earth / Alessandro Scafi.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

ISBN:

0-511-85219-3

1-107-20333-3

0-511-92463-1

1-282-91860-5

9786612918605

0-511-93101-8

0-511-93235-9

0-511-92717-7

0-511-76064-7

0-511-92967-6

OCLC:

689997257