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

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Newsom, Carol A., author.

Series:

Anchor Yale Bible reference library.

Yale scholarship online.

The Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Agent (Philosophy).

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

Judaism.

Self (Philosophy)--History.

Self (Philosophy).

Self--Religious aspects--Judaism.

Self.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (292 pages)

Distribution:

London : Bloomsbury Publishing (UK), 2025.

Place of Publication:

London : Yale University Press, 2021.

System Details:

text file rdaft

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 catalysed 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.

Contents:

Cover

Half Title

Title

Copyright

Dedication

Contents

Preface

1. The Self in Israelite Culture: A Preliminary Overview

2. Agency in Biblical Narrative

3. Moral Agency in Israelite Perspective: Three Case Studies

4. Sin-Consciousness, Self-Alienation, and the Construction of Interiority

5. Rational Agency and the Birth of the Human: Genesis 2-3 and Its Early Interpretation

6. The Hodayot of the Maskil and the Subjectivity of the Masochistic Sublime

Conclusion

List of Abbreviations

Notes

Bibliography

Subject Index

Ancient Source Index

Hebrew Bible

New Testament

Deuterocanonical Literature

Pseudepigrapha

Dead Sea Scrolls

Rabbinic Literature

Ancient Near Eastern Literature

Hebrew Key Word Index.

Notes:

Also issued in print: 2021.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0-300-28818-2

0-300-26296-5

OCLC:

1267763518