From the Maccabees to the Mishnah
Digital Verbum Edition
Overview
This is the third edition of Shaye J. D. Cohen’s important and seminal work on the history and development of Judaism between 164 BCE to 300 CE. Cohen’s synthesis of religion, literature, and history offers deep insight into the nature of Judaism at this key period, including the relationship between Jews and Gentiles, the function of Jewish religion in the larger community, and the development of normative Judaism and other Jewish sects. Cohen offers students more than just history, but an understanding of the social and cultural context of Judaism as it developed into the formative period of rabbinic Judaism. This new edition includes a brand-new chapter on the parting of ways between Jews and Christians in the second century CE. From the Maccabees to the Mishnah remains the clearest introduction to the era that shaped Judaism and provided the context for early Christianity.
Top Highlights
“The fall of Jerusalem and the triumph of Babylonia are the consequence not of sin and punishment but of immutable fate” (Page 20)
“so the Maccabees were pushed aside and a new dynasty was created” (Page 4)
“As a result, throughout the Second Temple and rabbinic periods, the Jews of the country were citizens of two parallel political systems. The first was the ‘civil’ administration of the state, which was implemented on the local level by cities and villages and on the provincial level first by vassal kings (e.g., Herod the Great and Herod Antipas) and then by governors (e.g., the procurators/prefects of the first century CE). The second was the ‘national’ or ‘religious’ administration of the Jewish polity, which, for most of the Second Temple period, was led by the high priest. In some matters the two systems overlapped, creating a degree of confusion and uncertainty (see, e.g., the Gospel accounts of the trial and execution of Jesus).” (Pages 103–104)
“It is a mistake to imagine that the land of Judea preserved a ‘pure’ form of Judaism and that the Diaspora was the home of adulterated or diluted forms of Judaism. The term ‘Hellenistic Judaism’ makes sense, then, only as a chronological indicator for the period from Alexander the Great to the Maccabees or perhaps to the Roman conquests of the first century BCE.” (Page 29)
“They pursued an aggressive foreign policy, seeking alliance with Rome against the Seleucids and carving out for themselves a kingdom larger than that of David and Solomon.” (Page 3)