Was the Judaism of the Dead Sea Scrolls a Mystery Religion?

Updated by: 
Oren Ableman
Research notes: 
Reader Checked OA 18/12/2013
Reference type: 
Book section
Author(s): 
Haas, Peter J.
year: 
2012
Full title: 

Was the Judaism of the Dead Sea Scrolls a Mystery Religion?

Journal / Book Title || Series Title: 
Focusing Biblical Studies: The Crucial Nature of the Persian and Hellenistic Periods - Essays in Honor of Douglas A. Knight
Issue / Series Volume: 
544
Series Title: 
The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies
Editor(s): 
Berquist, Jon L.
Hunt, Alice
Place of Publication: 
London
Publisher: 
T&T Clark International
Pages: 
229-239
Abstract: 

This volume makes a positive intervention into maximalist/minimalist debates about Israelite historiography by pointing to the events that happened during the Persian and Hellenistic periods. During this historical epoch, traditions about Israel and Judah’s founding became fixed as markers of ethnic identity, and much of the canonical Hebrew Bible came into its present form. Concentrating on these events, a clearer historical picture emerges.

The entire volume is set within the context of Doug Knight’s contributions, which have encouraged a rigorous social-scientific and tradition-historical approach to the Hebrew Bible and ancient Israel in general. Many scholars have pursued how the social scientific method, first used to analyze early monarchic Israel, can shape the understanding of these later historical periods. Knight’s methods, teachings, writings, and scholarly interventions have pointed the contributors of this volume to fresh considerations of the Persian and Hellenistic periods. The concluding essay will examine the future directions in which such sociological and historical investigation can go forward.

URL: 
http://www.continuumbooks.com/books/detail.aspx?BookId=133076&SearchType=Basic
Label: 
12/11/2012
Record number: 
15 606