C. D. Elledge
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- August 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780199640416
- eISBN:
- 9780191822872
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780199640416.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism, Religious Studies
Some scholars have traditionally battled over distinctions between resurrection and immortality. This chapter examines the problem as reflected in early Jewish writings. Josephus and ...
More
Some scholars have traditionally battled over distinctions between resurrection and immortality. This chapter examines the problem as reflected in early Jewish writings. Josephus and Pseudo-Phocylides reveal how the two concepts might stand in some complementary relation to each other. In these cases, resurrection demonstrates its adaptability to differing philosophical contexts within Judaism and its clear compatibilities with conceptions of immortalization. Wisdom of Solomon, Philo, and 4 Maccabees, however, may be viewed as more intentionally avoiding overt reference to resurrection in an exclusive preference for immortality. These writings indicate that within some approaches to theodicy in early Judaism, the immortality of the soul was a sufficient expression of divine justice on its own, apart from resurrection. Such tensions between resurrection and immortality comprise yet another facet of diversity within ancient Jewish reflection on the future life.Less
Some scholars have traditionally battled over distinctions between resurrection and immortality. This chapter examines the problem as reflected in early Jewish writings. Josephus and Pseudo-Phocylides reveal how the two concepts might stand in some complementary relation to each other. In these cases, resurrection demonstrates its adaptability to differing philosophical contexts within Judaism and its clear compatibilities with conceptions of immortalization. Wisdom of Solomon, Philo, and 4 Maccabees, however, may be viewed as more intentionally avoiding overt reference to resurrection in an exclusive preference for immortality. These writings indicate that within some approaches to theodicy in early Judaism, the immortality of the soul was a sufficient expression of divine justice on its own, apart from resurrection. Such tensions between resurrection and immortality comprise yet another facet of diversity within ancient Jewish reflection on the future life.
Alexander Samely
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199684328
- eISBN:
- 9780191764981
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199684328.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism, Religion in the Ancient World
This chapter explains the varieties of features one encounters in texts of thematic discourse or description, a key branch of ancient Jewish literature. In particular, both texts of proverbial ...
More
This chapter explains the varieties of features one encounters in texts of thematic discourse or description, a key branch of ancient Jewish literature. In particular, both texts of proverbial wisdom, such as Wisdom and Sirach, and texts of law, such as 4QMMT and Mishnah, have conspicuously ‘loose’ thematic coherence. The contribution to this of stereotypical small forms and their ‘mere juxtaposition’ is explained. The chapter addresses the problematic role which modern coherence expectations, which often go unexamined in scholarship, play in diachronic criticism of apparently ‘incoherent’ ancient Jewish texts. The chapter also takes into view thematic discourse which is set in a narrative frame, such as 4 Ezra, 1 Baruch and some ‘Testaments’.Less
This chapter explains the varieties of features one encounters in texts of thematic discourse or description, a key branch of ancient Jewish literature. In particular, both texts of proverbial wisdom, such as Wisdom and Sirach, and texts of law, such as 4QMMT and Mishnah, have conspicuously ‘loose’ thematic coherence. The contribution to this of stereotypical small forms and their ‘mere juxtaposition’ is explained. The chapter addresses the problematic role which modern coherence expectations, which often go unexamined in scholarship, play in diachronic criticism of apparently ‘incoherent’ ancient Jewish texts. The chapter also takes into view thematic discourse which is set in a narrative frame, such as 4 Ezra, 1 Baruch and some ‘Testaments’.
