ENGLISH

The despoliation of Egypt in pre-rabbinic, rabbinic and patristic traditions

By Joel Stevens Allen

Book information

Publisher
BRILL
Year
2008
ISBN
9004167455, 9789004167452
LCC
BS1180 .A44 2008
Google Books ID
wbO7bralsRQC
Open Library ID
OL16636623M
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
2 MB (1761604 bytes)
Pages
313\313
Topic
History
Orientation
yes
Scanned
no
Time added
2012-03-09 12:00:00
Исторические дисциплины;История стран Азии и Африк

Description

This work examines the role played by the biblical motif of the despoliation of Egypt in the understanding Gentiles had of Jews, and how Jews defended themselves, their heroes and their God in the face of anti-Jewish slander. It also examines the manner in which Christians learned from their rabbinic counterparts how to defend Moses and his God against the gnostic challenge. Beginning with Philo and based on haggadic additions, the embarrassment of the episode was 'healed' through allegory and became a critically important biblical justification for the Christian appropriation of the 'Egyptian treasures' of their Greco-Roman cultural heritage. This work describes how Christians borrowed exegetical traditions from rabbis not only to defend their sacred texts against gnostic attacks but to justify their interest in and appropriation of non-Christian philosophy in their theological understandings.

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