Rewriting Ancient Jewish History: The History of the Jews in Roman Times and the New Historical Method

Description

Half a century ago, the primary contours of the history of the Jews in Roman times were not subject to much debate. This standard account collapsed, however, when a handful of insights undermined the traditional historical method, the method long enlisted by historians for eliciting facts from sources. In response to these insights, a new historical method gradually emerged. Rewriting Ancient Jewish History critiques the traditional historical method and makes a case for the new one, illustrating how to write anew ancient Jewish history. At the heart of the traditional historical method lie three fundamental presumptions. The traditional historical method regularly presumes that multiple versions of a text or tradition are equally authentic; it presumes that many ancient Jewish sources are the products of largely immanent forces of cloistered Jewish communities; and, barring any local grounds for suspicion, it presumes that most ancient Jewish texts faithfully reflect their sources and reliably recount events. Rewriting Ancient Jewish History unfurls the failings of this approach; it promotes the new historical method which circumvents the flawed traditional presumptions while plotting anew the limits of rational argumentation in historical inquiry. This crucial reappraisal is a must-read for students of Jewish and Roman history alike, and a fascinating case-study in how historians should approach their ancient sources. Rewriting Ancient Jewish History: The History of the Jews in Roman Times and the New Historical Method- Front Cover......Page 1 Rewriting Ancient Jewish History: The History of the Jews in Roman Times and the New Historical Method......Page 2 Title Page......Page 4 Copyright Page......Page 5 Dedication......Page 6 Contents......Page 8 Introduction......Page 10 WHAT IS HISTORY?......Page 11 THE HISTORICAL METHOD AND HISTORIOGRAPHY......Page 14 THE OUTLINE OF THIS BOOK......Page 17 NOTES......Page 18 PART I: Authenticity......Page 20 Chapter 1: Can multiple versions of a text be equally authentic?......Page 22 A BRIEF SURVEY OF SOURCES FOR JEWISH HISTORY FROM ROMAN ANTIQUITY......Page 23 THE AUTHENTICITY OF ANCIENT JEWISH SOURCES......Page 24 THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE INDIVIDUAL COMPONENTS IN ANCIENT JEWISH SOURCES......Page 26 THE INDEPENDENT REDACTIONS OF BABYLONIAN TALMUD PESAHIM ACCORDING TO ELIEZER SHIMSHON ROSENTHAL......Page 29 THE FLAWS IN ROSENTHAL’S ARGUMENT......Page 31 THE EDITED PARALLELS METHOD......Page 35 NOTES......Page 37 PART II: Hermeneutics......Page 40 LANGUAGE, CONTEXT, AND SETTING......Page 42 TRADITIONAL HERMENEUTICS’ SHORTCOMINGS......Page 43 THE NEW CULTURAL DIMENSION OF HERMENEUTICS......Page 45 NOTES......Page 56 PART III: Credibility......Page 60 Chapter 3: An introduction to credibility: on sources, credibility, and corroboration......Page 62 THE PROXIMITY OF SOURCES TO THE EVENTS THEY PORTRAY......Page 63 CREDIBILITY......Page 65 CORROBORATION......Page 68 NOTES......Page 71 Chapter 4: Recovering Josephus’s sources......Page 72 THE FIRST BIBLICAL EPISODE OF HAGAR IN JOSEPHUS’S ANTIQUITIES......Page 73 JOSEPHUS AS ANTHOLOGIST OR AS AUTHOR......Page 79 GORGIAS’S SURPRISE ATTACK ACCORDING TO JOSEPHUS’S ANTIQUITIES......Page 81 REWRITING NICOLAUS OF DAMASCUS IN JOSEPHUS’S ANTIQUITIES......Page 85 NOTES......Page 90 Chapter 5: Josephus and history......Page 93 THE PUBLICATION OF THE JEWISH WAR......Page 97 THE FALL OF MASADA......Page 100 NOTES......Page 111 Chapter 6: The traditional historical method on the credibility of rabbinic literature......Page 115 THE PRESUMPTION OF GENUINENESS......Page 117 THE PRESUMPTION OF CREDIBILITY AND THE INDEPENDENT PARALLELS METHOD......Page 119 CORROBORATION AND THE INDEPENDENT PARALLELS METHOD......Page 121 NOTES......Page 125 Chapter 7: The collapse of the traditional presumptions about rabbinic literature......Page 127 UNDERMINING THE TRADITIONAL FAITH IN THE ESSENTIAL RELIABILITY OF RABBINIC LITERATURE......Page 128 TRANSMISSION AS TRANSFORMATION......Page 130 GENRE......Page 132 THE LITERARY FORMATION OF RABBINIC TRADITIONS......Page 136 RELINQUISHING EVENT-ORIENTED HISTORY FOR CONTEXTUAL STUDIES......Page 137 NOTES......Page 140 “BEHOLD I AM ABOUT SEVENTY YEARS OLD . . . ”......Page 143 RABBI HIYYA’S EDUCATIONAL MISSION ACCORDING TO THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD......Page 148 RABBAN YOHANAN BEN ZAKKAI’S ESCAPE FROM JERUSALEM......Page 154 THE FORMATION OF THE STORY OF RABBAN YOHANAN BEN ZAKKAI’S ESCAPE FROM JERUSALEM......Page 158 NOTES......Page 165 PART IV: Conclusion......Page 170 Chapter 9: On Hillel the Elder’s rise to greatness......Page 172 AUTHENTICITY......Page 173 HERMENEUTICS......Page 175 CREDIBILITY......Page 177 THE STORY’S LITERARY FORMATION......Page 179 ON THE DOORKEEPER......Page 186 NOTES......Page 188 Epilogue......Page 191 NOTES......Page 194 ANCIENT SOURCES......Page 195 MEDIEVAL AND MODERN SOURCES......Page 197 Subject Index......Page 224 Index of Sources......Page 226