Catherine Hezser - Böcker

Written by an international and interdisciplinary team of distinguished scholars, The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Daily Life in Roman Palestine is an indispensable reference compendium on the day-to-day lives of Jews in the land of Israel in Roman times. Ranging from subjects such as clothing and domestic architecture to food and meals, labour and trade, and leisure time activities, the volume covers all the major themes in an encompassing yet easily accessible way. Individual chapters introduce the reader to the current state of research on particular aspects of ancient Jewish everyday life--research which has been greatly enriched by critical methodological approaches to rabbinic texts, and by the growing interest of archaeologists in investigating the lives of ordinary people. Detailed bibliographies inspire further engagement by enabling readers to pursue their own lines of enquiry. The Handbook will prove to be an invaluable reference work and tool for all students and scholars of ancient Judaism, rabbinic literature, Roman provincial history and culture, and of ancient Christianity.

Written by an international and interdisciplinary team of distinguished scholars, The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Daily Life in Roman Palestine is an indispensable reference compendium on the day-to-day lives of Jews in the land of Israel in Roman times. Ranging from subjects such as clothing and domestic architecture to food and meals, labour and trade, and leisure time activities, the volume covers all the major themes in an encompassing yet easily accessible way. Individual chapters introduce the reader to the current state of research on particular aspects of ancient Jewish everyday life - research which has been greatly enriched by critical methodological approaches to rabbinic texts, and by the growing interest of archaeologists in investigating the lives of ordinary people. Detailed bibliographies inspire further engagement by enabling readers to pursue their own lines of enquiry.The Handbook will prove to be an invaluable reference work and tool for all students and scholars of ancient Judaism, rabbinic literature, Roman provincial history and culture, and of ancient Christianity.

This book is the first comprehensive analysis of Jewish attitudes towards slavery in Hellenistic and Roman times. Against the traditional opinion that after the Babylonian Exile Jews refrained from employing slaves, Catherine Hezser shows that slavery remained a significant phenomenon of ancient Jewish everyday life and generated a discourse which resembled Graeco-Roman and early Christian views while at the same time preserving specifically Jewish nuances. Hezser examines the impact of domestic slavery on the ancient Jewish household and on family relationships. She discusses the perceived advantages of slaves over other types of labor and evaluates their role within the ancient Jewish economy. The ancient Jewish experience of slavery seems to have been so pervasive that slave images also entered theological discourse. Like their Graeco-Roman and Christian counterparts, ancient Jewish intellectuals did not advocate the abolition of slavery, but they used the biblical tradition and their own judgements to ameliorate the status quo.

Biblical monotheism imagines God as a slave master who owns and has total control over humans as his slaves, who are expected to show obedience to him. The theological use of slavery metaphors has a limited value, however, and is deeply problematic from the perspective of real-life slave practices. Ancient authors already supplemented the metaphor of God as a slave master with other images and emphasized God's difference from human slave owners. Ancient and modern experiences of and attitudes toward slavery determined the understanding and applicability of the slavery metaphors. This Element examines the use of slavery metaphors in ancient Judaism and Christianity in the context of the social reality of slavery, modern abolitionism, and historical-critical approaches to the ancient texts.

Biblical monotheism imagines God as a slave master who owns and has total control over humans as his slaves, who are expected to show obedience to him. The theological use of slavery metaphors has a limited value, however, and is deeply problematic from the perspective of real-life slave practices. Ancient authors already supplemented the metaphor of God as a slave master with other images and emphasized God's difference from human slave owners. Ancient and modern experiences of and attitudes toward slavery determined the understanding and applicability of the slavery metaphors. This Element examines the use of slavery metaphors in ancient Judaism and Christianity in the context of the social reality of slavery, modern abolitionism, and historical-critical approaches to the ancient texts.

This volume focuses on the major issues and debates in the study of Jews and Judaism in late antiquity (third to seventh century C.E.), providing cutting-edge surveys of the state of scholarship, main topics and research questions, methodological approaches, and avenues for future research. Based on both Jewish and non-Jewish literary and material sources, this volume takes an interdisciplinary approach involving historians of ancient Judaism, scholars of rabbinic literature, archaeologists, epigraphers, art historians, and Byzantinists. Developments within Jewish society and culture are viewed within the respective regional, political, cultural, and socioeconomic contexts in which they took place. Special focus is given to the impact of the Christianization of the Roman Empire on Jews, from administrative, legal, social, and cultural points of view. The contributors examine how the confrontation with Christianity changed Jewish practices, perceptions, and organizational structures, such as, for example, the emergence of local Jewish communities around synagogues as central religious spaces. Special chapters are devoted to the eastern and western Jewish Diaspora in Late Antiquity, especially Sasanian Persia but also Roman Italy, Egypt, Syria and Arabia, North Africa, and Asia Minor, to provide a comprehensive assessment of the situation and life experiences of Jews and Judaism during this period. The Routledge Handbook of Jews and Judaism in Late Antiquity is a critical and methodologically sophisticated survey of current scholarship aimed primarily at students and scholars of Jewish Studies, Study of Religions, Patristics, Classics, Roman and Byzantine Studies, Iranology, History of Art, and Archaeology. It is a valuable resource for anyone interested in Judaism and Jewish history.

This volume focuses on the major issues and debates in the study of Jews and Judaism in late antiquity (third to seventh century C.E.), providing cutting-edge surveys of the state of scholarship, main topics and research questions, methodological approaches, and avenues for future research. Based on both Jewish and non-Jewish literary and material sources, this volume takes an interdisciplinary approach involving historians of ancient Judaism, scholars of rabbinic literature, archaeologists, epigraphers, art historians, and Byzantinists. Developments within Jewish society and culture are viewed within the respective regional, political, cultural, and socioeconomic contexts in which they took place. Special focus is given to the impact of the Christianization of the Roman Empire on Jews, from administrative, legal, social, and cultural points of view. The contributors examine how the confrontation with Christianity changed Jewish practices, perceptions, and organizational structures, such as, for example, the emergence of local Jewish communities around synagogues as central religious spaces. Special chapters are devoted to the eastern and western Jewish Diaspora in Late Antiquity, especially Sasanian Persia but also Roman Italy, Egypt, Syria and Arabia, North Africa, and Asia Minor, to provide a comprehensive assessment of the situation and life experiences of Jews and Judaism during this period. The Routledge Handbook of Jews and Judaism in Late Antiquity is a critical and methodologically sophisticated survey of current scholarship aimed primarily at students and scholars of Jewish Studies, Study of Religions, Patristics, Classics, Roman and Byzantine Studies, Iranology, History of Art, and Archaeology. It is a valuable resource for anyone interested in Judaism and Jewish history.

This book examines popular and scholarly representations of ancient Assyria through both ancient and modern sources. The ancient sources include Babylonian, Biblical and Egyptian, while the modern sources include the well-publicized excavations of Nineveh in the 19th century, which captured the popular imagination of Christian Europe.In order to interrogate these representations, the reader is taken back to examine the scholarly and cultural allegiances of the ancient Greek and native Egyptian sources, then to Assyrian self-representation and finally to an interrogation of the cultural and scholarly allegiances of contemporary historians. Straddling Biblical studies, religious studies, classics and ancient Near Eastern studies, this book examines how popular opinion can be informed by scholarly orthodoxy, and simultaneously, how scholarly consensus often rests on cultural orthodoxy.

Based on an understanding of scholasticism as a cross-cultural phenomenon, undertaken by rabbinic, Graeco-Roman, and Christian scholars in late antiquity, this book examines the development of Palestinian rabbinic compilations from social-historical and literary-historical perspectives. The book focuses on the compilation of the Talmud Yerushalmi in the context of late antique scholarly practice aimed at preserving past knowledge for future generations.This book provides insight into how rabbinic scholarship in the Land of Israel participated in the wider intellectual practices of Roman-Byzantine times. Beginning with the social, educational, and legal contexts that generated rabbinic knowledge. Catherine Hezser goes on to investigate the oral and written transmission of rabbinic traditions to eventually examine the compilation of the Talmud Yerushalmi with a comparative and redaction-historical approach.Integrating Palestinian rabbinic education and scholarship into the context of late antique Graeco-Roman and Byzantine Christian scholarly practices, Catherine Hezser demonstrates how rabbinic compilatory techniques resembled but also differed from.those of Hellenistic, Roman, and Christian scholars. The book highlights how rabbinic compilations are idiosyncratic and create a distinct rabbinic identity. Overall, Hezser argues that rabbinic scholarship was an integral part of late antique intellectual life in the Near Middle East and should be recognized as an Eastern equivalent to Western, paideia-based forms of scholarship in the Roman-Byzantine period and beyond.

Based on an understanding of scholasticism as a cross-cultural phenomenon, undertaken by rabbinic, Graeco-Roman, and Christian scholars in late antiquity, this book examines the development of Palestinian rabbinic compilations from social-historical and literary-historical perspectives. The book focuses on the compilation of the Talmud Yerushalmi in the context of late antique scholarly practice aimed at preserving past knowledge for future generations.This book provides insight into how rabbinic scholarship in the Land of Israel participated in the wider intellectual practices of Roman-Byzantine times. Beginning with the social, educational, and legal contexts that generated rabbinic knowledge. Catherine Hezser goes on to investigate the oral and written transmission of rabbinic traditions to eventually examine the compilation of the Talmud Yerushalmi with a comparative and redaction-historical approach.Integrating Palestinian rabbinic education and scholarship into the context of late antique Graeco-Roman and Byzantine Christian scholarly practices, Catherine Hezser demonstrates how rabbinic compilatory techniques resembled but also differed from.those of Hellenistic, Roman, and Christian scholars. The book highlights how rabbinic compilations are idiosyncratic and create a distinct rabbinic identity. Overall, Hezser argues that rabbinic scholarship was an integral part of late antique intellectual life in the Near Middle East and should be recognized as an Eastern equivalent to Western, paideia-based forms of scholarship in the Roman-Byzantine period and beyond.

Ancient Mesopotamian, biblical, rabbinic, and Christian literature was created and transmitted by the intellectual elite and therefore presents their world views and perspectives. This volume investigates for the first time whether and to what extent religious knowledge – e.g., “sacred” narratives, customary practices, legal rules, family traditions, festival observances — was accessible to and known by ordinary people beyond religious functionaries.Which contexts (e.g., family, synagogue and church, private and public study, communal rituals) enabled the dissemination and acquisition of religious knowledge beyond scholarly circles? In which forms other than written texts was such knowledge available and who (e.g., parents, teachers, scribes, rabbis, priests, monks) mediated it to a public that was largely illiterate? Can we assume that the majority of those who identified themselves as Jewish or Christian would have possessed a “working knowledge” of the respective religious traditions and customary practices? Would that knowledge have differed from one person to another, depending on gender, socio-economic status, religious commitment, and the general circumstances in which one lived?This book is the first collaborative interdisciplinary study of this important subject area with chapters written by international experts on ancient Mesopotamia, the Hebrew Bible, Qumran literature, rabbinic literature, and early Christianity including apocrypha and monastic traditions.

In diesem zweiten Aufsatzband werden die Untersuchungen zum Talmud Yerushalmi hinsichtlich seines historischen Kontexts fortgesetzt. Dabei wird das rabbinische Judentum nicht als isolierte Gruppe gesehen, sondern in die kulturellen Strömungen der römischen Kaiserzeit eingeordnet. Die Beiträge namhafter Forscher wie auch jüngerer Wissenschaftler geben einen aktuellen Einblick in die internationale Diskussion über das rabbinische Judentum im kulturellen Raum der Spätantike.

Catherine Hezser untersucht die Art und Weise, wie die Schrift in unterschiedlichen sozialen Kontexten verwendet wurde, wie diese mit mündlichen Kommunikationsformen konkurrierte, und welche Funktion die Tätigkeit des Schreibens in den jeweiligen Zusammehängen hatte. Ausgehend von einer Untersuchung der Bedingungen, die für die Verbreitung der Schreibfähigkeit eine wichtige Rolle spielten (Erziehung und Schule, Schreibmaterialien, Bibliotheken und Archive), stellt Catherine Hezser die verschiedenen Arten von Texten (Briefe, Dokumente, Inschriften, literarische und magische Texte) vor und zieht daraus Rückschlüsse auf die vielfältigen Formen der jüdischen Teilnahme an der 'des Lesens und Schreibens kundigen Gesellschaft'.

Die in diesem Band veröffentlichten Beiträge vermitteln einen interdisziplinären Zugang zum griechisch-römischen und sasanidischen Kontext der rabbinischen Halakhah. Die Autoren untersuchen die Kontextverbundenheit antiken rabbinischen Rechtsdenkens und tragen somit zum Verständnis interkultureller Beziehungen und Zusammenhänge in der Antike bei.

Catherine Hezser untersucht erstmals umfassend die Bedeutung von Reise und Mobilität im antiken Judentum der hellenistischen und römischen Zeit. Aus sozialgeschichtlicher Perspektive analysiert sie literarische, epigrafische und archäologische Quellen und geht den realen Möglichkeiten der Mobilität im Land Israel nach. Es zeigt sich, dass die Mobilität besonders für die sich nach dem Jahr 70 entwickelnde rabbinische Bewegung von Bedeutung war: Mobilität wird hier zur Basis für Kontakte, Kommunikation, Traditionsüberlieferungen und somit für die Ausbreitung der rabbinischen Netzwerke in Palästina und Babylonien. Die Mobilität bestimmte den Grad an Einfluss und Macht, die Rabbinen ausüben konnten. Die Autorin untersucht auch die palästinisch-babylonischen Kontakte im Rahmen der wirtschaftlichen und kulturellen Beziehungen zwischen Rom und Persien.

Die Beiträge dieses Bandes bieten erstmals einen interdisziplinären Ansatz zum besseren Verständnis der Entstehung und Entwicklung jüdischer Kunst in der spätantiken und frühbyzantinischen Zeit. Indem jüdische Kunst im Kontext der spätantiken paganen und christlichen Kunst, Kultur, und Gesellschaft verstanden wird, können Analogien und Wechselwirkungen aufgezeigt werden, die sowohl auf Gemeinsamkeiten als auch auf unterschiedliche Bedeutungszusammenhänge hinweisen. Warum gibt es figürliche Darstellungen erst im Judentum der Spätantike? Wie verhält sich diese Kunst zum Anikonismus der Bibel und des rabbinischen Judentums? Muss man Erwin Goodenough recht geben, der behauptete, es gäbe einen krassen Gegensatz zwischen der Synagogenkunst und den Rabbinen? Durch die gemeinsame Betrachtung literarischer und archäologischer Quellen sowie jüdischer, christlicher, und paganer Kunst, erscheint die Kunst der Spätantike in neuem Licht.