Geoffrey Herman - Böcker

‘‘‘Who am I?’ and ‘Who are we?’ are the existential, foundational questions in our lives. In our modern world, there is no construct more influential than ‘identity’ – whether as individuals or as groups. The concept of group identity is the focal point of a research group named “A Question of Identity” at the Mandel Scholion Interdisciplinary Research Center in the Humanities at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The papers collected in this volume represent the proceedings of a January 2017 conference organized by the research group which dealt with identity formation in six contextual settings: Ethno-religious identities in light of the archaeological record; Second Temple period textual records on Diaspora Judaism; Jews and Christians in Sasanian Persia; minorities in the Persian achaemenid period; Inter-ethnic dialogue in pre-1948 Palestine; and redefinitions of Christian Identity in the Early Modern period.

Scepticism has been the driving force in the development of Greco-Roman culture in the past, and the impetus for far-reaching scientific achievements and philosophical investigation. Early Jewish culture, in contrast, avoided creating consistent representations of its philosophical doctrines. Sceptical notions can nevertheless be found in some early Jewish literature such as the Book of Ecclesiastes. One encounters there expressions of doubt with respect to Divine justice or even Divine involvement in earthly affairs. During the first centuries of the common era, however, Jewish thought, as reflected in rabbinic works, was engaged in persistent intellectual activity devoted to the laws, norms, regulations, exegesis and other traditional areas of Jewish religious knowledge. An effort to detect sceptical ideas in ancient Judaism, therefore, requires a closer analysis of this literary heritage and its cultural context.This volume of collected essays seeks to tackle the question of scepticism in an Early Jewish context, including Ecclesiastes and other Jewish Second Temple works, rabbinic midrashic and talmudic literature, and reflections of Jewish thought in early Christian and patristic writings. Contributors are: Tali Artman, Geoffrey Herman, Reuven Kiperwasser, Serge Ruzer, Cana Werman, and Carsten Wilke.

Die Exilarchen, die versprochenen Nachkommen der biblischen Linie des Königs David, waren in der Antike Herrscher über die babylonischen Juden. Ihnen wurde nachgesagt, mächtig und angepasst zu sein sowie einem dekadenten Lebensstil nachzugehen. Ihr fürstlicher Schmuck und ihre selbstherrliche Art waren Legende. Geoffrey Herman untersucht Zeugnisse über die Exilarchen, die hauptsächlich aus der talmudischen und geonischen Literatur stammen und unterzieht diese einer literarhistorischen und quellenkritischen Analyse. Er fragt, was wir angesichts der umstrittenen Interpretation durch die tendenziösen Primärquellen wirklich über die historischen Exilarchen wissen können. Herman bezieht in seine Studie auch vergleichbare Quellen aus dem Gebiet der Iranistik und des persischen Christentums ein.