Heerak Christian Kim – författare

The Late Second Temple Period (c. 200 BC to 70 AD) was a period of intense social changes for the Jewish people. During this period, the Jewish people experienced a Syrian king defiling the Jerusalem Temple, the Maccabean Revolt, the celebration of Hanukkah, the establishment of a competing Jewish temple in Egypt, and the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple. During this time, Jews spread out all over the Diaspora. The turmoil and the lack of visible cohesion have led many scholars to argue that there was no Jewish unity and no distinguishable Jewish identity in this time period. This book argues against this trend in academia, and posits that a strong Jerusalem tradition unified the Jewish people.

Intricately Connected contains academic papers presented by Kim at various international conferences in the fields of biblical studies, literary criticism, and intertexuality. The articles examine the question of how various literatures connect to consciousness and culture at personal and collective levels. The focus is on the functionality of literature across time and space and addresses such questions as: How do later books of the Bible, such as Jeremiah, utilize consciousness and ideas from earlier times, such as those found in the book Deuteronomy? How does Toni Morrison link African-American experience of today with experience of slavery hundreds of years ago? How does the film Da Vinci Code (2006) assess and manipulate the received tradition of the Lord's Supper?

Zadokite Propaganda in the Late Second Temple Period is a monumental epoch-breaking work of scholarship in ancient history and Jewish studies. This book examines centuries of scholarship on ancient Jewish group identity and official Jewish religion in the most tumultuous period of Jewish history, namely the beginnings of the Maccabean era. Popularly known as the time period that gave the Jewish world the most famous Jewish celebration period, Hanukkah, the Maccabean Revolt was far more than a rebellion against Syrian domination. The period represented an important turning point in Jewish history, as village priests without any significant heritage or repute successfully overthrew and expelled Zadokite priests from the Jerusalem Temple and the city of Jerusalem itself. The Zadokites had been the legitimate and dominant priests of the Jerusalem Temple since the days of King Solomon, who built the First Jerusalem Temple. The physical and political displacement of Zadokite priests from their places of power, authority, and wealth produced historically significant literate communities, such as the Qumran community, and an abundance of literature, such as commentaries, creative poetry, and apocalyptic works. These writings all lamented the Zadokite displacement and prophesied a New Age, when all would be restored to the way it should be. Thus, Zadokites engaged in propaganda warfare of epic proportions with all their erudition and political savvy, creating a model for effective propaganda warfare. The Zadokite propaganda was so effective that it set the tone for the language and theme of the New Testament.

Zadokite Propaganda in the Late Second Temple Period is a monumental epoch-breaking work of scholarship in ancient history and Jewish studies. This book examines centuries of scholarship on ancient Jewish group identity and official Jewish religion in the most tumultuous period of Jewish history, namely the beginnings of the Maccabean era. Popularly known as the time period that gave the Jewish world the most famous Jewish celebration period, Hanukkah, the Maccabean Revolt was far more than a rebellion against Syrian domination. The period represented an important turning point in Jewish history, as village priests without any significant heritage or repute successfully overthrew and expelled Zadokite priests from the Jerusalem Temple and the city of Jerusalem itself. The Zadokites had been the legitimate and dominant priests of the Jerusalem Temple since the days of King Solomon, who built the First Jerusalem Temple. The physical and political displacement of Zadokite priests from their places of power, authority, and wealth produced historically significant literate communities, such as the Qumran community, and an abundance of literature, such as commentaries, creative poetry, and apocalyptic works. These writings all lamented the Zadokite displacement and prophesied a New Age, when all would be restored to the way it should be. Thus, Zadokites engaged in propaganda warfare of epic proportions with all their erudition and political savvy, creating a model for effective propaganda warfare. The Zadokite propaganda was so effective that it set the tone for the language and theme of the New Testament.

JEWISH LAW AND IDENTITY is the second book in the Hermit Kingdom Studies in Christianity and Judaism, an academic monograph series in Hebrew, Jewish, and Early Christian Studies. This book contains 9 academic essays relating to the theme of Jewish law and identity. Chapter one compares English contract law (Law of Privity of Contracts) with Jewish contract law as found in the book of Genesis (the Abrahamic covenant). Chapters two and three discuss Jewish Rabbinic Law and its relevance for understanding Jewish identity in the period of the composition of the documents. Chapters four, five and seven discuss Jewish individual and group identity as found in the Old Testament, particularly in relation to the religious practice (Temple worship) and political institutions (the monarchy) of ancient Israel. Chapter six is a theoretical discussion for understanding identity in relation to rituals. The author proposes "the atomic theory", utilizing the scientific concept of the atom with nucleus and electrons, applied in a social-scientific and humanistic way to texts and social realities. Chapter eight discusses the book of Acts and its interaction with Jewish identity and the impact of the movement founded by Jesus of Nazareth. Chapter nine discusses Jewish identity as seen through the pseudepigraphic text of the Psalms of Solomon and its relevant for the late Second Temple period. All the academic essays in the book discuss Jewish law and identity in a creative, and ground-breaking way in light of the most recent research trends. The essays represented here include important academic papers delivered at international conferences, like the Society of Biblical Literature International Meeting and the Australia and New Zealand Theological Society continental conference. This book is useful for using in college/university teaching and for advanced research in Jewish studies.