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World Religions, Sixth EditionWarren Matthews
Chapter Eight:
JudaismThis multimedia product and its contents are protected under copyright law. The following are prohibited by law:
• any public performance or display, including transmission of any image over a network;• preparation of any derivative work, including the extraction, in whole or in part, of any images;• any rental, lease, or lending of the program.
Abraham
Father of Jewish people
Known for his faith
Accepting promise of Canaan as a future gift
Trusting God for his promised son
The Hebrew Book of Abraham
Jewish Scripture
The Tanakh
Torah – five books of Moses
Prophets (Nevi´im) – kings, early and later prophets
Writings (Kethuvi´im) – poetry, exile prophets
The Jewish Bible (Tanakh)
Also known to Christians as the Old Testament
Foundation of the Jewish self-understanding as a chosen and
covenanted people
Modern scholarship is divided on its interpretation into traditional and
liberal camps
The Tanakh
Traditional scholars’ view:
The Tanakh is unerring Word of God
All its theological teachings are direct truth
Contains no lies or mistakes
Historical details are accurate
The Tanakh
Liberal scholars’ view:
The Tanakh is a book written by people at God's direction
Intended religious teachings are accurate
Was put together by human beings
Must have human errors
Must be interpreted by secular history
Formation of the Tanakh
Traditional view:
Moses wrote the five initial books
Jeremiah collected and edited the Nevi´im and initial part of the
Kethuvi´im
Ezra also edited and added rest of Kethuvi´im
Transcribed the Tanakh from Hebrew to Aramaic
Established the canon ~ 400 BCE
Formation of the Tanakh
Liberal view:
Oral history and some psalms until about 200 BCE
200 BCE Series of rewrites combines various editions to form
present text
Three sources for Genesis, labeled:
J = Jehovah
E = Elohim
P = Priestly
Canon first established ~ 90 CE
Locations of Biblical and First-Century CE Judaism
Important Dates in Judaism
Traditional Scholarship 4000 BCE Creation of the world
~2350 BCE Worldwide Flood~1900 BCE Abraham leaves Ur~1700 BCE Alternate Abraham leaves Ur~1450 BCE Exodus from Egypt~1000 BCE Israelite Monarchy established 722 BCE Northern Kingdom destroyed 586 BCE Southern Kingdom in exile 538 BCE Return to Palestine~ 420 BCE Ezra (last books of Tanakh) written 175 BCE Hellenization program~ 165 BCE Maccabee independence~ 60 BCE Romans take over~ 90 CE Tanakh formalized
Important Dates in Judaism
Liberal Scholarship ~6 billion BCE Creation of the world
~2350 BCE Local Mesopotamian flood
~1400 BCE Abraham leaves Ur
~1200 BCE Exodus from Egypt
~1000 BCE Israelite monarchy established
722 BCE Northern Kingdom destroyed
586 BCE Southern Kingdom in exile
538 BCE Return to Palestine
~ 200 BCE Tanakh written
175 BCE Hellenization program
~ 165 BCE Maccabee independence
~ 60 BCE Romans take over
~ 90 CE Tanakh formalized
Early History of the Jews
Abraham
Child of Ur, in Mesopotamia
Left Mesopotamia as directed by God
Traveled to Canaan (Palestine)
Had two sons
Isaac by wife Sarah
Son of promise
Abraham age 100, Sarah age 90
Ishmael by concubine Hagar
Early History of the Jews
Abraham's grandson Jacob
Had twelve sons
Became source of twelve tribes of Israel
Acquired name Israel from God
Moved family to Egypt during a famine
Son Joseph Prime Minister of Egypt
Early History of the Jews
Israelites in Egypt
New royal family enslaved
Moses leads rescue
Adopted by Egyptian princess
Exiled for saving a fellow Israelite from murder
Called by God in a burning bush
Ten plagues cause eviction of Israelites
Passover is the remembrance of that departure
Early History of the Jews
Israelite covenant with God
At Mount Sinai
Suzerainty covenant (chosen by God)
Israelites to be subject to God
Obey God’s rules (Ten Commandments)
God to provide/protect them
Particular sign
Circumcision
Observance of Sabbath
Jewish Life in Palestine
Conquered ~1400 BCE traditional / ~1200 BCE Liberal
Established as kingdom ~ 1000 BCD
David – poet, warrior, ideal follower of God
Solomon – wise, largest kingdom
Jerusalem as center of worship, split into two sister kingdoms:
Northern destroyed by Assyrians ~722 BCE
Southern destroyed / exiled by Babylonians 586 BCE
Jewish Life in Palestine
Reestablished in Palestine ~ 538 BCE
Under Persian rule
Extended Jewish presence in neighboring countries
Tanakh completed
Traditional ~400 BCE / liberal ~200 BCE:
Synagogue worship begins
Rabbinical leadership begins
Ruin of Fourth-Century Synagogue in Capernaum, Israel
Jewish Life in Palestine
Persecution by the Greeks
Attempted to eradicate Hebrew culture
Religion is resistance
Desire for savior (messiah) becomes strong
Successful resistance results in independence
Roman conquest
Destruction of temple 67-70 CE
Exile from Palestine 140 CE
Historical Development
Destroyed kingdoms, exiled leaders
Editing the scriptures
Creating congregations
Postexilic Judaism
The Greeks
Wisdom literature
The Maccabean Revolt
The Romans
Rabbinic Judaism
Historical Development
Medieval Judaism
Maimonides
The Kabbalah
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in Spain
Judaism in the Modern Age
Rabbinic Judaism
Without a central temple for covenantal sacrifice and without
permanent homes, religious life re-centered on something portable –
Jewish law
Religious specialists struggled to formulate orthodox versions of law
and its interpretation
Source of this law derives from the stipulations of the covenant
between God and the Jewish nation
Occurred in stages over many centuries of living in diaspora
Rabbinic Judaism
The Mishnah – the earliest collection of attempts to record and
formulate Jewish law
The Gemarah – further commentaries and elaborations built on the
Mishnah
Mishnah + Gemarah = Talmud
Talmud was legal and narrative material
Does not directly address questions of legal decision making, but
supports such jurisprudence
Medieval Jewish Life
In the diaspora that continued after the fall of the Roman Empire,
Jews lived in Christian or Muslim territory
Jews who relocated in Christian central Europe became known as
Ashkenazim
Jews living in Christian and Muslim southern Spain became known
as Sephardim
Major Centers of Judaism in Europe
Medieval Judaism
Maimonides (1135-1204 CE)
Known as medical doctor
Served Muslim leaders as physician
Wrote extensively on medicine
Practiced faith in both Hebrew and Arabic
Kabbalah
Esoteric, occult tradition within Judaism
Mystical interpretations of Jewish ideas
Moses de Leon (1250-1305 CE) author of the Zohar
Divine reality is in need of rescue by Jews from within the
corrupting influence of the material world
Isaac Luria (1534-1572 CE)
Jews need to redeem divine reality by extracting it from the
material world, reforming it into an original lost integrity
Relations with Christians and Muslims
Jews, living in diaspora without a state of their own, relegated to a
second-class status in Christian and Muslim lands and subjected to
ongoing harassment
Jews forced out of some countries
France in 1394
Spain in 1492
Modern Jewish Thought
Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677)
Was excommunicated from his Dutch Jewish community for