The Beginnings of Jewishness: Boundaries, Varieties, UncertaintiesIn modern times, various Jewish groups have argued whether Jewishness is a function of ethnicity, of nationality, of religion, or of all three. These fundamental conceptions were already in place in antiquity. The peculiar combination of ethnicity, nationality, and religion that would characterize Jewishness through the centuries first took shape in the second century B.C.E. This brilliantly argued, accessible book unravels one of the most complex issues of late antiquity by showing how these elements were understood and applied in the construction of Jewish identity—by Jews, by gentiles, and by the state. Beginning with the intriguing case of Herod the Great's Jewishness, Cohen moves on to discuss what made or did not make Jewish identity during the period, the question of conversion, the prohibition of intermarriage, matrilineal descent, and the place of the convert in the Jewish and non-Jewish worlds. His superb study is unique in that it draws on a wide range of sources: Jewish literature written in Greek, classical sources, and rabbinic texts, both ancient and medieval. It also features a detailed discussion of many of the central rabbinic texts dealing with conversion to Judaism. |
Contents
| 1 | |
WHO WAS A JEW? | 11 |
Was Herod Jewish? | 13 |
Those Who Say They Are Jews and Are Not How Do You Know a Jew in Antiquity When You See One? | 25 |
Ioudaios Iudaeus Judaean Jew | 69 |
THE BOUNDARY CROSSED BECOMING A JEW | 105 |
From Ethnos to Ethnoreligion | 107 |
Crossing the Boundary and Becoming a Jew | 138 |
Israelite Mothers Israelite Fathers Matrilineal Deseent and the Inequality of the Convert | 306 |
JEWS JUDAISM AND JEWISHNESS US AND THEM | 339 |
WAS MARTIALS SLAVE SLAVE JEWISH? | 349 |
WAS MENOPHILUS JEWISH? | 356 |
WAS TROPHIMUS JEWISH? | 358 |
WAS TIMOTHY JEWISH? | 361 |
GLOSSARY OF SOME HEBREW TERMS | 377 |
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND ABBREVIATIONS | 379 |
Ioudaizein to Judaize | 173 |
The Rabbinic Conversion Ceremony | 196 |
THE BOUNDARY VIOLATED THE UNION OF DIVERSE KINDS | 237 |
The Prohibition of Intermarriage | 239 |
The Matrilineal Principle | 261 |
Other editions - View all
The Beginnings of Jewishness: Boundaries, Varieties, Uncertainties Shaye J. D. Cohen Limited preview - 1999 |
The Beginnings of Jewishness: Boundaries, Varieties, Uncertainties Shaye J. D. Cohen No preview available - 1999 |
Common terms and phrases
Ambrosiaster ancient antiquity argues Ashtor Authors Bavli become a Jew beraita biblical Canaanites chapter Christian circumcision cited commandments commentary conversion ceremony convert to Judaism CSEL cumcision daeans Deut Deuteronomy diaspora discussion Egypt Egyptian ethnic ethnic-geographic ethnos exegesis explain Ezra follows gentile gentile father Gerim Greek Hasmonean Hebrew Hellenism Hellenistic Herod Idumaeans Idumaeans and Ituraeans immersion inscription intermarriage interpretation Ioudaios ioudaïzein Israel Israelite Israelite mother Jerusalem Jewish community Jewish mother Jews Josephus Judaeans Judah Judaism judaizing Macc Maccabees Maimonides mamzer marriage married Martial matrilineal principle meaning Mishnah Moses native observe offspring origin parallels passage Paul perhaps Philo phrase political priests prohibition proselyte Ptolemy Qiddushin rabbinic law refers ritual Roman says scholars Scripture second century C.E. Shabbat Sifra Sifrei Simeon slave status Stern story Strabo Syrians Talmud temple term Timothy tion Torah Tosafot Tosefta translation tzitzit University Press verb verse woman women word Yerushalmi Yevamot
Popular passages
Page 1 - Some one has said that there are two kinds of people in the world : those who divide the world into two kinds of people and those who do not.
Page 7 - Two men are of the same nation if and only if they share the same culture, where culture in turn means a system of ideas and signs and associations and ways of behaving and communicating.
Page 5 - The cultural features that signal the boundary may change, and the cultural characteristics of the members may likewise be transformed, indeed, even the organizational form of the group may change - yet the fact of continuing dichotomization between members and outsiders allows us to specify the nature of continuity, and investigate the changing cultural form and content. 2 Socially relevant factors alone become diagnostic for membership, not the overt, 'objective' differences which are generated...