Imperialism and Jewish Society: 200 B.C.E. to 640 C.E. (Jews, Christians, and Muslims from the Ancient to the Modern World) (0691117810) - Reviews and Prices
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Imperialism and Jewish Society: 200 B.C.E. to 640 C.E. (Jews, Christians, and Muslims from the Ancient to the Modern World) (0691117810) - Customer Reviews, Information, Ratings, and Prices
Imperialism and Jewish Society: 200 B.C.E. to 640 C.E. (Jews, Christians, and Muslims from the Ancient to the Modern World) (0691117810) - Reviews and Prices
This provocative new history of Palestinian Jewish society in antiquity marks the first comprehensive effort to gauge the effects of imperial domination on this people. Probing more than eight centuries of Persian, Greek, and Roman rule, Seth Schwartz reaches some startling conclusions--foremost among them that the Christianization of the Roman Empire generated the most fundamental features of medieval and modern Jewish life.
Schwartz begins by arguing that the distinctiveness of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic, and early Roman periods was the product of generally prevailing imperial tolerance. From around 70 C.E. to the mid-fourth century, with failed revolts and the alluring cultural norms of the High Roman Empire, Judaism all but disintegrated. However, late in the Roman Empire, the Christianized state played a decisive role in ''re-Judaizing'' the Jews. The state gradually excluded them from society while supporting their leaders and recognizing their local communities. It was thus in Late Antiquity that the synagogue-centered community became prevalent among the Jews, that there re-emerged a distinctively Jewish art and literature--laying the foundations for Judaism as we know it today.
Through masterful scholarship set in rich detail, this book challenges traditional views rooted in romantic notions about Jewish fortitude. Integrating material relics and literature while setting the Jews in their eastern Mediterranean context, it addresses the complex and varied consequences of imperialism on this vast period of Jewish history more ambitiously than ever before. Imperialism in Jewish Society will be widely read and much debated.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
The Argument from Silence:
Seth Schwartz's Imperialism and Jewish Society is ambitious, attempting to show that the influence of the rabbis in Palestine came far later than normally presumed, and that Jews in Palestine lapsed into a kind of semi-pagan, semi-Jewish ethos, which was only cast off rather late, and with help from the formation of Christian Churches and the Christianization of the Roman Empire. This is a thesis that is bound to upset some; to see the formation of Rabbinical Judaism as a reaction to the Christianization of... more info
A Fresh perspective on a familiar narrative:
The author's objective is to demonstrate how changes in Jewish society through some 800 years can be related to the policies of and developments within the empires to which it was subject. It is an attempt to place Israel within the context of the different ethnicities and nationalities of the eastern mediterranean, to understand how it was subject to the same empire-wide influences as these others, and to identify in what way - and why - the developments in Jewish society converged on or diverged from... more info
Schwartz redefines the field:
Dr. Schwartz's book redefines the field for the study of Ancient Judaism. Any serious student of the topic has to read this book. Clearly the Israeli scholars and other adherents to the "maximalist" school will find Schawrtz upsetting. On the other hand, many other serious scholars agree with Schwartz's direction, if not conclusions. This is state of the art scholarship at its best.
This book is not for "novices" when it comes to Jewish history. It was written for an informed academic audience. It is... more info
Seth's Q-rating:
Seth's favorite letter is Q, by the way. He especially likes words like Qedem and Qerovah where the Q doesn't have a U after it.
