Imperialism and Jewish Society, 200 B.C.E. to 640 C.E. - Seth Schwartz

86 CHAPTER TWO ing” was often formulaic, copied from magical recipe books (though the Ara- maic amulets themselves provide surpr ...

RELIGION AND SOCIETY BEFORE 70C.E 87 ideological system to include noncovenantal elements, some of them, like belief in the powe ...

88 CHAPTER TWO Nevertheless, it is overwhelmingly likely that the period before the revolt wasone of growing economic and social ...

RELIGION AND SOCIETY BEFORE 70C.E 89 Holy Men More common among the troublemakers were the holy men. Josephus’s hos- tility to t ...

90 CHAPTER TWO These cases (except perhaps the brigands) were marginal, even in the rela- tively turbulent first century. In the ...

RELIGION AND SOCIETY BEFORE 70C.E 91 nowned for their ability to manipulate demons and free people from their influence. It was ...

92 CHAPTER TWO nevertheless, some of the patristic information may be reliable.^108 At the very least, we know of an additional ...

RELIGION AND SOCIETY BEFORE 70C.E 93 vation(Ant18.6–9).^113 Wearethusconfrontedwithapeculiarphenomenon— a set of organizations t ...

94 CHAPTER TWO Jewish districtsofPalestine.^116 Thisimpliesanadultmale population of30,000– 60,000. The sectarians (who were pre ...

RELIGION AND SOCIETY BEFORE 70C.E 95 believed they numbered 1,500 (AgAp1.88). Josephus claimed that in his day, presumably befor ...

96 CHAPTER TWO Mainstream or Marginal? As scholars have long recognized and Baumgarten has recently confirmed, the three main se ...

RELIGION AND SOCIETY BEFORE 70C.E 97 compelled to follo wPharisaic rules in the Temple, rules they themselves se- cretly kne wto ...

98 CHAPTER TWO the sectarians even as disagreement over details of interpretation divided them; the weakness of central control ...

RELIGION AND SOCIETY BEFORE 70C.E 99 less, there is ample evidence for Judaism’s success in creating a Jewish society, loosely c ...

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PART II JEWSINPALESTINEFROM135TO350 ...

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THREE RABBIS AND PATRIARCHS ON THE MARGINS I N PART 2 I aim to provide a description of a society that disintegrated under the i ...

104 CHAPTER THREE limited to rabbis. As for the patriarchs, they acquired much of their influence precisely by relaxing their ti ...

RABBIS AND PATRIARCHS ON THE MARGINS 105 non-Jewish. And yet the evidence, including, surprisingly, that from rabbinic literatur ...