From the Maccabees to the Mishnah

by Shaye J.D. Cohen

Book Overview

In this new edition of a best-selling classic, Shaye Cohen offers a thorough analysis of Judaism's development from the early years of the Roman Empire to the formative period of rabbinic Judaism. Cohen's synthesis of religion, literature, and history offers deep insight into the nature of Judaism at this key period, including the relationship between Jews and Gentiles, the function of Jewish religion in the larger community, and the development of...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 066421911X
• ISBN13: 9780664219116
• Release Date: January 1987
• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
• Length: 252 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Limited but Brilliant

If a history of the Jewish polity from about 167 BCE to 70 CE is part of what you are looking for here, you will need to look elsewhere. The text is comprised of an introduction and six stand alone essays. This material concerns the socio-religious development of the proto-Judaism of 539 BCE into the Rabbinic Judaism of 600 CE with a concentration on the period from 167 BCE to 200 CE, hence the title, "From the Maccabees to the Mishnah." In an era where government and religion were co-joined to each other, this omission of political history creates an unusual attenuation of the historical record. Of course in the period beyond 70 CE, there was no Jewish polity. However, the political developments that swirled around the diaspora and Bar Kokhba revolts are but minimally covered by the author. The presentation of the military history bearing on this period and locale is scant at best in these pages. And, war and violence were constant and significant factors in this era of Judean history. I would suggest that a prior substantial knowledge of these areas of missing history would greatly enhance any reader's appreciation of the materials presented in this work. This book is aimed at a specialist audience in my opinion. But, any literate adult with a rudimentary knowledge of the history of the period in question will be rewarded by reading this book. Almost all readers should gain an enhanced knowledge of the evolution of the Jewish religion. It is a tribute to Cohen that he could leave so much out and yet accomplish so much. The author writes with clarity and develops his arguments meticulously. In his opening chapter on "Jews and Gentiles," Cohen finds a combination of accommodation and tension among the peoples as well as between Judea and the Hellenistic and Roman Empires. The development of Jewish religion is then considered. From being a local ethnically exclusive monotheism prior to the exile, Judaism was transitioning into being a monotheistic religion with a universal God. From a closed and relatively inaccessible Temple cult, Judaism was democratizing into a religion of all the people of Judea and the Jewish diaspora and even Gentile converts. From a religion of prophecy and sacrifice, it was becoming a religion of "the book," doing Torah, and prayer. Four more essays follow on the community and its institutions, normative Judaism and Jewish sectarian groups including the Christians, the canonization of the Old Testament, and lastly one on the development of Rabbinic Judaism. Each essay is rich in information and incisive interpretation. The author is a penetrating thinker who is considered to be one of the greatest living scholars on the subjects covered. Few footnotes are provided. The author in drawing his conclusions rarely references other scholarship. Expect no alternative interpretations. However, the opinions and conclusions Cohen draws always seem mindful of all the extant evidence and current and historic s

Jewish identity from the time of the Maccabees

"But for Shaye Cohen, ..., the subject of Jewish identity from the first century B.C.E. ... is not only fascinating in itself but has many parallels with the efforts of people in our own pluralistic and secular society to preserve ethnic or religious identities." Ken Gewertz Maccabees & the Mishnah: The Mishnah (Hebrew: repetition), was redacted ca 200 CE by Yehudah Ha-Nasi (Judah the Prince), is the first written recording of the oral law of the Jewish people, as championed by the Pharisees, and as debated between 70-200 CE by the group of rabbinic sages. It is considered the first work of and a major source of Rabbinic Judaism's religious texts. The Maccabees (Hebrew: Makabim) were a Jewish national liberation movement that fought for and won independence from Antiochus IV Epiphanes of the Hellenistic Seleucid dynasty. The Maccabees founded the Hasmonean royal dynasty and established Jewish independence in the Land of Israel for about one hundred years, from 165 BC to 63 BC. (From Wikipedia) Apocrypha/Deutrocanonicals: If you read the Old Testament, to better perceive the New, you may wonder what you ought to know about the silent years of Jewish revelation, between the book of Malachi and the Gospel by Matthew, nearly four hundred years. Understanding this watershed period of history will set the stage for you to fully appreciate the events and teachings of the Apocrypha to the Mishnah, as related to core issues; - What lay behind the violent conflict over Hellenization? - How Jewish prophecies evolved into a Messianic hope? - How did Israel expect the redeeming Messiah? In my Harper Collins NRSV Study Bible, this gap is restored, as was in the Septuagint, with the Apocryphal / Deutrocanonical Books of the Old Testament. These books have been always included in all Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Bibles, and at the turn of the Twentieth century, Anglicans would have considered a Bible incomplete without them. Between the Testaments: Under this title, Russell wrote one in a rare category of book on this historical period, need to be read with or prior to 'M to M,' to conceive the reaction of the Jewish nation to the rise and spread of Hellenism, and the story of the Maccabees who rallied against that Hellenization to the point of revolt. How did the Pharisees, Sadducees, Essences, and Zealots relate differently to the Torah, influenced by the oral tradition, and the outside books, exposes the sects that grew up around the second Temple and Synagogues, in the post-exilic period. Their diverse reaction to the Apocryphal literature, its historical authority, and religious influence in the second temple era, is evident in early Christian writings. The Qumran community was linked to the Apocalyptic tradition, prophecy, and its disguised identity, culminating in the Messianic hope. Without clearly explaining the traditional Davidic and Levitic Messiah in the national Jewish concept, it is hard to capture the controversy. How the Me

Wraps Around Early Christianity

Early in his book, Shaye Cohen points out that Christianity is responsible for the use of the term "late Judaism." The term was disparaging and meant to suggest that 2nd Temple Judaism was in dire need of an infusion, i.e. Christianity. Moreover after Christianity came along, "late Judaism" suggested that Judaism could be altogether ignored despite the fact that Judaism has continued to flourish for the last couple of millenia. So Cohen's book wraps around early Christianity in terms of time and thought. There are no set time parameters. Second Temple Judaism was a religion "of the book." No longer did Israel have political independence. Why did God let this happen? Part of the answer may be found in Jeremiah 25; Babylon acts as God's agent. Cohen says that basically Second Temple Judaism accepted its civil rulers. Second Temple Judaism opened its understanding of who could be a Jew. Pre-exilic Judaism recognized only the immutable condition of birth. Second Temple Judaism belief and practice dealt with matters such as how to balance order in worship with spontaneity. The development of the synagogue shifted prayer and Torah away study from the sacrificial cult. The attempts to identify the core of Judaism are reminiscent to Christians to similar attempts found in the New Testament. The liturgical shema is as close to a credal statement as Judaism gets. Cohen writes a chapter on community life in Judaism (mentioning guilds among other things) before turning to sectarianism. Various sources are considered for the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes, before a few pages are written about the Samaritans, Zealots, Theraputae, and Christians as these existed within Judaism. The last two chapters are about the canonization of Scripture and the emergence of Rabbinic Judaism in the Second Temple and post-Second Temple periods.This book is written by an eminent Jewish scholar who writes in a very readable style and who uses no footnotes to distract his readers. The book is very informative yet it was not meant to be comprehensive. The reader should bear this in mind. The reader should also bear in mind that if one disagrees with, e.g. Cohen's appraisal of the law-abiding nature of Second Period Judaism, one might want to consider that sup-porting evidence is outside of the scope of this book. In fact it has been pointed out elsewhere that there is an unusual amount of records for Second temple Judaism and, by contrast, a dirth from elsewhere. The author has done an admirable job of introducing much to an audience which does not read this subject matter on a frequent basis.

A good overview of Jewish history from 170 BC-200AD

Shaye Cohen has written an interesting book covering a turbulent period of Jewish history. He discusses the sects of Judaism that existed during this time, beginning with the Maccabean revolt, and working through the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Essenes, the Christian movement, and Jewish people scattered throughout the Mediterranean world. He shows how Judaism was always a religion that emphasized practice and tradition over doctrine, while not denying that Judaism had a theology. Sometimes, the reader will want to argue strenuously with Cohen's conclusions, such as his contention that circumcision did not play an important role in the Torah, or that Job, Daniel, Esther, and many of the Psalms were written just a couple of hundred years before the common era. One may also question his conclusion that the dialogues betwen Jesus and the Pharisees reflected more of a post 70AD situation than something that really happened in the life of Jesus.Despite these and other contentious points, the book is well written, engaging, and refreshing in the sense that you get to look at these years of Jewish history from a Jewish perspective.

GOOD

A good read, a jewish history that is not written to justify christianity, nor, zionism. A must read for those with a penchant for Jewish history....