Description
Book SynopsisIn April, 2008, an international colloquium was held at the University of Heidelberg—the fourth convocation of a group of scholars (with some rotating members) who gathered to discuss the status of Judah and the Judeans in the exilic and postexilic periods. The goal of this gathering was specifically to address the question of national identity in the period when many now believe this very issue was in significant foment and development, the era of the Persian/Achaemenid domination of the ancient Near East.
This volume contains most of the papers delivered at the Heidelberg conference, considering the matter under two rubrics: (1) the biblical evidence (and the diversity of data from the Bible); and (2) the cultural, historical, social, and environmental factors affecting the formation of national identity.
Contributors: K. Schmid, J. Schaper, A. C. Hagedorn, C. Nihan, J. Middlemas, D. Rom-Shiloni, J. Wöhrle, Y. Dor, K. Southwood, D. N. Fulton, P.-A. Beaulieu, L. E. Pearce, D. Redford, A. Lemaire, J. F. Quack, B. Becking, R. G. Kratz, O. Tal, J. Blenkinsopp, R. Albertz, J. L. Wright, D. S. Vanderhooft, M. Oeming, and A. Kloner.
Earlier volumes in the series of conferences are: Judah and the Judeans in the Neo-Babylonian Period, Judah and the Judeans in the Persian Period, and Judah and the Judeans in the in the Fourth Century B.C.E.
Table of ContentsPart 1 Negotiating Identity: Diversity within the Biblical Evidence
Judean Identity and Ecumenicity: The Political Theology of the Priestly Document Konrad Schmid
Torah and Identity in the Persian Period Joachim Schaper
The Absent Presence: Cultural Responses to Persian Presence in the Eastern Mediterranean Anselm C. Hagedorn
Ethnicity and Identity in Isaiah 56–66 Christophe Nihan
Trito-Isaiah’s Intra- and Internationalization: Identity Markers in the Second Temple Period Jill Middlemas
From Ezekiel to Ezra–Nehemiah: Shifts of Group Identities within Babylonian Exilic Ideology Dalit Rom-Shiloni
Israel’s Identity and the Threat of the Nations in the Persian Period Jakob Wöhrle
The Rite of Separation of the Foreign Wives in Ezra–Nehemiah Yonina Dor
The Holy Seed: The Significance of Endogamous Boundaries and Their Transgression in Ezra 9–10 Katherine Southwood
What Do Priests and Kings Have in Common? Priestly and Royal Succession Narratives in the Achaemenid Era Deirdre N. Fulton
Part 2: Negotiating Identity: Cultural, Historical, Social, and Environmental Factors
Yahwistic Names in Light of Late Babylonian Onomastics Paul-Alain Beaulieu
“Judean”: A Special Status in Neo-Babylonian and Achemenid Babylonia? Laurie E. Pearce
Some Observations on the Traditions Surrounding “Israel in Egypt” Donald Redford
Judean Identity in Elephantine: Everyday Life according to the Ostraca André Lemaire
The Interaction of Egyptian and Aramaic Literature Joachim Friedrich Quack
Yehudite Identity in Elephantine Bob Becking
Judean Ambassadors and the Making of Jewish Identity: The Case of Hananiah, Ezra, and Nehemiah Reinhard G. Kratz
Negotiating Identity in an International Context under Achaemenid Rule: The Indigenous Coinages of Persian-Period Palestine as an Allegory Oren Tal
Judaeans, Jews, Children of Abraham Joseph Blenkinsopp
The Controversy about Judean versus Israelite Identity and the Persian Government: A New Interpretation of the Bagoses Story (Jewish Antiquities XI.297–301) Rainer Albertz
Surviving in an Imperial Context: Foreign Military Service and Judean Identity Jacob L. Wright
’el-medînâ ûmedînâ kiktabah: Scribes and Scripts in Yehud and in Achaemenid Transeuphratene David S. Vanderhooft
Jewish Identity in the Eastern Diaspora in Light of the Book of Tobit Manfred Oeming
The Identity of the Idumeans Based on the Archaeological Evidence from Maresha Amos Kloner
Indexes
Index of Authors
Index of Scripture
