Description
Book SynopsisHow well integrated were Jews in the Mediterranean society controlled by ancient Rome? This title explores Jewish social integration in the Roman world, one that poses challenging questions about the nature of Mediterranean culture.
Trade Review"Schwartz has a cogent voice worthy of profound attention in any dialogue concerning Jewish relations with the Hellenistic-Roman world... Schwartz offers a close, very revealing analysis of the Hellenistic Jewish author Jesus Ben Sira and a refreshingly unorthodox discussion of that literary trickster Josephus. His analysis of Talmudic texts is persuasive."--Choice "[T]here can be no doubt that Schwartz's book is essential reading for anyone working in the field. The attempt to answer two big questions at once is laudable, the analysis is carefully done, and the conclusions are complex. We need more studies operating on such a high level of abstraction."--Benedikt Eckhardt, Bryn Mawr Classical Review "[T]he late Keith Hopkins--to whose memory this book is dedicated--would have enjoyed the combination of originality, erudition, theoretical sophistication, and refusal to accept accepted wisdoms that are evident on almost every page of this book."--Gideon Bohak, Shofar "[H]owever one responds to any individual point in this book, Schwartz forces us to think and to view the familiar evidence from new perspectives. For this, his reader is in his debt."--Albert I. Baumgarten, Scripta Classica Israelica "As is characteristic of Schwartz's scholarship, this book will prompt scholarly debate. I have learned much from it at the same time that it has raised questions with which I will wrestle long after having written this review."--Benjamin G. Wright, Journal of Jewish Studies "[T]his is a book from which a reader could learn a great deal about Ben Sira, Josephus, the rabbis, and methods for approaching the study of Jews in the Roman world. Due to the technical nature of some of its arguments, it is most likely to be of use to PhD students and scholars, though its prose is readable enough that it might be used with master's-level students and perhaps even advanced undergraduates."--Eric C. Stewart, Journal of the American Academy of Religion "Schwartz has presented a masterful study on the integration of the Jews in Greek and Roman culture. Although it is aimed primarily at specialists, advanced students will also learn from his well articulated methodology and his careful reading of select texts... Schwartz has ... provided an important contribution to, and essential reading for, understanding Jewish integration in the Greco-Roman period."--Ronald A. Simkins, Biblical Theology Bulletin "Schwartz's book is essential reading for specialists in Ben Sira, Josephus and rabbinic values, and useful reading for everyone interested in social-scientific approaches to antiquity. In a country like Finland, where the studies of Judaism and of classical antiquity have been largely separated, approaches like Schwartz's are much needed."--Lotta Valve, ARCTOS
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Chapter one: Reciprocity and Solidarity 1 Chapter two: The Problem with Mediterraneanism 21 Chapter three: A God of Reciprocity: Torah and Social Relations in the Wisdom of Jesus ben Sira 45 Chapter four: Josephus: Honor, Memory, Benefaction 80 Chapter five: Roman Values and the Palestinian Rabbis 110 Chapter six: Conclusion: Were the Ancient Jews a Mediterranean Society? 166 Appendix: One Ben Sira on the Social Hierarchy 179 Appendix: Two Josephus on Memory and Benefaction 185 Abbreviations 191 Bibliography 193 Index 209
