A collection of articles published previously.

Publisher Description

This comprehensive survey of Jewish-Greek society's development examines the exchange of language and ideas in biblical translations, literature and archaeology.

This volume revisits issues of empire from the perspective of Jews, Christians, and other Romans in the third to sixth centuries. Through case studies, the contributors bring Jewish perspectives to bear on longstanding debates concerning Romanization, Christianization, and late antiquity.

The history of the Jews in Italy is the longest continuous one of European Jewry and lasted for more than two millennia. It started in the days of the Roman Republic and continued through the Middle Ages to Modern Times. Jewish Italy served as melting pot throughout its history, first for migrants from East to West and eventually from all over the Mediterranean littoral and beyond. Some of them moved on from Italy to other countries, while the majority stayed on in the country for generations. This volume of their history covers the first seven centuries of Jewish presence on the peninsula from the days of the Maccabees to Pope Gregory the Great. It is based on archaeological finds in Rome and elsewhere in Italy, on relevant literary and legal sources and on other records.

This study argues that the Gospel of John's anti-Judaism can be well understood from the perspective of trends apparent within the context of broader Greco-Roman culture. It uses the paradigm of collective memory and aspects of social identity theory and self-categorization theory to explore the theological and narrative functions of the Johannine Jews. Relying upon a diverse range of historical testimony drawn from Greco-Roman literature, inscriptions, and papyri, this work attempts to understand the social identities and social locations of Diaspora Jews as a first step in reading John's Gospel in the context of the political and social instability of the first century CE. It then attempts to understand John's theology, its portrayal of Jewish social identity, and the narrative and theological functions of "the Jews" as a group character in light of this historical context. This work attempts to demonstrate that while John's treatment of Jews and Judaism is multivalent at both social and theological levels, it is primarily focused upon strengthening a Christologically centered Christian identity while attempting to mitigate the attractiveness of Judaism as a religious competitor.

This Festschrift honours Günter Stemberger on the occasion of his 75th birthday on 7 December 2015 and contains 41 articles from colleagues and students. The studies focus on a variety of subjects pertaining to the history, religion and culture of Judaism – and, to a lesser extent, of Christianity – from late antiquity and the Middle Ages to the modern era.