Download Judaism - Soren Kerk

JUDAISM
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
MAJOR TEXTS
• Judaism doesn’t
AT
A
TIME
OF
UPHEAVAL
happen over night. It grows.
• A tiny band of nomads milling around upper Arabian desert.
Ancient Israelite Religion
• 1600 BCE – 530s BCE: evolved
• Some stable texts
3 PHASES
• Priesthood & temples
• Popular Practice – homes,
altars, “high places”
Second Temple Judaism
• 530s BCE – 70 CE
• Most texts compiled
• Factions – Political,
Religious, Philosophical
• Beginning of Diaspora
Judaism Now
• C. 100 CE – now
• Diasporic
• Stable Text
• Talmud as key to life
• Home & Synagogue
Household/
Tribal Religion
c. 16001200
BCE
distinctive
group of
Canaanites
named
“Israelites”
HISTORICAL TIMELINE: ISRAELITE RELIGION
12001000
BCE
•“Israel”
becomes a
regional
power in
Canaan
•Temple built
Kingdom
Kingdom
Religion
Religion
1000500s
BCE
Kingdom
Religion
Persian
Period
538-400
BCE
•Rebuilt the Temple
•“Reformed
practice
•Synagogues
appear
• Israel
conflict w
Egyptians,
Assyrians,
Babylonians
• Israel/
Judah
Diasporic
Religion
•Prophetic
Literature
•Diaspora
begins
Diasporic
Religion
•Conflict with
Greeks
• Hasmonean
Dynasty
(Independent)
Roman
Period
63 BCE –
135 CE
• Romans control
Palestine
• Factions emerge
• Temple destroyed
in 70 CE
JUDAISM
Begins
• Household Religion
• Henotheist (select one God from many)
STAGES
• Authority figure: Patriarch
• Space: Household with altars
• Tribal Religion
• Henotheist
• Patriarchs (Ancestors), sacred stories,
periodic “response to crisis” leaders;
Space: Altars, household, “Tabernacle”
• Religion of a Kingdom
• Theology: Strict Henotheism
• Authority: Law, Sacred stories, King, Prophets, priests
• “Ethnically” Israelites: religious identity = ethnic &
civil identity
• Space: The Temple, households
• Religion in Diaspora
• Theology: Strict Monotheism (sociological “need”)
• Authority: Law/Sacred Text; Teachers (Rabbis)
• Any ethnically Jewish family, regardless of location
• Space: Synagogues
Exile: 586-538 BCE
Post-Exilic/2nd Temple Period:
6th c. BCE – 100 CE
THE TEMPLES
• 1st Temple
• Built by King Solomon c. 800s BCE;
• Destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar II 587 BCE
• 2nd Temple
• Built after return from exile in Babylon
• Completed 500s CE
• Rebuilt by Herod the Great in 1st c. BCE
• Destroyed by Romans in 70 CE
JEWISH DIASPORA
• Before fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE, Jews spread out of Israel
A community in
Babylon and strong
communities in
Alexandria, Egypt,
and Syria
• By late Roman
period, Jews lived
in many parts
of the Empire
Frontline, From Jesus to Christ. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/maps/jewish.html
THE TANAKH
An authoritative set of scriptures decided upon by a community.
The Jewish Canon set by Rabbis after destruction of Temple 70 CE. sections date
back to the Babylonian Exile (580s BCE)
• Torah – the Law:
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy
• Nevi’im – The Prophets:
major and minor; e.g. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel)
• Ketuvim – Wisdom literature
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Job; poetry like Song of Songs and the Psalms
ROUGH DATES:
CANONIZATION PROCESS
• 400 BCE – The Torah (Genesis – Deuteronomy) achieved sacred status
• 200 BCE – the Nevi’im , (Prophets), were canonical
• Former Prophets – Joshua, Judges, 1&2 Samuel, 1&2 Kings
• Latter Prophets – Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, & the 12 minor prophets
• 100 CE – Ketuvim achieved canonical status
• Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, lamentations, 1&2 Chronicles,
Ezra, Nehemiah, Ruth, Esther, Daniel
ISRAEL’S SACRED NARRATIVE
• God calls
people into
covenant
Covenant
• God restores
God’s
people in
relationship
Forgiveness
/Renewal
Disobedience
Punishment
• Humans
break the
terms of
covenant
• God allows
punishment
(consequences)
PATTERN REVEALED IN STORY
• God creates
the world and
gives Humans
“The Garden”
• Humans break laws
God gave them “Eat
of the fruit of the tree”
Covenant
• God guides
& protects
humans
Forgiveness
/Renewal
Disobedience
Punishment
• Humans
are cast
out of the
Garden
HISTORY REVEALED IN PATTERN
•
Covenant with
Moses &
Covenant with
the Kings
Covenant
Forgiveness
• God sends a
savior (Cyrus)
to rescue
God’s people
/Renewal
Disobedience
Punishment
• Kings marry
foreign wives,
allow idols in the
temple
• Forget the
widows and
orphans
• Assyrian and
Babylonian
Conquests/
Exile
• After creating humans, man rebels and history requires God to intervene
again and again with a new “covenant”
• covenants (and signs) divide history into stages.
• 1st covenant between God & all living creatures: sign of the rainbow
• 2nd covenant is s with the descendants of Abraham: its sign
is circumcision
• Last is Exodus, and this covenant is with Israel alone: its sign is Sabbath.
• Each covenant is mediated by a great leader (Noah, Abraham, Moses)
• At each stage God progressively reveals himself
ISRAEL’S SACRED NARRATIVE
Patriarchs
Sojourn in
Egypt &
Exodus
Creation
Disobedience
(Abraham called
to Covenant;
stories of his sons)
Wandering in
the Desert
Conquest of
Canaan
(Judges)
Formation of
the Monarchy
Corruption of
the Monarchy
•Rise of the Prophets
•Building of the Temple
•Foreign wives &
practices
•Desecration of Temple
Return from
Exile
2nd Temple
•Restoration of the Law
Greek Tyranny
Diaspora (Exile
again?)
Roman
Tyranny
The giving of
the LAW
EXILE
• Prophets – “God is
the God of the
Universe”
Destruction of
the Temple
IN RESPONSE TO TRAGEDY AND INSTABILITY, THE
COMMUNITY COLLECTS, CODIFIES, ARRANGES STORIES
OF THE PAST TO PRESERVE A CULTURAL HERITAGE
1. Important events in the history of a community
2. Stories fables, folk tales, songs, imagination
3. Older stories reinterpreted to fit needs & beliefs
4. Stories merge into traditions: shared