Suchergebnisse

Relations between Jews and non-Jews in the Hellenistic-Roman period were marked by suspicion and hate, maintain most studies of that topic. But if such conjectures are true, asks Louis Feldman, how did Jews succeed in winning so many adherents, whether full-fledged proselytes or "sympathizers" who adopted one or more Jewish practices? Systematically evaluating attitudes toward Jews from the time of Alexander the Great to the fifth century A.D., Feldman finds that Judaism elicited strongly positive and not merely unfavorable responses from the non-Jewish population. Jews were a vigorous presen

Preliminary Material -- INTRODUCTION -- ASINIUS POLLIO AND HIS JEWISH INTERESTS -- THE IDENTITY OF POLLIO, THE PHARISEE, IN JOSEPHUS -- ASINIUS POLLIO AND HEROD'S SONS -- JOSEPHUS' JEWISH ANTIQUITIES AND PSEUDO-PHILO'S BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES -- JOSEPHUS' VOCABULARY FOR SLAVERY -- THE TERM \'GALILEANS\' IN JOSEPHUS -- JOSEPHUS' ATTITUDE TOWARD THE SAMARITANS: A STUDY IN AMBIVALENCE -- JOSEPHUS' PORTRAYAL OF THE HASMONEANS COMPARED WITH 1 MACCABEES -- THE SOURCES OF JOSEPHUS' ANTIQUITIES, BOOK 19 -- PRO-JEWISH INTIMATIONS IN ANTI-JEWISH REMARKS CITED IN JOSEPHUS' AGAINST APION -- THE INFLUENCE OF JOSEPHUS ON COTTON MATHER'S BIBLIA AMERICANA: A STUDY IN AMBIGUITY -- IS THE NEW TESTAMENT ANTI-SEMITIC? -- THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PAGAN AND EARLY CHRISTIAN ANTI-SEMITISM -- THE JEWISH SOURCES OF PETER COMESTOR'S COMMENTARY ON GENESIS IN HIS HISTORIA SCHOLASTICA -- THE ENIGMA OF HORACE'S THIRTIETH SABBATH -- PRO-JEWISH INTIMATIONS IN TACITUS' ACCOUNT OF JEWISH ORIGINS -- ABBA KOLON AND THE FOUNDING OF ROME -- SOME OBSERVATIONS ON RABBINIC REACTION TO ROMAN RULE IN THIRD CENTURY PALESTINE -- TORAH AND SECULAR CULTURE: CHALLENGE AND RESPONSE IN THE HELLENISTIC PERIOD -- PHILO'S VIEWS ON MUSIC -- THE JEWS AS VIEWED BY PLUTARCH -- SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE NAME OF PALESTINE -- DIASPORA SYNAGOGUES: NEW LIGHT FROM INSCRIPTIONS AND PAPYRI -- BIBLIOGRAPHY: JOSEPHUS' PORTRAYAL OF THE HASMONEANS AS COMPARED WITH 1 MACCABEES -- ABBREVIATIONS -- INDEX OF PASSAGES FROM ANCIENT WRITERS -- INDEX OF NAMES AND SUBJECTS -- INDEX OF GREEK, LATIN, AND HEBREW WORDS -- INDEX OF MODERN SCHOLARS -- ARBEITEN ZUR GESCHICHTE DES ANTIKEN JUDENTUMS UND DES URCHRISTENTUMS.

In his De Vita Mosis Philo, by building up the personality of
Moses, seeks to answer antisemitic charges, notably that the Jews had
produced no great men. He defends Moses against the charge that he had
not sufficiently helped the Israelites during their oppression in Egypt
and justifies his slaying of an Egyptian overseer. While emphasizing
the value of his career as a shepherd in preparing him for the role of
leadership of the Israelites, he adds that he also devoted himself in
Midian to the study of philosophy. In his aid to Jethro's daughters in
drawing water for their sheep Philo's Moses, prophetically inspired, shows
his tremendous concern for justice. To make the account of the burning
bush more credible Philo presents it as a vision and the bush itself
as symbolizing the oppressed Israelites. He is careful to omit Moses'
self-doubt. When Moses draws his hand from his bosom it is whiter than
snow, according to Philo, but not leprous, as in the Bible. He presents
a more scientific interpretation of the miracle of turning water into
blood. He explains Moses' speech impediment as due to his view that he
considered human eloquence to be dumbness as compared with G-d's. For
apologetic reasons Philo omits Moses' failure to circumcise his son.