historia

CHAPMAN, H. H. ; RODGERS, Z. (eds.) A Companion to Josephus. Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Wiley Blackwell, 2016, XVI + 466 p. – ISBN 9781444335330

 A Companion to Josephus presents a collection of readings from international scholars that explore the works of the first century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus.

• Represents the first single-volume collection of readings to focus on Josephus
• Covers a wide range of disciplinary approaches to the subject, including reception history
• Features contributions from 29 eminent scholars in the field from four continents
• Reveals important insights into the Jewish and Roman worlds at the moment when Christianity was gaining ground as a movement

Contracapa

Considered the most important historian of Jewish antiquity, the works of Flavius Josephus offer unparalleled insights into the world of Late Second Temple Judaism, the dawn of Christianity, and the early years of the Roman Empire. “A Companion to Josephus” presents a collection of readings that probe deeply into aspects relating to the four extant works of the first century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus. Featuring contributions from more than two dozen renowned international scholars specializing in Josephus and related studies, readings introduce the writings of Josephus, put them into historical contexts, explore their transmission and reception, and highlight contemporary scholarly approaches to two millennia of Josephan studies. Following an examination of the four individual texts and their manuscript tradition and situating the writings of Josephus among contemporaneous Greek, Roman, Jewish, and Christian works, a wide variety of themes are explored–the archaeology of Galilee, military history, the Jerusalem Temple, women, Jewish rulers, and more. Further readings follow the transmission and reception of the Josephan corpus along its remarkable journey from Late Antiquity through to the Medieval, early Modern, and Modern periods. In the first single-volume scholarly guide to Josephus, “A Companion to Josephus” sheds important new light into the writings of an eyewitness to a pivotal point in world history.

Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World

This series provides sophisticated and authoritative overviews of periods of ancient history, genres of classical literature, and the most important themes in ancient culture. Each volume comprises approximately twenty‐five and forty concise essays written by individual scholars within their area of specialization. The essays are written in a clear, provocative, and lively manner, designed for an international audience of scholars, students, and general readers.

As organizadoras

Honora Howell Chapman is Professor of Classics and Humanities at California State University, Fresno. She is a former co-chair of the Josephus Seminar/Group of the Society of Biblical Literature and has published articles and book chapters on literary aspects of Josephus’s writings.

Zuleika Rodgers is Lecturer in Jewish Studies and Director of the Herzog Centre at Trinity College, University of Dublin. She was President of the British Association for Jewish Studies (2013–2014).

Leia Mais: 
Flávio Josefo, homem singular em uma sociedade plural

King David and the Illusory Judah

By Mahri Leonard-Fleckman – Assistant Professor of Theology – University of Scranton, PA, USA

Publicado em The Bible and Interpretation – Maio de 2016

Judá aparece notavelmente poucas vezes como elemento central em 1–2 Samuel. Se o material de Judá fosse realmente fundamental para a história de Davi, a história entraria em colapso devido à falta de tradição autônoma e independente. Em contraste, a maior parte da história de Davi como rei concentra-se apenas no governo de Davi em Israel. A evidência bíblica nos convida a reconsiderar a paisagem política e social da monarquia primitiva, definida não pela chamada “monarquia unida”, nem por Judá apenas, mas por uma entidade importante nestes séculos: Israel.

Judah appears remarkably few times as central player in 1–2 Samuel. If the Judah material were indeed primary to the David story, the story would collapse from lack of self-standing, independent lore. In contrast, the majority of the story of David as king is focused on David’s rule of Israel alone. The biblical evidence invites us to reconsider the political and social landscape of the early monarchy, defined not by the so-called “united monarchy,” nor by Judah alone, by the one important entity in these centuries: Israel.

Recomendo uma visita ao Portal de Anais da Faculdades EST. E lá, à página dos Anais do Congresso Internacional da Faculdades EST, onde há muitos textos interessantes em pdf para download.

E, na minha área, o texto de Josué Berlesi: O Israel Antigo nos currículos acadêmicos de História: considerações preliminares.

Se a Bíblia não é história, o que é então?

Este volume analisa as consequências desta pergunta…

HJELM, I. ; THOMPSON, T. L. (eds.) Biblical Interpretation Beyond Historicity: Changing Perspectives 7. Abingdon: Routledge, 2016, 208 p. – ISBN 9781138889521.

 

Biblical Interpretation beyond Historicity evaluates the new perspectives that have emerged since the crisis over historicity in the 1970s and 80s in the field of biblical scholarship. Several new studies in the field, as well as the ‘deconstructive’ side of literary criticism that emerged from writers such as Derrida and Wittgenstein, among others, lead biblical scholars today to view the texts of the Bible more as literary narratives than as sources for a history of Israel. Increased interest in archaeological and anthropological studies in writing the history of Palestine and the ancient Near East leads to the need for an evidence-based history of Palestine.

This volume analyses the consequences of the question: “If the Bible is not history, what is it then?” The editors, Hjelm and Thompson are members of the Copenhagen School, which was formed in the light of this question and the commitment to a new approach to both the history of Palestine and the Bible’s place in ancient history. This volume features essays from a range of highly regarded scholars, and is divided into three sections: “Beyond Historicity”, which explores alternative historical roles for the Bible, “Greek Connections”, which discusses the Bible’s context in the Hellenistic world and “Reception”, which explores extra-biblical functions of biblical studies.

Leia Mais:
Copenhagen International Seminar

Ou seja: por volta de 1550-1150 a.C.

Este estudo é baseado na tese de doutorado de Emanuel Pfoh, defendida em 2011 na Universidade de Buenos Aires.

PFOH, E. Syria-Palestine in The Late Bronze Age: An Anthropology of Politics and Power. Abingdon: Routledge, 2016, 246 p. – ISBN 9781844657841.

Syria-Palestine in the Late Bronze Age presents an explicitly anthropological perspective on politics and social relationships. An anthropological reading of the textual and epigraphic remains of the time allows us to see how power was constructed and political subordination was practised and expressed. Syria-Palestine in the Late Bronze Age identifies a particular political ontology, native to ancient Syro-Palestinian societies, which informs and constitutes their social worlds. This political ontology, based on patronage relationships, provides a way of understanding the political culture and the social dynamics of ancient Levantine peoples. It also illuminates the historical processes taking place in the region, processes based on patrimonial social structures and articulated through patron-client bonds.

Leia Mais:
Copenhagen International Seminar

Este livro foi publicado em 2009 em capa dura. Agora retorna em paperback.

PFOH, E. The Emergence of Israel in Ancient Palestine: Historical and Anthropological Perspectives. Abingdon: Routledge, 2009, 236 p. – ISBN 9781845535292.

PFOH, E. The Emergence of Israel in Ancient Palestine: Historical and Anthropological Perspectives. Abingdon: Routledge, 2016, 192 p. – ISBN 9781138661134.

Taking advantage of critical methodology for history-writing and the use of anthropological insights and ethnographic data from the modern Middle East, this study aims at providing new understandings on the emergence of Israel in ancient Palestine and the socio-political dynamics at work in the Levant during antiquity. The book begins with a discussion of matters of historiography and history-writing, both in ancient and modern times, and an evaluation on the incidence of the modern theological discourse in relation to history and history-writing. Chapter 2 evaluates the methodology used by biblical scholars for gaining knowledge on ancient Israelite society. Pfoh argues that such attempts often apply socio-scientific models on biblical narratives without external evidence of the reconstructed past, producing a virtual past reality which cannot be confirmed concretely. Chapter 3 deals with the archaeological remains usually held as clear evidence of Israelite statehood in the tenth century BCE. The main criticism is directed towards archaeological interpretations of the data which are led by the biblical narratives of the books of Judges and Samuel, resulting in a harmonic blend of ancient literature and modern anthropological models on state-formation. Chapter 4 continues with the discussion on how anthropological models should be employed for history-writing. Socio-political concepts, such as chiefdom society or state formation should not be imposed on the contents of ancient literary sources (i.e., the Bible) but used instead to analyse our primary sources (the archaeological and epigraphic records), in order to create a socio-historical account. The final chapter attempts to provide an historical explanation regarding the emergence of Israel in ancient Palestine without relying on the Bible but only on archaeology, epigraphy and anthropological insights. This Israel is not the biblical one. This is the Israel from history, the one that the modern historian aims at recovering from the study of ancient epigraphic and archaeological remains. The arguments presented challenge the idea that the biblical writers were recording historical events as we understand this practice nowadays and that we can use the biblical records for creating critical histories of Israel in ancient Palestine. It also questions the existence of undisputable traces of statehood in the archaeological record from the Iron Age, as the biblical images about a United Monarchy might lead us to believe. Thus, drawing on ethnographic insights, we may gain a better knowledge on how ancient Levantine societies functioned, providing us with a context for understanding the emergence of historical Israel as a major highland patronate, with a socio-political life of almost two centuries. It is during the later periods of ancient Palestines history, the Persian and the Graeco-Roman, that we find the proper context into which biblical Israel is created, beginning a literary life of more than two millennia.

Como era a apocalíptica na época dos Macabeus? Os Macabeus tinham uma visão apocalíptica de mundo? Quais grupos desta época tinham uma visão apocalíptica?

Isto é o que procura responder este livro que será lançado no final de fevereiro de 2016, resultado de um seminário realizado por um grupo de estudiosos da área, como Lester L. Grabbe (Reino Unido), Gabriele Boccaccini (USA), Kenneth Atkinson (USA), Albert I. Baumgarten (Israel), Sandra Gambetti (USA), Gerbern S. Oegema (Canadá), Lorenzo DiTommaso (Canadá), John Kampen (USA), Anathea E. Portier-Young (USA), Edward Dabrowa (Polônia), Torleif Elgvin (Noruega) e Erich Gruen (USA).

GRABBE, L. L. ; BOCCACCINI, G. ; ZURAWSKI, J. M. (eds.)  The Seleucid and Hasmonean Periods and the Apocalyptic Worldview. London: Bloomsbury T & T Clark, 2016, 272 p. – ISBN 9780567666147.

 

Diz a editora:

This tightly focused collection of essays, from an invited seminar of international specialists, centres on the question of the apocalyptic worldview around the time of the Maccabean revolt. What was the nature of apocalyptic at this time? Did the Maccabees themselves have a distinct apocalyptic worldview? These questions lead to other, more specific queries: who of the various groups held such a view? Certain of the essays analyse the characteristics of the apocalypses and related literature in this period, and whether the apocalyptic worldview itself gave rise to historical events or, at least, influenced them.The collection begins with two introductory essays. Both the main and short papers have individual responses, and two considered responses by well-known experts address the entire collection. The volume finishes with a concluding chapter by the lead editor that gives a perspective on the main themes and conclusions arising from the papers and discussion.

Sobre os editores:

Lester L. Grabbe is Professor Emeritus of Hebrew Bible and Early Judaism at the University of Hull, UK. He is founder and convenor of the European Seminar in Historical Methodology.

Gabriele Boccaccini is Professor of Second Temple Judaism and Early Rabbinic Literature at the University of Michigan, USA. He is the Founding Director of the Enoch Seminar.

Jason M. Zurawski is a Ph.D. candidate in Second Temple Judaism at the University of Michigan, USA. His research focuses on Jewish Hellenistic literature and Jewish paideia during the Second Temple period. He is also the Secretary of the Enoch Seminar.

Um artigo que pode interessar foi publicado em dezembro por The Bible and Interpretation:

The Samaritans in Recent Research

By Reinhard Pummer – Department of Classics and Religious Studies, University of Ottawa – December 2015

We now know from the Dead Sea discoveries that texts similar to the Samaritan Pentateuch were circulating together with texts that foreshadow the Masoretic text and the Septuagint. No “sectarian” differences are present in these manuscripts, which means that the so-called pre-Samaritan texts were used side by side with the other versions. Thus, in its substance, the Pentateuch was common to Yahwistic Samarians and and Yahwistic Judeans long before the Samarian Yhwh worshipers parted company with the latter.

E um livro:

PUMMER, R. The Samaritans: A Profile. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2016, 376 p. – ISBN 9780802867681.

 

Publicação prevista para 18.02.2016.

Most people associate the term “Samaritan” exclusively with the New Testament stories about the Good Samaritan and the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well. Very few are aware that a small community of about 750 Samaritans still lives today in Palestine and Israel; they view themselves as the true Israelites, having resided in their birthplace for thousands of years and preserving unchanged the revelation given to Moses in the Torah.

Reinhard Pummer, one of the world’s foremost experts on Samaritanism, offers in this book a comprehensive introduction to the people identified as Samaritans in both biblical and nonbiblical sources. Besides analyzing the literary, epigraphic, and archaeological sources, he examines the Samaritans’ history, their geographical distribution, their version of the Pentateuch, their rituals and customs, and their situation today. There is no better book available on the subject.

Herodes Magno governa o povo judeu durante 34 anos (37-4 a.C.).

Herodes  se equilibra no delicado jogo do poder porque sabe ser servil a Roma. Primeiro apoia Antônio, mas quando este é vencido por Otaviano na famosa batalha naval de Áccio, no ano 31 a.C., Herodes vai imediatamente visitar o vencedor, que está na ilha de Rodes, e, em gesto teatral, depõe a coroa a seus pés.

Resultado: volta para casa reconfirmado rei por Otaviano e ainda consegue favores: como o engrandecimento de território, a exoneração de tributo a Roma, a isenção de tropas de ocupação, a autonomia interior para as finanças, a justiça e o exército.

 

Herodes luta com decisão para consolidar o seu poder. Isto significa, antes de mais nada, que ele elimina, através de assassinatos e intrigas várias, adversários seus, inclusive alguns membros de sua família – como esposa e filhos.

Consolidado o poder, constrói obras grandiosas na Judeia. Templos, teatros, hipódromos, ginásios, termas, cidades, fortalezas, fontes. Reconstrói totalmente o Templo de Jerusalém, a partir do inverno de 20-19 a.C.

Reconstrói Samaria, dando-lhe o nome de Sebaste, feminino grego de Augusto, em homenagem ao Imperador romano; constrói um importante porto, Cesareia Marítima; Mambré, lugar sagrado ligado a Abraão, recebe uma grande construção que o valoriza; fortalezas são reedificadas ou totalmente construídas como Alexandrium, Heródion, Massada, Maqueronte, Hircania etc. Jericó é embelezada e torna-se sua residência favorita.

Observemos os nomes de suas construções, reveladores de seu espírito político:

. Sebaste (Samaria), em homenagem a Augusto
. Cesareia (Marítima), em homenagem a César Augusto
. Antipátrida, em homenagem a seu pai Antípater
. Fasélida, em homenagem a seu irmão Fasael
. Cipros, em homenagem a sua mãe
. Heródion, em homenagem a si mesmo
. fortaleza Antônia (em Jerusalém), em homenagem a Marco Antônio.

Valorizando o culto, Herodes Magno ganha para si o povo. Construindo fortalezas, controla possíveis revoltas. Matando seus inimigos, seleciona seus herdeiros. Apoiando a cultura helenística, aparece diante do mundo. Servindo fielmente a Roma, conserva-se no poder.

Entretanto, Herodes não tem legitimidade judaica, pois descende de idumeus e sua mãe é descendente de árabe. Assim, por ser estrangeiro, não tem para com os judeus nenhuma relação de reciprocidade e sua legitimidade se funda na própria estrutura do poder exercido.

Quando vence os seguidores de Antígono, Herodes constrói uma estrutura de poder independente da tradição judaica:

. nomeia o sumo sacerdote do Templo: destitui os Asmoneus e nomeia um sacerdote da família sacerdotal babilônica e, mais tarde, da alexandrina
. exige de seus súditos um juramento que obriga a pessoa a obedecer às suas ordens em oposição às normas tradicionais; se a pessoa recusar o juramento, é perseguida
. interfere na justiça do Sinédrio
. manda vender os assaltantes e os revolucionários políticos capturados como escravos no exterior, sem direito a resgate
. a venda à escravidão e a execução pessoal (a morte) tornam-se normas comuns do arrendamento estatal.

Mas, se ele viola assim a tradição, como consegue legitimidade?

A estrutura de poder do Estado sob Herodes é bem diferente da estrutura da época dos Macabeus:

. o rei é legitimado como pessoa e não por descendência
. o poderio não se orienta pela tradição, mas pela aplicação do direito pelo senhor
. o direito à terra é transmitido pela distribuição: o dominador a dá ao usuário: é a “assignatio”
. a base filosófica helenística é que legitima o poder do rei, quando diz que o rei é “lei viva” (émpsychos nómos), em oposição à lei codificada, ou seja: o rei é a fonte da lei, porque ele é regido pelo “nous“: o rei tem função salvadora e, por isso, dá aos seus súditos uma ordem racional, através das normas do Estado.
. o poder militar de Herodes se baseia em mercenários estrangeiros que ficam em fortalezas ou em terras dadas aos mercenários (cleruquias) por ele (terras no vale de Jezrael), e nas cidades não judaicas por ele fundadas, a cujos cidadãos ele dá como posse o território que as rodeia, com os camponeses dentro!

Douglas E. Oakman, em um estudo sobre as condições de vida dos camponeses palestinos da época de Jesus, mostra que a violência que sofriam era brutal. Fraudes, roubos, trabalhos forçados, endividamento, perda da terra através da manipulação das dívidas atingiam a muitos. Existia uma violência epidêmica na Palestina.

Cerca de 1/3 das crianças que ultrapassavam o primeiro ano de vida morriam até os 6 anos de idade. Cerca de 60% dos sobreviventes morriam até os 16 anos. Por volta dos 26 anos 75% já tinha morrido e aos 46 anos, 90% já desaparecido, chegando aos 60 anos de idade menos de 3% da população.

Um pobre no Império Romano, no século I de nossa era, tinha uma expectativa de vida de 30 anos, quando muito. Estudos feitos por paleopatologistas indicam que doenças infecciosas e desnutrição eram generalizadas. Por volta dos 30 anos a maioria das pessoas sofria de verminose, seus dentes tinham sido destruídos e sua vista acabado. 50% dos restos de cabelo encontrados nas escavações arqueológicas tinham lêndeas.

E é neste contexto que Douglas E. Oakman propõe uma leitura radical do Pai Nosso. Ele sugere que o pedido perdoa-nos as nossas dívidas (Mt 6,12) refere-se aos processos nos quais os camponeses perdiam sua terra para os credores urbanos que sistematicamente exploravam as condições econômicas precárias em que viviam. Além disso, argumenta Oakman, a prece final (Mt 6,13) não nos ponha em teste – normalmente traduzida com a ideia anacrônica de não cair em tentação – é o apelo do camponês para que não seja levado a um tribunal de cobrança de dívidas e colocado diante de um juiz corrupto (mas livra-nos do Maligno) cujo veredicto daria à expropriação de sua terra força de lei.

Obs.: os autores e  os textos podem ser conferidos nas fontes indicadas abaixo.

Fontes:
História de Israel: o domínio romano
Leitura socioantropológica do Novo Testamento
O Pai Nosso trata da fome, do endividamento, da opressão

Dois clássicos reeditados e um novo.

DAVIES, P. R. In Search of ‘Ancient Israel’: A Study in Biblical Origins. 2. ed. London: Bloomsbury T & T Clark, 2015, 192 p. – ISBN  9780567662972.

DAVIES, P. R. The History of Ancient Israel: A Guide for the Perplexed. London: Bloomsbury T & T Clark, 2015, 200 p. – ISBN 9780567655851.

LEMCHE, N. P. Ancient Israel: A New History of Israel. 2. ed. London: Bloomsbury T & T Clark, 2015, 296 p. – ISBN 9780567662781.

Leia artigos dos dois autores sobre os 2 livros reeditados (In Search of ‘Ancient Israel’ e Ancient Israel: A New History of Israel)  e também sobre o novo (The History of Ancient Israel) em The Bible and Interpretation:

:: A Guide for the Perplexed – Philip R. Davies – November 2015
What makes me a disciple of von Rad is that for me too the stories count for more than the “facts”. I have no commitment to “scripture”, but if I want to understand “ancient Israelites” or any other human groups or individuals from the past, I will do so better by coming to terms with what they thought about the past than what had actually transpired. If, as I think was most often the case, the writers of these biblical stories did not actually know what had happened, then the actual events have a restricted relevance to them: it would have made no difference to these writers whether what they narrated had happened or not.

:: Ancient Israel: A New History of Israel: Thoughts about a reissue – Niels Peter Lemche – November 2015
“In any case, I firmly believe that by the beginning of the twenty-second century, the Minimalists will be remembered and respected as worthy exemplars and forebears of the best current thought” (Sara Mandell).