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Judaism: Practice and Belief: 63 BCE - 66 CE
Libro usado en buenas condiciones, por su antiguedad podria contener señales normales de uso
595 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1991
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175 people want to read
About the author
Ed Sanders
138 books80 followersEd Sanders is an American poet, singer, social activist, environmentalist, author and publisher. He has been called a bridge between the Beat and Hippie generations.
Sanders was born in Kansas City, Missouri. He dropped out of Missouri University in 1958 and hitchhiked to New York City’s Greenwich Village. He wrote his first major poem, "Poem from Jail," on toilet paper in his cell after being jailed for protesting against nuclear proliferation in 1961.
In 1962, he founded the avant-garde journal, Fuck You: A Magazine of the Arts. Sanders opened the Peace Eye Bookstore (147 Avenue A in what was then the Lower East Side), which became a gathering place for bohemians and radicals.
Sanders graduated from New York University in 1964, with a degree in Classics. In 1965, he founded The Fugs with Tuli Kupferberg. The band broke up in 1969 and reformed in 1984.
In 1971, Sanders wrote The Family, a profile of the events leading up to the Tate-LaBianca murders. He obtained access to the Manson Family by posing as a "Satanic guru-maniac and dope-trapped psychopath."
As of 2006, Sanders lives in Woodstock, New York where he publishes the Woodstock Journal with his wife of over 36 years, the writer and painter Miriam R. Sanders. He also invents musical instruments including the Talking Tie, the microtonal Microlyre and the Lisa Lyre, a musical contraption involving light-activated switches and a reproduction of Da Vinci's Mona Lisa.
Sanders was born in Kansas City, Missouri. He dropped out of Missouri University in 1958 and hitchhiked to New York City’s Greenwich Village. He wrote his first major poem, "Poem from Jail," on toilet paper in his cell after being jailed for protesting against nuclear proliferation in 1961.
In 1962, he founded the avant-garde journal, Fuck You: A Magazine of the Arts. Sanders opened the Peace Eye Bookstore (147 Avenue A in what was then the Lower East Side), which became a gathering place for bohemians and radicals.
Sanders graduated from New York University in 1964, with a degree in Classics. In 1965, he founded The Fugs with Tuli Kupferberg. The band broke up in 1969 and reformed in 1984.
In 1971, Sanders wrote The Family, a profile of the events leading up to the Tate-LaBianca murders. He obtained access to the Manson Family by posing as a "Satanic guru-maniac and dope-trapped psychopath."
As of 2006, Sanders lives in Woodstock, New York where he publishes the Woodstock Journal with his wife of over 36 years, the writer and painter Miriam R. Sanders. He also invents musical instruments including the Talking Tie, the microtonal Microlyre and the Lisa Lyre, a musical contraption involving light-activated switches and a reproduction of Da Vinci's Mona Lisa.
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August 30, 2014
E.P. Sanders, Judaism: Practice and Belief, 63 B.C.E. - 66 C.E. (Philadelphia: Trinity Press International, 1992). Pp. 580. Paperback.
I chose to read this book to answer a very specific question: how exactly was Judaism practiced in the time of Jesus, and how did the Temple function? I've been reading various books about ancient and middle-eastern culture, and it became very obvious that the culture of the biblical world was very different than our world. As I thought about this, I wondered about the things that the New Testament authors don't mention in their texts because they presumed the reader had a familiarity with the context in which the stories were written - context that includes the daily practice of first century Judaism and the workings of the sacrificial system of the Temple. However, since this presumed context no longer exists for a 21st century American reader, I decided I needed to do some reading in order to be able to understand the New Testament better. Here's where Sanders's nearly 600 pages comes in.
This book was an amazing recommendation. The only other books that cover this topic in depth are History of the Jewish People, vol. II by Schürer, and Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus by Jeremias. Sanders's book is, in many ways, a correction of several theses argued in these two volumes.
Sanders is mostly concerned with what he calls "common Judaism" in the first century. This includes the ideas that were common in all practices of Judaism; ideas that shaped people's observances, and their daily, weekly, seasonal, and annual practices. In short, he summarizes the beliefs of common Judaism as: 1) There is a God who created the universe and he has chosen Israel to do his will - the idea of election; 2) As a result of this election, Israel was given the Law, and they were to obey it; 3) It also means God will protect and save his people, at least those who are loyal to him.
With this in mind, Sanders is able to discuss how the Temple functioned: daily, seasonal, and annually. For example, if you wanted to offer a sacrifice, he explains how one would do this. Sanders also explains how the Levites and priests lived while serving in the Temple, and how they lived, and what they did, while at home. He then discusses how the average Jew lived out his religion. There’s a discussion about how tithes and taxes worked, how the major feasts were celebrated, and how worship and Sabbaths were observed. Within these discussions, Sanders is also able to write about circumcision, purity, food, charity, love, and hopes for the future.
After discussing common Judaism, Sanders turns to a discussion of the three main parties within Judaism: the Sadducees, the Essenes, and the Pharisees – which were all quite small, compared the entire first century Jewish population. His argument articulates exactly what role they played in society, and what sort of influence they may have had on how Judaism was practiced, as well as how much influence they had on the politics of the time. Here is where he tends to disagree the most with Schürer and Jeremias. It's interesting to note that the Pharisees have less power than many presume, and that they have less control over the life of the synagogue than previously thought.
The real beauty of this book is that Sanders is able to articulate three things: 1) how Judaism was practiced (the ins and outs of how the rites where performed); 2) what the rites meant to the people (the theology of first century Judaism); and 3) how Judaism, and its various parties, fit into a larger socioeconomic and cultural context.
Though the almost 600 pages may be a bit much for the average reader of scripture, I do highly recommend it for anyone who is a serious student of the Bible, anyone who teaches biblical literature, or anyone who has to preach from biblical material. It will definitely give you a better foundation in which you can understand the stories of the New Testament.
----
Part 2.
My original review can be found above; however, as I said, I had a very specific reason for picking up this book. I wanted to learn more about first century Judaism and how the temple functioned. My goal was to be better informed when reading the New Testament. My last review discussed the book as a whole; in this review I want to focus on the sections that spoke about the sacrificial system of the temple: how sacrifices where done, and how people understood the theology of them.
When Sanders begins his practical discussion of how the sacrifices were done, he begins with a discussion of the temple mount, and a physical description of the temple. For those who have never thought about this, the second temple was huge, especially after the renovations of King Herod. As Sanders described the temple, I was able to use several charts he included to visualize myself walking through the various courts. His description is well written, so much so that I know which door I would enter in, where I would go to buy a victim to be sacrificed, and how I would take my offering into the temple.
Sanders then fully describes how I would have offered my sacrifice: how I would have laid my hands on the head of the sacrifice and made a confession (i.e., what the offering was for, or what type of offering it was); how I, not a priest (assuming I’m a first century Jewish male), would have reached over the barrier to slit the throat the animal (which sounds disgusting to us, but Sanders points out this would have been very common in the ancient world); how the priest would collect the blood to pour it around the altar; how the priest would then take the animal to butcher it; how the priest would take the appropriate parts to be burned; and then how the priest would return the appropriate parts to me so that I could also share in the meat of the offering. In all, he imagines this would have been about a 10 minutes process.
Sanders also describes how the temple priests would have started and ended their day with a community sacrifice that included two male yearling lambs with flour, oil, and wine. This was a very in depth discussion, which even included how the priests cleaned the temple. This daily routine of morning and evening (late-afternoon) offerings included the casting of lots for jobs, the offering of incense within the temple, prayers in the Chamber of Hewn Stone, and the clanging of cymbals with the recitation of Psalmody. He imagines the temple would have been staffed with 700 Levites and priests a week – 50 at a time for 2 shifts a day.
Sanders also describes the exact liturgical celebration of the 3 major feasts: Passover, Feast of Weeks (also called Pentecost or Day of First Fruits), and the Feast of Booths (or Tabernacles). It’s interesting that he includes a discussion of the Day of Atonement as a separate feast, apart from the other three (why it’s not the 4 major feasts, I’m not sure – perhaps because it wasn’t celebrated by the community, as a whole, as the others were?).
As much as I found the description of the liturgical rites interesting, I found the theology of the sacrifices even more interesting. Here’s how Sanders spells it out:
• Purification – Sanders believes that one offered a sacrifice as a means of purifying yourself – and/or your family – from your sins/impurities. He believes the people were taught this included preparation by self-examination. In Eastern Orthodoxy, we go through a similar process before communion every Sunday, and before confession.
• Blood Atonement – this was a common concept in the ancient world. Sanders believes this aspect provided an opportunity for confession, which included mending one’s life through repentance. The point is the intention and the zeal of the one offering the sacrifice.
• Thanksgiving – Sanders believes that many would have seen the offering as a way to give thanks to God, as well as honor and glory.
• Communion with God – certain sacrifices required that the one who offered the sacrifice receive a portion of the meat to eat while in Jerusalem. Sanders argues that this was understood as a means of communion with God. The idea of the Great Banquet is a part of it.
• Welfare of Society – in this category, some sacrifices would have been seen as a way to ask for safety and preservation from God. In modern religion, we would understand this as petition or supplication to God.
• Sanders believes sacrifices were also offered for the good of the whole world.
• Finally, Sanders argues that sacrifices offered the people a sense of community – i.e., the people of Israel.
As I read through this list, I was struck by how close it matches the Eastern Orthodox understanding of communion, which is offered as a thanksgiving (i.e., the Eucharist), as a means of purification (forgiveness, or remission) from sins, on behalf of the world, as a means of communion with God, and as a means of transforming the world – among other things. What this indicates, for me at least, is that the more traditional understanding of communion (rather than the Protestant’s stress of communion as only a remembrance) has roots in the temple.
I’ll end this review again by stating that I highly recommend this book to anyone who takes his or her biblical studies very seriously. It will not only aid your reading of the New Testament, but also your understanding of Church theology.
I chose to read this book to answer a very specific question: how exactly was Judaism practiced in the time of Jesus, and how did the Temple function? I've been reading various books about ancient and middle-eastern culture, and it became very obvious that the culture of the biblical world was very different than our world. As I thought about this, I wondered about the things that the New Testament authors don't mention in their texts because they presumed the reader had a familiarity with the context in which the stories were written - context that includes the daily practice of first century Judaism and the workings of the sacrificial system of the Temple. However, since this presumed context no longer exists for a 21st century American reader, I decided I needed to do some reading in order to be able to understand the New Testament better. Here's where Sanders's nearly 600 pages comes in.
This book was an amazing recommendation. The only other books that cover this topic in depth are History of the Jewish People, vol. II by Schürer, and Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus by Jeremias. Sanders's book is, in many ways, a correction of several theses argued in these two volumes.
Sanders is mostly concerned with what he calls "common Judaism" in the first century. This includes the ideas that were common in all practices of Judaism; ideas that shaped people's observances, and their daily, weekly, seasonal, and annual practices. In short, he summarizes the beliefs of common Judaism as: 1) There is a God who created the universe and he has chosen Israel to do his will - the idea of election; 2) As a result of this election, Israel was given the Law, and they were to obey it; 3) It also means God will protect and save his people, at least those who are loyal to him.
With this in mind, Sanders is able to discuss how the Temple functioned: daily, seasonal, and annually. For example, if you wanted to offer a sacrifice, he explains how one would do this. Sanders also explains how the Levites and priests lived while serving in the Temple, and how they lived, and what they did, while at home. He then discusses how the average Jew lived out his religion. There’s a discussion about how tithes and taxes worked, how the major feasts were celebrated, and how worship and Sabbaths were observed. Within these discussions, Sanders is also able to write about circumcision, purity, food, charity, love, and hopes for the future.
After discussing common Judaism, Sanders turns to a discussion of the three main parties within Judaism: the Sadducees, the Essenes, and the Pharisees – which were all quite small, compared the entire first century Jewish population. His argument articulates exactly what role they played in society, and what sort of influence they may have had on how Judaism was practiced, as well as how much influence they had on the politics of the time. Here is where he tends to disagree the most with Schürer and Jeremias. It's interesting to note that the Pharisees have less power than many presume, and that they have less control over the life of the synagogue than previously thought.
The real beauty of this book is that Sanders is able to articulate three things: 1) how Judaism was practiced (the ins and outs of how the rites where performed); 2) what the rites meant to the people (the theology of first century Judaism); and 3) how Judaism, and its various parties, fit into a larger socioeconomic and cultural context.
Though the almost 600 pages may be a bit much for the average reader of scripture, I do highly recommend it for anyone who is a serious student of the Bible, anyone who teaches biblical literature, or anyone who has to preach from biblical material. It will definitely give you a better foundation in which you can understand the stories of the New Testament.
----
Part 2.
My original review can be found above; however, as I said, I had a very specific reason for picking up this book. I wanted to learn more about first century Judaism and how the temple functioned. My goal was to be better informed when reading the New Testament. My last review discussed the book as a whole; in this review I want to focus on the sections that spoke about the sacrificial system of the temple: how sacrifices where done, and how people understood the theology of them.
When Sanders begins his practical discussion of how the sacrifices were done, he begins with a discussion of the temple mount, and a physical description of the temple. For those who have never thought about this, the second temple was huge, especially after the renovations of King Herod. As Sanders described the temple, I was able to use several charts he included to visualize myself walking through the various courts. His description is well written, so much so that I know which door I would enter in, where I would go to buy a victim to be sacrificed, and how I would take my offering into the temple.
Sanders then fully describes how I would have offered my sacrifice: how I would have laid my hands on the head of the sacrifice and made a confession (i.e., what the offering was for, or what type of offering it was); how I, not a priest (assuming I’m a first century Jewish male), would have reached over the barrier to slit the throat the animal (which sounds disgusting to us, but Sanders points out this would have been very common in the ancient world); how the priest would collect the blood to pour it around the altar; how the priest would then take the animal to butcher it; how the priest would take the appropriate parts to be burned; and then how the priest would return the appropriate parts to me so that I could also share in the meat of the offering. In all, he imagines this would have been about a 10 minutes process.
Sanders also describes how the temple priests would have started and ended their day with a community sacrifice that included two male yearling lambs with flour, oil, and wine. This was a very in depth discussion, which even included how the priests cleaned the temple. This daily routine of morning and evening (late-afternoon) offerings included the casting of lots for jobs, the offering of incense within the temple, prayers in the Chamber of Hewn Stone, and the clanging of cymbals with the recitation of Psalmody. He imagines the temple would have been staffed with 700 Levites and priests a week – 50 at a time for 2 shifts a day.
Sanders also describes the exact liturgical celebration of the 3 major feasts: Passover, Feast of Weeks (also called Pentecost or Day of First Fruits), and the Feast of Booths (or Tabernacles). It’s interesting that he includes a discussion of the Day of Atonement as a separate feast, apart from the other three (why it’s not the 4 major feasts, I’m not sure – perhaps because it wasn’t celebrated by the community, as a whole, as the others were?).
As much as I found the description of the liturgical rites interesting, I found the theology of the sacrifices even more interesting. Here’s how Sanders spells it out:
• Purification – Sanders believes that one offered a sacrifice as a means of purifying yourself – and/or your family – from your sins/impurities. He believes the people were taught this included preparation by self-examination. In Eastern Orthodoxy, we go through a similar process before communion every Sunday, and before confession.
• Blood Atonement – this was a common concept in the ancient world. Sanders believes this aspect provided an opportunity for confession, which included mending one’s life through repentance. The point is the intention and the zeal of the one offering the sacrifice.
• Thanksgiving – Sanders believes that many would have seen the offering as a way to give thanks to God, as well as honor and glory.
• Communion with God – certain sacrifices required that the one who offered the sacrifice receive a portion of the meat to eat while in Jerusalem. Sanders argues that this was understood as a means of communion with God. The idea of the Great Banquet is a part of it.
• Welfare of Society – in this category, some sacrifices would have been seen as a way to ask for safety and preservation from God. In modern religion, we would understand this as petition or supplication to God.
• Sanders believes sacrifices were also offered for the good of the whole world.
• Finally, Sanders argues that sacrifices offered the people a sense of community – i.e., the people of Israel.
As I read through this list, I was struck by how close it matches the Eastern Orthodox understanding of communion, which is offered as a thanksgiving (i.e., the Eucharist), as a means of purification (forgiveness, or remission) from sins, on behalf of the world, as a means of communion with God, and as a means of transforming the world – among other things. What this indicates, for me at least, is that the more traditional understanding of communion (rather than the Protestant’s stress of communion as only a remembrance) has roots in the temple.
I’ll end this review again by stating that I highly recommend this book to anyone who takes his or her biblical studies very seriously. It will not only aid your reading of the New Testament, but also your understanding of Church theology.
February 9, 2015
Basically Sander's entire point is it would be unwise to overgeneralize Judaism into the categories of Pharisee, Sadducee, and Essene. He thinks that scholars should be looking at "common Judaism" instead. For Sanders this idea of common Judaism is Jews that accept the concept of covenantal Nomism.
Sander's has coined this term covenantal nomism to mean:
God chose Israel, Israel is given law to obey, if they obey they will be protected and saved.
or in longer words:
"The Pharisees believed that God was good, that he created the world, that he governed it, and that it would turn out as he wished. God chose Israel: he called Abraham, made with him a covenant, and laid on him a few obligations. He redeemed Israel from Egypt; and, having saved his people, gave them the law and charged them to observe it. God is perfectly reliable and will keep all his promises. Among these are that he will act in the future as he has acted in the past: he will save his people, even though they are disobedient. He can be relied on to punish disobedience and reward obedience. He is just; therefore he never does the reverse. When it comes to punishment, however, his justice is moderated by mercy and by his promises. He does not punish as he might, or who could live? He does not retract his commitment to his people. He holds out his arms to the disobedient, urging them to repent and return. It is never too late for repentance and atonement, which wipe out all transgressions. When God punishes disobedience, or when the transgressor repents in the ways required by the law, all is forgiven." 415-416
Overall the book is very detailed about a number of things such as: the construction of the temple, what it likely looked like, the outfits worn by the priests, practices, tithes, taxes, etc.
Its an okay introduction. It bothers me that he rejects pretty much everything Neusner (a prominent scholar in this field) has done on the same topic, saying that is simply isn't sufficient.
He takes a rather pompous tone throughout which bothered me. He also says he plans to address the topic from the view point of the common Jew. Not with modern filters. But to me, his entire theory of covenantal nomism sounds like protestant grace theory. I'm not sure if its just me though.
Sander's has coined this term covenantal nomism to mean:
God chose Israel, Israel is given law to obey, if they obey they will be protected and saved.
or in longer words:
"The Pharisees believed that God was good, that he created the world, that he governed it, and that it would turn out as he wished. God chose Israel: he called Abraham, made with him a covenant, and laid on him a few obligations. He redeemed Israel from Egypt; and, having saved his people, gave them the law and charged them to observe it. God is perfectly reliable and will keep all his promises. Among these are that he will act in the future as he has acted in the past: he will save his people, even though they are disobedient. He can be relied on to punish disobedience and reward obedience. He is just; therefore he never does the reverse. When it comes to punishment, however, his justice is moderated by mercy and by his promises. He does not punish as he might, or who could live? He does not retract his commitment to his people. He holds out his arms to the disobedient, urging them to repent and return. It is never too late for repentance and atonement, which wipe out all transgressions. When God punishes disobedience, or when the transgressor repents in the ways required by the law, all is forgiven." 415-416
Overall the book is very detailed about a number of things such as: the construction of the temple, what it likely looked like, the outfits worn by the priests, practices, tithes, taxes, etc.
Its an okay introduction. It bothers me that he rejects pretty much everything Neusner (a prominent scholar in this field) has done on the same topic, saying that is simply isn't sufficient.
He takes a rather pompous tone throughout which bothered me. He also says he plans to address the topic from the view point of the common Jew. Not with modern filters. But to me, his entire theory of covenantal nomism sounds like protestant grace theory. I'm not sure if its just me though.
October 14, 2023
If you're curious as to what historians are saying about Judaism at the time of Jesus, this book and Joachim Jeremias' "Jerusalem at the Time of Jesus", would be helpful to read. There a quite a few disagreements between the two scholars, and some of Sanders' views don't represent the mainstream thought on the matter, but no one can deny Sanders' place as one of the most influential Second Temple Judaism scholars in the last century.
June 17, 2015
Absorbing, especially his section on the temple
July 12, 2017
Extremely useful. Everyone needs this book.
July 5, 2019
Super-helpful in understanding the world of 1st Century/2nd Temple Judaism. Sanders is a little cranky with Jeremias and others who have gone before him in the same subject, but he writes convincingly and effectively tears down some scholarly assumptions that are over-simplistic or sometimes, unrealistic and unworkable. I don't agree with everything and did find him a bit arrogant but really an excellent resource and very worthwhile read for anyone who wants to better understand Palestinian Judaism of the period.
July 15, 2022
Detailed study of the practice of religion around the time of Christ based on Josephus, Philo, the gospels and early rabbinic literature. I found especially useful the blow-by-blow description of what would happen when a family came to the temple in Jerusalem to sacrifice. Much of the book is very confusing to a novice like me. It uses the word “I” much more than is usual in academic writing, usually in the context of contrasting what the author thinks from established scholarship, which often felt defensive and did not help to clarify my confusions.
January 16, 2008
Very heavy.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews