The Concept of Exile in Late Second Temple Judaism: A Review of Recent Scholarship

Before Wright published the first two volumes of his Christian Origins and the Question of God series (1992; 1996) the discussion concerning late Second Temple Jewish concepts of exile was a quiet one. Since then, however, more and more scholars have begun to weigh in. Champions of the theory conten...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Currents in biblical research
Main Author: Piotrowski, Nicholas G. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Sage [2017]
In: Currents in biblical research
Year: 2017, Volume: 15, Issue: 2, Pages: 214-247
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Exile (Motif) / Apocalypticism / Early Judaism
IxTheo Classification:HB Old Testament
HD Early Judaism
Further subjects:B Intertestamental Literature
B Jewish Identity
B Exile
B SER pattern
B Deuteronomic cycle
B Metaphor
B Eschatology
B Exiles
B Apocalyptic
B Restoration
B noncanonical literature
B New Testament backgrounds
B Judaism
B LEARNING & scholarship
B Second Temple Judaism
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Description
Summary:Before Wright published the first two volumes of his Christian Origins and the Question of God series (1992; 1996) the discussion concerning late Second Temple Jewish concepts of exile was a quiet one. Since then, however, more and more scholars have begun to weigh in. Champions of the theory contend that Second Temple texts convey a matrix of concerns that together demonstrate a Jewish consciousness of being in a state of ongoing exile, notwithstanding the residency in the land of a significant population and a functioning temple. Dissenters argue that these scholars are illegitimately privileging one motif within a highly complex ancient religion, and assigning it a metanarrative role it never truly had. Others contend that ‘ongoing’ exile is too narrow of a description to account for the diversity of attitudes across several sects. Only recently, though, have major works been produced that thoroughly examine the primary texts in question. In the process, a growing chorus of voices is supporting, with various levels of enthusiasm, the thesis that a significant number of late Second Temple Jewish groups indeed understood themselves to be languishing in some form of exile: ongoing exile since the sixth century bce, in the throes of recurring cycles of exile, or a set of historic realities characterized with exilic metaphors.
ISSN:1745-5200
Contains:Enthalten in: Currents in biblical research
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/1476993X15589865