2nd Temple Era

I am looking for scholarly resources that deal with how the literature of the world of the 2nd temple affect both Judiaism and early Christian perspectives. The destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE and the Bar Kokhba Revolt shifted Jewish focus from temple-centered worship to rabbinic traditions. I have read these so far. What am I missing?

Introducing the Apocrypha: Message, Context, and Significance.

Ancient Texts for New Testament Studies: A Guide to the Background Literature.

Jewish Interpretation of the Bible: Ancient and Contemporary

Christian Beginnings and the Dead Sea Scrolls

In the Shadow of the Temple

Temple Theology: An Introduction

A History of Israel: From the Bronze Age through the Jewish Wars

Biblical Exegesis in the Apostolic Period

Border Lines: The Partition of Judaeo-Christianity

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Allen Browne

I am looking for scholarly resources that deal with how the literature of the world of the 2nd temple affect both Judiaism and early Christian perspectives. The destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE and the Bar Kokhba Revolt shifted Jewish focus from temple-centered worship to rabbinic traditions. I have read these so far. What am I missing?

Hi Christian.

Depending on your goals (and time available), the next step could be to read the primary literature.

Read how Jubilees reworks eartly books. Read how Enoch re-works the world in terms of the spiritual perspectives that developed after the exile. Read how Josephus retells the Jewish story for a non-Jewish audience. Read the values expressed in Psalms of Solomon. Read the Dead Sea Scrolls, especially the CD that shaped Qumran. Identify which groups within Judaism shaped these beliefs with their hopes, frustrations, and fears. Identify New Testament passages that reflect or reject these various frameworks.

If you're interested in how Judaism was reshaped Judaism after AD 70, read the Mishnah. (Okay, you probably will need a guide to make sense of this one. It's a bit like reading responses to a feed on X [Twitter] that assume you know what's being discussed.)

Charlesworth's Pseudepigrapha would be a good starting point.

For secondary lit, The Eerdmans Dictionary of Early Judaism has some great articles that survey the period (as well as the A-Z articles).

Be sure to read John J. Collins for some background on apocalyptic lit, e.g. The Apocalyptic Imagination (Eerdmans, 1998). He also edited The Oxford Handbook of Apocalyptic Literature.

HTH.

Christian Alexander

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1326114#Comment_1326114

Depending on your goals (and time available)

I read a good bit of primary sources. My time is very long. I want to reflect and do my research.

I have 3 goals. 1. I want to situate John’s Gospel within its first-century Jewish context, exploring how its themes, language, and theological concerns interact with contemporary Jewish thought and practice. 2. I want to analyze the significant religious transformations during this period—such as the emergence of apocalypticism, the development of distinct Jewish sects (e.g., Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes), and the influence of Hellenism—to understand how these developments shaped Jewish thought and early Christianity. 3. I want to study the various messianic figures and expectations that existed among different Jewish groups and how these expectations informed both early Christian claims about Jesus and the Gospel of John's portrayal of him.

The Bar Kokhba Revolt (132-135 CE) did indeed deepen the separation, primarily due to Jewish leaders’ rejection of messianic claims outside of Jewish expectations, coupled with the Roman repression of Jewish customs. This left Jewish and Christian communities to redefine themselves in relation to the Roman Empire, each other, and their own interpretations of scripture. For Christians, particularly Gentile converts, the revolt could have emphasized their divergence from Jewish nationalism and its associated rituals. However, some Christians continued to view themselves as rooted in Jewish tradition, while others distanced themselves.

For secondary lit, The Eerdmans Dictionary of Early Judaism has some great articles that survey the period.

I have this at home. It looks to be very good.

Justification and Variegated Nomism: The Paradoxes of Paul Basically, this collection reviewed all the STP lit that Sanders cited (maybe more, I don't recall now), asking if these books really support what Sanders called Covenantal Nomism. With few exceptions (4 Ezra is the outsider), the authors were favorable to Sanders, although not willing to go as far as shifting justification from the center of Paul's theology. D. A. Carson's conclusion in the second volume (I thought) did not follow from the evidence,. He was dismissive of Sanders when the essays in the collection seemed to say Sanders was on the right track. From what I see, the scholars who do not think using Second Temple Period Literature is a good idea are probably very conservative scholars who dismiss reading the Apocrypha for theological reasons.

DMB

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1326120#Comment_1326120

I assume you've already read Between Jerusalem and Athens (John Collins) which is in Logos. I notice it touches on the Testament of Job, which you asked about. It has a nice combination of forest and trees perspective.

As you move along your John studies, I accidentally parallel you, but unintentionally ... 'John' gets discussed from a large number of perspectives, both 2nd Temple and post-Jerusalem, each largely speculative. At the moment (as recommended above), I'm in the Enochian-ish Book of the Giants.