Hellenistic Judaism

Call For Papers: For the 2023 SBL Annual Meeting in San Antonio the Hellenistic Judaism section organizes three sessions. 1) This panel invites proposals on the broad topic of "Judaism: Origins and Variations" (open call). In his new book, Yonatan Adler has argued that the late Hellenistic period in Palestine was the most likely setting for the origins of a Judaism defined by a fairly strict and literal adoption of the laws of the Torah in daily life. We welcome papers that consider how Jews in other places and other moments used this baseline to interrogate their own understanding of Judaism’s origins and modes, and also to craft variations that spoke to their own circumstances, social locations, and personal or familial needs. The evidence adduced may be textual and/or material; the places may be Levantine or diasporic; the period may be ancient, medieval, or modern. 2) A joint session with the Qumran unit, partly open, partly invited on “The Qumran Finds as Part of Hellenistic-Roman Judaism.” The scrolls are part of the social and intellectual environment of Judaism at the time. Their authors confront the same dilemmas with regard to the reception of contemporary Hellenistic ideas like other contemporary Jews, whether in the Land of Israel, in Egypt, or Rome. The harsh polemic in the scrolls against anything foreign cannot be taken at face value, since the authors are by definition a product of their times. They take part in the intellectual, social and political world of not only the Hellenistic east but also the provinces of early imperial Rome. The session will address various aspects of this cultural encounter: political history, concepts of scripture and canon, interpretation, wisdom and philosophy, etc., according to the suggested papers. Two papers are by invitation; three papers are open for submissions. 3) Invited book review panel on F. Avemarie, J.W. van Henten, Y. Furstenberg, Jewish Martyrdom in Antiquity: From the Books of Maccabees to the Babylonian Talmud.

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