Language:
Hebrew
Year of publication:
2020
Titel der Quelle:
מגילות; מחקרים במגילות מדבר יהודה
Angaben zur Quelle:
טו (תשף-תשפא) 285-302
Keywords:
Regev, Eyal.
;
Temple of Jerusalem (Jerusalem, Israel)
;
New Testament Criticism, interpretation, etc., Jewish
;
Church history Primitive and early church, ca. 30-600
Abstract:
Eyal Regev’s new book reassesses some perceptions, still dominant inscholarly discourse, about earliest Christian attitudes toward the Temple.According to these perceptions, the belief in Jesus atoning death causednascent Christianity as a whole to reject the value of the sacrificial cultcentered in Jerusalem. Regev bases his reassessment on two methodologicalstrategies. First, he distinguishes attitudes attested in the New Testament:participation in Temple worship; transferal of sacrificial imagery – withoutdenying the importance of the traditional cult – to the Messiah’s death and/or to the experience of his followers; criticism of the deficiencies in theperformance of the cult; and finally, definite rejection of the cult. Second,he strives to reconstruct the particular historical contexts of various strataof the earliest Christian tradition; this allows Regev to comprehend thecriticism as directed at concrete aspects of mishandling the Temple cultand not against the institution itself. In light of tendencies in other SecondTemple Jewish sources, e.g., those attested in the Dead Seas Scrolls, Regevdemonstrates that from the historical Jesus to Paul to the compilers ofthe Gospels, it is the first three modes of conversation with the Templeissue that are actually present. In other words, even when Jesus death isperceived as a complementing or more effective path to atonement, thisdoes not presuppose the annulment of traditional sacrifices. Moreover, theapplication of sacrificial imagery to the crucifixion not only provides Jesusfollowers with the elucidation of his death’s atoning function, but also helpsto maintain their integral connection to the Temple as the foundationalaspect of Judaism. Only in the later Epistle to the Hebrews and the Bookof Revelation does Regev discern – as in some other post-DestructionJewish trends – the readiness to abandon traditional Temple-centered piety.Though I identify isolated problematic points in Regev’s argumentation,I find quite convincing his criticism of the uniform scholarly portrait of earliest Christianity as parting ways with Jerusalem Temple piety,as well as his diagnosis that later Christian notions unduly informedthis portrait. I suggest, however, that more attention should be paid tothe complementing issue of attitudes toward the eschatological Templeand its function within end-of-days redemption scenarios. This aspect,also featured in late Second Temple sources outside the New Testament,definitely deserves an in-depth treatment in relation to the explicitlymessianic movement of Jesus followers.
Note:
With an English summary.
URL:
אתר את הפרסום בקטלוג המאוחד של ספריות ישראל
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