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Emil SchurerHendrickson Publishers / 1994 / HardcoverOur Price$59.994.5 out of 5 stars for A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ. View reviews of this product. 91 Reviews
Retail Price$249.95Save 76% ($189.96)Availability: In StockStock No: WW30491
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David deSilvaAshland, OHAge: 45-54Gender: male3 Stars Out Of 5Have we learned nothing about Second Temple Judaism since before World War I?February 22, 2016David deSilvaAshland, OHAge: 45-54Gender: maleQuality: 2Value: 5Meets Expectations: 3I am concerned about how many reviewers are glowing about this set as the way into the time of Jesus. As a professor of New Testament and a specialist in Second Temple Period Judaism, I simply have to say, "no." This is an attractive and affordable edition of a "classic" work (hence the high marks there), but the work was completed a decade before World War I. Have we learned nothing about Second Temple Period Judaism in the century (plus) since Schurer wrote this? The Dead Sea Scrolls, that library of Jewish texts apparently used and hidden by the Qumran community (and quite likely representing a branch of the Essenes) would only be discovered forty-some years after Schurer died. Archaeology of the region has made significant advances in the century since Schurer. The study of ancient Judaism itself has been revolutionized by thinking of it no longer as the legalistic foil to Christianity, but as a religion of grace and response (a re-thinking of Judaism and the old stereotype motivated not least by the fact of the Holocaust).
I'm not advising against buying this set; I am advising against approaching it as if, in the 21st century, it is still the go-to resource for the study of "the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus." Far better: An Introduction to Second Temple Judaism by Lester Grabbe; Early Judaism: A Comprehensive Overview, edited by John Collins and Daniel Harlow; Greeks, Romans, Jews by James Newsome. Perhaps best (though costlier): The Cambridge History of Judaism (volumes 2 and 3 will cover this period well).
Note: there is a grossly overpriced revised edition of this available. I wouldn't recommend that either, in large measure because you could get the two Cambridge volumes for less, and they'd be far better. -
Philip TuttSacramento, CAAge: Over 65Gender: male3 Stars Out Of 5March 3, 2009Philip TuttSacramento, CAAge: Over 65Gender: maleOut of date(1890), and replete with annoying conventions (such as leaving Hebrew, Greek, and Latin texts untranslated in the main body of the analysis), not to mention footnotes which often take up most of a page. Volumes 1 & 2, and about half of volume 3 are essentially useless. Schurer's work is most valuable for its discussions of the Sanhedrin, scribism, and the Pharisaic development of Judaism, although, in the latter instance, he betrays the subjectivity of his viewpoint in his treatment of the rabbinical approach to the minutiae of the Torah. Worth a reading, with these caveats.
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Carol White3 Stars Out Of 5July 15, 2010Carol WhiteInteresting reading. Not as good a resource as hoped. Lacks and index which would be useful.
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Terry Nicks3 Stars Out Of 5May 27, 2008Terry NicksI wasn't expecting it to be with so much reference material. I thought it would be more a text book.
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Dwight Robinson3 Stars Out Of 5November 20, 2009Dwight RobinsonI originally bought the set thinking that the volumes included the Apocrypha and the Pseudepigrapha. Sadly it does not. The volumes however has a wealth of history and references to valuable texts...with a religious slant.
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