Abstract
This work is comprised of fifteen essays taken from The Eerdmans Dictionary of Early Judaism (2010) with some updating for the 2012 printing. Wide ranging, this volume seeks to provide a comprehensive overview of Judaism in the Hellenistic and early Roman periods. As with any volume of collected essays there is a range of quality. Fortunately for this collection the work is of a generally high standard.
The essays themselves cover the broad contours of Early Judaism, dealing with social, political, historical, literary, and archaeological issues. The opening essay by J.J. Collins, ‘Early Judaism in Modern Scholarship’, frames the discussion and the final essay by L.H. Schiffman, ‘Early Judaism and Rabbinic Judaism’, looks beyond the prescribed time period to identify enduring traits. Between these essays lie articles on particular themes (Diaspora, interpretation, Christianity) and particular people (Philo, Josephus). One minor issue with this collection is that the essays do not interact with each other. This occasionally led to differing claims (which in not really a problem) and some overlap in content (which is to be expected, though it could have been minimised more). In addition to the above essays, the volume also contains thirteen maps, a set of glossy pictures of sites, coins, ephemera, ossuaries, mosaics, etc., and a detailed set of indices. These features go a long way to making this volume more conducive to being a course text.
Naturally, anyone who owns The Eerdmans Dictionary of Early Judaism already has access to these essays and does not require this volume. However, even on their own this collection is useful for students and scholars alike with its application of up-to-date theories and wealth of information. This last advantage likely will restrict the use of this volume as a text to upper-level/masters students as the amount of detail may be difficult for an early undergrad to absorb without an already established framework. The downside for upper-year students and scholars is that there is a dearth of citations and primary references and so it is difficult to follow enticing trails. With this being said, Early Judaism should be consulted by any who work in the field and considered as a text by those teaching a class on Judaism in this period.