Abstract
This volume is a collection of 13 essays on various aspects of community identity and scriptural interpretation within early Judaism and early Christianity. Each chapter began life as a paper presented at a series of scholarly conferences held in Canada and the United States, and there are contributions from some of the leading authorities in this field, such as George Brooke, John Collins, Larry Hurtado, Margaret MacDonald, and James Sanders. There is an interesting mix of studies focusing on textual, archaeological, and sociological evidence.
The book begins with a section on identity (broadly conceived) in early Jewish and early Christian communities. The first three chapters centre on the Qumran community. John Collins discusses the archaeological and textual evidence relating to the identity and history of the group behind the scrolls, navigating a remarkably clear pathway through the competing scholarly theories about the relationship of the texts to the Essenes and the identity of the ‘Wicked Priest.’ Next comes a chapter by Torlief Elgvin, investigating the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice and other texts found at Qumran which may share a common background of thought with the New Testament books of Hebrews and Revelation in their interest in the heavenly temple and its liturgy. Dorothy Peters then considers what the textual evidence from Qumran indicates about the development of the concepts of scriptural canon and authority, emphasizing the fluidity of these ideas. Mark Chancey turns to the somewhat disputed question of the economic situation of first-century Galilee. He is able to draw on a wide range of current scholarship in providing a very useful overview of the main positions, which either emphasize the economic hardship and social and political turmoil of the region (e.g. Crossan, Herzog, Horsley, Oakman), or, with, for example, Edwards and Meyers, paint a more positive picture of economic growth, political stability, and productive urban–rural relations. He reviews the current state of evidence on issues such as taxation levels, monetization, and land ownership in the region in the late Second Temple period, concluding that the data allow him to draw very few definite conclusions. Margaret MacDonald offers a particularly absorbing and original contribution on early Christian families, highlighting in particular the place of children and slaves in Christian house churches, thereby providing a new lens for the analysis of texts such as the New Testament household codes. This section ends with two archaeological studies, the first by Craig Evans considering the widespread Jewish practice of ‘ossilegium,’ or re-burying of the bones of a deceased person within the family tomb one year after their death. He adduces evidence which suggests that even criminals had their bones gathered and re-buried in this way, testifying to the deep-rooted sense of family identity amongst Jews, and the importance placed on proper burial according to ancestral customs. Finally, the Israel-based archaeologist Shimon Gibson reviews the evidence relating to the location of Jesus’ trial before Pontius Pilate, suggesting it may have taken place at the so-called Gate of the Essenes on the western side of the Roman praetorium.
Part two of the volume focuses on the interpretation of scripture in early Judaism and early Christianity, an activity which was so central to both communities. The six essays in this section are all really excellent, offering both an accessible overview of their topic and some interesting new insights based on original research. First there is a consideration of scriptural interpretation in the Dead Sea Scrolls by George Brooke, who puts a welcome emphasis on the range and variety of Qumranic exegesis, which is in evidence in hymns, rewritten bible and legal texts, and the pesharim, which usually take centre stage in discussions of this subject. This is followed by Keith Bodner’s study of how the textual evidence from Qumran (primarily 4QSama) enhances our appreciation of the literary dynamics of the narrative of 1 Samuel, a subject which has received very little scholarly attention to date. James Sanders reviews progress towards the completion of the fifth edition of the Biblia Hebraica, an undertaking with which he is intimately involved. He compares this to previous editions of the Hebrew Bible, and explains the key principles of the project team, including their use of new manuscript evidence from the Dead Sea Scrolls and recent photographs of the Leningrad Codex, and a much more positive attitude towards the value of the masoretic tradition on the placing of accents and intervals. Stephen Andrews discusses significant ancient witnesses to the Hebrew Bible, including the Khirbet Qeifaya ostracon inscription, two silver amulets from Ketef Hinnom, and the Nash Papyrus. This section concludes with two studies dealing with early Christian manuscripts. Paul Foster considers the question of dating, arguing that very few New Testament manuscripts should be ascribed a definite date in the second century CE as they are more likely to be of third-century provenance. In another highly interesting and original chapter, Larry Hurtado asks what can be learned from the physical and visual features of the earliest Christian manuscripts about the communities which used them. He discusses aspects such as handwriting, layout, punctuation marks, ‘readers’ aids’ such as providing spaces at the end of ‘sense units,’ the marked preference for the codex rather than the roll, and the form of the nomina sacra, highlighting significant differences from both contemporary Jewish and pagan practice. The evidence suggests both that the early Christians began to develop a particular corporate identity at an early stage, and that they produced manuscripts designed to be readable within communities of a mixed social background which included very few of the educated literate elite.
In short, The World of Jesus and the Early Church is an extremely interesting volume, providing information on current thinking about significant issues within the fields of biblical studies, Qumran studies, Jewish studies, and the study of early Christianity. It will prove a valuable resource to scholars and laypeople, and I warmly recommend it to readers of ITQ, who are sure to find it both accessible and thought-provoking.