Jew, Judean, Judaism in the Ancient Period: An Alternative Argument
Applying the terms Jew and Judaism in the ancient period has recently been challenged by a number of scholars. First, the terms translated as Jew and Judaism are rare in the ancient period, and second, it is argued that these terms retroject later understandings of Judaism as a religion back int...
| Published in: | Journal of ancient Judaism |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
[2016]
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| In: |
Journal of ancient Judaism
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| RelBib Classification: | BH Judaism HD Early Judaism TB Antiquity TD Late Antiquity |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | Applying the terms Jew and Judaism in the ancient period has recently been challenged by a number of scholars. First, the terms translated as Jew and Judaism are rare in the ancient period, and second, it is argued that these terms retroject later understandings of Judaism as a religion back into a period when Israelites and Yehudim/Ioudaioi are rather understood as an ethnic group. Judeans is preferable as a designation to Jews. Two challenges have arisen. Some argue that the ethnic meaning of Yehudim/Ioudaioi changed to a more religious meaning in about 100 B. C. E.. Others insist that Jew and Judaism have always communicated both an ethnic and religious meaning - and still do - and so to insist on an ethnic-only meaning (Judeans) in the ancient period is misleading. Here I take up a number of the previous arguments and modify them to form an alternative proposal: Yehudi (feminine Yehudiyah) and related terms arose as assertive, emotive identity terms to reflect a strong affirmation of identity in an international situation. Much as Quaker or American can be assertive, emotive identity terms relative to the default Society of Friends or United States respectively, so Yehudi/Yehudiyah was used occasionally, then more often, as a strong identity term relative to the default Israel/Israelite. |
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| ISSN: | 2196-7954 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of ancient Judaism
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.13109/jaju.2016.7.2.169 |