Violence, Scripture, and Textual Practice in Early Judaism and Christianity

This volume analyzes the various and overlapping discourses of "religious violence" that emerged within Jewish and Christian culture in the Roman world. Toward this end, the nine papers collected here address both the presence of violence within the authoritative scriptural traditions of early Judaism and Christianity and the redeployment of these older traditions to represent, legitimate, and indeed sacralize violence. Individual papers focus on the specific social and historical contexts from which these texts emerged, while the volume as a whole highlights the patterns of textual practice shared across social and religious boundaries. Throughout, the dynamic interplay between text, tradition, and violence in early Jewish and Christian culture is located within the broad landscape of Roman imperial society.

"This small collection of articles is a needed addition to an important field of study." Jason M. Zurawski, Henoch 33.2 (2011)

Ra'anan S. Boustan, Ph.D. (2004) in Religion, Princeton University, is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of History and Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at UCLA. His publications include From Martyr to Mystic: Rabbinic Martyrology and the Making of Merkavah Mysticism (Mohr-Siebeck, 2005). Alex P. Jassen, Ph.D. (2006) in Hebrew and Judaic Studies, New York University, is Assistant Professor of Early Judaism at the University of Minnesota. He is the author of Mediating the Divine: Prophecy and Revelation in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Second Temple Judaism (Brill, 2007), which won the 2009 John Templeton Award for Theological Promise. Calvin J. Roetzel, Ph.D. (1967) in New Testament, Duke University, is Sundet Professor of New Testament and Christian Studies at the University of Minnesota. His scholarship on the Apostle Paul has enjoyed international acclaim, and his book Paul: The Man and the Myth was chosen by the Biblical Archaeological Society as the New Testament Book of the Year in 1999.