The Origins of Judaism from Canaan to the Rise of Islam (review)

Hebrew Studies 50 (2009) 400 Reviews THE ORIGINS OF JUDAISM FROM CANAAN TO THE RISE OF ISLAM. By Robert Goldenberg. Pp. xi + 299. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Cloth, $70.00. Paper, $22.99. Recent years have witnessed a rapid growth in books that survey the history of Judaism in the Second Temple Period, with the sometime inclusion of early rabbinic Judaism. This phenomenon is no doubt to be explained by the central role the Dead Sea Scrolls have played in rethinking so many aspects of Second Temple Judaism as well as the renewed interest in longknown works from the Second Temple period (e.g., the Book of Jubilees, the writings of Josephus). Robert Goldenberg offers yet another entry into this growing library. Like these other books, Goldenberg’s work sketches the basic chronological details of Judaism from the Persian period through the emergence of the rabbis. At the same time, this volume distinguishes itself from the crowded bookshelf by offering something that its predecessors rarely treat. Histories of the Second Temple period often begin their narrative with the Persian period and indeed, rightfully so based on chronological considerations. What is often overlooked in these treatments is consideration of the relationship between Judaism of the Second Temple period and its pre-history in ancient Israel. It is this specific issue—how and why Judaism as a religion develops from the world of the Hebrew Bible and Israelite religion—that functions as a recurring theme throughout this volume. The book opens with a chapter on the “Prehistory of Judaism,” by which Goldenberg means the religion of ancient Israel as found in the Hebrew Bible. This chapter introduces readers to the Hebrew Bible, its basic contents , as well as a general outline. Chapter two engages with much recent scholarship on the origins of monotheism in ancient Israel. Goldenberg brings this research to bear on the important issue of charting the long development toward the monotheism of post-exilic Judaism. Chapter three analyzes another critical turning point in the transition from the world of the Hebrew Bible to Judaism—the emergence of authoritative Scripture and the concomitant importance of scriptural interpretation. Here, Goldenberg presents the role of Ezra both in promoting the Torah as the reigning law and the emergence of hermeneutic techniques to update the Torah. Throughout these chapters, Goldenberg highlights the tensions that existed among Jews regarding the implementation of these transformations. Their advocates, a small group of prophets and later scribes, were constantly battling opponents who did not wish to have exclusive worship of Yahweh the norm or the Torah the law of the land. Chapter three also contains a brief discussion of the Jewish community at Elephantine as a window into alternative developments in Judaism in the early Persian period. Hebrew Studies 50 (2009) 401 Reviews With the emergence of Alexander, this volume charts the standard course of the chronology of Judaism in the late Second Temple period. Chapter four briefly treats the emergence of Hellenism before a more detailed discussion of both the origins and aftermath of the Hasmonean revolt. The ensuing chapter on the Hasmonean dynasty introduces the varieties of Judaism in the late Second Temple period, with particular emphasis on the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes, as known from Josephus and the Dead Sea Scrolls. Chapter six shifts attention to the Diaspora. The majority of this chapter treats the most well-known Diaspora community in Egypt and its most prominent representative—Philo of Alexandria. Chapter seven quickly moves through the emergence of Rome in Judea to the failed revolts of the first and second centuries. Chapter eight then discusses the origins of rabbinic Judaism and examines its role as a response to the upheaval of the loss of the Temple and the failed Bar Kokhba revolt. As in the earlier discussion of Judaism in the early Persian period, Goldenberg’s treatment of rabbinic Judaism is particularly interested in charting transformations in Judaism and understanding why they occurred. Here as well, he has the great advantage of drawing upon much recent scholarship that has rethought the origins of rabbinic Judaism and its role in constructing a sustainable Judaism without a Temple, priesthood, or even land. A second chapter...