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This book examines the development of institutionalized prayer in ancient Israel at a crucial time in the history of Western civilization: from the period of the Qumran writings, in the last three centuries BCE, through to the rabbinic period, after 70 CE. It explores the shift from sacrificial worship by priests to abstract, unmediated, direct approaches to the deity by laypeople. It demonstrates the transition from voluntary, freely composed prayers to obligatory prayers with fixed texts. The study shows how Qumran and Samaritan prayer contrast with rabbinic prayer, shedding light on Jewish customs before the rabbinic reform.
Posthumously edited by .
About the author
Paul Heger (1924-2018; PhD, University of Toronto) has published extensively on Jewish law of the Second Temple period. His research examines how the vibrant religious sectarian scene of late antiquity give way to a much smaller range of possibilities by the time of the Second Temple’s destruction and its aftermath.Bernard M. Levinson ist Professor für Klassische Altertumswissenschaft sowie für Rechtswissenschaften an der Universität von Minnesota und ist Inhaber des Berman Family Lehrstuhls für Judaistik und Hebräisch.
Bernard M. Levinson serves as Professor of Classical and Near Eastern Studies and of Law at the University of Minnesota, where he holds the Berman Family Chair in Jewish Studies and Hebrew Bible. His research focuses on biblical and cuneiform law, textual reinterpretation in the Second Temple period, and the relation of the Bible to Western intellectual history.
http://levinson.umn.edu/Dr. theol. Armin Lange ist Professor für das Judentum des zweiten Tempels und Vorstand des Instituts für Judaistik der Universität Wien. In seinen Lehrveranstaltungen bestreitet er die Zeit von den Anfängen Israels und Judas bis zum zweiten jüdischen Krieg. In seiner Forschung spezialisiert er sich auf die weisheitliche und prophetische Literatur Israels, die Textfunde vom Toten Meer sowie die Text- und Kanongeschichte der Hebräischen Bibel. Er ist Mitglied des internationalen Herausgeberteams der Textfunde vom Toten Meer.Vered Noam, Ph.D., ist Professor für Jewish Philosophy and Talmud und Chair der Chaim Rosenberg School of Jewish Studies and Archaeology an der Universität Tel-Aviv.Bernard M. Levinson ist Professor für Klassische Altertumswissenschaft sowie für Rechtswissenschaften an der Universität von Minnesota und ist Inhaber des Berman Family Lehrstuhls für Judaistik und Hebräisch.
Bernard M. Levinson serves as Professor of Classical and Near Eastern Studies and of Law at the University of Minnesota, where he holds the Berman Family Chair in Jewish Studies and Hebrew Bible. His research focuses on biblical and cuneiform law, textual reinterpretation in the Second Temple period, and the relation of the Bible to Western intellectual history.
http://levinson.umn.edu/
Summary
This book examines the development of institutionalized prayer in ancient Israel at a crucial time in the history of Western civilization: from the period of the Qumran writings, in the last three centuries BCE, through to the rabbinic period, after 70 CE. It explores the shift from sacrificial worship by priests to abstract, unmediated, direct approaches to the deity by laypeople. It demonstrates the transition from voluntary, freely composed prayers to obligatory prayers with fixed texts. The study shows how Qumran and Samaritan prayer contrast with rabbinic prayer, shedding light on Jewish customs before the rabbinic reform.
Posthumously edited by Bernard M. Levinson.
