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It is commonly asserted that heresy is a Christian invention that emerged in late antiquity as Christianity distinguished itself from Judaism.
Heresy, Forgery, Novelty clearly defines these three important terms in the study of ancient Judaism and early Christianity, and demonstrates that Christianity's heresiological impulse is in fact indebted to Jewish precedents.
List of contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Chapter 1: Heresies, Forgeries, Novelties
- What is New? Anxieties of Innovation, Then and Now
- A Tradition of Condemning What is New
- A Tradition of Denial: The Constructed Absence of Jewish Heresy
- Authoritative Innovation: Prophecy and Scripture
- Innovation Revealed and Concealed: Interpretation, Scribes, and Pseudepigraphy
- Pseudepigraphy and Forging Antiquity
- Heresy, Forgery, Novelty
- Chapter 2: Heresy Without Orthodoxy: Josephus and the Rabbis on Dangerous Beliefs
- Josephus on the Afterlife: A Possibly Dangerous Hope
- Josephus on the Epicureans: Dangerous Denial
- Josephus and Jewish Innovation 1: General Denials and Justifications
- Constructing and Condemning the Fourth Philosophy
- Heresy and Consensus (not Orthodoxy)
- Josephus and Jewish Innovation 2: Denials and Falsifications
- Heretics in the Mishnah
- The Consensus of Pirkei Avot
- Conclusion
- Chapter 3: Secret Supersessionism? Intimations of Novelty Concealed at Qumran
- The New Covenant of the Damascus Document
- Novelty, Restoration, and Renewal
- Masking Innovation: Remarriage after Divorce and Other New Laws
- Covenant Renewal in Jubilees and Qumran
- Denying Innovation: The Timelessness of the Two Ways
- Secret Supersessionism? A Mysterious Possibility
- In the Absence of the Old
- Conclusion
- Excursus: The New Covenant Inscribed on an Old Stone?
- Chapter 4: Innovation Asserted: The Novelties of Early Christianity
- Christians, Covenants, and Testaments
- A New Covenant in the Gospels and Paul
- Innovation and the Teachings of Jesus
- The New and Old Covenants in Hebrews
- Prophecy and Innovation among the Followers of Jesus
- Prophecy, Novelty, and Scripture
- An Alternate Discourse: The Timeless Two Ways
- Conclusion
- Conclusions, Hypotheses and Reflections
- Bibliography
About the author
Jonathan Klawans is Professor of Religion at Boston University. He is the author of Impurity and Sin in Ancient Judaism (OUP 2000), Purity, Sacrifice, and the Temple (OUP 2005), and Josephus and the Theologies of Ancient Judaism (OUP 2012). He is also co-editor of the forthcoming Jewish Annotated Apocrypha.
Summary
It is commonly asserted that heresy is a Christian invention that emerged in late antiquity as Christianity distinguished itself from Judaism. Heresy, Forgery, Novelty clearly defines these three important terms in the study of ancient Judaism and early Christianity, and demonstrates that Christianity's heresiological impulse is in fact indebted to Jewish precedents.
Additional text
It is unusual to find a monograph that is so carefully argued while also being so enjoyable to read. On top of that, Klawans has managed to gather a large amount of evidence for a very appealing thesis.
