Historical Sources for Post-Biblical Judaism (Sanders Chapter One)

• Josephus Flavius (Joseph ben Mattathias , c. 37 100 c.e.)
  
  • The Jewish War
  • The Jewish Antiquities
  • Life of Josephus
  • Against Apion

  

• Philo Judaius of Alexandria (c. 25 B.C.E. 45 c.e. )
  • Allegorical commentaries on the Bible,
    
  • Legation to Gaius

  

• Septuagint:
  • Alexandrian Greek translation
  • Preserves early interpretation of the Bible.

  

• Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha:
  • Historical works:
    • Maccabees (especially I and II)

    Apocalypses:

    • Symbolic descriptions of Jewish historical and political hopes.
      
    • Not exclusive to any particular group.

    Others:

    • Reflect important religious ideas, values and practices current at the time

    

    Rabbinic literature:

    • Must be used with caution
      
    • Much later than Temple era. Composed from c. 50 C.E. onwards.
      
    • Not normally concerned with history, but rather with law, biblical interpretation and homiletical themes.
      
    • Generally, depicts Pharisaic interpretations. Does not always reflect consensus of Second-Temple Jewish movements.

    

    New Testament:

    • Contains many useful descriptions of Jewish society in Palestine and abroad.
    • Accounts of disputes beween Pharisees and Sadducees, etc.

    

    Qumran manuscripts ("Dead Sea Scrolls"):

    • A variety of different genres of texts from the Second Temple era: Bible manuscripts, community rules, exegesis, liturgy, apocalypses, etc.
    • Though some texts (e.g., the "Community Rule") seem clearly to be Essene, it is not completely certain whether they belong to a particular sect.
  
  

  

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