This text deals with various challenging problems in Jewish and early Christian thought and practice, within the general areas of the calendar and chronology. New problems are tackled, and old problems are reconsidered. The new problems are intertestamental, and include the Qumran calendar, the stages in the development of Judaism between the Testaments, and the various chronologies used in early Judaism to measure past and future time. These chapters are mainly of Jewish interest, though the last-mentioned has a Christian bearing also, centering as it does on messianic expectation. The old problems all have a Christian bearing, and are biblical or patristic, though illustrated here by intertestamental evidence. They include the relationship between the Sabbath and Sunday, the date of the crucifixion, the origin of Easter and Whitsun, and the date of Christmas.
Author(s): Roger T. Beckwith
Series: Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity 33
Publisher: Brill Academic Publishers
Year: 2001
Language: English
Pages: 350
Calendar and Chronology, Jewish and Christian: Biblical, Intertestamental and Patristic Studies......Page 4
Contents......Page 8
Acknowledgements......Page 12
Introduction......Page 14
1. THE DAY AND ITS DIVISIONS......Page 18
2 . THE DAY AND ITS LIMITS......Page 20
(A) EVIDENCE OF THE DAY BEGINNING AND ENDING AT NIGHTFALL......Page 21
(B) EVIDENCE OF THE DAY BEGINNING AND ENDING AT DAYBREAK......Page 23
(C) EVIDENCE OF THE CO-EXISTENCE OF THE TWO RECKONINGS......Page 25
THE QUESTION OF A PRIMEVAL SABBATH......Page 27
THE PRIMEVAL SABBATH IN HELLENISTIC JUDAISM......Page 30
THE PRIMEVAL SABBATH IN THE NEW TESTAMENT......Page 33
THE MOSAIC SABBATH......Page 35
THE MOSAIC SABBATH IN PALESTINIAN JUDAISM......Page 39
THE MOSAIC SABBATH IN THE TEACHING AND PRACTICE OF JESUS......Page 42
THE MOSAIC SABBATH IN THE TEACHING OF PAUL......Page 49
THE LORD'S DAY......Page 52
THE SABBATH AND THE LORD'S DAY AS WEEKLY MEMORIAL DAYS......Page 58
THE SABBATH AND THE LORD'S DAY AS WEEKLY DAYS OF WORSHIP......Page 60
THE SABBATH AND THE LORD'S DAY AS WEEKLY DAYS FOR WORKS OF MERCY......Page 63
THE SABBATH AND THE LORD'S DAY AS WEEKLY DAYS OF PURPOSEFUL REST......Page 64
3. EASTER AND WHITSUN: THE ORIGIN OF THE CHURCH'S EARLIEST ANNUAL FESTIVALS......Page 68
THE PRACTICE OF THE JEWISH-CHRISTIAN CHURCH......Page 69
QUARTODECIMANISM AND THE APOSTLES......Page 73
WHICH EASTER CAME FIRST, CATHOLIC OR QUARTODECIMAN?......Page 76
WHEN DID EASTER AND WHITSUN ARISE?......Page 77
WHERE DID EASTER AND WHITSUN ARISE?......Page 78
1. THE DATE OF CHRISTMAS......Page 88
2. THE COURSES OF THE PRIESTS......Page 96
5. THE PERPETUAL CALENDAR OF THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS......Page 110
THE CALENDARS OF THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST......Page 112
THE CALENDARS OF THE BIBLICAL AND INTERTESTAMENTAL LITERATURE......Page 115
THE QUMRAN CALENDAR: ITS RELATIONSHIP TO THE OLD TESTAMENT......Page 118
THE ORIGIN AND RATIONALE OF THE QUMRAN CALENDAR......Page 122
THE FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF THE QUMRAN CALENDAR......Page 127
THE QUMRAN CALENDAR AND THE MOON......Page 130
THE QUMRAN CALENDAR AND THE PRIESTLY COURSES......Page 137
THE QUESTION OF INTERCALATION......Page 142
THE SUPPOSED THEORETICAL NEED FOR INTERCALATION......Page 150
THE SUPPOSED PRACTICAL NEED FOR INTERCALATION......Page 154
THE LATENESS OF NATURE......Page 156
TEMPLE PSALMODY......Page 158
THE QUMRAN PSALMS SCROLLS......Page 160
DAVID'S PSALMS AND SONGS......Page 163
THE COURSES OF THE LEVITICAL SINGERS......Page 167
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE ECCENTRIC SCROLLS......Page 170
THE CONTENTS OF 11QPsa......Page 174
THE ORDER OF 11QPsa......Page 176
7. JUDAISM BETWEEN THE TESTAMENTS: THE STAGES OF ITS RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENT......Page 184
THE PRE-HISTORY OF THE THREE GREAT SCHOOLS......Page 191
THE TRUE TRADITIONALISTS......Page 199
1. THE ERA OF SEPARATION TO THE LAW: EZRA AND THE SCRIBES......Page 204
2. THE ERA OF LAY REVIVAL: PROTO-PHARISAISM......Page 207
3. THE ERA OF PRIESTLY REFORM: PROTO-ESSENISM AND PROTO-SADDUCEEISM......Page 217
(a) Between Hasidim and Hellenizers......Page 227
(b) Between Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes......Page 229
8. THE YEAR OF THE MESSIAH: JEWISH AND EARLY CHRISTIAN CHRONOLOGIES, AND THEIR ESCHATOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES......Page 234
ESSENE CHRONOLOGY......Page 235
1. THE DECADE OF JUBILEES......Page 237
(a) The Ages of the Creation (4Q 180, 181)......Page 238
(b) The Melchizedek Document (11Q Melch).......Page 240
(c) The Pseudo-Moses Documents (4Q 387a, 388a, 389 and 390)......Page 241
(d) Greek Testament of Levi 16-18.......Page 243
2. THE ECCENTRIC DECADE OF JUBILEES (1 Enoch 89-90)......Page 252
3. THE JUBILEE OF JUBILEES......Page 255
4. THE CENTURY OF JUBILEES OR JUBILEE OF CENTURIES......Page 257
5. THE GREAT WEEKS......Page 259
6. THE IMPORTANCE OF ESSENE CHRONOLOGY FOR ESSENE PRACTICE......Page 266
7. THE RELATION BETWEEN ESSENE ESCHATOLOGY AND ESSENE PREDICTION......Page 268
HELLENISTIC CHRONOLOGY......Page 271
PHARISAIC CHRONOLOGY......Page 273
THE SEVENTY WEEKS AND THE COMING OF THE MESSIAH......Page 277
1. ESSENE COMPUTATION......Page 278
2. HELLENISTIC COMPUTATION (SEPTUAGINT)......Page 279
3. HELLENISTIC COMPUTATION (PSEUDO-DEMETRIUS)......Page 280
4. ESSENE/PHARISAIC COMPUTATION (ASSUMPTION OF MOSES)......Page 281
5. PHARISAIC COMPUTATION (ZEALOT REVOLT)......Page 283
6 . HELLENISTIC/ PHARISAIC COMPUTATION (JOSEPHUS)......Page 284
7. PHARISAIC COMPUTATION (2 ESDRAS & PSEUDO-PHILO)......Page 286
9. PHARISAIC COMPUTATION (THE BAR KOKBA REVOLT)......Page 288
10. EARLY CHRISTIAN COMPUTATION......Page 289
CHRONOLOGIES AND CALENDARS IN THE ANCIENT WORLD......Page 293
THE JEWISH CALENDAR: SCIENTIFIC OR PRACTICAL?......Page 295
THE PASSOVER AND THE EQUINOX......Page 299
THE PASSOVER AND THE THIRTEENTH MONTH......Page 303
RECONCILING THE PASSION-WEEK CHRONOLOGY......Page 306
THE APOSTLES AND THE NEW TESTAMENT PROPHETS......Page 314
JESUS AND THE NEW TESTAMENT PROPHETS......Page 315
THE REVELATION IN RELATION TO THE WITNESS OF THE GOSPELS......Page 316
THE REVELATION IN RELATION TO OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY......Page 318
THE THREE-AND-A-HALF TIMES......Page 320
1. INDEX OF BIBLICAL REFERENCES......Page 327
2. INDEX OF ANCIENT LITERATURE......Page 338
3. INDEX OF NAMES AND SUBJECTS......Page 347
