The Evil Inclination in Early Judaism and Christianity

The Evil Inclination in Early Judaism and Christianity PDF

Author: Ishay Rosen-Zvi

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2021-01-21

Total Pages: 383

ISBN-13: 1108607284

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One of the central concepts in rabbinic Judaism is the notion of the Evil Inclination, which appears to be related to similar concepts in ancient Christianity and the wider late antique world. The precise origins and understanding of the idea, however, are unknown. This volume traces the development of this concept historically in Judaism and assesses its impact on emerging Christian thought concerning the origins of sin. The chapters, which cover a wide range of sources including the Bible, the Ancient Versions, Qumran, Pseudepigrapha and Apocrypha, the Targums, and rabbinic and patristic literature, advance our understanding of the intellectual exchange between Jews and Christians in classical Antiquity, as well as the intercultural exchange between these communities and the societies in which they were situated.

The Evil Inclination in Early Judaism and Christianity

The Evil Inclination in Early Judaism and Christianity PDF

Author: J. K. Aitken

Publisher:

Published: 2021

Total Pages: 371

ISBN-13: 9781108456715

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One of the central concepts in rabbinic Judaism is the notion of the Evil Inclination, which appears to be related to similar concepts in ancient Christianity and the wider late antique world. The precise origins and understanding of the idea, however, are unknown. This volume traces the development of this concept historically in Judaism and assesses its impact on emerging Christian thought concerning the origins of sin. The chapters, which cover a wide range of sources including the Bible, the Ancient Versions, Qumran, Pseudepigrapha and Apocrypha, the Targums, and rabbinic and patristic literature, advance our understanding of the intellectual exchange between Jews and Christians in classical Antiquity, as well as the intercultural exchange between these communities and the societies in which they were situated.

Demons in Early Judaism and Christianity

Demons in Early Judaism and Christianity PDF

Author: Hector M. Patmore

Publisher: Ancient Judaism and Early Chri

Published: 2022

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9789004517141

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For Jews and Christians in Antiquity beliefs about demons were integral to their reflections on fundamental theological questions, but what kind of 'being' did they consider demons to be? To what extent were they thought to be embodied? Were demons thought of as physical entities or merely as metaphors for social and psychological realities? What is the relation between demons and the hypostatization of abstract concepts (fear, impurity, etc) and baleful phenomenon such as disease? These are some of the questions that this volume addresses by focussing on the nature and characteristics of demons -- what one might call 'demonic ontology'.

Demonic Desires

Demonic Desires PDF

Author: Ishay Rosen-Zvi

Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press

Published: 2011-11-29

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 0812204204

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In Demonic Desires, Ishay Rosen-Zvi examines the concept of yetzer hara, or evil inclination, and its evolution in biblical and rabbinic literature. Contrary to existing scholarship, which reads the term under the rubric of destructive sexual desire, Rosen-Zvi contends that in late antiquity the yetzer represents a general tendency toward evil. Rather than the lower bodily part of a human, the rabbinic yetzer is a wicked, sophisticated inciter, attempting to snare humans to sin. The rabbinic yetzer should therefore not be read in the tradition of the Hellenistic quest for control over the lower parts of the psyche, writes Rosen-Zvi, but rather in the tradition of ancient Jewish and Christian demonology. Rosen-Zvi conducts a systematic and comprehensive analysis of the some one hundred and fifty appearances of the evil yetzer in classical rabbinic literature to explore the biblical and postbiblical search for the sources of human sinfulness. By examining the yetzer within a specific demonological tradition, Demonic Desires places the yetzer discourse in the larger context of a move toward psychologization in late antiquity, in which evil—and even demons—became internalized within the human psyche. The book discusses various manifestations of this move in patristic and monastic material, from Clement and Origin to Antony, Athanasius, and Evagrius. It concludes with a consideration of the broader implications of the yetzer discourse in rabbinic anthropology.

Demons in Early Judaism and Christianity

Demons in Early Judaism and Christianity PDF

Author:

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2022-09-19

Total Pages: 349

ISBN-13: 9004518142

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This volume sheds light on how Jews and Christians in Antiquity understood the nature and characteristics of demons. The contributions cover a wide range of corpora and explore aspects of continuity and change as ideas flowed between groups and cultures.

The Origin of Sin

The Origin of Sin PDF

Author: David Konstan

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2022-02-10

Total Pages: 217

ISBN-13: 1350278602

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Where did the idea of sin arise from? In this meticulously argued book, David Konstan takes a close look at classical Greek and Roman texts, as well as the Bible and early Judaic and Christian writings, and argues that the fundamental idea of "sin" arose in the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, although this original meaning was obscured in later Jewish and Christian interpretations. Through close philological examination of the words for "sin," in particular the Hebrew hata' and the Greek hamartia, he traces their uses over the centuries in four chapters, and concludes that the common modern definition of sin as a violation of divine law indeed has antecedents in classical Greco-Roman conceptions, but acquired a wholly different sense in the Hebrew Bible and New Testament.

Attraction and Danger of Alien Religion

Attraction and Danger of Alien Religion PDF

Author: Karl-Gustav Sandelin

Publisher: Mohr Siebeck

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 306

ISBN-13: 9783161517426

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Early Judaism and early Christianity emerged during the Hellenistic and early Roman imperial era. They were, naturally, confronted with the Hellenistic and the Roman religion. The question therefore arose as to whether Jews or Christians were free to participate in religious activities alien to the religious heritage of their own. In his articles, Karl-Gustav Sandelin presents documentary material showing that this problem was a burning issue within Judaism from the beginning of the Hellenistic period until the end of the first century C.E. Several Jewish individuals converted to the Hellenistic or the Roman religion. Such behavior was also discussed and generally condemned, for example by the Books of Maccabees and authors such as Philo of Alexandria and Flavius Josephus. A similar problem is to be found in the New Testament, notably in the letters of Paul, especially in the first letter to the Corinthians and in the Revelation of John.

Are We Sinners?

Are We Sinners? PDF

Author: Rabbi Michael Mayersohn

Publisher: iUniverse

Published: 2009-10-16

Total Pages: 128

ISBN-13: 9781440169120

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Judaism and Christianity have to explain why humans, created by a good and merciful God, sin and commit evil. Rabbi Michael Mayersohn introduces the readers to the conclusions of the Hebrew Bible, the rabbinic literature of Talmud and Midrash, the writings of Paul, Augustine, Aquinas and Martin Luther. Nowhere else can a reader find the rabbis of Talmud and Christian saints Paul and Augustine all in one place talking about an issue as important as sin and evil. The Bible introduces us to the topic of sin with the story of Cain and Abel and Christianity takes us back to the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. In its own distinctive way each tradition tries to explain why humans created by God sin. In this fascinating exploration Rabbi Mayersohn will take us to these sacred texts and explain how Judaism and Christianity reach the conclusions they do about human sinfulness. Is sin inherent in the human condition or the result of some external influence? What is Gods role in the story of humans and evil? Is Original Sin the only answer to how sin appeared in the human story? What do these two great faith traditions have to say about these and other important questions?