The book of Psalms, which contains prayers and songs, is one of the most frequently cited books in the New Testament. The Synoptic evangelists seem to read the Psalms not primarily as prayers but as prophecies of the future. They discovered in its language prophecies concerning the life and ministry of Jesus and attempted to show how Jesus' life was prefigured in the Psalms. The present study is undertaken with a view to examine a topic within the broad subject of the use of the OT in the NT, that of the prophetic reading of the Psalms in the Synoptic gospels, in the context of Second Temple Judaism. This study will consist of six chapters. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the topic which includes examples of the use of the Psalms in the NT, a survey of selected earlier studies done in related areas, and a working definition of a "citation" and "prophecy." This study deals with four psalm citations in Mark, nine in Matthew, and six in Luke. This study presupposes no particular stance on the order of the Synoptic gospels. Chapter 2 examines the prophetic reading of the Psalms in Second Temple Jewish literature. Chapters 3, 4, and 5 discuss direct psalm citations found in Mark, Matthew, and Luke respectively. Chapter 6 summarizes the conclusions of the work and makes suggestions for further research. This study contributes to a broader understanding of the early Christian view that Jesus' life and ministry fulfilled what was foretold in the Psalms. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

A common theme in examining Christian identity focuses on the emergence of that identity, on locating the point in time within the history of the Christian church that one can first observe a clearly identifiable community which can be called ‘Christian.’ There is evidence that a clear sense of a Christian identity existed by the second century CE. This is expressed in several authors from the second century CE, who employ ‘ethnic’ terminology to refer to the Christians as a ‘new’ or ‘third’ race. What allowed these authors to identify the Christians as a distinct ‘race’ so soon after the emergence of the group? This study explores the origins of this ‘race’ of Christians. Examination of the earliest existent Christian texts, the undisputed letters of the apostle Paul, demonstrates a group which exists partially within the Jewish identity group, and yet simultaneously displays features of a unique group identity. Two methods of investigation are employed to explore the origins of a Christian ‘race.’ First, from those authors who describe the Christians as a ‘race,’ a ‘vocabulary of identity’ is identified, and instances of this vocabulary are examined in the undisputed Pauline corpus to demonstrate the continued Jewish identity of Paul and many of his congregants. Second, a series of group identity features which are unique to the Jewish identity group are drawn from the work of John Hutchinson and Anthony D. Smith, James D.G. Dunn, and E.P. Sanders. An examination of these features in the undisputed Pauline corpus shows the beginnings of a distancing between the nascent Christian movement and its Jewish parent body. Continuing the investigation, the study explores the Pauline epistles for evidence of uniquely Christian group identity features. A series of these identifiers are examined, demonstrating the methods by which the earliest Christ-followers were identified as Christ-followers. These Christ-following identifiers served as the basis for the eventual ‘ethnic’ distinction of the Christian movement. The thesis concludes that the Pauline epistles reveal the origins of the later Christian ‘race’, and that during the first century Paul and his congregations simultaneously existed within the Jewish identity group, and alongside this group as members of an identifiable Christ-following identity group.

This thesis takes a different approach to the contested topic of Jesus and the Torah in Matthew's Gospel. Rather than asking whether or not Jesus' radical teaching on the Torah (Matt 5:17-48) affirms the validity of the Torah, surpasses it, or if it situates the Matthean community within or outside the bounds of Judaism, this thesis examines the Matthean Jesus' radical teaching as an example of first-century Torah interpretation. Specifically, it examines Second Temple writing strategies used to present interpretations as an authoritative representation of the Torah and compares them with the way Matthew authorises Jesus' teaching on the Torah. This comparison shows that Matthew uses inherited writing strategies to participate in the Second Temple and late first-century Jewish phenomenon of innovating the Torah to meet the needs of a specific context. Chapter 1 examines the phenomenon of Torah interpretation in the Second Temple period, both the contexts that caused it and the logic behind it. Chapter 2 analyses Matthew's Gospel to see if it exhibits a similar context and logic as other Second Temple texts that interpret the Torah. Chapter 3 then uses Hindy Najman's concept of Mosaic Discourse as a lens to observe the writing strategies Matthew uses to present Jesus' teaching in the Sermon on the Mount as an authoritative representation of Sinaitic Revelation. Chapter 4 then considers how the genre of biography was used to legitimise a historical figure in a polemical context. Chapter 5 then examines how Matthew similarly used the opportunities of biographical writing to legitimise Jesus as an authority on the Torah in a polemical context and, therefore, authorise his teaching on the Torah as the correct way to follow God's commandments.

The thesis seeks to more accurately understand Judaean political organisation during the reign of King Alexander Jannaeus (104-76 BCE). I suggest that the balance of evidence does not support an understanding of Hasmonaean Judaea as a militaristic patrimony. That is, I dispute a view of Judaean social order as dominated by the centralised leadership of the Hasmonaean king and of Judaean political structures as overwhelmingly militaristic. To be sure, militarism and kingship are important to understanding the social arrangement of Judaea at the turn of the first century BCE. However, political research based on a literal reading of textual sources tends to overemphasise these factors. Instead, I here advocate using economic activity, of which bronze monetary exchange is reasonably well attested for Hasmonaean Judaea, to infer probable features of Judaean socio-political organisation. I note that the system of monetary exchange in Judaea is among the least complex of Hellenistic kingdoms at Jannaeus’s time. I propose that the most likely conclusion is that Jannaeus had a more limited political influence over societal organisation than is commonly ascribed. The relatively underdeveloped monetary system in Judaea indicates that monetary exchange likely existed in combination with local transactional frameworks, including local arbitration, payment in kind, and the manipulation of labour by regional strongmen than we might suggest for Pontus under Mithridates VI or Parthia under the early years of Mithridates II. In extrapolating to the wider issue of Judaean political organisation, this casts doubt on the ability of the Hasmonaean monarchy to forcefully Judaise, effect change in local power hierarchies, or play a defining role in Phoenician military struggles. Rather than a militaristic patrimony ordered by the diktats of a tyrannical Jannaeus, Judaean political organisation was more likely a cooperative network of local power brokers, regional administrative frameworks, and independent cultural and economic systems.

The relationship between the Epistle to the Hebrews and Second Temple Judaism has long been a subject of debate within biblical scholarship. For most of the history of New Testament interpretation, Hebrews has been understood to be a Christian text written for the purpose of deterring Christians from relapsing back into their former religion, Judaism. Recently, however, scholars have argued for a variety of alternative proposals, and some have attempted to situate Hebrews as a text within Judaism. Consensus regarding Hebrews’s relationship to Judaism remains elusive, however, suggesting that a different way of approaching this issue is necessary. This dissertation argues that Hebrews is best understood as addressing the pastoral needs of a Jewish-Christian community facing a crisis related to issues of Jewish socioreligious identity. Using frameworks of social-historical description, theories of Jewish identity, and thematic analysis assisted by semantic domain theory, this research assesses Hebrews’s relationship to Judaism by examining the author’s treatment of themes related to the Law, the Temple, and the Promised Land, cultural frameworks which were significant for Jewish social and religious identity in the first century CE. This research finds that the writer of Hebrews textually constructs for himself and his audience an unmistakably Jewish identity. However, it will also be demonstrated that Hebrews evinces patterns of, as Steve Moyise says, ‘"both tradition and innovation” in how the writer appropriates vital identity-forming traditions from Judaism for his own pastoral purposes. This study, therefore, further contends that Hebrews evinces a community with an emerging Jewish-Christian identity as theirs is an expression of Judaism which has become largely defined by their devotion to Jesus. The context of looming crisis which permeates Hebrews and the writer’s treatment of traditions from common Judaism further suggests this community also has likely become estranged from Jerusalem and its temple system. This research thus contends that the traditional ‘‘relapse theory” interpretation which historically has interpreted Hebrews as taking a polemical stance against Judaism is without adequate support. Conversely, this research also suggests that some of the various “within Judaism” approaches which have become more popular in recent New Testament scholarship, while promising, require further nuancing when applied to Hebrews. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This thesis examines the ancient Jewish text the Book of Enoch, the scholarly work done on the text since its discovery in 1773, and its seminal importance to the study of ancient Jewish history. Primary sources for the thesis project are limited to Flavius Josephus and the works of the Old Testament. Modern scholars provide an abundance of secondary information. These scholars include R. H. Charles, D. S. Russell, Albert Baumgarten, Seth Schwartz, George Nickelsburg, and James VanderKam. The Book of Enoch was composed from roughly 300 BCE to 10 BCE. The Book of Enoch stands as substantial proof that there was not a single Judaism practiced in Palestine during the Second Temple period, but rather multiple Judaisms that interacted with one another, and out of that both post-Destruction Judaism and apocalyptic Christianity emerged.

For many pre-modern and modern critics, the emergence of Ezra among the post-exilic Jerusalem community marks a significant event in the beginning stages of Judaism. Ezra’s promulgation of a “law of Moses,” bolstered by the theory of Persian imperial authorization, is often viewed as the moment at which the final form of the Pentateuch is published. The accounts contained in Ezra 7-10 and Nehemiah 8-10, however, continue to present historical and literary problems for the exegete. Compounding the difficulties for a reconstruction of Ezra’s activities, recent scholarship has raised questions concerning the viability of state-sanctioned support for the Pentateuch and revived skepticism on the historicity of Ezra and the reliability of the biblical witness. Still, the Ezra Memoir (EM) remains an important source that is shaped by the political, religious, and social worldview of post-exilic Yehud. This study incorporates two scholarly debates: on the one hand, the identification of EM and its supplemental layers; and on the other hand, the development of the Pentateuch up to this period. After the parameters of EM are identified in Ezra 7-10 and Nehemiah 8-10, this study supports EM’s use of Deuteronomic and Priestly literature but adds that EM also demonstrates significant literary connections to pentateuchal strands that are neither Deuteronomic nor Priestly. These strands are distinguished by the narrative and historical claims that are preserved in the classical pentateuchal documents. This study concludes that EM is a product of the Second Temple that anticipates the final form of the Pentateuch by collecting and integrating multiple presentations of the wilderness generation into a super-narrative that projects Ezra and the returnees as a second exodus and Sinai generation that supersedes their predecessors.

O principal objeto desta pesquisa consiste em analisar a influência exercida pela religião no contexto da sociedade judaica do período do segundo templo (516 A.E.C. 70 E.C.), mais especificamente avaliar se o ímpeto revolucionário que promovera a primeira Grande Guerra Judaica contra o domínio romano dependia de uma forma característica de profetismo, a saber, a apocalíptica. A conexão que o apocalipticismo possuía com o ambiente do primeiro século se deveu em virtude das diversas crises sociais e políticas que impuseram um ritmo dinâmico para as estruturas nacionais, porquanto concomitante às vicissitudes que emergiam ocorria certa adequação traumática de novos elementos relativos ao fenômeno religioso, cujas formas de expressão procuravam resgatar os antigos postulados, valores e promessas da Lei de Moisés e dos profetas clássicos, tornando-os válidos para situações contemporâneas. Desse modo os cativeiros e diásporas experimentados por tantos períodos passavam a favorecer o intercâmbio ideológico que perfez as peculiaridades e aspectos formadores dos movimentos apocalípticos, o que demonstrava um nível de dependência pelo qual movimentos religiosos judaicos se espelhavam em culturas vizinhas, em um diálogo paradoxal que combinava resistência cultural e assimilação de linguagem. Os resultados fornecidos nessa dissertação permitem afirmar que a hipótese que restringe toda a responsabilidade pelas ações coletivas ao fanatismo religioso de uma alegada sociedade primitiva é comprometida em sua validade, pois tal conclusão deve ser considerada reducionista por não atentar para a complexidade que acompanhou, historicamente, todo o estabelecimento da sociedade judaica daquele período. Assim, recomenda-se que haja abordagens mais críticas e que, não obstante, se coloquem no mesmo grau de dificuldade requerido pelo objeto, a partir de uma atitude que integre os indicadores sociais com o fator religioso. Portanto, é pautado nessa perspectiva englobante que a apocalíptica judaica foi estudada neste trabalho, como fator potencialmente relevante dentro do estado de insurreição da Palestina do primeiro século. / The central object of this research consists of evaluate the influence exerted by religion in the context of Jewish society of second temple period (516 BCE 70 CE), more particularly assessing if the revolutionary impetus which promoted the first Great Jewish War against the Roman dominion depended of a characteristic prophetism, that is, the apocalyptic. The connection that apocaliptycism had with first century setting was due to the various social and political crises that imposed a dynamic ritm to national structures, inasmuch as concurrently with the changes which emerged occurred a certain traumatic adequacy of new elements related to religious phenomenon, whose forms of expression intended to rescue ancient postulates, values, and promises of Moses Law and classical prophets, making it valid for contemporary situations. Thereby, the captivities and Diasporas suffered during many periods started to favor the ideological exchange which made up the traits and aspects that composed the apocalyptic movements, what demonstrated a dependency level by which Jewish religious movements mirrored in neighboring cultures, through a paradoxal dialogue that blended cultural resistance and language assimilation. The results furnished in this dissertation allow one to state that the hypothesis which attributed to the religious fanaticism all responsibility for collective actions of a so called primitive society is impaired in its validity, for such a conclusion must be considered reductionist because it does not realize the intricacy which historically accompanied the entire establishment of Jewish society of that period. Therefore, it is suggested the adoption of more critic approaches capable to place themselves in the same difficulty level required by the object, from an attitude that integrates the social indicators with the religious factor. Thus, is based on this encompassing perspective that Jewish apocalyptic was studied in this essay, as a factor potentially relevant inside the insurrectionist state of first century Palestine.

O principal objeto desta pesquisa consiste em analisar a influência exercida pela religião no contexto da sociedade judaica do período do segundo templo (516 A.E.C. 70 E.C.), mais especificamente avaliar se o ímpeto revolucionário que promovera a primeira Grande Guerra Judaica contra o domínio romano dependia de uma forma característica de profetismo, a saber, a apocalíptica. A conexão que o apocalipticismo possuía com o ambiente do primeiro século se deveu em virtude das diversas crises sociais e políticas que impuseram um ritmo dinâmico para as estruturas nacionais, porquanto concomitante às vicissitudes que emergiam ocorria certa adequação traumática de novos elementos relativos ao fenômeno religioso, cujas formas de expressão procuravam resgatar os antigos postulados, valores e promessas da Lei de Moisés e dos profetas clássicos, tornando-os válidos para situações contemporâneas. Desse modo os cativeiros e diásporas experimentados por tantos períodos passavam a favorecer o intercâmbio ideológico que perfez as peculiaridades e aspectos formadores dos movimentos apocalípticos, o que demonstrava um nível de dependência pelo qual movimentos religiosos judaicos se espelhavam em culturas vizinhas, em um diálogo paradoxal que combinava resistência cultural e assimilação de linguagem. Os resultados fornecidos nessa dissertação permitem afirmar que a hipótese que restringe toda a responsabilidade pelas ações coletivas ao fanatismo religioso de uma alegada sociedade primitiva é comprometida em sua validade, pois tal conclusão deve ser considerada reducionista por não atentar para a complexidade que acompanhou, historicamente, todo o estabelecimento da sociedade judaica daquele período. Assim, recomenda-se que haja abordagens mais críticas e que, não obstante, se coloquem no mesmo grau de dificuldade requerido pelo objeto, a partir de uma atitude que integre os indicadores sociais com o fator religioso. Portanto, é pautado nessa perspectiva englobante que a apocalíptica judaica foi estudada neste trabalho, como fator potencialmente relevante dentro do estado de insurreição da Palestina do primeiro século. / The central object of this research consists of evaluate the influence exerted by religion in the context of Jewish society of second temple period (516 BCE 70 CE), more particularly assessing if the revolutionary impetus which promoted the first Great Jewish War against the Roman dominion depended of a characteristic prophetism, that is, the apocalyptic. The connection that apocaliptycism had with first century setting was due to the various social and political crises that imposed a dynamic ritm to national structures, inasmuch as concurrently with the changes which emerged occurred a certain traumatic adequacy of new elements related to religious phenomenon, whose forms of expression intended to rescue ancient postulates, values, and promises of Moses Law and classical prophets, making it valid for contemporary situations. Thereby, the captivities and Diasporas suffered during many periods started to favor the ideological exchange which made up the traits and aspects that composed the apocalyptic movements, what demonstrated a dependency level by which Jewish religious movements mirrored in neighboring cultures, through a paradoxal dialogue that blended cultural resistance and language assimilation. The results furnished in this dissertation allow one to state that the hypothesis which attributed to the religious fanaticism all responsibility for collective actions of a so called primitive society is impaired in its validity, for such a conclusion must be considered reductionist because it does not realize the intricacy which historically accompanied the entire establishment of Jewish society of that period. Therefore, it is suggested the adoption of more critic approaches capable to place themselves in the same difficulty level required by the object, from an attitude that integrates the social indicators with the religious factor. Thus, is based on this encompassing perspective that Jewish apocalyptic was studied in this essay, as a factor potentially relevant inside the insurrectionist state of first century Palestine.

The study of Melkisedeq has been highly fragmentary among modern scholars, proving to be difficult to discuss over the long Second Temple Period. This study will focus on the social memory of Melkisedeq to understand the evolution of the tradition surrounding his character among sectarian groups in the Second Temple Period. Through an analysis of the components from the Hebrew Bible that compromise the social memory of Melkisedeq a deeper understanding of how his memory is used by later groups can be made. The redaction and expansion of his character changes greatly over time. The study of social memory allows scholars to understand how different memories form within a collective group, thus exploring the societal and ideological elements of disparate groups that form the over-arching memory of Melkisedeq. In order to properly identify these memories, redactional, historical, and textual criticisms will be employed to analyze the texts of Melkisedeq, answering such questions as: Who is Melkisedeq? What is the relationship between Melkisedeq and the king of Sodom? What is a priest-king? Did Abram tithe to Melkisedeq? This study will address the Near Eastern context of Melkisedeq in Genesis 14, in order to examine which features of his social memory are accentuated or excluded in Second Temple literature.