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This dissertation is concerned with the sources for the teachings attributed to the Besht (Israel Ba’al Shem Tov, d.1760), the purported founder of the Hasidic movement. Works of Hasidic literature preserve many teachings attributed to the Besht but since he wrote none of these himself, the reliability of the oral transmission of his words and of their written record has repeatedly been called into question. After surveying previous critical scholarship on the sources for these teachings and arguing that very basic questions about the nature of these sources and their reliability as historical records remain unanswered, this dissertation presents the first systematic investigation of the earliest of these sources, assesses their various textual problems and historical connection to the Besht, and, finally, offers a number of methodological strategies for evaluating and interpreting them. The sources that are the focus of the investigation include the several letters and documents that have been attributed to the Besht directly, as well as the numerous teachings quoted in his name in the writings of his disciples. Employing historical and philological analyses, this study traces the textual history of all of these sources and their various, often conflicting, versions in manuscript and print, and offers a fresh assessment of their connection to the Besht. In the course of the investigation important aspects of the complex origins of Hasidic literature are reconstructed and it is shown, for example, that a vast corpus hitherto attributed to the Besht’s disciple Dov Ber, the Maggid of Mezritsh (d.1772), is, in fact, the product of a prolonged, and largely anonymous, collective effort. The dissertation concludes with a discussion of the historical and methodological consequences of the analyses. It is argued that the scope of the oral transmission of the Besht’s teachings was relatively limited and that it was their dissemination in written form that had a decisive historical impact. Following a discussion of the applicability of criteria of authenticity to the case of the teachings quoted in the name of the Besht, a number of methodological strategies for interpreting them are described and a future program of research is proposed. / 2028-08-31T00:00:00Z

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)

While the majority of German Protestant churches were silent in response to the persecution of the Jews in Nazi Germany, the Deutsche Christen or German Christian movement enthusiastically supported the Nazi regime’s goals and was actively involved in efforts to extract “Jewish” elements from Protestantism in an effort to create a “pure” German religion. Many scholars view the radical form of Protestantism expressed by this group as a by-product of Nazism. However, I argue that ideas promoting the de-Judaization of Protestantism were already existent within Protestant theology and that Hitler’s rise to power merely provided the opportunity for these ideas to come to fruition. I examine this topic by analyzing nationalistic and anti-Jewish ideas in German Protestant theological texts during the early twentieth century, focusing on how these ideas informed the later de-Judaization of certain churches between 1932 and 1945 under the German Christian movement, which included actions like eliminating the Old Testament from the Protestant Bible and refusing to recognize Jewish conversion to Christianity. I approach this topic by situating my analysis of several key Protestant theological texts within broader scholarly discussions about the position of the churches towards the Jews in Weimar and Nazi Germany. / Graduate

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.

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