Jesus and Temple: Textual and Archaeological Explorations

by James H. Charlesworth (Editor)

Overview

The New Testament provides abundant evidence that Jesus frequented the temple; according to Acts, so did his followers after his death. But the Gospels also depict Jesus in conflict with temple authorities, and questions about his attitude to the temple swirl around what the Gospels label false accusations from his opponents and around the dramatic but inconsistent accounts of Jesus “cleansing” the temple.

Jesus’ attitude toward the temple is at the center of current historical Jesus research, yet those discussions are often not current with the latest archaeological and related findings regarding the temple and its history, architecture, liturgy, and function. James H. Charlesworth here gathers essays from world-renowned archaeologists and biblical scholars to address the current state of knowledge regarding the temple and to consider anew vital questions about its significance for Jesus, for his followers, and for New Testament readers today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781451481808
Publisher:	Augsburg Fortress, Publishers
Publication date:	04/01/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	248
File size:	7 MB

About the Author

James H. Charlesworth is George L. Collord Professor of New Testament Language and Literature at Princeton Theological Seminary and editor of the seminary’s Dead Sea Scrolls project. He has edited Hillel and Jesus (1997, with Loren L. Johns) and The Messiah (1992), from Fortress Press, and The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, 2 vols. (1983, 1985). He has also authored numerous works, including The Good and Evil Serpent: How a Universal Symbol Became Christianized (2010); The Historical Jesus (2008); and Jesus and Archaeology (2006).

Table of Contents

Contributors ix

Preface: Herod the Great, Hillel, Jesus, and Their Temple xi

Introduction: Devotion to and "Worship in Jerusalem's Temple James H. Charlesworth 1

1 Imagining the Temple Known to Jesus and to Early Jews Leen Ritmeyer 19

2 The Second Temple in Jerusalem Dan Bahat 59

3 The Importance of the Temple for Ancient Jews Lawrence H. Schiffman 75

4 The Psalms as Hymns in the Temple of Jerusalem Gary A. Rendsburg 95

5 Reverence for Jerusalem and the Temple in Galilean Society Mordechai Aviam 123

6 Jesus and the Temple James H. Charlesworth 145

7 The Temple and Jesus' Followers James H. Charlesworth 183

8 The Temple and Jesus the High Priest in the New Testament Harold W. Attridge 213

9 An Unperceived Early Jewish-Christian Temple Source George T. Zervos 239

Selected Bibliography Brady Alan Beard 261

Index of Biblical and Ancient Literature References 273