Hellenistic Judaism
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Hellenistic Judaism was a movement in the early (pre-70 AD) Jewish diaspora attempting to establish the Hebraic-Jewish religious tradition within the culture and language of Hellenism.
The 3rd century BC saw significant increase of the Jewish diaspora in Ptolemaic Egypt, notably in Alexandria.
The major literary product of the contact of Judaism and Hellenistic culture is the Septuagint. Important sources are Philo of Alexandria and Flavius Josephus, as well as the so-called apocrypha and pseudepigraphic apocalyptic literature (such as the Assumption of Moses, the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, the Book of Baruch, the Greek Apocalypse of Baruch etc.) dating to the period.
Philo of Alexandria was an important apologete of Judaism, presenting it as a tradition of venerable antiquity that, far from being a barbarian cult of an oriental nomadic tribe, with its doctrine of monotheism had anticipated tenets of Hellenistic philosophy. Customs of Judaism that struck urban Hellenistic society as atavistic or exotic, such as circumcision, Philo could translate into metaphor, speaking of a "circumcision of the heart" in the pursuit of virtue. Consequently, Hellenistic Judaism emphasized monotheistic doctrine (heis theos), and represented reason (logos) and wisdom (sophia) as emanations from God.
The decline of Hellenistic Judaism is obscure. It may be that it was marginalized by early Christianity. The Acts of the Apostles at least report how Paul of Tarsus preferredly evangelized communities of proselytes, or circles sympathetic to Judaism: the Apostolic Decree allowing converts to forgo circumcision made Christianity a more attractive option for interested pagans than "Judaism proper". The attractiveness of Christianity would, however, have suffered a setback with its being explicitly outlawed in the 80s AD by Domitian as a "Jewish superstition", while Judaism retained its privileges.
On the other hand, mainstream Judaism began to reject Hellenistic currents, outlawing use of the Septuagint, see also Council of Jamnia. Remaining currents of Hellenistic Judaism may have merged into Gnostic movements in the early centuries AD.
[edit] Literature
- Jüdische Schriften aus hellenistisch römischer Zeit, hrsg. von W.G. Kümmel und H. Lichtenberger, Gütersloh 1973ff.
- Gerhard Delling: Die Begegnung zwischen Hellenismus und Judentum, in: Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt, Bd. II 20.1 (1987).
